you were always gold to me
7:31 AM
Well, there’s a hurricane raining itself out and my husband is upstairs asleep because he is working midnight shift. Instead of wishing things were different, I’m embracing it (and hoping there’s less rain tomorrow). A rainy day is no good without the proper music, so let’s talk about it.
I have been rendered dumbstruck on a regular basis by the lyrics by Ben Cooper of Radical Face. My husband and I stop talking when we listen to Radical Face in the car. I take that back. We do talk, but only to use a hushed voice to say how amazing a section of lyrics are, and then we go back to listening.
I’m a lyrics person, through and through. I used to spend way too much time looking up lyrics to my favorite albums and pasting them into iTunes for reference. Or if they weren’t online, I would transcribe them. These days I don’t make that a priority, which is a shame because Radical Face has lyrics that deserve the attention. So today I did just that with the two albums I have, The Branches and The Roots. I’m not too familiar with the ins and outs of Ben Cooper, but it looks like he is active online, sharing updates and extras with fans, which is pretty neat.
What I admire the most about Radical Face is the way the songs at the same time feel real but magical. Sad, yet oddly optimistic. Many times they seem to be from the perspective of a child who is just relaying what they observe. As he observes, he sees more than he realizes and can understand and as we listen, we can put the pieces together.
One of our favorite songs is Severus and Stone. Instead of talking too much about it, I’ll just post what I’ll inaccurately call my favorite section of it (it’s all the best), which is the beginning:
all the trees stood like skeletons
silhouettes of spilled ink
and the snows fell in sheets and got wrapped around our feet
we built the fire evermore with winter beating at the door
brother's eyes were getting heavier
his bony hands cold and white
and I could hear his ragged breathing like the wind along a knife
there beside him through the night, in the hum of candlelight
I no longer felt the time
brother woke just after midnight
and he didn't make a sound
and as he climbed from out of bed with severed rings around his head
his feet didn't touch the ground
I could feel it then
a tiny miracle
so I followed him
into the woods
crossed beneath the trees
but only I left my prints in tow
So do yourself a favor and listen to the rest because it’s like a story. You need to journey to the end to see what happens. After you've done that, check out their Noise Trade page for some free EPs.
What's your favorite rainy day music?
What's your favorite rainy day music?
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