There are two days left of snow and cold, two days before the skies clear and warmth pours down again on this side of the world. A running thread through the last few naked mixes was a strong disdain for everything winter, and the songs tried to keep the cold at bay until at least a moment or two of dancing and smiles could be had. But with the dreaded season finally coming to a close, I am dedicating this mix to sitting alone in bed with the covers drawn tight while the wind beats at the window.

When possible, lyrics will replace any prosaic exposition.

BARR - Untitled - The melancholy of this song, more than any guilt from consistently cheapening an entire season, is the soul of this mix. Listening to Brendan Fowler slowly speak to us about a friend too into something that is destroying their life, sounding as if he is reading a letter directly to that friend, is heartbreaking. This is an intervention backed by fragile music. And when Fowler finally sings (and it’s just two lines, just “you have to make it out” and “when you make it out“), you want to hug and assure him things will be okay as soon as the snow clears.

I don’t know if I can save everyone, but I’m taking you with me, ’cause I need you and you need you, and we… you and I need you, and this world needs you. Even this world… not this small dark world, but the big earth, even with less room has space for you, and that’s a really important space.

Jason Anderson - On Vacation - Jason Anderson speaks here through old telephone lines and faraway geographies, filled with a nostalgia one could only know with eyes closed and mind imagining endless white plains. This is the song you sing softly to an answering machine after you’ve killed an entire bottle of liquor and found that box of old love letters under your bed, hidden away in that corner you were so sure at the time you would never find again. (thx eca records)

And you just sort of sat there, and you had a cigarette… then it burned down, right to… right down to your fingers, and you let it drop on the cold asphalt. And I think of that, and I think that’s, like, really the night that we sort of fell for each other, you know? As people, as friends, and… I know that so much has changed since then, but I’ll always remember that night on the street.

The Avett Brothers - If It’s The Beaches

If it’s the beaches…if it’s the beaches’ sands you want, then you will have them. If it’s the mountains’ bending rivers, then you will have them. If it’s the wish to run away, then I will grant it. Take whatever you think of while I go gas up the truck. Pack the old love letters up; we will read them when we forget why we left here.

Okkervil River - Listening to Otis Redding During Christmas - New Hampshire must have soil soaked with pensiveness and heaviness. This song is dedicated to all those who have drove through their hometowns feeling like strangers, reminiscing over the past when a surreal and grand future seemed right around the corner. Alternatively, to that first real love that never leaves your head. (thx okkervil river)

I know that it’s home because that’s where the stereo sings “I’ve got dreams to remember.” But not even home can be with you forever. It’s Christmastime and the plane flies me over white hills to a town in a dream, where the sky is frozen and still, and a room (that’s not mine but it’s just like I left it before, with the wax from the candles all dusty and locks on the door) where I held you so tenderly, and where in summer I opened your letter to me.

Nathan Larson - Aviva Pastoral - Brooding and haunting, this track has been slowly permeating my head for the past few weeks. Most well known for soundtracking the demise of a chocolate bunny, I warn you it is the sort of track that ingrains itself deep, and you may not realize it until you turn off the lights to sleep, only to hear it emanating from phantasmal speakers.

Mechanical Bride - Umbrella - Mechanical Bride completely rips the lyrics from their pop shell and runs them through a dark blender. The airy bells, sharp piano, and reverberating vocals make this cover much different than the original R&B track, and maybe even more ghostly than “Aviva Pastoral” above.

Jaymay - Gray or Blue - Okay okay okay, it is due time for something with a little pace to it. “Gray or Blue” is nothing profound, but it is everything unrequited romance is: quiet and unpredictable and hopeful and sad. On their own, the lyrics may seem trite even, but Jaymay sings with such sincerity and emotion that you can’t help but develop a crush of your own.

And I’m winning you with words because I have no other way // I want to look into your face without your eyes turnin away // Last night I watched you sing because a person has to try // And I walked home in the rain because a person cannot lie

Kat Flint - Go Faster Stripes - Don’t say I never bring you nice things.

The next naked mix will be more upbeat, I promise. All puppy dogs and hand grenades hand jobs happiness and everything else that goes into all that Spring pandemonium. We’ll enter the new day with bang.

One Response to “naked mix #6 (3/18/08)”

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