On Playlists and Things: August

This month’s playlist is a little different, as i tried to focus less on the lyrical aspect of the list, using the melodic aspect to make the songs selected create “scenes” which bled into each other. As a result, it never establishes a definite lyrical climax and so doesn’t follow the typical 3 Act narrative style that I used for Juni and Juli. Instead the songs are divided into three parts (think of it as a 3 story play, with elements that link each part with the next though the stories are quite different).

Each part has lyrical elements which link them into certain themes. For instance, Part 1 opens with a “finding” with Kanye’s Bound 2, and wrestles with the idea throughout the the section and concludes in an open-ended manner with the xx (Islands) seemingly ending still at the moment of the finding. Part 2 looks at longing, and opens with the Lumineers’ Flapper Girl which talks of departures and returns and stories to tell. The narrative is sustained through the next three songs, with their lyrical references to “home”. And then concludes suddenly with Young Blood, a song about youth, some longing and some hopefulness, which interestingly, may link back to Part 1. Part 3 is more lyrically detached from the first two parts. Although it opens with Calgary which may also link to parts one and two, it sets up a different direction for part 3. Lyrically the songs are bound and sustained by a reference to the “sun”, but a short narrative may also be drawn from the three songs, before Goodbye concludes the section and the list.

Melodically, the list is divided differently. The intention was to have the melodical storyline bleed through the lyrical partitions to still create a strangely cohesive list. The two parts are divided equally, with Stories to Tell setting up a melodic intermission at the half-way mark. The first half starts with indie-rap transitioning to indie-synthpop and indie/alternative rock before dropping to Flapper Girl‘s lo-fi to ease into the instrumental flute-led intermission. The second half then opens light with some indie-folk which transitions through some indie-synthpop and indie-pop until the indie-folk reprise of Woodland. Conclusion and credits are carried by the toe’s post-rock Goodbye. -fin-

Overall, I think this is still a pretty solid and cohesive list. Though maybe I might have been overthinking the write-up. Let me know what you think. Clickable links below.

August

Part 1 – Finding

1. Kanye West (Bound 2)

2. Passion Pit (Let Your Love Grow Tall)

3. Vampire Weekend (Unbelievers)

4. Imagine Dragons (Underdog)

5. The xx (Islands)

Part 2 – Home

6. The Lumineers (Flapper Girl)

7. Tsuneo Imahori (Stories to Tell)

8. Of Monsters and Men (Lakehouse)

9. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (Home)