Wednesday, 13 April 2011

• Breakup Music

  
  I'd say pretty much everyone's been there before: broken up about being broken-up, listlessly flipping through TV channels after a tough rejection, or just feeling downright lonely. Life's solitary, poor brutish, nasty, and short. (Well, maybe not that bad.) But, since The Beatles invented music in the late '60s, we've had a secret weapon of mass destruction against this existential punji pit called life.

  I've taken the liberty of cutting out things that are either so mind-numbingly depressing they should be kept under lock and key or... well... Swedish death metal. (I have my proclivities.) I also tried to pick a few things you might not have heard yet, so no Bowie or Sinatra on this list. Here's a little sampling of my personal best when at my personal worst:

  Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight

  So, here's the deal. If a band's good, I'm down for that. If they've got thick Scottish accents, I'm a definite fan. If they make an album like Midnight Organ Fight, they've got me hook-line-and-sinker.

  While I like The Winter of Mixed Drinks and Sing the Greys, Midnight Organ Fight is just plain brutal in terms of capturing the thisness of a breakup. When you're starting to get enthralled by the simplicity of the album, driven by those thickly laid Scottish drums, it gets to feeling right. Maybe the reason I love this album so much is because the art imitates life. It burns like cheap-ass whiskey, wretches out the sour regrets and consolations we invent to sleep at night, and finally hollows out to a real level of acceptance. The album sounds like the wrestle and little butcheries we put ourselves through to forget someone. That I can definitely appreciate.

  The Twilight Sad - "Mapped By What Surrounded Them"

  Most of the time, people look for sad love songs when they're going through a break-up. I more or less look for the right tone in the song and add extra points if the vocalist's on the brink of yelling. So, for my second offering, another band of Scots. The Twilight Sad sound a bit like their name, I suppose. They've got a touch of that shoegazy escapism in the number of layered effects and guitar fuzz over each song, which gives me some time to space and out and be with my thoughts.

  However, they've also got some great melancholic tones to their songs. They might not be the cold scrape of sadness that you get from an acoustic guitar and an impassioned singer, but they're a hollowed-out, "what's left?" minute of contemplation and - ultimately - consolation. Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen Winters is a great album altogether, I've just always particularly liked the moodiness on this track. (Sorry for the poor quality version, by the way. YouTube isn't always that generous.)

  My Bloody Valentine - "Sometimes"

  I suppose this makes more sense than it doesn't. Shoegaze, as it's known, is more or less a genre dedicated to feeling like you're poor ole Frank from 2001 - that is, floating frozen into the vast emptiness of space for eternity, or 'til the album ends. My Bloody Valentine's one of the big names from this (aging) genre, but certainly earns their rewards in terms of keeping up that feeling of letting go.

  I guess it's the Buddhist's way to break up with someone, or something like that. If you need some time to escape, I'd recommend checking My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Radio Dept., and similar acts out. (I think the whole shoegaze thing has fractured, like everything else, so the kids might use different terms. "Dream pop" - I think - is one of them.)

  Weezer - "December"

  From my undoubtedly favorite Weezer album, "December" manages to balance that old rock 'n roll feel with the meek plaintiveness of Cuomo's college rock vocals. It's simple as simple gets and won't win any awards for lyrical genius, but it's got that sad-sop tone that we're all looking for when a relationship capsizes. Personally, I'm not looking for technical mastery when my heart's broken - I'm looking for that same soothing sympathy that music's been churning out for millenniums. I like all of Maladroit, but this last track in particular stands out for its melancholy.

  Glen Hansard - "All The Way Down," "Leave"

  This wonderful little movie-musical came out a few years back called Once. While the movie itself was an impressive low-budget modern musical, the soundtrack's what really sealed the deal. Glen Hansard plays a lowly sort of guitar and has a voice that's tinged with the bitterness of wine dregs. Pretty much everyone and their mother fell in love with "Falling Slowly," but the rest of the soundtrack's a great something-something to keep yourself company on a lonely night.

  And, yes, I know he's Irish and I've already got two Scottish bands on here. Deal with it.

  What music do you listen to when you're mending a broken heart?

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