The Soundtrack of My Life...


There are usually three songs in my head. It's not to be helped. That's just the way it is. One is usually just a poppy piece of fluff, playing on rotation because it's catchy - no other reason. The other two usually have relevance to whatever is going on in my life. I've got a constant score underpinning each of my movements; every major event, every mundane train ride.

It also means I have this absolutely ravenous appetite for new music; once I've associated a bit of melody with something in particular, it's ruined for me, it belongs to a certain point in time and I've got to move on, the song is retired from my mental play list - revived only for a nostalgic reprise.

As a result, I'm constantly absorbing new songs to satiate my soundtrack. My consumption of music can be outrightly gluttonous; I'll down entire albums without stopping to breathe - memorizing every lyric and nuanced guitar note as I go along.

So late late last night I opened my mailbox and found a birthday package from my friend Dianne. Contents: Card & two (2!!) CDs. I was ecstatic. I immediately unwrapped and loaded the first, A Fine Frenzy's One Cell in the Sea, into my computer.

Just from the look of the Fine Frenzy girl, I liked her right away. She had fiery red hair of the colour mine had been a few years ago, and her style was that of my ideal-self.

Not far into my first-listen, I paused. Was she saying what I thought she was? Yes. Looking at the liner notes - yes. The words too-perfect. The lyrics too-applicable.

Incredible. Truly. (I swear, Dianne has this uncanny sixth-sense unintentional knack for giving me all-too-appropriate albums to reflect my current circumstances. How does she do it??)

I encourage you all to also check out Ms. Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy. Perhaps One Cell in the Sea is nothing like the soundtrack for your life, but it's beautiful and slightly melancholy in a way I think we can all relate.

As for me, I've already committed the whole of the album to memory. It will be playing in my head all week.

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