Today i Realized I Could Go Home, Backwards.
( I was recently asked to write an article on Irish music by the newly launched, Dublin based magazine Tabitha (Art, Fashion & Music) …
so i did, here it is…)
Today i Realized I Could Go Home, Backwards.
By Sarah O’Neill (Folie à Deux)
Moving. One of the most ridiculously stressful, heartbreaking and utterly infuritating things you can do. A destruction and reinvention of your own making. Insanity.
Well, last month, that was me. The girl packing her entire, rather haphazard, life into neat little boxes to move across the country. I would, rather over-dramatically (as would be my custom), describe it as a total nightmare, and the few months that preceded it were equally as tumultuous. Moving is all things at once. Making decisions by virtue of doing nothing, and then throwing everything into rapid motion, almost by accident. I didn’t expect it to be as easy, or as difficult. And the whole damn time, it was like there was an inescapable soundtrack playing, a musical accompaniment to each erratic emotion, unexpected complication, and difficult decision. Life and music, inextricably linked, as ever, is perhaps more poignant at times like this. For me, it’s Irish music, local music, fucking amazing music. This is just a small snapshot of a relative “moment” in time of my life; this is what it sounded like:
Analysis Paralysis : We Cut Corners - “Go Easy” (Today i Realized i Could Go Home Backwards)
We Cut Corners sing the words I wished I could find. Especially when ensconced in a world of eternal options. This song’s stunningly honed lyrics are sung and harmonized in heartbreaking, cracked voices, backed up by building guitar and drum arrangements. A lament to the world to cut you a break, give you a moment and just “Go Easy”; to let you breathe.
Infuriating Frustration : Kid Karate “Heart” (Heart E.P.)
Angst ridden vocals, rough distorted guitars, pervasive thudding drumming and light touch synth melody. For when I need to scream and kick and get it all out. It happened a lot; this song was often its complement. Perfection.
Eternally Erratic : We Arrive Alive “Walls” (Walls)
Creating elaborate instrumental soundscapes , these guys capture a million emotions within their songs and run you down the gauntlet of them all… without a single word. They were the proverbial mirror to the series of capricious moods that seemed never ending when my life was in such flux.
Stress Induced Insomnia : Funeral Suits - “Florida” (Now We’re Moving, Now We’re Free)
Poignant lyrics sit in harmony with strings, guitars and synth sounds that sway and grow into rolling soundscapes that seem to reflect the utter inescapability of insomnia; I’ve found myself reaching for The Funeral Suits when seeing in far too many 5 a.m.’s : “Fly there, i know, I only see you when you’re no where to be found”.
Delirium : Le Galaxie “Midnight, Midnight” (Laserdisc Nights II)
When shit needs to happen, this is your band. They belt out 80’s inspired, synth laden tunes like this one with a ferocity that leaves you no choice but to get up, and go hard. Without songs like this one, I’m not sure if I would have gotten out the door at times.
Emotional Contagion : Sleep Thieves : “Do it the Hard Way” (Heart Waves)
For me, this beautifully electro-feulled, synth-riddled melody is the perfect backdrop to, or maybe catalyst for, a bit of peace of mind. Company for, or possibly an escape from, a messy head : “Its O.K. Do it the hard way. We’ll never learn. We’ll follow our own path”.
Getting the Hell Outta Dodge : The Cast of Cheers : “Tip the Can” (Chariot)
Heart thumping, unstoppable getaway music. I’d drive too fast and ignore the ache of leaving what was my life behind, and somehow, when I arrived at what was to be my new life, it was O.K. I don’t think i expected that.
Heartbreaking? Sometimes, but NO REGRETS.
Sarah O’Neill
(Links to all the tracks i mention above can be heard by clicking song titles and Tabitha magazine can be read online
here )
