DARKENINGS
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.


 

Image by Paul Rumsey


Ji Nilsson ft Marlene - "Love You Anyway". A choreography of winking lights, shadows convinced to dance. Marlene has a pleasant song to sing; she stands at a microphone in a modern studio, with a snack machine in the hall, trying to ignore the guests. Those winking lights, those dancing shadows, they do not chit-chat. They slink from corner to corner, duck her gaze. She knows she's safe; it's just light. It's just light, she says to herself after the first take. And yet she longs for a break in the session, an exit, a window to look out into the street. What season is it? she asks herself. I've forgotten.

[soundcloud / Thanks Michelle.]


The Boys Next Door - "Shivers". They got into a fight at the jewellery store. "This is such a stupid fight," he said. "Can we just end it? Can we just agree to end it?" She said yes, but they didn't. It was about a charm, a pewter charm, for a charm bracelet. It was a lighthouse. He had offered to get it for her.
      "A lighthouse?" she said, incredulous.
      "It's romantic," he said.
      "It's the opposite of romantic," she replied.
      He didn't understand: "It's searching for love. For true love."
      "Exactly. It's searching. It hasn't found it."
      "But it will find it."
      "How do you know?"
      "Think of a lighthouse. A warm beacon. A light in the night."
      "Endlessly searching, alone on a cliff."
      "It's not alone. It's beloved."
      "It's alone."
      "It's not. You're like my lighthouse. I'm like your lighthouse."
      "I'm not a lighthouse. You might be a lighthouse but I'm not a fucking lighthouse."
      He imagined it hanging from her wrist, suspended in a chain around her neck. He imagined it so clearly - her, the charm, the fleeing ray of blinding light.

[The Boys Next Door are The Birthday Party / buy]


(image by Paul Rumsey)

Posted by Sean at December 11, 2014 11:20 AM
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about said the gramophone
This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.

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"And I shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and I will never grow so old again."
about the authors
Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.

Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.

Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.

Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.

Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet.
PAST AUTHORS
Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.

Jordan Himelfarb wrote for Said the Gramophone from November 2004 to March 2012. He lives in Toronto. He is an opinion editor at the Toronto Star. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
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