Ohbijou, “Steep” (Swift Feet for Troubling Times, 2006)
Fanfarlo, “I’m a Pilot” (Reservoir, 2009)
If today’s theme seems a little abstract, it’s partly because I still haven’t got a firm grasp on what either of these songs is about. They do have their share of clear similarities: a swaying six-eight feel; deep, resonant piano tones; pixieish plinking upon glockenspiels; “Penny Lane”-like trumpet calls; and lyrics that hint, ever so obliquely, at transcending one’s reality and rising to something greater. But in my mind, they are linked more by the feeling they inspire than by anything concrete.
Wrote Chuck Klosterman once, back when the iPod was just starting to really catch on, “Suddenly, everyone can make a soundtrack for every moment in his or her day. The iPod is the perfect device for anyone who wants to pretend that life is just a movie, and that they’re the main character.” I’ve written about particularly cinematic songs here before, but none so adept at making one feel like one’s life is a movie. Even the most cynical among us have their moments of spontaneous rapture, those times when you’re riding the subway on a summer night in New York with your headphones on, and the train has just gone above ground, and you pass something significant like the Kentile Floors sign or Chinatown or the East River, and some wonderful song just happens to pop up on shuffle—and you don’t even know why, but your heart fills up and you feel like you could die right then and be happy. “Steep” and “I’m a Pilot” are two of the most splendid things to have in your ears when you’re feeling dramatic, and when singers Casey Mejica (of Ohbijou) and Simon Balthazar (of Fanfarlo) let their voices break over the triumphant crescendoes, one wonders if they knew all along the breathless reverie they would kindle in their listeners.
