“Where words fail, music speaks.”
~ Hans Christian Andersen
Growing up through my twenties I mostly listened to one band over and over again. That band was headed by a guy called Conor Oberst; the band name was Bright Eyes.
A lot of people considered this “emo” music because he was indeed very emotive, but he was different from the emo genre in a big way: He was uplifting. There was hope in his music. Not to mention he’d been called this generation’s Bob Dylan because of how great a songwriter he is.
Here’s one example out of pretty much any song I could choose:
“The Bible’s blind, the Torah’s deaf, the Qu’ran is mute
If you burned them all together, you’d get close to the truth
Still they’re pouring over Sanskrit under Ivy Ieague moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun”
Beautiful right? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Or maybe this one:
“ I had a lengthy discussion about The Power of Myth
With a post-modern author who didn’t exist
In this fictitious world all reality twists
I was a hopeless romantic, now I’m just turning tricks”
Like, what the fuck. How good is this guy? And those are just the first two that popped into my head out of the thousands I could have chosen.
There used to be a facebook group called “Conor Oberst has more talent in his little finger than I do in my entire body.” There was also one called “Conor Oberst is my boyfriend”. I joined both. Actually, I did more than that — I wore a shirt with “Conor Oberst is my boyfriend” on it to a festival once. It got mixed reviews.
And sure, his voice was often quivering, he often sung like he was scared to sing, but that’s part of what touched me so deeply about him; his vulnerability and his rawness. And even though a lot of other people found him depressing, I didn’t. I saw past the quivering fragility and saw the fervent spirit inside him. The same goes for Leonard Cohen. Yeah, it’s sometimes sad music, but it’s the beautiful kind of sad. Not just sad for sad’s sake, but sad for honesty’s sake.
I heard about a study on death metal music recently. I’ve never been a fan of death metal at all; I couldn’t understand how people could enjoy listening to that type of music, but apparently they do. All I hear is rage and darkness, and I don’t want to feel that. But the fascinating thing about this study was that people who reported liking death metal said they didn’t feel anger or darkness when listening to it — they felt peace and joy.
Peace and joy while listening to someone scream like the devil? Apparently so.
And, contrary to what a lot of people claim, listening to death metal doesn’t make you more prone to violence.
Here’s a link to the audio discussion on this: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/the-curious-joy-of-death-metal-music/10514754
I guess this is what we love about music. It evokes emotions in us that are otherwise unexpressed. And music is a very healthy way to do that. So I’m not against death metal or its fans, because I now understand where it’s coming from — it’s coming from a place of truth for them.
But it’s easy to get trapped. It’s easy to just have one type of music you listen to that you listen to all the time even when it’s not really what you’re feeling inside. I’m sure death metal fans don’t want to hear the devil’s voice every minute of the day, just like I don’t want to hear Conor Oberst’s voice every minute of the day. Sometimes I actually much prefer silence to music. It changes all the time. And so should our music — so it accurately reflects what we’re feeling in that moment, and so we don’t get stuck in a set pattern of feeling because we just always happen to have the same playlist on repeat.
This is why I have now broadly expanded the types of music I listen to. I’m still not a fan of death metal, but I now appreciate where it’s coming from. And my musical tastes over the years have now expanded tremendously. It used to be just sad, beautiful songwriters. Now it’s everything from Rudimental, to Kali Uchis, even to some chill EDM. (Okay, I guess my taste hasn’t changed THAT much. But it’s still constantly expanding).
My point with this article is that, because music has such a powerful influence on our emotional states, I think we should try and be more conscious of those emotional states when we’re listening to music (or when we’re in silence), so that we’re not reinforcing an emotion we don’t want, but we’re also not avoiding an emotion that is there and needs to be expressed, lest it comes out in unhealthy ways.
As John Cusack’s character said in the movie “High Fidelity” (yes yes I know it was a book first blah blah I’ve even read it so bite me) — “Did I listen to pop music because I was depressed, or was I depressed because I listened to pop music?”
I think the answer is a little bit of both, John. My advice is: Listen to what speaks to your soul, whatever that is, at any point, but don’t get stuck there because you just always put on the same type of music.
Which brings me to the main topic of the article: high vibrational music. I’m now on the look-out for music that’s positive and inspiring that matches where I am at in my life right now. There are a few I’ve found: The self-titled Radnor and Lee album which is so good I made a whole post on to itself (link here:
https://theostrichandtheelephant.com/the-best-spiritual-album-i-have-ever-heard/ ), Rudimental, and a few tracks here and there that I really resonate with. An album called Known Odyssey I’ve also liked, which is a bit more new-agey but I’m beginning to appreciate that type of music more too, and it has some beautiful piano compositions. I’m still only on the beginning of the journey in finding high vibrational music though, so if you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments and I will check them out. Thanks!
But I think it’s also important to remember, with all this talk of sound and music… as someone has probably said once, silence itself is the most powerful sound you’ll never hear.
Or, as in The Simpsons when Lisa is at a jazz bar and the patron next to her says: Ugh, sounds like she’s hitting a baby with a cat.
And Lisa says: You have to listen to the notes she’s not playing.
The patron: Pfft, I could do that at home.
Thanks for reading,
In love and light!
Will.
For more stories like this, including mental health, extraterrestrials, and spirituality, please subscribe to my blog, follow my Facebook page “The Ostrich and the Elephant”, or find me on Twitter @willkenway, Medium @willkenway, or Instagram @will.kenway. Thanks!