Melodies for a Case of the Mondays

© Hannah Sears

Listen now, thank me later

The Lumineers – Big Parade

Matt Corby – Untitled

Bastille – Of the Night

Jamestown Revival – Paradise

Are You Going to Age With Grace?

The only thing better than one of your favorite bands coming out with an official music video for one of your favorite songs is having an actress from one of your favorite TV shows star in it. Do you understand that there are a lot of favorite things in this video?

I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I’m not not quite sure

Chuck Close said that “Inspiration is for amateurs” but I’d like to disagree. I can see how inspiration can easily become just another excuse, or a crutch, but I find it helpful rather than harmful.

I find two things inspire me easily. One is photography–whether I’m taking photos or just looking at them, there’s something about looking at interesting or intriguing pictures that kickstarts something in me. It’s the beginning of my first real winter here as a new New Englander and I can’t even handle how gorgeous freshly fallen snow is in a city like Boston. It makes me feel. I took a long walk in the snow (my first snow here!) and took pictures until my phone died. I’d left my headphones at a friend’s place so it was just me and that peculiar silence that snow settles on a city. 

As hinted above, I’m rarely without my headphones. I spend a lot of time listening to music. It always gets my brain moving–even if I’m just thinking or remembering or, hell, crying. In case anyone else is in an inspiration desert (not that deserts can’t be inspiring but…cut me some slack here), I’m going to post my current “playlist” as it were. 

Bastille – (Technically the whole Bad Blood Album) Pompeii

Bastille – Flaws

Bastille – Daniel in the Den

The Ballroom Thieves – Wait for the Water

The Ballroom Thieves – Delia

The Ballroom Thieves – Save Me

Joshua James – Crash This Train

All Good Things – Invincible 

Twin Forks – Back To You

Greg Laswell – Comes and Goes (in Waves)

Snow Patrol – This Isn’t Everything You Are

 

*Disclaimer I have not watched most of the videos linked here so apologies if (a) the quality isn’t great or (b) there’s anything inappropriate

Tenderly Turned to Dust

original photo here

         Black cloaks broke free from the darkness, skimmed across the moonlit snow—darkness made corporeal. Through the silent night, they heard the singing. Each swearing in their hearts by all that was holy—and all that was not. The song was one they all knew, whispered over the heads of sleeping children to send them off safely into their dreams.
         Accusations of blasphemy fell from several lips, to mix with the scent of pitch. The single lantern was shuttered, protecting the small flame from darkness and the mob from discovery. The little cabin was dark except for the faint glow of firelight; it lit the snow outside crimson and orange and threw the shadows of those inside into leaping giants.
         “Hush, my darling one.” the young woman inside brushed the fair hair back from the red, scrunched face of the restless infant.
         She could hear the footsteps crunching through the coating of frost, the hammering of hate-filled hearts, the burning blood of misplaced vengeance. She knew they would come. The symbol scratched on her door, the whispers in the town streets where the black mud crept through the white frosting of pure snow like disease through healthy flesh. She began to hum again until the little one’s face smoothed and the feathery eyelashes floated down to rest on apple-round cheeks. The child did not rouse when she brushed a long finger over the soft forehead, the downy face.
         There was a thump and a hiss as the first torch flew through the air, a comet of ill will. It fizzled out in the snow, but was soon followed by a rain of flaming brands. One landed on the roof and found thatch. It kindled, caught. The hooded cloaks fell away from their faces, contorted in glee. Their eyes lit with the red blaze of fervor, mirroring the writhing flames. The thatch crackled and crisped, the homey sound of a hearth-fire on a snowy evening. The roof crumbled in a shower of sparks that rose and mingled with the cold stars, immovable witnesses. As the little house disappeared in the tongues of flame and blazed hot, the attackers drew back from the leaping fire, watching as everything within was consumed. They heard no more singing.
         The sun rose over the smoking ruin and brought with it a chill wind that blew the dead leaves and drifts of snow over the bare black bones of beams and walls. The men and women that observed the wreckage no longer wore their cloaks and the pale dawn sun bleached their faces bone white. The swirling eddies of snow curled around the smoldering embers, quieting them into coals. The light-fingered wind blew, and brushed away the footprints that led away into the silent, black woods.

Bastille Day Came Early…

I can’t believe I live in this wonderful, beautiful, magical city. I got the chance via a friend to see the band Bastille play today–for free–at a secret event that was invite only. I was VERY late to the Bastille discovery…as in I learned most of their songs today after purchasing their amazing album and playing it on repeat. So why this post? In part because I just finished watching the 2005 Pride and Prejudice (I’m not giving my opinions here) and the phrase “perfectly and incandescently happy” is used. That’s what today was. An incandescently happy day.

© Vers Les Etoiles