Musical Stream of Conscious
Dear Iron and Wine,
Vis a vis your cover of The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights,” I’d like to say that, I get it. When you strip away the (albeit magnificent) electronic(a) going on in the background of the original, your acoustic version cuts closer to the heart … it has fewer things to get in the way as it slices into one’s inner sanctum. And yes, I know you guys licensed the song to Mars, Inc. for an M&M commercial, and you know what? That’s ok. Fine by me. The song is still great, even with the goofy kaleidescopic imagery that goes along with it in the commercial (which, in and of itself is not bad; the constrast between music and video is striking). In fact, that delectable clip on the commercial is what reminded me again of your cover, which I had only given 10 seconds of playing time in the past. The track of which I speak is spinning right now: I think I understand what you were thinking when you sang this, and what Ben Gibbard of the Postal Service was thinking when he, surely in a moment of inspired poetry, penned the words.
Also, I am sure you are proud to have Dntel in your company, as musicians who work closely with Mr. Gibbard on the scene. Incidentally, Dntel is responsible for a truly magnificent song called “Umbrella.” (Listen to it On Amazon.com, though the sample doesn’t quite do it justice). Anyhow, I’d like to thank you all for writing music that blows one’s socks off, but only if one lets it. Incidentally, are you aware of this little factoid about Dntel?
Dntel is pronounced din-tell. Tamborello admitted that the name was not intended to mean anything. When asked to create a meaning for it, he quoted it as a shortened version of “Don’t Tell.” He admits that this meaning is a bit of a stretch.
And that’s where I end my letter. Poor Iron and Wine, they will never receive it. Anyhow, I was just thinking how much I would like to play like the pianist Benny Green. His pure technical skill has been described as “busy,” though I hear it as an intesely focussed jazz attack. Plus, he certainly is capable of slower ballads. All in all, his command of jazz styles is quite breathtaking. Care for a musical sample? “No, thanks,” I hear you say. Well, you’re in luck because the album “The Place to Be” of which I speak is massively out of print and audio samples are available absolutely nowhere … but here’s a rather entertaining link where you can buy the CD for nigh seventy-five crappin’ dollars.
Comments
Dan McKeown
haha, well done with the "nigh seventy-five crappin' dollars" because just saying $75 would not have had the same impact
Nils
I think Iron and Wine is decent, but sometimes they're just so mellow and laid back that I get jittery and impatient, like the feeling you get after drinking too much coffee because you're writing the same paper that you've been writing for the past 5 days straight without doing anything else and you're really low on sleep and you want to stay up late and finish the damn thing but it just takes so damn long to write it because it's in a different language and it also happens to be the longest paper of your life and it's on a topic you really don't care that much about and everyone else seems to have an easier topic because they're all done with the paper and are doing cool things because it's Easter break as soon as we finish this paper and I am stuck inside drinking lots of coffee and staying up really late writing a fricken paper that i dont even want to write and its the longest paper in my life and its in a different language and its taking too long and i just sdakfljsnrgfo;iuthgoien;laksrnk;lajkadnfaasf;fn.
Ok, I am going to go now.