Other Lives

The first few times I listened to Rituals from Other Lives was this past Spring. I remember thinking I was listening to a more melodic and melancholy Junip or a Jose Gonzalez fronted Album Leaf, and then I remember thinking I was overthinking it because plain and simple I was just fucking loving the shit out of it.

So over the summer I didn't do much Other Lives-ing because I had somehow forgotten how fucking smitten I was with it. And besides I had perky things to listen to. I'm seasonally perky bros. 

Then came the first cloudy day of the fall. The sun is peeking out at us behind a thick swath of drab grey clouds, but instead of being overcast, it's almost like a muted slate background that makes everything existing in front of it all the more vivid. Having been stuck wearing glasses in place of my contacts because of an eye issue I've been annoyed that I have to squint everywhere because of how fucking perfect and sunny the weather has been. This brief respite from beautiful blue skies is more than appreciated, but not just to give my peepers a break, so far it's the only indication that summer's over. 

The patient intensity of Other Lives comes pretty fucking close to a tame brand of Radiohead, but the eerily whimsical swirls and dips takes the orchestration a half step into The Nightmare Before Christmas category, and it's gorgeous. 

Every time "Easy Way Out" comes on I'm somehow inspired to become the topless male Aldonza from Man of LaMancha and instead of wooing some psychologically-off tilt knight, I'm hypnotizing myself in the mirror by playing a pair of bongos that are my own tits. When music makes you feel this content and inspired, there isn't any reason to curse the skies for being anything other than what they are, and since we can't control anything but our soundtracks, believe me when I say this the perfect fall album. 

The gentle percussive sway of "2 Pyramids" is made all the more beautiful with sweet traipsing strings and a choral topping I have yet to hear, ever, in modern music. The similarities to how this album makes me feel with how Solid Gold's Bodies of Water album made me feel four or so years ago are so creepy, I can almost taste what that album did for me by jumping back into this album now that it's made its way back into my ears. 

Towards the latter half of the album, Rituals takes on an almost soberer more somber Balthazar vibe, and with the piano sounding as lusciously reverby as it does I keep catching glimpses of Julian Lennon telling me it's much too late for goodbye, but without the mullet and the "punch me" face. With orchestration that both demonstrates the beauty and intricacy of the song writing, I can't get over how classically futuristic Other Lives sound, as it's cinematic and introspective and calming and inspiring and daunting and simply put, fucking beautiful. 

This album is fucking amazing. Get this now before it gets too cold to notice the change in seasons these next few weeks.