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Thursday, August 26, 2010
Sweden Stories (part one): Songs and Sunrises
We rode the train from Stockholm up to Ostersund City, the site of Tomas and Cecilia's wedding extravaganza. Stockholm is on the bottom of the country and Ostersund is in the middle, and the train ride was roughly seven hours. We departed just before midnight and arrived early the next morning. We grabbed our seats, our barely reclinable,fairly uncomfortable seats, after an uncertain thirty minutes waiting on the platform, wondering if we had somehow made a mistake and missed our train.
We sat in our seats, trying to relax and prepare ourselves for the journey ahead. We got our books out and our ipods and our water and then sat in that awkward silence you always find sitting on a train with its engine turned off. Everybody around us sat in the same silence. We talked in that hushed whisper you always seem to use in these social situations. A dude sat across from me, in the seats across the aisle, looked kind of like Iggy Pop, and Nic, a bit louder than she had intended, whispered to Ryan, "Hey,that guy looks like Iggy Pops brother." I'm not sure if the dude heard her, but I heard her and I tried laughing as quietly as I could.
The light on the train was murky and strange. The interior of the car had a vaguely 1970's kind of look going on. Still a far cry from the trains running from Budapest to Greece though. I can tell you that.
Once we set off, we all tried to relax and stretch out a bit. Books were read, little conversations were had, windows were stared out of, eventually Ryan and Nic closed their eyes and tried to sleep. I'm terrible for sleeping on trains, or planes or cars and though I have less experience on them, I'd imagine boats too. So I read for a bit longer and stared out a bit more. Then I turned to my i-pod Clarence the second. The recently and tragically deceased Clarence the Second.
I put on my headphones and searched for music that would be appropriate for an overnight train journey through the Swedish countryside,such as the one I was on. I was feeling something quiet. Something soundscapey, if that's a word? Something beautiful. Maybe something melancholy.
Very quickly I was drawn to a few albums to which I am always drawn when on long quiet beautiful journeys and a few new records as well.
For the next six or seven hours this is what I listened to, not necessarily in this order:
- All three discs of Joanna Newsoms newest record Have One On Me, and Joanna Newsoms previous record Ys.
- Explosions In The Sky's albums All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, and The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place.
- Mum's albums Finally We Are No One, Yesterday was Dramatic Today Is Okay, and Summer Make Good.
- Arvo Part's beautiful album Alina.
- Brian Eno's album Music For Airports.
- Manitoba's debut record Start Breaking My Heart
- Boards of Canada's album Twoism.
Now I realize that's roughly ten hours of music I've claimed on a seven hour train ride. So I must have skipped a bit here and there, though I have no recollection of doing so. I also feel like I've left out a few things that escape my memory. Who knows, maybe this was a magic train journey, where having become so enraptured with the stunning natural beauty of the Swedish countryside, seven hours turned into twelve!
This time of the year in Sweden, the sun never really sets. In Stockholm it got to a kind of dark dusk for three or four hours before brightening again. When you walked out of a club at 3am you found yourself standing in a weird half light, and sleepiness abandoned you and you just wanted to keep going. Maybe run down the main street kicking garbage cans and ringing door bells. Maybe try and run over a construction site like you were on the Japanese game show Ninja Warrior. And maybe Ryan would slip and hurt his ankle. Or maybe not.
Ostersund being much farther north, the night stayed even brighter. This made the last half of the journey to Ostersund kind of strange. I remember sitting looking out the window, with the new Joanna Newsom record on my headphones, as the sunrise began somewhere around 2 or 3am and it seemed to sit just on the horizon,clinging to the side of the earth, for the rest of the journey. I remember listening to the uplifting crashing drums of Explosions In The Sky as the sky carried the same light in it hours later. A never ending sunrise. Everything bathed in deep reds and oranges and yellows. The trees and forests and fields of Sweden silhouetted against an always rising sun. It was something to behold.
Suggested listening for anyone riding the overnight train from Stockholm to Ostersund:
1.) Mum - Finally We Are No One. Yesterday Was Dramatic Today Is Okay. Summer Make Good.
2.) Brian Eno - Music For Airports. Thursday Afternoon.
3.) Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Suddenly I Miss Everyone.
4.) Arvo Part - Alina
5.) Joanna Newsom - Ys. Have One On Me.
6.) Boards of Canada - Twoism. Hi-Scores.
7.) Manitoba - Start breaking My Heart.
8.) Caribou (formerly Manitoba) - Swim.
I would suggest though, if you do happen to find yourself sat across from a gentleman who may or may not be Iggy Pop's brother, that you tell your friends discretely. Then sit back and enjoy the great hair, tight jean, weathered face combination.
We sat in our seats, trying to relax and prepare ourselves for the journey ahead. We got our books out and our ipods and our water and then sat in that awkward silence you always find sitting on a train with its engine turned off. Everybody around us sat in the same silence. We talked in that hushed whisper you always seem to use in these social situations. A dude sat across from me, in the seats across the aisle, looked kind of like Iggy Pop, and Nic, a bit louder than she had intended, whispered to Ryan, "Hey,that guy looks like Iggy Pops brother." I'm not sure if the dude heard her, but I heard her and I tried laughing as quietly as I could.
The light on the train was murky and strange. The interior of the car had a vaguely 1970's kind of look going on. Still a far cry from the trains running from Budapest to Greece though. I can tell you that.
Once we set off, we all tried to relax and stretch out a bit. Books were read, little conversations were had, windows were stared out of, eventually Ryan and Nic closed their eyes and tried to sleep. I'm terrible for sleeping on trains, or planes or cars and though I have less experience on them, I'd imagine boats too. So I read for a bit longer and stared out a bit more. Then I turned to my i-pod Clarence the second. The recently and tragically deceased Clarence the Second.
I put on my headphones and searched for music that would be appropriate for an overnight train journey through the Swedish countryside,such as the one I was on. I was feeling something quiet. Something soundscapey, if that's a word? Something beautiful. Maybe something melancholy.
Very quickly I was drawn to a few albums to which I am always drawn when on long quiet beautiful journeys and a few new records as well.
For the next six or seven hours this is what I listened to, not necessarily in this order:
- All three discs of Joanna Newsoms newest record Have One On Me, and Joanna Newsoms previous record Ys.
- Explosions In The Sky's albums All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, and The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place.
- Mum's albums Finally We Are No One, Yesterday was Dramatic Today Is Okay, and Summer Make Good.
- Arvo Part's beautiful album Alina.
- Brian Eno's album Music For Airports.
- Manitoba's debut record Start Breaking My Heart
- Boards of Canada's album Twoism.
Now I realize that's roughly ten hours of music I've claimed on a seven hour train ride. So I must have skipped a bit here and there, though I have no recollection of doing so. I also feel like I've left out a few things that escape my memory. Who knows, maybe this was a magic train journey, where having become so enraptured with the stunning natural beauty of the Swedish countryside, seven hours turned into twelve!
This time of the year in Sweden, the sun never really sets. In Stockholm it got to a kind of dark dusk for three or four hours before brightening again. When you walked out of a club at 3am you found yourself standing in a weird half light, and sleepiness abandoned you and you just wanted to keep going. Maybe run down the main street kicking garbage cans and ringing door bells. Maybe try and run over a construction site like you were on the Japanese game show Ninja Warrior. And maybe Ryan would slip and hurt his ankle. Or maybe not.
Ostersund being much farther north, the night stayed even brighter. This made the last half of the journey to Ostersund kind of strange. I remember sitting looking out the window, with the new Joanna Newsom record on my headphones, as the sunrise began somewhere around 2 or 3am and it seemed to sit just on the horizon,clinging to the side of the earth, for the rest of the journey. I remember listening to the uplifting crashing drums of Explosions In The Sky as the sky carried the same light in it hours later. A never ending sunrise. Everything bathed in deep reds and oranges and yellows. The trees and forests and fields of Sweden silhouetted against an always rising sun. It was something to behold.
Suggested listening for anyone riding the overnight train from Stockholm to Ostersund:
1.) Mum - Finally We Are No One. Yesterday Was Dramatic Today Is Okay. Summer Make Good.
2.) Brian Eno - Music For Airports. Thursday Afternoon.
3.) Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Suddenly I Miss Everyone.
4.) Arvo Part - Alina
5.) Joanna Newsom - Ys. Have One On Me.
6.) Boards of Canada - Twoism. Hi-Scores.
7.) Manitoba - Start breaking My Heart.
8.) Caribou (formerly Manitoba) - Swim.
I would suggest though, if you do happen to find yourself sat across from a gentleman who may or may not be Iggy Pop's brother, that you tell your friends discretely. Then sit back and enjoy the great hair, tight jean, weathered face combination.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
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