Wake up to Nia, our oldest cat, curling up close and purring, requesting her morning pets. The sun is already bright outside promising another hard to handle hot day. But for now, right now, it is lovely outside. I make coffee and tell myself today is going to be a good day.
The news and my online feed says differently. The world is breaking my heart in so many ways, but I’m not giving up. Not on this world or on myself. Though I wouldn’t mind trading places with Nia for the day. She’s now on the highest peak of the cat tower, napping in that morning sun.
Alas, this is not my life to be a cat. So, I drink my coffee and hit play. Let the warm caffeine and music soothe me, and power me up for another day.
GIVE ME FIVE…JUNE 29, 2022
Available to listen on Spotify and YouTube
SONG 1: “GUILTY” BY LADY WRAY
“I feel empty.
My cup to cheers is alone.
You’re not with me (come on home, come on home).
When will you be coming home?”
I love the bluesy, r&b, smoky smoothness of this song. The beauty and the longing permeate each and every note and lyric. This is the first song I wanted to hear today, and its switched my inner gears a little, mellowing my anxiety slightly, turning its volume down.
If you want to hear more Lady Wray, come along with me and go HERE.
SONG 2: “MIXED FEELINGS” BY BABY STORME
“Cause I got your favorite show on & I’m cooking up spaghetti.
So you better get here fast I know you like it hot and heavy.
Yeah.”
The mood continues, with a little pop-infused into the r&b. I love the harmonies and the effects, the way the music sways. This makes me want to go out and take a drive with music playing and the windows rolled down – before the heat kicks into high gear again.
Baby Storme is a self-taught pianist who has been loving and singing/creating music in one way or another since she was 3 years old. She recently found success via her TikToks. I’m digging this song, and her track “Jackson”, too.
If you want to hear more of Baby Storme’s music, you don’t have to drive anywhere to find it. Just click HERE.
SONG 3: “ANYTHING” BY ADRIANNE LENKER
“Hanging your jeans with a clothes pin.
Skin still wet, still on my skin.
Mango in your mouth, juice dripping.
Shoulder of your shirtsleeve slipping.”
Another summer song for my collection. This one a different vibe, sultry, humid, lilting and almost hypnotizing. It’s make out in a parking lot with your first making out partner, all sweaty and overheated, but in a good way.
I’m a big fan of Big Thief, the band that Adrianne Lenker is the singer in, so I was already pretty certain I’d love her solo work. Yes, yes, I do.
Also, I just have to share this live acoustic version because it is oh my stars so good.
SONG 4: “THE LONELINESS AND THE SCREAM” BY FRIGHTENED RABBIT
“Did you hear me?
In the loneliness.
Oh the loneliness and the scream.
To prove to everyone that I exist.”
I first started listening, loving, and relating to Frightened Rabbit, in 2008, when I heard the track, “Keep Yourself Warm”. My love for their music grew even more when I first heard that song “I Wish I Was Sober”, in the pilot episode of the way to short lived series, Roadies. After that encounter, I dug in deep and devoured all their albums.
When Scott Hutchison died it stung. I’ve lost very dear people to suicide. The complicated feelings I have about it swing the gamut of complete understanding and total anger – both sides due to personal experience and perspective. I had to take a break from their music after. But, I had to come back because I love it and I get it, and I need their songs in my life.
Check-in on your friends and loved ones. Hold on to yourself, too. I know it’s hard. I struggle with it, too. But if nothing else, there is music to be here for.
If you, or anyone you know, is dealing with un-aliving thoughts and need a place to go 24/7, click HERE.
SONG 5: “MULTIPLY” BY DORA JAR
“When I lean in,
you multiply.
Got a feelin’,
you’ll be in my life,
for a long time.”
This song, and Dora Jar, remind me so much of the 90’s and the music I lived in back then. There’s something very Frente! about her voice, with a touch of Kristin Hersh/Tanya Donelly era Throwing Muses (especially that last guitar bit).
It blows in a little nostalgia while wrapping around me in the now. This is another song I want to go out driving and listening to.
To hear more Dora Jar, head on over HERE.
