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April 24, 2006
Exit, pursued by bear Mushaboom
I make sure to keep a fresh AA battery on hand for those times when I need to power up the noise-canceling function of my headphones. When you work on a cubicle farm, plenty of distractions stand between you and the completion of your appointed rounds; ringing phones, water cooler talk (though we're yards away from the agua fría), the sniffles, hacks and sneezes of Cold Season.
To build up my zone of productivity, I usually tune in an ambient Web radio station from iTunes. Ambient isn't a favorite mode, but the lack of lyrics frees my mind to focus on more relevant tasks. A ditty with words slipped past several days ago, pulling me off-task and into the music. Artist info was scant, indicating a person or persons known simply as "Feist."
This would be Canadian singer Leslie Feist. According to her publicist, she toured with hard-charging rock bands until she blew out her voice a few years back. While resting her pipes, Ms. Feist taught herself to play guitar and developed a new vocal style.
How to describe her sound? Imagine if Blossom Dearie was 30 years old and wanted to rock out, cover a Bee Gees tune and toss in some bossa nova. And what if it made you wistful for the future, without ever treading into Lilith Fair territory? Now, that would be something.
For reasons completely obvious to me, I'm stuck on the terribly poppy and optimistic "Mushaboom." I hate to be pegged by a song, but it sort of sums up where I'm at these days. Substitute "rain" for "snow," flip-flop the genders, and there you have it.
It's rather unlike me to think about the future with anything besides dread or resignation, but I'm definitely peeking around corners.
Posted by Your Protagonist at April 24, 2006 04:16 PM