For years, the song Fantastika by Mumiy Troll has been synonymous with spring for me. Every time, no matter how bad I am feeling, I put it on and there’s immediately a smile on my face. I love how the lyrics fit around the melody, sometimes barely so, as if crafted to keep you on your toes with unpredictable rhymes. Even though the song is about finding love and “staying together for centuries to come”, I sometimes like to imagine that it’s about life: look, it’s not a vision, and there’s so much you can do with it… And then the violin solo hits – that, right there, is the moment where you feel like you’re flying high above the ground. It almost smells like melting snow in that first shy burst of sunlight on a March morning. How can you capture the feeling so precisely? And yet there it is.
I’d say there’s a whole category of spring artists, just in the way their songs feel – like awakening from hibernation, like a new beginning. Just like Lillies by Sirotkin! This track was on my playlist in the spring of 2019 (how is that four years ago?), and since then has carefully preserved the most vivid memories of that time. Play it any season and, even with my eyes open, I can sense the warmth of long-gone April sun, soft wind, and excitement of rushing on one of my first dates.
Lyrics aside, I find that Syd Matter’s To All of You gives me a spring-ish feel like no other song. Be it because I happened to find it in spring or because it’s the opening soundtrack to Life Is Strange, this tune gives me a sense of awakening, a new chapter – motifs that go so perfectly in line with spring. It has such a mellow, gentle instrumental – and voice, too – that help usher in the beginning of the new season with the right vibe.
Maybe I’m just being extra cranky, but something tells me this year’s spring won’t be as rejuvenating as we all want it to be. The new normal doesn’t feel normal at all. I just hope that it will be better than the mess that was last year’s spring. So, Fire Escape in the Sea by Sea Power seems fitting. Ever since I first heard it on the Disco Elysium soundtrack, this song has been my go-to for when I feel lost. Hoping for what comes next in spite of how tired you are – isn’t that what spring is all about?
