Elizaveta – Dancing Queen by ABBA
August was the first month that remotely reminded me of life we used to have before – emotional, eventful, and social. And here came long-awaited parties, one of those you think you can dance all night, but get tired by 1 am. To my surprise, a four-month seclusion in a music bubble of comforting and personal songs made me kind of indifferent to dancing to loud beats and sharp rhythms. Looking for something mutual and moving, my friends and I turned our heads to eternal classics – ABBA’s songs.
This Swedish band became a disco legend in the 1970s and remains so today. Their cheerful vibe makes you wear flared pants, put a glitter on your face, and sing along as loud as possible. You can’t help but fall in love with their sincere and light lyrics, which at some point it turns out you occasionally know. My personal favorite by now is Dancing Queen, a total energizer spreading its optimistic mood wherever the sound of music is heard. Enjoying this song in your friends’ company is a great way to shake off gloomy thoughts and feel young and beautiful even if you’re not 17 anymore.
Marina – Be nice to me by The Front Bottoms
Scrolling through my playlist got me thinking that this month was definitely a comeback of the good old days of rock and indie melancholy. Well, fall is just around the corner, and what comes better with gloomy days, sweater weather, and hot beverages? Be nice to me is for the people that need a little sonic hug (or slap?). You will probably have a love/hate relationship with this one – just like me. It moves you, gives you a chill, and gets under your skin. I love the metaphors, the upbeat tune, and how the lyrics are accompanied by similar sounds (that werewolf howl he does – mmmm). It seems like a breakdown turned into lyrics. One more happy sounding song with a deep meaning for your playlist – for pacing the streets deep in thought.
Kseniia – Seasons in the Sun by Spell
Spell was a project by Boyd Rice and Rose McDowall, two great macabre artists. Together they released only one album, Seasons In The Sun (1993). It’s filled with cover versions of love songs from previous decades. On first listen, they may sound as mellow as the original versions, but Spell actually changed some of the lyrics to make them gloomier. It makes sense to me, considering the way ‘60s romance was short-lived and wasn’t really relevant by the ‘90s. So there’s that – a mixture of light and darkness.
Catherine – Arms by The Paper Kites
As per usual, August was full of various tunes – mostly thanks to Jacob Collier’s fresh Djesse Vol. 3, a whole universe of bops and songs to jam to. But I feel like those don’t have a season imprinted on them, it would be good to listen to them anytime. To commemorate this only normal month of summer, I will name Arms by The Paper Kites as the song of these last 28 (but, well, almost 31) days. It never fails to take me back to one exceptionally warm and sunny day, when I was sitting at my desk basking in the sun and watching the clouds, occasionally tearing up after putting this song on repeat. Farewell, summer!
Ethan – Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police
There are a few songs that have been my favorite since I can remember, I have memories of listening to this song while my dad drove with me through the long highways in Atlanta when I was six, but this type of songs belong to that category where age helps you dive deeper into the meaning of it and therefore appreciate it even more. Wrapped Around Your Finger is the second single from the Police's 1983 album Synchronicity. The name of the album by itself has a deeper meaning by referencing a term created by analytical psychologist Carl Jung. Synchronicity holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related.
The song flows through whimsical arrangements accompanied by verses with mythological and literary references such as the Greek derived idiom between Scylla and Charybdis and the German legend of Faust, mentioning Mephistopheles. The song is essentially an inversion of positions of power through the alchemical relationship between the apprentice and the master. The beginning of the song evokes a more somber ambience but as the story is told it elevates into a triumphant note.
As the song flows through the story of the apprentice turning into the master as he turns the tables around, I can’t avoid feeling a sensation of meaning and struggle through the process of becoming something greater than what you are.
At the end and musical climax of the song, the hard work is paid off and this part always gives me chills and a sensation of awe. That moment when he is able to overcome and even avoid nature and the hegemonic devil is the moment when the tables turn and the process is complete. The character does not only change his outerworld but also his innerworld which makes him become gold in a metaphorical way. The Fool always precedes the master:
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air you'll never find me
I will turn your flesh to alabaster
When you find your servant is your master
And you'll be wrapped around my finger.
