Sounds Like Old Times

They say smell is the sense most tied to memory, which may be true, but I don't have an iPod or photo album full of smells to take me back to those good old times. Songs will often invoke vivid memories for me, like snapshots, invariably related to driving and/or weather. Albums recall entire vacations, or places, or activities - like cramming for finals to "Automatic For The People", or writing my thesis to "Kid A", or driving to/from Sobeys nightshift to "Girlfriend"...

Broken Social Scene "You Forgot It In People", Gorillaz "Demon Days" and Feist "Let It Die" -- this was our honeymoon spent driving around Calgary, Yoho, Banff and Jasper in our sweet, gigantic, rented, gas-guzzling SUV, with heated leather seats; the only way to travel in Alberta (what a sentence!). The extravagance. The bright sun on the mountains. The extra-wide, extra-clean streets. The wildlife. The long hikes. The sore legs. The sweaty mittens and toques. And the Japanese tourists. We had other CDs with us, but we kept coming back to these three for some reason. "Pacific Theme" sounded so good coming out of those speakers in the Maligne Lake parking lot, with me snapping photo after photo, blowing on my hands for warmth. "Dirty Harry" was our soundtrack for low riding through the city like an oil mogul, searching for restaurants and a place to buy wintery clothes for our mountain trekking. "One Evening" was among the themes from Banff, where we bought this album. Here everything was overpriced, every block had at least one chocolate shop, giant horses roamed the streets, gondolas carried us to great freezing views, and bizarre museums abound. Sigh.

The Clientele "God Save The Clientele" -- Osheaga Festival, Montreal, 2007. Reeeeelaaaaxing. A perfect hot summer day, laying on the grass, surrounded by trees and friends and dozens of other mellow concert-goers seeking to escape the Arctic Monkeys and Editors on the main stage. The wind seemed to shake the tall tree tops in slow motion, swaying to the music, turning the leaves silver-side up. Planes from Trudeau left puffy streaks across the sky. And I think we were laying next to a falafel vendor. The album sounds like a single 45-minute song, but its a good song. And while not the performance of the weekend, it was definitely among the highlights for me - and this album always takes me back.

This is fun.
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