30. The Moon

Song:  "The Moon"
Artist:  The Microphones
Album:  The Glow Pt. 2
Year:  2001
Length:  5:16
Label:  K Records
Rating:  9.2 (out of 10) for the album, via Pitchfork

• Download The Microphones - "The Moon".mp3

"Perhaps the problem is that most pop music doesn't put enough faith in the listener. Everything must be laid out in the most obvious of terms, and eventually, that obviousness obscures whatever the music originally intended to convey. If you want to invoke the quiet beauty of the ocean, for example, you can write a pop song that says, "Hey, the ocean is really beautiful," or you can try to come up with a sonic approximation of that beauty.

It's a huge undertaking to attempt to capture something so visual in a song. But for Phil Elvrum, it seems to be second nature.  The Glow Pt. 2, the follow-up to last year's gorgeous brainmelt It Was Hot, We Stayed In the Water, captures the sea, the sky, and the mountains in a sonic panorama that seems to live without beginning or end. A sprawling, swirling composition that is both as varied and as consistent as the landscape itself, The Glow Pt. 2 exceeds even its predecessor in capturing the simultaneous wrath and fragility of nature. And sounding really, really cool."

That's the album description, not the song, but the song is what really drove me to the album and as the third track, one of the most accessible on the masterpiece, it still holds up today as the centerpiece of such a great production of music.  I was obsessed with "I Felt Your Shape" a couple years ago, from the same album, and opener "I Want Wind to Blow", short and sweet "Headless Horseman", ultra-cool "The Mansion" and brilliant "I Want to Be Cold" are also wonderful tracks as well.  The opening of the 9 minute closer "My Warm Blood" is quite beautiful, but it's "The Moon" that really epitomizes the beauty of this music for me.  Or maybe it's the lyrics. 

#30 Favorite Song of All Time

I drove up to the city at night and found the place
Where you grew up and then where you stayed
And we walked around and stayed up late under city lights
I spent the night, next to you in the house where you grew up
Next to you I miraculously woke up
In your parents' house I lied in bed with you

I went back to feel alone there
I went back to wipe it clean
I took the lights and radio towers out of my dreams

And we went all the way up to the small town where I'm from
With foggy air and the wind and the mountain top
And we clung to rocks and you looked off and you held my hand
You almost got to start feeling me
I finally felt like I was breathing free
Under swaying trees we fell asleep and we had the same dream
The stars were bright, we dream the same every night
On my island home I spent some time with you

I went back to feel alone there
I went back there by myself
I gave up on everything that we'd felt

We found a precious place in the sand right out in the wind
And we lied under a blanket and heard the furious sound
The roar of waves, the pounding surf, two bodies on the earth
It was intense just getting to be there next to you
And you trying to get me then, and I was happy to let you in

I went back and wished I hadn't
I went back and felt regret
I went to the beach and I stared west

Every night when the sun went down in the town where we lived
The empty streets were lit up by reflected light from a distant sun
Bouncing off a glowing ball of rock and we just lied on the roof
And watched the moon, the moon, the blue light of the moon
We didn't talk and silently we both felt powerful
And, like the moon, my chest was full because we both know
We're just floating in space over molten rock
And we felt safe and we discovered that our skin is soft.
There's nothing left except certain death
And that was comforting at night out under the moon

I went out last night to forget that
I went out and stared it down
But the moon stared back at me
And in it's light I saw my two feet on the ground

Comments

[Switsky]

we are only up to 30...this is worse than spening a day with Traum, Jan, Bill, Lenny, and the stalker at Fox and Hound

[FSwitsky]

F Switsky. Why don't you and Rudnick just both leave your wives already and go to Massachusetts to get married.

[LegFuJohnson]

Especially on a Friday. I thought we discussed this. Pictures of NFL Cheerleaders, or those Amazing Race lesbians, or something else needs to be up over the weekend.

[F Switsky]

F Lenny too