Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

Most of my friends know that I my musical tastes, while wide-ranging, are rather specific. High on my priority list is musical complexity. I believe this comes from my having spent decades playing in symphonies and orchestras where deep instrumentation and complex forms are more prevalent. For a similar reason, lyrics are low on my list; this is probably because, after spending much of my life sitting in the midst of a hundred musicians, my ear has been trained to hear everything, and I find it exceptionally difficult to pick out the lyrics of songs. In fact, there have been songs that I liked quite well until I learned the lyrics.

As a result, I do not listen to a lot of popular music. The artists that do make it onto my regular rotation have broken through my—I’ll be honest, here—my prejudices. Perhaps it was their virtuosity or the timbre of their voice or the structure of their songs. Often the instrumentation alone will get my attention, and in some cases, it actually is the lyrics that capture me.

In order to stay on my rotation, through, a pop song has to make me feel something special. Joy, power, hope, memories of love, longing, serenity, grief, anger, a hunger for justice, the strength of true friendship. Something. A song must strike a resonant chord within me

That’s a lot of boxes for a song to tick. Probably an unfair amount of boxes. It’s not as though I actively dislike most songs; far from it, in fact. It’s just that not many hit me strongly enough to make me sit up, take note, and go in search of more.

Today, one did just that. It is unusual in many ways. It has a structure that goes well beyond the ABACAB verse/chorus/bridge structure common to pop songs. It incorporates recitative and arioso components, the latter soaring alone or riding atop a percussive ostinato, and the whole is orchestrated with strings, winds, and keyboard. In fact, I’d have to say that it doesn’t even really have a melody, at least nothing you walk away whistling, but rather it moves from motif to motif (I counted at least seven distinct forms). Most importantly, though, and for reasons I couldn’t fathom in the moment, it filled me with a building sense of hope, joy, and release.

That’s a lot of boxes ticked.

It punched right through my barriers, so much so that I went in search of the artist, listened more closely to the lyrics, and checked out a few other titles. I listened to it as a song, watched a stage performance of it, and watched the official music video of it.

Now, I am not gushing over this song because I think you will have a similar reaction. Based on past experience of sharing my faves with friends, I can predict that most likely you will not like it, certainly not as much or for the reasons that I do.

But in this current climate of dread and doom, where it’s difficult to go even two hours without some “breaking news” assaulting us with reports designed to enrage and shock us, I heartily recommend turning off the news and turning on some music.

Find the song that ticks your boxes, whatever they may be. Spend some time with music. You can thank me later.

And now, for the curious: