five.

[cabaretlights.livejournal.com]

Shapeshifting
Young Galaxy
Shapeshifting
2011

♥: Palinka is not a type of fizzy wine-like substance.

It's actually a type of hard liquor. I only say this because tonight [I am writing this post on Tuesday night, 11pm Budapest time], for some reason, I thought the reverse, and ordered a glass of it -- cherry, of course. When it arrived in a tall shot glass, I swallowed my surprise (and, in smaller sips, the brandy). It actually did have a cherry-like aftertaste...once the burn stopped.

I was at Katapult Kávéház, a cafe-bar not too far off the beaten path, but one I had initially bit my lip at longingly before continuing on. It's strange -- since arriving here it's like I've forgotten how to travel alone. I feel awkward, defer; I miss my steel-toed boots. So -- I found a cute cafe with less personality (good coffee, though), started my book, put on my headphones, hit "shuffle" on the playlist, and this song came on.

I love the beginning: strange, a bit dissonant, odd echoes, but the lyrics: "Bird of prey has moved in me / like a splinter." I bit my lip again, still longing, wanting to be in a cafe with red and black walls, not something well-lit and demure. I had a meta moment when those eastern-influenced drums hit: "what are you worried about?!" By the end of a few repeats, I'd paid for my coffee and left.

I ordered that palinka under the heady influence of Shapeshifting, sitting at a bar reading my book listening to rock from Europe's '70s. Everyone around me was in groups of two or more (except one creepy guy writing on a little notepad; I unwittingly feel solidarity with those kinds of people), but for the first time since I arrived [and, if I'm being honest, for a bit longer than that], I felt vibrant, complete.

Music is more powerful than philosophy, than psychology, than self-help books. Combined with literature, it makes me invincible. I thought of you as I downed the last sip of that shot; you get it in a way no one else will.

Creature of change
It's me who unveins
Choking on tethers and weather
Invading my veins
...And I'm shapeshifting.

Currently watching music videos on German-language TV, hoping for a gem. Miss you!!!

Comments

[amethysting.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this song or I might never have made a conscious effort to listen to it. Last song on the album...and, well, it's weird, dude. So despite the fact that I've been listening to the new Young Galaxy album, I hadn't actually heard "Shapeshifting".

Giving this song time, giving it a chance, I was entranced by? drawn to? its strangeness. I like that you can't really predict where this song is going. When she says, "I'm shapeshifting" for the first time, you expect things to get loud, but they don't. This whole song brings to mind an image of somebody walking on the tips of their toes, treading carefully. I love the drums and strings that kind of lull us through the song, and the way it just ends; like someone pressed pause or the musicians all stopped playing at exactly the same moment.

I like the sparseness of the lyrics; their spoken-word quality. "I'm choking on tethers and weather" I like that especially.