eighty-one

[amethysting.livejournal.com]

El President
Drugstore
White Magic for Lovers
1998

I haven’t listened to Drugstore in years.

Their first, self-titled album came out in 1995.  I picked it up a few years later at a used CD shop on Mont-Royal and its depressing lyrics suited the sullen mood that defined my last year of high school perfectly.  So much so, that Drugstore—and that album in particular—became unlistenable in the years that followed.  The music was too tied up in a particular time; it didn’t bring up warm feelings of nostalgia, but rather a kind of acute and uncomfortable nausea.

It’s funny how certain connotations or feelings can become less pronounced over time.  I put Drugstore’s first and second albums on my iPod this week on a whim.  I actually wasn’t surprised when, upon listening to them, those old feelings did not emerge at all.  As I have realized so many times in choosing songs to post and in exploring the reasons they affect me—I am not the person I was then.

I quite like the sweetness of Isabel Monteiro's voice—the contrast between it and the words she sings.  “El President” doesn’t characterize Drugstore’s music, exactly (especially with those touches of…what is it?...Spanish guitar?), but hearing Monteiro’s voice paired with Thom Yorke’s still manages to make the hairs on my arms stand on end. 

Comments

[cabaretlights.livejournal.com]

I love this post...I love thinking about how music can change, shift, become something new with new connotations and reflect who you are now while still reminding you of what you were, and, sometimes, how far you've come...


I love this song, too ------- it's on my playlist for Summer 2012 (can you believe I only have one?! I was NOT in a music headspace this summer, jeez), along with a few others you've posted recently, but there's something so lovely about this particular one --- simple, almost sweet, but haunting. I don't know Drugstore and I'm very curious to check them out, especially considering your history with them and that they don't sound quite like this, according to your post ----- and I've been playing this song a lot this week.


and edit to say that also: it's very much a YOU song. Like one I would associate with music I associate with you, heh. <3