I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: JÓNSI-Go (2010).

Jónsi is the lead singer from Sigur Rós. This is his first solo album and, honestly it’s not radically different from Sigur Rós (were we expecting trip hop or something?).   However, within the confines of the type of music that Sigur Rós play (swirling orchestral songs), Jónsi’s solo disc is kind of different.  And the difference comes in tone.

For while Sigur Rós records are orchestral and swirly, the are also kind of dark and moody.  Jonsi’s songs are more upbeat.  They’re ethereal both in style and tone.

I’m also surprised to see just how short these songs are.  They feel like they are very long (epic in a good way) but in fact, only two songs go over 5 minutes–most are in the mid fours.

There’s no question that if you dislike Sigur Rós you will not like this record. Jónsi’s voice is the same after all–gorgeous sweeping, helium sounding and out of this world.  But if you doubted whether Jónsi could work without his mates in the band, you need not worry. This album is a beauty.

[READ: May 19, 2011] “The Trusty”

I didn’t think I would like this story.  It concerns a subject that I generally don’t have a lot of interest in: chain gangs in the south.  And yet, Rash’s writing was excellent and the story was quite compelling.

The Trusty of the title is named Sinkler.  Sinkler is a prisoner on the chain gang–he stole money from a business and got 5 years.  He has served 18 months with very good behavior and has been given the unofficial title of Trusty, which means he can do things like walk a mile up the road to the next farm house to see if their well has water for the men on the gang.

And this is what he does.  They are working on a road and have moved far enough past their current source of water that Sinkler offers to walk up to the next house to bring water back.  When he arrives, the door is answered by a young woman (between 18-22–Sinkler himself is in his 20s).  She is standoffish and unmoved by him.  She is also married–her (much older) husband is plowing the field.  She agrees to give Sinkler two buckets of water if, at the end of the day he agrees to leave one bucket there as payment.

Sinkler agrees and decides that he would like more than water from the young woman.  And over the next few weeks he returns every day and tries to win her over.  And Lucy begins to sweeten on Sinkler.

She asks him if he has tried to escape.  And he asks her if she has tried to escape.  Sinkler would love to escape–he has money for a train (from winning poker hands) but he knows he’d be tracked in no time.  Lucy says she’d like to escape–her man treats her like a prisoner.  And they begin talking about going off together.  Sinkler has doubts–it’s all happening so fast–but he knows it’s now or never.

By the end of the story, we switch from wondering if Sinkler is going to take advantage of the woman, to wondering if maybe she has her own plan up her sleeve.

Parts of the story foreshadowed the ending a bit too much, although I also admit that the actual ending was a little confusing.  I mean, I’m pretty sure I know what happened, but there were enough details left out that I’m not entirely sure.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and found it quite exciting.  And I’ll look for more from Ross in the future.

For ease of searching, I include: Jonsi, Sigur Ros