I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: LAURA VEIRS-“Sun Song” (2013).

I know of Laura Veirs from her work with The Decemberists, but as she’s mostly a backup singer (and occasional lead), I couldn’t really say I knew her very well.  So I was delighted to hear this song that she had written and to see just how great it is,.

The song begins with a simple folk guitar and pizzicato pluckings. Veirs’ voice has an innocence that I really love—gentle but clean.  The chorus brings an unexpected harmony vocals and vibrato but nothing prepares you for the feedback squalls that the new electric guitars bring in.

The song doesn’t get faster, just a little noisier—it reminds me of the best Sarah Harmer tracks.   Then the electric guitar goes away and the song feels fuller somehow.  The end of the song introduces a  kind of call and response which adds a cool new element until it all relaxes back into its original mellow style.

I really like this song and need to hear more from Veirs.  And I see that she has released a whole bunch of albums, so there’s a lot to choose from.

[READ: May 30, 2013] “Loyalty”

This story begins with a pretty straightforward sentiment: “As much as I love her, I blame Astrid.  Astrid told my wife, Corinne, that she could achieve happiness if only she’d leave me.”  Indeed, Astrid made a regular suggestion out of it–leave him, be free.  And so finally Corinne did–she left him alone with their son, Jeremy.  Initially Jeremy wrote to Corinne but eventually the replies were fewer and further between and he gave up.

Wes was crushed, but soon after he fell in love with Astrid and they got married.  I love the way it is presented:

The minute Corinne was gone, Astrid showed up. I don’t recall that, prior to that day, we had so much as exchanged a moody, sparking glance. She took me into her expert arms. It was consolation and sympathy at first, I guess. I didn’t question it. In about the time it takes to change the painted background in a photographer’s studio from a woodland scene to a brick wall, she had left her boyfriend and was presenting me with casseroles and opened bottles of cold beer.

We never really learn if Astrid had planned this all along.  It seems like it, but it’s not like Wes is a huge catch.  Corinne’s divorce request went though with no trouble or custody problems.  And soon he and Astrid had a new child, a daughter, Lucy.  Then they saw Corinne on TV, on a show about runaway moms–Wes asks, what would make her do such a thing–and no reasonable answer is given.

Wes’ mother stayed with them for a while to help with Jeremy.  She was quiet but moral, and church was a given.  But as the story picks up, Jeremy is 17 and quiet (I love this comment: “He looks past me as if I were a footnote”).

But the reason he’s bringing all this up is because Corinne is back in town.  She sent a postcard to him and he decided to pick her up from the bus station without telling anyone in the family.  And when he sees her, she has changed: “Imagine a beautiful woman of middle age who has somehow gone through a car wash.”  Essentially she is bag lady and intends to move back home.

This initial arrival is a shock-filled moment.  When Astrid sees Corinne, she is filled with anger and pity at the same time.  When Lucy finds out that that Corinne is Jeremy’s mother.  Oh boy.  And of course, Jeremy wants nothing to do with her.  He is so angry at her, he won’t even talk to her.  Then as days pass, Jeremy’s anger subsides, just as Wes’ did over their years apart.  And Jeremy, who has been reading about torture in school says that “My mother showing up and being crazy? That is nothing. That’s not even waterboarding.”  And that some of the kids think her story is pretty wild.

When the anger passes, Jeremy helps Corinne set up a blog, Runaway Mom. Wes reads a  paragraph but that’s all.  Then he thinks back to a moment in his childhood–a happy moment of no real consequence and he marvels that we can remember happy things too, even if we mostly remember the bad things.

There’s not a lot of plot in this story but the writing was superb and everything that happened was really great.