Ålen
Amason
One thing about listening to a lot of new music every week, is I end up with a lot of new tracks, artists and records. What do I do with them all in terms of processing and categorizing? Which artists do I support directly with money?
Back in the day, on new music Tuesdays, I would generally write down all the albums I wanted to buy. In the end I would only purchase a fraction of them. Many of the bigger releases, I’d try to find at Columbia House. I had a contstant mail order account going for about fifteen years. I would join my mom, my dad, re-up myself, join my pets…
Now? We are spoiled rotten. We have all the music at our fingertips and can’t possibly listen to all of it. I feel for all the great artists getting lost in the sea of music. It is daunting for me to process and categorize the music that finds its way to me, but I’m gradually developing a system using my instincts and emotions. Is it a song I only want to hear a few times or is it music I want to go back to? And not all of the music I respond to will end up making it’s way back into my rotations. It’s just not possible. And certain artists and records will slip through cracks for no good reason.
No doubt, there is much to complain about when it comes to modern music platforms — especially how they compensate artists. But if there’s one thing that’s incredible about them is how they (for me APPLE MUSIC) help keep my listening habits organized. Every month I make a playlist of new songs that is heavily vetted. Songs are added and subtracted organically and I don’t always get it right. I just follow my heart and by the end of the month there are about twenty to thirty keepers. They’ll always be there if and when I circle back to listen. And I do keep track of the new LP’s I listen to in sequence as one album. Then, I use my monthly playlists are used to make new playlists — for friends, for trips or for certain weekend or seasons. And it’s fun sometimes to just jump back in time to a playlist from another month or year and re-visit those songs I’d been playing.
Today I was in a strange mood after being out of state filming…and I wanted to break my current pattern. I wasn’t feeling 2022 this morning and so I decided to take the time machine back to 2014 when our daughter Flann was only 8. And so I found my top 60 songs of that year and hit shuffle. I know very little about Amason, except they’re a Swedish super group who I played a lot in 2015 when their debut LP SKY CITY came out.
I am mostly Swedish but can’t speak it — so I love hearing these amazing vocals from Hajen (!) in the language my ancestors spoke. This song jumped out and I’m now remembering certain Amason songs I will revisit. It’s been awhile and she can really sing. What a melody. I get why they’re a super group — I feel it. Love the bass and choir-humming chorus. Great tune that surprised me this morning. It’s the last track on their little Flygplatsen EP that came out quietly before their major release. Ålen means Eel in English and I had no idea what the song was about until finding this live version on YouTube. So great and worth a watch! You can follow along with burned-in English captions.
