LISTENING INTO ISSUE 48
How to Survive a Femicide by Jessie Carson
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I saw you in a dream by The Japanese House
Every good playlist begins with a banger. A locked-in hit, a punch to the gut. It doesn’t have to be fast or slow, euphoric or melancholy, but it pulls you in, right from the start. If you always start listening from the beginning, you’ll know why Carson’s work is the perfect opening track. A complicated personal and family history, begins with an intense murder. Moments in the piece feel outside of reality, the narrator struggles with what she’s been through in her past and present. She builds her own life and finds meaningful ways to connect with the family she’s created, while also creating space for memory. The Japanese House offers an abstracted version of these same feelings. Seeking out space in dreams to address those missing while awake. Both speakers struggle to hold their experiences, but miraculously do.
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My Sister in Jesus Christ by Slaughter Beach, Dog
Sometimes the next best place to go is somewhere specific. Poetry can often offer the closest look at minute moments, places, experiences. In Yorke’s poem, you’re at a toll booth. You feel guided by the hands of the speaker, turning on a nineties computer, plugging in the space heater, all while maintaining a generally cheeky attitude. Moments of intrigue happen, likely to the tune of whatever the next car blasts when it pulls up. Slaughter Beach, Dog offers that roadside specificity. They might just make you think while you sing along to an unexpectedly thought-out lyric once you roll the windows down.
Inflation by Jonathan Bessette
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Guess by Charli XCX
Sometimes, a good time goes bad. In Bessette’s narrative, the characters struggle between a night of MDMA and DJ sets, and soul-crushing anxiety. Heteronormativity and social expectations, and being a queer family unit, which defines itself. Everyone’s briefly lost a baby or two and spiralled. The characters in this piece struggle between connection and disconnection, and, so relatable, freak out along the way. For that there’s only one cure— Charli XCX. A song that starts off by letting loose, until, by the last chorus, you’re not sure where your wallet, friends, phone, or keys are. Hopefully, prompting a little self-reflection at noon tomorrow.
Summer Day in Guelph by Grace Wang
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She Want the Sandwich by Mac Demarco
After the final drop of a hype beat, the best thing is to be caught by the ease of a warm, simple sound. Wang’s photographs perfectly encapsulate a single perfect summer day. The way in which, when small things line up perfectly, an untouchable memory is formed. She captures the feeling of the sun on your skin, dipping your feet in the cool water. Mac’s laidback whistling and simple lyrics pair perfectly with a summer day like this. He nods over to a spot to put your feet up, and like a precious moment, keeps it short and sweet. Most importantly, what’s more memorable than the perfect sandwich?
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Hunter by Ryan Beatty
So many of the best works feel like real conversation. Richer’s story is no different. Characters struggle and confess, debate and remember. In the woods, the tenderness reaches its peak, and we emerge into understanding. Ryan Beatty is no less of a wordsmith. Hunter is one side of the conversation between lovers who have hurt each other. Both of these pieces find the beauty and heartbreak of the natural world, with an attention to language at its centre. You cannot help but to stop and listen to beautiful sound.
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Snakes Crawl by The Bush Tetras
Janae’s work is not only singular but cyclical. With each word, you fall deeper into the chasm of language being created. While this might be the last song on the playlist, it’s also the one that makes you want to go right back to the begging and start again. Beginning with an absence, out crawls the central figure, wriggling— the snake. The Bush Tetra’s Snakes Crawl, is a similar rhythmic incantation, flashing you the image of a snake, and pulling you into a complete world. It ends like it begins, never straying from the pull into each next line. It might seem to be over, but you can always return.