While it doesn't exist in a single medical book and isn't even taught in those so-called "medical schools," there is a tangible space in the human heart where special things are stored. You know exactly what I speak of, even if it isn't defined, poked, prodded, and put on display in a traveling exhibit of dissected and preserved human corpses.
Apparently a compartmentalized space, there is just enough room for those special, and varied moments in time that come along unexpectedly. Always there, but only present when some sort of stimuli drags them out and fist-pounds them to your forehead.
Shout Out Louds will forever be locked in one of those heart-cubbyholes, since they were part of my first-ever showcase at South by Southwest, as well as the final album purchased by a now-departed friend, which arrived a few weeks after his untimely death.
Our Jam of the Day, "Blue Ice," just served as the catalyst for another emotional overload of said memories. But that's a good thing - we need that reminder from time to time. Life is short, and songs that evoke such serious and spontaneous feelings are few and far between.
So give it a listen below - then pick up their next record Optica, which is out in February via the Merge folk.
