The journey begins with resonance, 12 songs selected by Lee Yong-jae.
The international public health emergency due to Corona 19 was lifted after 3 years and 4 months, and I am also preparing for a vacation after 3 years and 6 months. There is nothing grandiose, and I plan to go to a quiet city for 3 nights and 4 days. I pack my luggage as simply as possible and bring along English novel paperbacks and playlists. While traveling a lot in my 30s, I naturally made playlists or focused on listening to certain albums. This is because he realized that he could better preserve the memory of his travels by using it as a soundtrack. Made for a really long vacation playlist Let’s talk.
1. Alfred Brendel – ‘Schubert: Piano Sonata in B Flat, D.960’
There are times when I plan a trip to get away from my daily life for a while, but when I have to leave, I get annoyed and my body doesn’t move because of inertia. Packing things and everything feels cumbersome and cumbersome. At such times, I listen to Alfred Brendel’s Schubert. I don’t know about other composers, but Brendel’s performance is as good as Schubert’s. If you listen to the theme of the song unfold through his touch, your heart will slowly turn around. There are many beautiful things in the world, and travel is a process of discovering some of them, so I think I want to go well prepared.
2.The Cardigans – ‘Carnival’
About 20 years ago, Atlanta, where I lived, and Incheon Airport were 15 hours and 30 minutes apart by direct flight. That’s why flying was truly grandiose and boring. Moreover, Atlanta’s airport was notorious for being crowded and unfriendly. It was a separate and difficult journey to get to the boarding gate, so when I arrived, I went through my own ceremony. First, I drank a glass of beer at a nearby bar, sat down and listened to this song until the plane took off. The organ in the prelude, the warm tone of the guitar, and Nina Persson’s vocals of “I will never know, you will never show / Come on and love me now” coming in soon gave me comfort. After listening to it three or four times, I would fall asleep and wake up after takeoff.
3. Ride – ‘In A Different Place’
The last vacation 3 years and 6 months ago was a trip to Tokyo to see Ride’s performance. It’s my favorite band, so it’s not missing from my travel playlist, but for some reason this vacation fits my mood. It’s lyrics that dwell on love that has already become the past. I don’t want to feel lonely on vacation, but for some reason I feel that way.
4. Roji – ‘You are Botanical’
Rosie is a band that I accidentally discovered on vacation just before. Since 2007, whenever I go on a trip to Japan, I stop by Tower Records and go through an impulse buying ritual where I buy random records. If you’re drawn to the design of the jacket, or if you like it after hearing it briefly on your headphones, pick up one or two. Out of the few impulse purchases that have failed me, Rosie is one of my favorite musicians. True to its name (‘alleyway’), it’s a college-rock style band that’s good to listen to while walking down an alleyway in Japan.
5. lamp- ‘Love Letter’
If you’ve heard Rosie, you’ll have to listen to Lamp for the next song. It doesn’t feel very similar, but it’s pretty plausible when you put it together. The lyrics that hit right in without a prelude “A love letter written on the sand washed away by the cold waves / One snowy December day, the two of them were looking at the winter sea” are good, and they are not fast and lyrical, but they are supportive. The dynamic bass line (and last-minute solo) is also memorable. I’ve been waiting for news of the new album for a long time.
6. Sun Kil Moon – ‘Third and Seneca’
The intersection of the song’s title, ‘Third Avenue and Seneca Street’, is located in Seattle. If you look at the map, you can see that it is right next to the Seattle Central Library designed by Rem Koolhaas. It was the end of the year, and like Seattle’s winter, it was gloomy and raining. Nowadays, only songs like a drunkard’s lamentation are released, but Mark Kozlek from about 10 years ago presented songs that are really good to listen to when traveling, capturing the experience of a wandering musician in beautiful melodies. The song at its peak.
7. Hania Rani – ‘On Giacometti: A live performance at Atelier in Stamp’
In the summer of 2003, I saw Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ and Giacometti’s sculpture together at an art museum designed by Renzo Piano, whose name I do not remember. And in my memory, the latter always leaves a stronger impression. That’s why I take care of the Giacometti documentary soundtrack among the most listened to Chania Rani’s performances these days. Polish pianist Hania Rani, inspired by some live videos on YouTube, evokes a Philip Glass feel in the recurring melodies. The album was recorded live in Giacometti’s atelier in Switzerland. This is the album you want to listen to while knitting at a coffee shop on the afternoon of the second day of vacation, when your heart will be most relaxed.
8. Men I Trust – ‘Seven(Garage Session)’
The Quebec band Men I Trust, who recently performed in Korea, played and recorded live in their practice room, the warehouse, when they were unable to tour due to Corona. Originally, the songs were good, but the restrained performances that fit the situation were combined, and this album left a long way with an impression like ‘OST in the Corona era’. All of the songs are good, but I chose ‘Seven’, which has an impressive solo that is quiet and says everything on top of the bass line that sets the mood well. Emotions are so heightened.
9. Diiv, ‘When You Sleep(Live at The Murmrr Theatre)’
Sleep is always a big deal for me, but it gets better when I travel. The more empty the accommodation, the better the sleep. If that condition alone does not solve it, you can listen to Dive Diiv. In fact, if you can’t sleep even at home, the 2022 live album for those who enjoy listening to it is the remake of “When You Sleep” by Shoegaze’s classic My Blood Valentine is the best. Even the title of the song has ‘sleep’ in it, so it helps you sleep. Really.
10. Bon Iver – ‘For Emma’
As is well known, Bon Iver’s debut album
11. William Tyler, ‘Highway Anxiety’
To talk about isolation, you also have to talk about highways. In a small land mass, a highway can be just a means of connecting one place to another. However, as the size of the land mass increases, the highway itself becomes a means of isolation. After driving for about 12 hours a day on a highway where the same scenery unfolds for hours on an endless road, anyone will be born again as a man of few words. Because everything starts to feel so fleeting. American highways are like that, and if this song contains the feeling of such highways, it will play the role of the North Star of emotions in your journey.
12. Fishmans, ‘Long Season’
I will listen to this song in the waiting room waiting for the flight back home. The bag will contain miscellaneous snacks you bought at the airport concession stand. Fishmanz’s last play-by-play on December 28, 1998 <남자들의 이별>“Long Season” was played for the first and last time, and just four months later Shinji Sato, who was in charge of vocals and guitar, passed away. If you are watching the live video, you will appreciate the fact that this is the last song he left behind in his life. What comes to mind? Repeating the two verses of the lyrics like a Zen dialogue, I will head home again. From unknown isolation to familiar isolation again.
A total of 12 songs mentioned in the column are the author’s youtube playlistcan be played on
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