Just Listen

It isn't always the easiest to find time to simply listen to something. Whether it's a podcast, audiobook, music, ambiance, recording of Jeremy Irons narrating fan-fiction, whatever. Our time has shifted inwards towards a system of an instantaneous nature. There has been great public outcry from music snobs everywhere that the loss of the album as a legitimate art form signifies the end times. They're obviously too busy anticipating the arrival of the iTunes Lucifer to realize that virtually all music still comes out as an album. Yes, you can buy a single alone without the "baggage" of the remaining ten or so tracks. So? Honestly, it saves money. This worry has extended to the advent of playlists. Sometimes people make album-based playlists (myself being one of them), but they usually curate solo tracks. These changes are good despite any sad-sack complaining. However, while the album retains its strength for the time being, consumers don't appreciate an album in the same way. They listen to it while they're at work, in the car, at the gym. They endure a full listen, cull their favorites, and dispose of the rest. Sometimes I wonder if there's some giant B-side graveyard where all the underplayed album cuts go to die in their loneliness. If such a place exists, it's due to the way we listen.

Think for a second. Why do you know all the lyrics to the latest Taylor Swift single (look what you made her do), yet know none off of your favorite Radiohead album? You may enjoy bands that represent indie-ness more, but you probably hear it less. The radio (especially Top 40) is based on repetition. Unless you go out of your way to balance your listening out between the mediums, chances are radio will gain the advantage. The DJ knows that he has played "Rockstar" 17 times in the last hour (57:46—it's possible) and he doesn't care. He grins to himself as he imagines you belting out the chorus to the unfortunate steering wheel. Not only has that chorus crawled inside your brain and set up a little room in your music-memory hotel, the beat and verses and every second of the instrumental have followed along and rented the rooms next door. You grow to appreciate and maybe enjoy (depending on your opinion of good ol' Post Malone) every element of the song. Can you say that for the songs of all the artists you claim to enjoy? For a few songs, maybe. Definitely not for a full album. If you have an intimate knowledge of more than just your favorite LPs, you're probably a music critic. Pretentious though they may seem, they have the right idea. They fill a bathtub with the album and soak in it for a day or two. The better they know the music, the better the review. Why don't we do the same? Because we don't have time.

Ha. Just kidding. That's a lie that we tell ourselves to justify our lazy listening. Even when we do set off on a quest to Album Land, chances are we aren't planning on just sitting and listening. This is where the modicum of truth comes into the "no time" excuse. If we want to listen to more than a few songs a day, we are probably going to have to multi-task. Unless you're unemployed. Get listening, bums!

Listening while multitasking puts the music through a filter of whatever you're doing at the time. You might even remember what you were doing while you were listening. I associate 2010s Kanye, Autechre, and early Beck with the game Borderlands. With the exception of the Kanye, I can't remember a whole lot about the music I listened to while playing that game. If you're some sort of magical multitasking machine, then bully for you. Go write Hamlet and listen to "good kid. m.A.A.d city" simultaneously in your Special Snowflake Corner.

Now, that doesn't mean music can't be appreciated outside of an isolated and singular listening environment. A bop is a bop whether you're listening while writing an essay on muffins or being the Queen of England. You hear it at face value. That's why catchiness has become so essential to modern pop songwriting. A hook is all you really have if you boil it down. The difference between filtered and unfiltered listening is clarity. It's like a really lame and specific version of putting on glasses for the first time and realizing how much you needed them. Suddenly, everything is so much more visible than you ever thought it could be. It's subtle but noticeable.

Around Christmas a couple of years ago, I had the time to just sit and check out from reality and into the depths of songcraft. One album I listened to was Sufjan Steven's Carrie & Lowell. I'd already heard the record 1.5 times before and once in concert, but I hadn't been as invested as I could have been. I have frequently imagined how different the concert had been if I had listened to the LP three times, five, seven, ten times. It was already one of the best concerts I've ever gone to, so I can barely imagine how much more heart wrenching and devastating it could have been if I'd listened a little better. My latest listen almost brought me to tears in front of my entire extended family. Going through this for forty-three minutes and thirty-five seconds quite honestly changed my perspective on not just listening, but hearing itself.

If this ramble has a point, it's that those of us that love music need to try to just hear an album. While time may not permit for a high frequency of this habit, I sincerely encourage everyone to set aside an hour to listen to something. Whether it's something new or a repeated listening, it is an experience that is worthwhile. It doesn't have to be meaningful or special; you don't have to write a blog post about it (oops). Chances are it won't be—I lucked out. If anything, you'll hear it with a tiny bit more detail. A previously muffled line will suddenly make sense. I think that even that makes it worthwhile.

Albums that might be good to try this on:

• The aforementioned Sufjan
• Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (M83)
• Merriweather Post Pavilion (Animal Collective)
• Any Deafheaven record (especially Sunbather)
• Coltrane, Davis, or Coltrane and Davis (all hail Kind of Blue)
• Pretty much any lyrically dense hip-hop
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor or 1986-91 Talk Talk (really any post rock)
• William Basinski, Brian Eno, Boards of Canada (emotional beeps and boops)
• Any album you love!