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Preferred releases of 2008, arranged with accompanying memories.

I. The Mountain Goats, Heretic Pride

Freeform dancing and then cavernous crying. My bathroom window propped open with a jar. A stranger steals all of my belongings.

II. Sun Kil Moon, April

Walking five miles to mail my sister a postcard. Sinking and then floating. Flat indigo apartments stare at me with opened mouths and whitened teeth.

III. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago

Shifting homes with opened doors. A little boy and his dogs. A garden to bury memories. Each place reveals something singular — I’d forgotten that even this city is calm.

IV. Pia Fraus, After Summer

A street lamp burns the leaves off a tree outside my window. A mild fall, then smiling like children, we gasp! Startled by the silence, louder than any sound.

V. The Welcome Wagon, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon

Suddenly I am my Mother’s hands. A door jumps into my face, sleep falls onto my roof, and my jawline is just a little crooked.




Previous releases I returned to or discovered in 2008/Memories of home

I. Iron and Wine, Woman King EP (2005)

My Father and his bongos join in our often times poorly-composed musical expressions. He humbles his musical capacity.

II. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Melody Mountain (2006)

George transforms the basement into a workshop filled with dissected + refurbished keyboards/electronic toys. A source of inspiration with his successful fascination in circuit bending.

III. The White Birch, Star Is Just A Sun (2006)

The Blue Ridge Mountains remind me how small we stand inside of hands that crafted our own fingers. They remind me why we trace each other like maps.

IV. Phosphorescent, Pride (2007), Aw Come Aw Wry (2005), The Weight of Flight EP (2004), A Hundred Times or More (2003)

Adele makes horrible, beautiful noises with an untuned violin. Splendor, fear, and natural resonance. The raw breathlessness of reality.

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