All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem

Artist: LCD Soundsystem

Album: Sound Of Silver

  A repeated piano part over and over, over and over. Repetition moving into a feeling of disjointed alertness but also soothing re-assurance due to the expected and delivered repetition. The bass begins, darting in and out, present then disappearing like someone peering out from behind a tree in a game of hide and seek. Hi-hats enter, pulsing, pushing forward and then James Murphy sings, his voice sounding earnest, flamboyant and world weary all at once.

  I find LCD Soundsystem a revelation. James Murphy is perfectly able to voice his feelings and emotions, often when they seem a blur of confusion, uncertainty and regret. But next to all of this is a musical backing that is rushing headlong to the end of 7 minutes 37. These lyrics evolve, pulling together a internal thought process that somehow makes sense of the previous years of hedonism and living. It takes me back to moments in my life where I have being drunk in a club, surrounded by friends, not sure of what I'm doing with my life, but very happy and lucky to have a moment filled with warmth and reassurance like this. Falling down drunk but taking yr friends with you as you fall into a laughing happy mess. 

  There are times of desperation and self-guessing which for me makes this song so poignant - the lyrics show someone who is well aware of what has been happening as they get older but they are willing the momentum of the speed of their previous years to push them past where they currently are. And it works, the music just keeps pushing forward, drum fills being fired into increasingly small pockets of empty sound, keyboards rising, sides of the mix filling in and a overall feeling of being swept away, and being very happy to run with it. This song is the definition of euphoric - it's the equivalent of a plane taking off in 7 minutes and 37, suggesting the length is no aviation misnomer. Starting. Moving. Accelerating, then being consumed in the magical moment where the plane is picked up and deposited into the clouds.

Sound/Noise/Ratio

  I am writing these posts to try and remember some things that used to greatly excite me; times of my life that felt like I was living in a film – an excitement and naivety that really filled me with joy and the feeling of my bones being warmed with life. Most commonly music, film and travel gave me these feelings, so I will write of these, but of other things too. Hopefully you will be keen to check out some of these songs/places/moments that I write of and you might get a similar experience from them that I have had.

   As I get older I find it harder to get the same “kick” out of things that I did when I was younger – life takes on more gravity, and whether I like it or not I seem to feel more tethered to day to day life. This is good in some ways – there are wonderful moments that come with urban domesticity, but I do miss feeling like I used to when I was younger – that the world was a very open place, and that anything was possible. I guess these posts will be an attempt to reconvene with those moments, relive them and be inspired to create new moments of pure-life.