The icy landscape of beautifully sorrowful music
October 21st 2024 | ~ 3 minute read
Preface
It's no secret my favorite season is winter, with its cold, short days and bleak landscapes. There's something to be said about the human quality to adapt to such conditions, spitefully resisting nature's crude attempts at leveling our prospects. There's also a certain metaphorical warmth that counterbalances the not so metaphorical low temperatures. And while some people prefer to cozy up with a warm cup of tea, coffee or some other beverage of choice and watch a good movie or read a particularly interesting book, I spend my winter days listening to tunes that happen to match the gloomy mood of the outside.
But why do we listen to sad music anyway?
It seems counter-intuitive, but listening to sad music when you're sad or depressed is actually uplifting. When you think about it, it all makes perfect sense. When you're sad, you want to hear tunes that empathize with your state of mind. It makes you feel less alone, knowing that somewhere out there someone was feeling that same sadness and it was powerful enough to inspire them to transform it into a soundscape that you're now hearing. It's a powerful statement to the power of human empathy.
One of my favorite pastimes is reading the YouTube comments underneath a song that I quite like. You can find people from all walks of life. Different, yet united in the experience we all share as people. We all feel things, and the ability of music to connect so many different people through the power of emotion alone is why music is my favorite art form.
But what's so special about melancholic tunes in particular?
I can't really answer this question objectively and so I won't attempt to, but to me, melancholy is the one truly honest emotion. It's hard to fake, if not impossible. Melancholy just hits different and so, you can be almost certain that the author of a melancholic tune actually experienced it, one way or another. This is important to me. To know that the author has felt similarly to me is to make a connection to the music that goes beyond the written notes on a page. For the reasons I explained above, it's cathartic.
Bleak days and bleak soundscapes go hand in hand
There's nothing quite like it. Walking on a cold, snowy day, passing through the mostly empty streets of my home town, lost in thought. There aren't many things that can add to that experience, except for a bleak tune reflecting a bleak winter afternoon. There's only so many days like that in a course of a lifetime and, to me, they're precious beyond words. It affords me a moment to reflect, to dream and to ponder. For once, I am indulging in my inner world, a rare privilege and a rare moment of peace in the chaotic woes of the outside.
Conclusion
I can't think of a better way to conclude this post, than with the lyrics of my favorite band, that so beautifully capture everything I've talked about, better than I ever could:
You stay out here in the snow
All night beside the road
But there's fire so keep warm
I'm leaving soon
It's bleak
And inside you can't hold your thoughts together
The slumber within a dreamer of stars
In a house of ash and scars
So many miles apart
And all we see is white tonightKatatonia, Sistere
