Saturday, April 29, 2017

Live As You Dream

One of my favourite ways to find new music is via television shows. There have been a number of artists I've discovered because the soundtrack to something I was watching caught my attention and made me start googling lyrics to figure out what the delightful sound I was hearing was.

While this can be a good way to find new indie artists (especially on current television), I've also found it works connecting me to older artists of whom I had heard but never listened to. (And by older I do not mean "old" but musicians who have been doing their thing for a couple decades.)

Last year, I was watching the (slightly obscure) 90s British drama Playing the Field and I became very interested in one of the couples. I wonder why....

[gif made by me because I'm the only one who caaaares]

As I was rewatching their scenes (probably for the third time or so...), I realized that the same song was playing in a couple of their scenes. (It wasn't even playing in the forefront of the scene, just like on the character's stereo in the background. I felt like a detective. A very gay detective.)

 I googled the lyrics and discovered it was the song 'Live As You Dream' by Beth Orton.

[photo source]

 I'd heard of Beth Orton, but never listened to her music. But on a whim (and because it was cheap), I bought her 1996 album Trailer Park which the song 'Live As You Dream' appears on.

Trailer Park was Beth Orton's first album, and honestly I had no idea what to expect. I hadn't even known she'd been recording since the 90s. But I quickly grew extremely found of the album. I listened to it a lot while driving, and had to make sure I kept it in my car for the roadtrips I took last year. Though even after listening to the album many times, I still didn't really know how to categorize her style of music. Well, until I Wikipedia-ed her just now, where her genre is referred to as "folktronica". That makes a lot of sense, as the songs on Trailer Park vary from straightforward folk-rock to hazy ten-minute trips.

The song I'm posting today is, of course, the one that started all this: 'Live As You Dream'. It continues to be my favourite song on the album. Honestly, it's hard for me not to smile when it comes on. (I think because it's a happy song, but also it might have something to do with the association of my TV ship. Haha.)





Can you believe I actually posted again before another year went by? I'm not sure I can. Let's see if I can do it again......