I’m back from the mountains, I’m late to the substack. But mostly because I drove through the night on Friday and then slept for 2 days (slight exaggeration, but not that slight). And this weeks truly lives up to the title of this substack. I tried my best. And here’s how it went:
I didn’t do very well, though I did give a greater effort than expected.
this album is, wait for it, 3 hours long.
I have a couple anecdotes about this listening experience:
The whole album is obviously just the score of the film, so it’s entirely instrumental. OR SO I THOUGHT. I was sitting reading the other morning and listening to the album. minding my own business. Next thing I know I am accosted by the sound of an old man’s voice humming. I don’t startle easily, but you best believe I JUMPED. Turns out it’s just a song that has … Gandalf ??? Bilbo ??? Idk, humming. Unpleasant.
While in Colorado I posted up in a coffee shop to get some work done, so obviously i popped in my AirPods (non-noise cancelling — relevant to this story) and turned on this silly little album. 15 minutes later i realized that my ears were not listening to LOTR soundtrack, and were in fact fully tuned into the music playing in said coffee shop (mostly bc it was Wallows and Boyscott and i 💖 them both) — this just feels like it says a lot about my relationship with this album. It is literally in my ears and I still cannot be bothered to listen to it.
AND FINALLY, here’s the ultimate LOL, texts with my friend Amy who suggested the album:
So basically why am i even doing this? What is integrity? IF A GIRL LISTENS TO LORD OF THE RINGS IN A WOODS AND NO ONE IS AROUND TO SEE IT, DID SHE EVEN LISTEN????
Whatever.
The good is that I can appreciate the album musically. I think the ability to compose with a full orchestra is actually one of the coolest things in the world. (Coming from the girl who took piano and choir and still could not read music if her life depended on it). I think that film scores are particularly cool, the thought of someone being able to build the world of a film through music. To sit down with a movie that contains nothing but dialogue and sound effects and be able to know how to move the action along with music is so so cool. I always like thinking about what songs I would put into movies and tv, but to be the one composing the music from nothing? Literally the coolest. It’s so foreign to me, and in another life I would love nothing more than to be able to compose.
I don’t know Lord of the Rings well enough to identify scenes based on the songs, but I do know it well enough to be able to try and imagine where the songs are fitting into the film, and to be honest, it kind of makes me want to watch it, just to put the whole picture back together. The only other time in my life I’ve wanted to watch LOTR was in middle school when I was in love with Orlando Bloom. and tbh having a crush on Orlando bloom is not a good enough reason to watch the movies.
In other unrelated news:
Childish Gambino has a new single, Lithonia, and it’s really fun and I really liked it and you should listen. I think he’s the ultimate triple threat and is underappreciated. Maybe he’s too niche? I don’t know. I personally think he’s crazy talented and cool and want to be his best friend? Wife? Housekeeper? Idk i just wanna hang. (He also released Atavista in May and another full length album is promised, he’s cooking.)
I have been a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Team girl for years and was actually so sad when they canceled it. So imagine my DELIGHT when Netflix released America’s Sweethearts, which is just a higher quality version of DCC. I ate it up. I do see how the DCC is a bit problematic and my hip flexors were tearing just watching the jump split. However, that’s show biz baby.
I got new glasses and I bet you can’t spot the difference:
(In case anyone is confused, that’s not 3 pictures of me, the other two are Jeffrey Dahmer and the killer from The Lovely Bones. Slay.)
We have a world class art museum in my city, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Multiple times a year they have rotating exhibitions and the current one is called Exquisite Creatures by Christopher Marley. It’s essentially a story of the intersection between art and the natural world. My mom and I went on Sunday and it was UNREAL. If you are in the NWA area I highly recommend going. It is leaving Crystal Bridges at the end of July, so go quick. But seriously it was so cool and beautiful and intricate. I love art and this was one of the coolest mixtures of art and science and life. So cool. At very least google Christopher Marley’s work. 100/10.
Finally, as aforementioned, i was quite sick a couple weeks ago. And we all know that the sick to bored to BuzzFeed pipeline is a short one, but it resulted in some great news. Contrary to popular belief:
Now that that’s settled, let’s move onto our album this week!
DRUM ROLL:
The Story by Brandi Carlile
I’ve never listened to her much (however I do know the song, The Story) but I know she’s low key an icon AND in 2022 Marcus Mumford came out with an album that has meant a whole lot to me, and she is featured on one of my very favorite songs off the album, so it’s about time I was educated in Brandi Carlile.
Will report back!
See you next week✌️
Oooh so excited for you to dig into Brandi Carlisle. The LotR score is so deeply layered with motifs and leitmotifs and whatnot, but I can see how it would be TOO chill and easy to tune out. I'm personally obsessed with the Reznor scores for productivity (esp writing) like The Social Network and now Challengers.
Glad to hear you're feeling better and that exhibit sounds incredible!