@D Mullholand- It is always a pleasure to read something so thought provoking, keep it up.
To eveything you said, I do not know if any one mentioned this, but I think what you are describing is the emotional impact music has on the mind, what makes a certain musical peice somber or uplifting, well, it comes down to a couple things. First is chords-minor chords are seen as sad and/or dark, we don't know why something in our brains just interprets these as having to do with sadness, likewisw major chords are seen as more uplifting and happy, again there is no explanation for this, it miight be the views thrust upon us by our parents, it could actually be instinctual. Second is societies perception of said compostions, society really has a big part in the perception of a piece of music at least classically. And third is the artists intent, I do not know about anyone else but when I write a peice of music it is totally about me and the things I need to get off my chest emotionally, I think this is how most artists go about it.
Now there are acouple things music can be at any point during listening- it can be an escape from reality or it can ultimately ground you in the now, this depends on lyrical content and the atmosphere, again I think this is based on the intent of the artist, maybe without having the intention to, or subconciously, this is what the artist intends for his music to do, to either take you out and beyond or make you think about reality and his point of view. This and any type of art is ultimately based on emotion and creaing those emotions so other people can understand them, yes there are bands out there that just show off, I rarely listen to these bands though.
A song that makes me see those images, Hope Leaves, I can relate lyrically and the emotion of the song is loud and fuckin clear.
[edit]-wow that is an old post, I doubt he is keeping it up.
