Connections

warsofwinter

In memory of Chuck
May 2, 2001
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Corner Brook Canada
www.warsofwinter.cjb.net
 When I listen to music I can picture the layout of the songs, in most cases it is a lot like
going through different stages of emotional feelings in your life . Sometimes it is not emotion
that is triggered, but imagery . Of course it depends on the type of song, but sometimes if I don’t
read the lyrics before I hear the song, I can see the song as a ..lets say .. A mountain, becoming
more intense as it rises the falling back into an emotional ending . With music like Opeth, emotion is varied throughout the song, changing from one Riff to
another . While listening to this I can picture different landscapes, first the song may start off
very soft and emotional, here I can picture a shoreline which hasn’t been disturbed by humans
(yet) , as the song progresses and gets more aggressive, the landscape change’s from a shoreline
to deep in the forest not far from the shoreline , how beautiful the forest is , depends on the
strong structure . For example when Mikael Akerfeldt sings “damp mud, burning in my
eyes,” I see a swamp in the forest , very muddy and misty , with dead trees drowning within it .
Many other people may not see it , but the scenery may change from person to person . The
landscape continues throughout the song changing with the variation of aggressiveness and
emotionality.
 
I wish I could say that I was able to have those kinds of visulizations when I listen to music. I'm an incredibly highstrung person, and find it very difficult to relax. The only time I'm able to experience anything even remotely like that is if I listen to something when I'm laying in bed, dead tired. ..But of course, that usually doesn't work out to well, because I end up falling asleep. heh.
 
Still Life is definitely an album that I put on when I want to live the story. It is one of the best concept albums out there
 
That is such a huge reason why I like Opeth, the first two records especially make me wonder into my own fantasy world of nature. There are not to many bands that can do that to me Opeth being the best at it.
 
In terms of connections, I think associations. That always leads to a personal thing. It seems most people who listen to music that can be considered depressing, tend to associate it with a depressing moment in their lives. I know I have!

My best example is the "Thought I could not leave this place.." part of Godhead's Lament. At the time, I'd just been dumped by a girlfriend who was in my class, and we were partnered on an important editing project - so we would have to arrive together at the school early in the morning to get an editing station - the song ran through my head as we ascended the steps, and I have no idea why. That's still the first image that pops into my mind when I hear that part of the song. And it's still the personal meaning the song has for me.

That's my first idea of connections and associations. Imagery does play a role, but not as strong as the emotions I've laid upon the song. Personal will always come first, in that sense.

Let me know if I'm way off the mark, here. I'm dead tired for some reason, probably have mono.
 
Thats cool in a way, because in my first post I said the first two Opeth albums make me see imagery like mountains and such. But like you said exactly at the same part of Godheads Lament all I think about was the time I got news of a relatives failing health, I guess that song was all I listened to after I got the bad news. I also have many associations with music.
 
When I was reading Dragonlance Chronicles (for maybe the 4th time or so), Dark Tranquillity released haven, so I had it on repeat every time I read. Nowadays every time I listen to haven I get mental images of certain scenes in the book. It's like they're seamlessly bound together; I feel like haven is the absolute best "soundtrack" for DL.

I always mentally depict something when I listen to music, but the above case is the strongest one.