Dachaigh #5: Records that raised me.
- Apr 7, 2020
- 10 min read
Day 3 HWFG:
~For the purposes of variance of vocabulary and Gàidhlig representation, throughout this piece, I will alternate between using the words music and ceòl to describe "vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.”. Simply because I want to and I can, really.~
Today, we're gonna sort through some of the music that framed my youth. Now seems like a perfect time to do this, as I just recently turned 18, so I guess I’m officially done being “raised”?! Is that how that works? Am I, all of a sudden, no longer impressionable?
Music is, and always has been, a huge part of my life. But still, while writing this piece, I had to look back through every year and every season of my life - and doing so made me realise that ceòl, and all that it encompasses, has had a far greater impact on me than I previously understood.
Ceòl is powerful; it can move us, change us even. It can influence the way that we feel and act - this is especially apparent during our developmental years.
Music often acts as a messenger - lyrics can carry wisdom that teaches and inspires us. One line of a song has the power to pull our souls in new directions, by expanding our perspective and focussing our vision.
While I wasn’t paying attention, music was shaping me in ways that neglected to notice, until now.
Ceòl is a million different things to a million different people.
It engages in a deeply personal relationship with every soul - formed from the preferences of our individual tastes and the way that we partake in our listening habits. It will impact everyone differently depending on their personality and life experiences, both past and present.
We all have a unique hand in the game. Some of us create our own (not me), while others are simply consumers (me).
But music in and of itself unites us - it serves as common ground for humanity. Every nation and tongue participates; it holds an important place in the heart of all cultures.
When I need an escape from the world, music is my instinctual retreat; it is always there to greet me at the end of a hard day. Ceòl is constant and reliable, yet consistently moving and evolving.
Music can provide a space to process and reflect. Simply putting on your headphones can allow you to just…be - to exist purely within your emotions. In that space you’ll have all of the time and distance that you need to make sense of what it is that you’re feeling.
If you seek a distraction, it has the power to transport you back to better times or allow you to live in a completely different reality, if only for a minute or two.
If ever we lose sight of ourselves, the right record can lead us back to where we left ourselves. Perhaps the next song to play will help with the reintroductions.
Tunes can serve as the background to long and happy days, while also cradling and comforting us through hard nights. Ceòl can stir our emotions and nurture our hearts; in-turn helping heal old wounds.
The correct combination of cords can create a melody with the ability to lend us a glimpse of peace, however fleeting. A well assembled verse or chorus can grant us courage and confidence when we need it. Even a few words in the correct order have the power to awaken passions in us that were lying dormant, things that we had forgotten were within us.
Music can speak for us when we are too weak to get the words out of our own mouths. Lyrics, the articulation of the expressions of someone else's soul, can help us identify and explain our very own feelings. They are purely poetry, set upon a melodic backdrop.
The essence of a song can speak into our lives and incite change, sparking realisations and awakenings that go onto transform our being.
On this Earth, music is the closest thing that we have to "magic".
Perhaps what I appreciate the most about ceòl is that more often than not it finds us and meets us where we are. We rarely go in search of it, it tends to come to us. When you love music, it selflessly nurtures you. So, without further ado, here are some tunes that, over the years, have struck a cord with me (pun intended):
2007:
~These Streets - Paolo Nutini
We’ll begin our journey in 2007, as this is the first time that I have any memories of music that impacted me in a way that’s worth mentioning.
It was in this year, when I was five, that I attended my very first concert: Paolo Nutini (I’m not fucking joking). It was sick.
For this reason, I (like most other Glaswegians) will always hold ‘These Streets’ in very high esteem.
2008:
~Fearless - Taylor Swift
For me this year was defined by endless summer days spent entirely on the family laptop, watching the videos for “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne on repeat. That’s basically all I remember of 2008 lol.
For the sake of nostalgia:
*~VW - VW (see end note)
2009:
~Fireflies - OwlCity
I don’t need to elaborate on this one. I think we can all agree that it changed all of us internally while simultaneously altering the course of time and reality as we knew it.
~Lungs - Florence and The Machine
To this very day, I listen to this album fairly regularly - it's 10/10.
When I was seven I discovered, and became a bit obsessed with, Florence Welch. I’ve been a massive fan of her and her work ever since.
She was so different to any other artist that I had previously come across. Everything she created was just so...passionate. I loved the way that her lyrics were poetry first and foremost, equally as beautiful on paper without the company of a melody, every individual song telling a complete story in verse.
Her commitment to honest self-expression was so inspiring and intriguing to me. I noticed how she harnessed all of her individuality for her own advantage - it only served to further complement her insanely abundant talent.
At eighteen, I'm equally in awe of her - she’ll always be a style icon of mine.
2010:
~The beginning of a new decade brought with it a blessing for my music listening habits. 2010 changed the game - it was the year that I got my first iPod. Fifth generation iPod Nano - blue; she was my pride and joy.
With no resources to purchase my own music, everything on the iPod had been downloaded from my parents' shared iTunes library. So I basically ended up listening to what they liked, indulging in their own 80's nostalgia.
This era is really what acted as the foundations for my very chaotic music taste. Some favourites:
New Order
Culture Club
Joy Division
Kate Bush
The Killers
Talking Heads
The Cure (I LOVED [and still do!] Japanese Whispers - The Lovecats will always be a fave!)
ABBA
The Rankin Family
~Speak Now - Taylor Swift
2010 was another year defined by Swift. Eight year old me truly didn’t fully appreciate living during Taylor Swift’s country era. I was so blissfully unaware that those golden days were numbered.
Anyways, it’s not healthy to live in the past, but I do miss it. If she ever feels like picking up the banjo again, I will welcome that decision with open arms.
*Contra - VW (see end note)
2011:
~Mylo Xyloto - Coldplay
This album was very exciting for me; the imagery was so lively with all of it’s colours. It's sentiments and sound mirrored and appealed to my youthful hunger and eagerness for life.
Similarly to Florence and The Machine, I loved how many of Coldplay's songs were closed narratives, each telling a brand new tale. I found it so refreshing compared to the repetitive and predictable subject matters bled dry by modern pop.
Charlie Brown was the peak of this Coldplay era, in my opinion:
2012:
~Soundtrack to the movie 'Brave'
So, Brave was a film that was very validating for ten year old Rose.
Merida was aggressively Scottish, with messy hair, she was stubborn and vocal; but most importantly she was absolutely unapologetic about it. Based on previous Disney standards, and the standards set for woman in general, she was absolutely imperfect. And, yet, she was still a princess (my favourite Disney princess, may I add).
But it was the soundtrack that really got me - I’ve been a massive Julie Fowlis fan ever since. Part of it's listening appeal to me nowadays is undeniably the sentimentality - but the score remains ever beautiful and compelling to me. When I listen I’m taken back to the bairn that I once was.
2013:
~Days Are Gone - Haim
This was the first album that I ever bought for myself (with my own money and all!). It's their debut album, and it makes up one of only four albums that I own a physical copy of.
The mini feminist in me was definitely drawn to the sisters (actual biological sisters) doing it for themselves aspect; I thought that they were the absolute coolest.
Sound-wise, it hasn’t really grown old to me. It has certainly stood the test of time, I find myself returning to it time and time and time again.
~What We Saw from the Cheap Seats - Regina Spektor
Another artist that first came onto my radar in 2013, upon the recommendation of my first year music teacher, was Regina Spektor. At the time 'What We Saw From The Cheap Seats' was her most recently released album, but eleven year old me really enjoyed exploring her entire discography.
~Bad Blood - Bastille
This album is peak nostalgia to me. If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?
*MVotC - VW (see end note)
2014:
~Walking On The Waves - Skipinnish
Could this one be classed as a west-coast cultural phenomenon? I was firstly introduced to this song by a boy that I really fancied at the time. Oh, to be young and grappling with unreturned affections.
But I’m glad that I knew him nonetheless - as this will always be an anthem of mine and I owe the initial encounter entirely to him.
I actually forgot about it for awhile, only to be reminded of it when it randomly played at a scout camp that I was attending a few years later. By that point, the affection that I had once felt for him had been completely replaced by the love that I felt for my country, especially the west highlands. That's what I call a glow up!
I have no idea how many times I’ve viewed the video, but in my mind, it’s a classic:
2015:
We’re mostly gonna not talk about my thirteenth year. Due to copious levels of emo-cringe, I would rather omit the majority of it from record. But...
~Cry Baby - Melanie Martinez
...I will mention that this album had a HUGE impact on me. It’s safe to say: fourteen year old Rose had never felt so seen.
There’s really no other artist comparable to Martinez. Her imagery and general music-style is so distinctive and recognisable. Her songs tackle some pretty dark topics, her lyricism in a direct contrast to her pastel sugar-coated aesthetic. I just think she's cool, honestly.
And again, I LOVE the fact that each of her songs tells its own individual story; but if you listen to the album track by track, you are taken through a continuous storyline. What can I say, I do love a good chronicle.
Iconic:
2016:
~All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend - AURORA
AURORA is another artist who’s commitment to individuality and emotional honesty really hit home with me. This was her debut album. It's slightly heavier undertones was one of the reasons why I, at the time, identified with it so strongly; it really allowed me to discern and process a lot of the hard emotions that I was experiencing myself. Fourteen is a tough age for everyone, I think.
I've loved everything that she's released since. I finally got to see her live in concert last year - it was amazing! <3
Listen to the lyrics from one of my favourites - Runaway:
2017:
In my life, 2017 was the year of my Gàidhlig awakening.
Three albums that were released that year that come to mind - all are staples of mine to this very day:
~Dreams We Never Lost - Tidelines
~An Dà Là - Mànran
~NW - Niteworks
In all seriousness, Niteworks really did change the game in 2017. Gàidhlig electronica is not something I necessarily knew that I wanted in my life, but I know now that I definitely needed it.
Gàidhlig is obviously a huge part of my identity and having grown up in Glasgow, it wasn’t something that I got the chance to engage with often. In 2017, music became my bridge to the highlands and reconnecting with my teuchter-self.
2018:
So, I’m gonna be real here: 2018 was probably the worst year of my life. I sincerely hope that I never have to experience a year remotely like it again.
I wasn’t in a place where I could take any joy from anything, including music for the first time in my life. It was horrible. I remember very little in general.
Towards the end of the year, as I began to regain my strength, music became a pathway which enabled me to rediscover my fundamental self. Getting back in touch with who I am involved a whole lot of worship music and a great deal of ceòl Gàidhlig.
Gàidhlig language music became very important to me - restoring my pride in where I come from allowed me to begin to rebuild my pride in my own person.
2019:
In 2019, music was definitely one of the things which helped bring me back to life.
A pretty handy summary is my Spotify wrapped:
One of my top genres of the year was "Icelandic pop" (lol). Aside from pop, I became a big fan of Icelandic/Faroese musicians in general; I gained a whole new appreciation for Sigur Rós and Eivør. Anyway:
~Good at Falling - The Japanese House
My album of 2019 would for sure be The Japanese House's debut.
This track particularly spoke me last year:
Other great albums from 2019:
~Grim Town - SOAK
~Reasons To Dream - whenyoung
~Pang - Caroline Polacheck
*General note:
Throughout my eighteen years however, the individual artist who has had the biggest impact on me is unquestionably Vampire Weekend. There is not a specific year to which I attribute or associate my love of them - I have been a fan of all of their era's.
Before FOTB was released last year, when I was seventeen, their most recent album had been MVOTC which came out in 2013, when I was eleven.
They took a six year hiatus, leaving me to cling desperately to their original trilogy of albums. Throughout those formative years I learnt so many lessons, grew up a great deal (literally) and experienced the whole emotional spectrum; and they were the soundtrack to all of it.
Gun a-màireach!
~Rose
*This blog is meant to be a digital catalyst of dachaigh. I hope that transcends from here, and reaches you through your screen wherever and however you may be - at home or not*
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