Sunday, August 24, 2014

Writing to Reach You

"My inside's on the outside..."

Fran Healy's ability to communicate thoughtful melancholy in disarmingly charming ways makes me think of James Taylor, in a good way.  Emerson Hart of Tonic is another songwriter who has that uncanny knack for making down sound like up, or at lease, breaking even.  I have spent so much of my post pubescent life in a head space that suits this kind of music, and I didn't even know it, because initially I limited my taste to Hip Hop and Alternative. I didn't grow out of that kind of music, but I grew into others.  I had something I wanted to say to people I cared about, without ornamentation or self-conscious posturing.  I just wanted to sincerely share my feelings, all of them, not just the genre-approved emotional palette.  That's what this is song is all about.

The Heart

"There will be days when you struggle to say what's in your heart, and all that you can say pulls you further from your heart..."

Jimmy Gnecco wrote the album the Heart while his mother was battling cancer, to which she finally succumbed.  This titular track is so impassioned, and given Jimmy's otherworldly talents, that passion was captured and conveyed. If only we all had such a magnificent outlet for our emotions... I know there are times I wished I had the depth and range of his abilities, and his control.  It's truly inspiring. Pure emotion.  Obviously all heart.