New music enters your life in all sorts of ways. On the radio. Wafting through an open window.
Regular contact with young people helps. When my boys were at home, I tried to take note of what they were listening to — too many self-absorbed dads force their own tastes on their offspring; it never occurs to them to pay attention to what their kids are playing instead.
The problem in finding new music for a person who is, umm, not exactly new themselves is inability to relate — most songs seem aimed at 15-year-olds, about parties and dancing and life-shattering heartbreak.
You have to look for points of commonality. Which is how we met introspective tunesmith Josienne Clarke last January, after Apple Music served up her song “Chicago” and its enigmatic line, “It’s not Chicago’s fault that no one came to see me play.”
I tracked her down to her home on the coast of Scotland. She was very candid.
Last week, a flat cardboard package arrived in the mail, a method of music transmission I don’t experience much lately — sent by the artist, from her home on Isle of Bute, for 20 pounds, 45 pence —$26.
Inside was a record album. Vinyl, which is back, big time. I do have a turntable and figured I’d drag an amp out of the basement and hook them up. Still, that would take effort. Then I paused, thought and plugged the name of the album, “Parenthesis I” into Apple Music. Voila.
It took several listens, but I liked her lack of cliche. The opening song, “Friendly Teeth,” claims, “I want a truth so strong, it comes right up and bites you on the shoulder with its friendly teeth.” Not a tired image, at least. Though I would have had that truth bite you in the ass — more emphatic — I suppose a singer can choose what part of her anatomy gets bitten.
While I tend to focus on the lyrics, several songs on the album had such a smooth vibe, part Bjork, part Sade, that I really didn’t care what she was saying.
I was touched Clarke would go to the trouble of going to the post office and spend 20 pounds, 45p. But that isn’t why I’m writing this.
I had a thought I don’t think I’ve seen spelled out before — as you grow older, you really ought to make an effort to seek out new music, to try not to be a person whose entire playlist is 45 years old.
For instance. Friday morning I heard the name Chappell Roan for the first time: WBBM reporting on Lollapalooza. Though what I heard was “chaperone.” Then at dinner, my wife and I were talking about the day’s news, the singers name came up again, and I announced, “Let’s give her a listen right now.”
I summoned up her 2022 album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” and let her rip. Hmmm …. the song that stood out, on first listen, was “My Kink is Karma,” a hate-your-ex song. I must be vindictive because I really like those.
I’m a particular fan of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire,” even though I’m not quite sure what she’s saying. “You sold me for parts” sounds good, but what does it mean?
Then there is “California” which, unlike the Joni Mitchell song of the same day, is not a paean to the Golden State. “Come get me out of California,” she sings. Testify sister, I thought, as one who lasted three months at his first job in LA before hurrying back to kiss the ground in Chicago. Don’t let the whiteface and the lucha libre masks fool you. Roan’s songs have intelligence and depth and feeling.
The key is to give it time. When Billie Eilish first showed up, she was a strange teen in a big shirt whispering her songs over a background of electronic clicks and pops. Now I think she’s Cole Porter, writing a new American canon. Really. Listen to the theme song from “Barbie,” “What was I made for?” If that doesn’t speak to your condition, well, lucky you.
I know a lot of my readers are older and not inclined to start listening to Chappell Roan. You might want to reconsider that. A couple years ago, I went to Spain, not because I had any burning desire to go to Spain, but because I didn’t want to be the type of guy who wouldn’t go to Spain. It was the right call.
Don’t be a person who won’t listen to new music. You may not like it, at first. But that just means you aren’t trying hard enough.