"Great-grandpere, take us fishing
with wooden poles,
Young hearts will grow up wishing
For hidden prose.
My Filipino lolo takes us squiding
Boat full of holes.
Shall we find time for total mending?
No one knows. "
–excerpt from Hanzi’s “No One Knows,” available with the limited edition Kindle copy of The Listening Society.
I tend to express little emotion, yet the lyrics from @paulmaylone’s “Salmon Run” had pools forming in my lower lids as the song progressed. Yes, this taps into the paradoxical depth of emotion we experience, the religious “pray for us” and salvation on top of artificial and natal machinery at work.
Metamodern music? Impossible! Some critics of the Metamodern culture would go in the direction of vapor wave and kin, tapping into the more youthful expressions of the massive attack on culture as we know it. Yet I would prefer a more mature, subtle approach as seen/heard in your chosen song. For this see Sturgill Simpson’s “Turtles All The Way Down” (heck, his album even has Metamodern right there in its name! How much more Metamodern can you get?!).
Read Simpson’s lyrics and you may see that there is hope yet. This country song appeals to a recent Kentuckian such as I (5 years here in a foreign Southern land, neighbor holstering guns, their children literally riding around with the Confederate flag hoisted high on their PowerWheels–yet surprisingly, I have had civil conversations with them, they accept all races, they are open about political discussion, they are what I would consider friends…what a strange world).