The dogdays and summer are almost over and we turn slowly into autumn and the time when melancholic songs will return. I don't know why but during the last years sentimental songs were released mostly in the last months of the year. And so I wasn't surprised when I first listened to the new song by The National. A beat, a gentle chord sequence: Weird Goodbyes is at first simple and minimalist, nothing groundbreaking, until then Matt Berninger's vocals appear: „Memorize the bathwater, memorize the air / There’ll come a time I’ll wanna know when I was here“. Less singer can sing about separation and pain like him. Together with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon they made the an anthem for people who want to leave their past behind and looking forward to something new.
Each day I go to work I have to travel for almost one hour with public travel. During this time I check the news on my mobile phone and listen to music. Sometimes on Spotify but mostly what is on the hard drive. I have to admit that I am surprised when I use accidental reproduction and what forgotten gems appeared. So I decided to start a series of three songs that appeared in a row. No thoughts if it will fit to a theme or makes sense - just a short reflection what came to my ears.
The first one was a song by Vic Chesnutt an American singer-songwriter who was a cross-border commuter between country, folk and a bit of punk. He collaborated with Bob Mould and a lot of other musicians from Athens, Georgia. I really love his version of the Southern gothic murder ballad of Bobby Russels' The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia not only because it is a sad story fantastic told.
The next one is by Matt Berninger, an American singer-songwriter and known as the frontman of The National. Loved So Little is a track from his first solo album released last year and superb like many of the songs on this album. A little gem that I rediscovered earlier this year.
The last one is by the only Cologne based artist I really enjoy during the last decades. While most Cologne artists to themselves feel fine in her native slang and declare nothing else than Cologne is the best, Jürgen Zeltinger with his debut album has put to himself a monument while he has interpreted many classics in new versions and in the Cologne dialect. This is probably the best cover version of the Ramones classic Rockaway Beach.
