Chris.Weekly.org - A Web Space

I am listening to Arcade Fire’s album “Funeral” right now for the third time in a row and feel like I’m finally grokking (and really enjoying!) this music. I’d listened to them some before — mostly “Neon Bible” — but without getting much out of it; they got such rave reviews from critics and fans I respect that I tried, and felt I’d given them a fair shake, but I just never got into it. Now, I think I was lacking a context. When I hear something new and don’t have a reference point I can’t really understand it. I know this intellectually, in the abstract, from studying cognitive psych and human perception in college, where I learned that absent the proper framework or paradigm humans can’t perceive even the most common objects (e.g. a Himalayan climber coming across a rocking chair at 20,000 feet would stare at it befuddled for a long time before recognizing it, because it’s so out of place) … but this is a good example of this principle in personal experience. Anyway I was listening and suddenly realized I was getting some old-school Bowie, maybe some Velvet Underground, and some vibes of Yo La Tengo and even some Pink Floyd … and it kind of fell into place. Now I’m paying rapt attention and it sounds perfect. Before these associations came (late) to mind, I had conscious and mixed reactions to the timbre of the singer’s voice, the key changes and mix of rock and alt and art and other styles, and any number of other characteristics of the music taken in isolation, and remained detached from the listening experience. But armed with these (invented — but hey, this is all an internal experience so indulge me — ) reference points, my resistance fell away and I started to really, really enjoy it. Anyway I am always interested in not just what I (and others) think and perceive, but also how, and why, and in this case I think I understand the transformation in my reaction to this work of art.