Best of 2011: Songs from February

Like yesterday's list, this one starts with a little cheating.  I first became obsessed with "Poison and Wine" about 6 months earlier. I don't even remember how I first heard of The Civil Wars, but I stumbled across this song and fell into the depths of sweet, painful love. Sometimes songs grow on you over time, or perhaps you like them but it takes a while to really pack the sentimental baggage into the them.  Other songs--very few songs--punch you in the gut with a visceral reaction that you can't explain or describe; you just respond instantly.  I think I knew I was going to love this song before the second bar.  I wore out the figurative grooves on their first EP, and when the band, made up of Joy Williams and John Paul White, announced they'd be releasing Barton Hallow, their first full length album, in early 2011, I looked forward to its release like I hadn't done an album since I was a teenager. I literally counted down the days.  By the time the album came out in February--and now, as I re-listen to it while writing--I was still obsessed with this song, and I got to watch the band's meteoric rise to stardom.  They made it onto many much more prestigious best-of lists this year, including Paste Magazine's 20 Best New Bands of the 2011 and NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums. One of my other favorites from the Album was the beautifully haunting "Falling," which turns romance on its head with lines like "I can't help falling out of love with you."





I heard Matisyahu's "One Day" on the trailer to Waiting for Superman, and then spent hours (or at least 20 minutes) searching the internet for it.  It didn't stay on repeat play very long, but for the month of February, I really needed something peppy and uncharacteristically optimistic. It gets on my nerves sometimes now, but that's sort of why I'm making this list, to keep track of the music that made an impact on my life, so that I don't just lose it all.



Confessional: I got Metric's "Raw Sugar" from someone I went out with a few times.  So I had it on repeat for a week or two, but then it was prematurely taken off of repeat when the relationship didn't work out.  To be honest, the song made me feel a bit like an ass. Then I rediscovered it later, and it's still one of my favorite songs for walking around the city.  So, with every relationship, you learn a few things,  meet interesting people, make good memories, and, if you're lucky, get a great song out of it.