Favourite Lyric of the Day

When routine bites hard

And ambitions are low

And resentment rides high

But emotions won't grow

And we're changing our ways

Taking different roads

Love, love will tear us apart again. 

-Joy Division

Track One

Music. It is such a sickeningly powerful thing. It can transform a mood in a second. It can elicit feelings you didn't know you still had. And it can take you back to a moment two years ago that you thought you had long put behind you (and have, truly....but still). Not forgotten after all. Sitting in bed, past midnight, listening to a playlist I haven't put on in ages. Opening notes to a song are quiet and stirring. My heart starts thudding and my mind hurtles back in time to a room, a wall full of windows, overlooking the dark sky and the city dotted with lights. How in that moment, during this exact song, what I felt was nothing but utter confidence. And joy. Followed by months of not being able to listen to this song without feeling sick to my stomach. So two years later. I listen to its haunting beauty....still one of my absolute favourites. And now, while it can take me back to that moment in a split second, it doesn't hurt like that anymore. It's just another memory. 

Another piece of the past. 

Passenger Seat

I roll the window down and then begin to breathe in

The darkest country road and the strong scent of evergreen

From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.

Then looking upwards I strain my eyes and try

To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites

From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.

Do they collide? I ask and you smile

With my feet on the dash the world doesn't matter.

When you feel embarrassed I'll be your pride,

When you need directions then I'll be the guide,

For all time

For all time. 

-Passenger Seat, Death Cab for Cutie

You know how sometimes one small thing can trigger an especially wonderful memory or evoke something you love that has been buried in your mind? Every time I drive down a particularly lush, tree lined street or even just look at an image of such a thing I immediately think of this ridiculously lovely song. It is the simplest of love songs but I think I adore it so much because of its very simplicity. I can always imagine myself and that someone else driving in the dark through an alley of trees that you can just see through above, see through to the stars. I bought the above photograph because of this very song and every time I look at the beautiful image, it makes me happy. I am building my photography collection and soon I will have a gallery wall full of images that make me as happy as this! 

PS- Listen to this breathtaking song (or watch this). I highly recommend it. 

And congratulations to my huge crush Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie on getting married this past weekend to the adorable Zooey Deschanel (my girl crush from 500 Days of Summer). 

Buy Tunnel of Trees yourself here. 

Favourite Lyric of the Day

"Life is easy with your eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see."

-The Beatles

Quote of the Day

"When people hear good music it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have."

-Edgar Watson Howe

Music, lyrics make me feel exactly that. Sometimes a longing to live in the moment of that song or to feel that feeling forever. I think this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I think that love is very much like that feeling too~ a sense of homesickness for someone else.

LIsten To This~ Pilot Speed

As you already know my kid brother is the guitarist in a kick ass Vancouver band called Elias (read previous post here). Recently signed to the new label Wax Records, the boys are almost done their work in the studio in preparation for their upcoming album. And that's just in time, because in the lives of Elias, the month of October will be spent traveling across Canada touring with Toronto-based quartet Pilot Speed. Formerly known as Pilate, this band is signed to Wax's parent company, Wind Up Records, and are garnering attention in the Canadian music scene. I've been listening to their 2003 release, Caught By The Window, for the last day and I'm definitely smitten. It usually takes me upwards of five listens to any song or album to know if I like it or not but I was drawn in by the haunting beauty of the very first track, Endgame, and it only got better from there. Pilot Speed's latest album, Wooden Bones, can be found on iTunes and is definitely worth the purchase. 

Watch the video for the single Put The Phone Down here. 

Pilot Speed with Elias will be playing at The Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver on Monday, October 5 and I, for one, will definitely be there! 

Transatlanticism

The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how
The clouds above opened up and let it out.
I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean
Making islands where no islands should go.

-Death Cab For Cutie

Butterflies

(Image via Paper Tissue)

Favourite Lyric of the Day

You can't just say 'I love you'

You have to live 'I love you'.

-Ben Harper, Heart of Matters

(Lyric choice thanks to Leah and Nicole and our crazy, heated conversation about boys last night! Love you, girls)

(Photo via Paper Tissue) 

Life in Technicolor~ Coldplay Rock Vancouver Yet Again

Nine years ago I fell hopelessly in love with four boys at the same time. They were a little bit older than me, English, talented and had great taste in music~ and I was smitten. It all started with one little single called Yellow, which I heard for the first time on Much Music in my parents' basement. A boy strolled down a beach in darkness singing about a girl he loved (look at the stars, look how they shine for you) and, in turn, I fell. Hard. For the last nine years Coldplay has been my go-to band, the one I turn to when I need inspiration, a good cry or to dance around my apartment. 

On Sunday I was lucky enough to see them for the sixth time in concert and it was an amazing night. To be fair the first five times were all phenomenal. First~ only a few hundred people at the Commodore, a time when people had barely heard of the band and Yellow had only just hit the airwaves. The small venue was incredible. Second~ six months later, still touring forParachutes, fourth row at the Orpheum. Theatre seating made them nervous and Chris Martin kept encouraging everyone to rush the stage. We complied! Third~ August 2005, White River Amphitheatre outside of Seattle for X&Y. Outdoor venue, third row, bodies smushed together = unbelievable evening. The four hour drive home in pouring rain, not so much. Fourth~ GM Place for X&Y the following January. These boys can certainly rock a stadium. Fifth~ Last July, the Pemberton Festival outside Whistler, B.C. The headlining act of the three day festival. My good friend Chloe and I shoved our way to about the fourth row (rather painfully) and were rewarded with being able to admire the boys' cute (and sweaty) faces up close! 

This past Sunday I was offered a last minute ticket by my cousin Kate and I was overjoyed, as I hadn't planned on going and was heartbroken about it. GM Place was packed and our seats were directly beside the stage, so our view was perfect. Snow Patrol opened the show and their set was fantastic~ energetic, fun and peppered with the lead singer's witty dialogue. When it was time for their set, Coldplay burst onto the stage with sparklers, waving them madly and running around in darkness before bursting into Life in Technicolor, followed by Violet Hill, Clocks, Yellow, In My Place and Glass of Water. The set list covered the band's four albums and their latest EP, Prospekt's March, across the board and the variety was well balanced to perfection. Other songs played include Fix You (tears!), Politik, Green Eyes and a lovely piano version of The Hardest Part, plus almost all of their latest album, Viva La Vida (the only exception being Yes). Fun elements of the evening included the band moving to a tiny stage in the middle of the stadium to play a few songs (including I'm a Believer by The Monkees and Will Champion performing Death Will Never Conquer) and inciting the audience to do the "wave" with their lit up cell phones. My favourite part? The millions of butterflies showering the crowd during Lovers in Japan. It was incredibly beautiful! The best part of the entire evening was knowing that the concert was being filmed for the band's Live DVD, so in a few short months I will be able to buy a hard copy of a show I attended! Chris Martin said that out of 90 countries they performed in they chose Vancouver to film the DVD. I can't wait to see it! 

The only thing lacking during the evening? No Gwyneth, Apple or Moses to be seen. Sigh....

Otherwise...perfect! 

(P.S. Most of these photos were taken last year in Pemberton)

Favourite Lyric of the Day

"Are you lost or incomplete? Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece?"

-Talk, X&Y, Coldplay