Echoes

Meditation should be simple, accessible. Maybe something you can do while multi-tasking. The way I see it, meditation is like opening that slot at the bottom of Connect Four to dump all your thoughts and have a clear head. Maybe it is that easy, just something to take your mind off your life for a bit, in which case it becomes widely available. Going for a walk, drawing a picture of an apple, or listening to music are simple activities that bridge the gap between transcending the universe and your everyday life.

Art can be very amorphous in its definition, and becomes an incredibly individual preference. Some like abstract expressionism, others like paint-by-numbers. Some like opera, others like k-pop. Some like one song by a musician but not another. So to suggest a playlist to someone is a bold move. But if it speaks to you, maybe it’ll talk to someone else.

Song do exactly that, speak to you…with words. I’ve never sought any meaning out of the words, as if its some life style mantra, I listen for how the words are sung, how they add to the music. Relating to the lyrics seems like it would detract from the music, you don’t get the whole experience. Though I’m sure a song is written for a purpose, if it wasn’t it could just be random words. There are sad songs, and happy songs, I’ve always thought that distracting. A song about an incredibly sad subject could sound lively and uplifting, and sometimes you just need to disassociate the two.

Its that first note. I know what song it is. Then it repeats a few times. For the next 26 minutes the playlist surrounds you and melts everything near you. Granted its just one song, but when most songs are only 4-5 minutes, it constitutes the length of a typical play list.

I don’t remember the first time I heard it, where I was, who I was with, none of that. Its not a song that reminds me of an event, or a person, it’s a song that reminds me of itself. I listen to it in the car, at work, sing it to myself in the shower, its applicable eternally.

Echoes. When people hear Pink Floyd, they think Wish You Were Here, or Comfortably Numb – great songs in their own right – but Echoes is an experience, not just a song. It starts out hopeful, melds into a desolate landscape, and emerges bright and beautiful, ending with a content shepard’s tone.

The imagery is masterful "Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air" conjures a sense of calm and stability as the massive birds holds itself effortlessly above you. "And through the window in the wall come streaming in on sunlight wings, a million bright ambassadors of morning" make you think of those warm spring weekend mornings without a care in the world.

And here we are everyday, repetition , work, sleep, bottle it up, it’ll get better, eat lunch, brush your teeth, wait for vacation, pay bills, do the dishes, leftovers, fold the laundry, unending monotony.

Echoes holds true to it’s namesake, makes all your daily nonsense a faint echo.

So if you don’t have the concentration to meditate in the classical sense, or a quiet space to escape to, music is portable. You know that feeling after a day at the beach, after you shower off the salt and sand, and bits of flotsam that stick to your arms, when you put on fresh clothes, grab a cold drink, and head outside again to sit in the last warm rays of the sun with your eyes closed? That’s Echoes. That’s my zen. Music is for everyone, and so is relaxation.