Lyrical Remedies

Can lyrics make a song hauntological? I certainly think so, with a few parameters. Anybody can be abstract, paradoxical, or otherwise with lyrics; but do they remind, re-spin, or conjure daydreams? I think this is the key. 

The track Fog, a little piano ballad by Thom Yorke, hits the nail directly. While the song itself is pretty thought compelling just to listen to, the lyrics bring it home. Specifically note the lyric: "There's a little child, runnin round this house, and he never leaves, he will never leave." A heavy sentiment to start a ditty with, but it still works. Furthermore, being a little metaphorical or clever (or Thom actually worries about sewer gators), Thom says: "Baby alligators, in the sewers, grow up fast, grow up fast." Be that as it may, this song finishes nicely with the statement: "somethings will never wash away." 

Does this leave you in limbo a bit? It does me. Things leave impressions. The places you were able to call yours are often nooks and crannies - unimportant to anybody else - yet still valid to your own nostalgia. Lyrics can remind you of those places, people, and things. What songs do this for you?  

Bibio knows ALL the ghosts

Bibio, a one-man machine of conceptual sampling is supposedly set to release a full length LP this March. Listen to it. 

While his videos (down below) are often dream-like, there is something noteworthy about the way that Bibio creates.  For instance, Bibio's song Ambivalence Avenue starts out with a brush of sea air working its way through your speakers.  It's less about the fact that Bibio sampled a sound that you've probably heard on the beach for this track and more about what that sound makes you feel like. However, what makes this track hauntological to me is the way the whole works together. The samples draw you in deep while the organic guitar and percussion remind you (me) of kicking it on the street corner with a random bucket drummer.  It's fresh, it's old, it's sampled, it's original, it's Bibio.