Blue Haired Ladies and a Life Alone…
31 Days of Brannan – Day 5
[embedplusvideo height=”255″ width=”400″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1jbjQFA” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/0i14NZ8q5hc?fs=1&vq=hd720″ vars=”ytid=0i14NZ8q5hc&width=400&height=255&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=1&autoplay=0&react=0&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep3566″ /]
Today’s Playlist – Blue Haired Lady
(From the forthcoming Always, Then and Now due July 15th!)
So Jay released this about a week or so ago. My granddaughter kept prodding me to watch/listen to it. Yeah, she’s an über Jay fan too. My doing. She couldn’t help herself, really. I play him nearly all the time in the car. She knows the lyrics to his songs nearly as well as I do (though she refuses to sing the third verse of ‘On All Fours” – but not because I prohibit her from doing so, it’s her personal choice to avoid that F-bomb loaded verse). Anyway, she kept telling me to listen to it. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to – über Jay fan here myself, remember?
So what was the hold up?
Simply put: I just wanted to savor something new from him.
I knew the new work was set to drop on the fifteenth of this month so I knew time was ticking away when I’d get all of them into my little mitts. I did watch/listen to Always, Then and Now on his YouTube channel – so there was a small precedent. But for some reason the ‘official’ video release seemed something bigger. So this is a write up after watching it just once. Sort of my first impressions from the moments just after I’ve absorbed it.
It’s a touching piece. There’s a gentle maturity to his work that I am really enthused about (not that his earlier work was juvenile in any way – far from it), but there is a gentility that is threading through his work lately. Even in his choice of covers that he peppers on his youtube channel. He seems to be contemplating things that appear outside of his realm of personal experience. In Blue Haired Lady he gives us a very personal tale that has weight in the longevity of her life. The imagery of the video supports this with the books strewn on the brown and withered field where he is simply singing the song.
This is one of the elements I love about his work. The simplicity of how he brings it to us, allowing the words and melody to take center stage but the visuals are carefully thought out and support the strength of the tale he choses to share with us. There’s solid craft there – not only musically (LOVE the string arrangements, btw) but the overall movement of the tale he is telling. The pace, the evolution and the circular momentum of this woman’s life and her impending demise. How she choses to accept her passing – realizing that it is something that while surrounded by her loved one’s is something she alone will experience (as we all shall). In this is the cautionary moment, the point which her continual thought that she never wanted to die alone to the point where she realizes that death was nothing but a singular experience.
The lens flares were used to great effect here, never becoming a nuisance – indeed, it supports the whole ‘light’ that many have said they see when they’ve experienced a near death experience.
Death is never an easy thing to discuss. The fear of the unknown, of the potential pain involved, the end of one’s existence is not something we all want to contemplate.
Brannan’s tale is emotive without becoming maudlin. If this is an example of what the new work holds in store I am confident that we are in for a stellar release from him. This one may supplant my current favorite ‘Rob Me Blind’ which has become my most played album on my musical devices.
Can’t wait for the 15th to get here.
The Always, Then & Now Tour…
Sidebar: I bought my Deluxe Package from Jay Brannan’s store for the tour he’s embarking on now. The cost of the deluxe package is $40 and you get quite a bit for it. There are other packages as well. But that isn’t why I did it. I did it because I truly feel indebted to this man of words and music. I am enriched by his musical musings and experiences. I am emboldened to discover that I am not alone in my dreams and fears. And for that I will always support him and do what I can to spread the word.
The deluxe tour package from Jay Brannan’s merchandise store – get this or many other offerings from his site.
Please check out his site with links for his upcoming shows. I am definitely a late comer to the Brannan bandwagon whenever he pulls through my city. But now that I am going this year, I am making it a goal never to miss when he swings through town. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity as well. Also be sure to check out his web store at the following link.
Jay’s Website – jaybrannan.com