well, its officially summer here in michigan. a quick check of the weather tells me that its 90 degrees and feels like 108. kind of sad that i havent been swimming yet at all this summer since my sisters house with a pool is less than a mile away. this also means no wakeboarding yet either. i was hoping to land my double back flip this year but it doesnt seem to be in the cards unless i get some serious training in soon. you could say this is sort of the climax of the summer heat though, it really doesnt get much worse than this in michigan, so even the weather is staying on theme. well, i guess its worse when its this hot and 100% humidity. which reminds me of my favorite thing about the west. when you go to vegas, and its 110 degrees, and everyone from vegas reminds you, “yes, but its a dry heat!” people — dry or not, 110 degrees is effing hot any way you slice it.

i chose todays song because bon iver reminds me of summer. im not sure why, since im pretty sure the album was written in the dead of winter in wisconsin or minnesota or one of those cold-as-the-dickens-in-the winter states just west of glorious lake michigan. plus the usual summer songs for me are the ones that are ultra high energy with lots of electronic synthesized components. perhaps its the relaxing and carefree tone of the whole album (at least musically, lyrically is another story). perhaps its the fact that ive seen bon iver live twice (a full band on tour), both at hot and sticky music festivals, in which the non-danceable but enthralling performances were a welcome break to my tired feet and sweat glands alike. while i wouldnt say that theyre loud rockers in concert, the live show is definitely more than you would think it would be. plus there was a guy in his band who looked like he was 15 last summer. im sure hes older than he looked, but i was still jealous of someone really young living the rock star dream.

the track is the wolves (act I and II) and it follows the pattern weve been establishing the last few days. the beginning is actually ultra quiet, so you have to have the volume up a good amount just to hear it, and thats why the loud is even louder, even though its just for a few seconds near the end of the tune. in fact when i first got this album many moons ago i remember listening to it at work and always being kind of surprised at how loud i had the volume turned up. you can definitely anticipate musically that something is coming, whether its the slightly louder guitar playing at shorter intervals, or the fireworks exploding in the background.

bon iver – the wolves(act I and II)

buy this track on itunes
buy this track on itunes