Li: Yellow House

Track Listing: 1. Easier, 2. Lullabye, 3. Knife, 4. Central and Remote, 5. Little Brother, 6. Plans, 7. Marla, 8. On a Neck, On a Spit, 9. Reprise, 10. Colorado

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You Are Here. (Star dot on a map at an amusement park, shopping mall, or any other here and now.) Well, what do you know? It isn’t just another day. Yes, a return to work still lurks (and Monday morning is never anywhere but here), the budget remains a noose, and oh by the way, things aren’t going so well with your health (or is it your parents’ health/your dog’s/your friend’s). But out of the blue, You Are Here.

Star dot: dinner with a friend where the accompanying conversation—a really good talk—lasts well beyond the crème brûlée and deep into the dawn. Red circle dot: an ordinary trip to the library to return a few overdue books ends with Revolutionary Road in your hands at the checkout, setting up a date with a Richard Yates destiny that will take you on a journey to profound places.

Here: Union Park on a sun-soaked Saturday in late July with a cold Goose Island in hand. Not your favorite beer, but hell, it tastes absolutely perfect today as you listen to a band you’ve been prodded to check out: Grizzly Bear. You’ve done your homework and listened to a few of their tunes in advance, and there is no doubt that you like what you hear.

Outside in the summer sun, you are struck by a quick jab to the gut. Tight, tempo-shifting jams intersect delicate harmonies. You Are Here: Chicago, Illinois, Pitchfork Music Festival, July 14, 2007, Stage C. The show is flawless from start to goose pimply “On a Neck, On a Spit” finish.

And finally, You Are Here. On Amazon.com the next day, ordering Yellow House and also Horn of Plenty. You buy both CDs because you know that nabbing just one will not curb your suddenly ravenous appetite. When they arrive, you cannot open them fast enough as you fumble with all that damn packaging that lies between you and a return to that impeccable blend of sounds. Gotta get back. Gotta get back. Soon, you are on your living room couch, adrift. You are hitchhiking into the sky, on your way back to float on the clouds above Union Park where you can listen to the perfect sounds forever.

Forever here.

-G

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