I’m not going to suggest you blast your neighbours – although there is a formula for that where needed, involving a large amp and ‘Mars’ from the Planet Suite, but I’ll save that story for another time.
Today’s item for my box of delights is playing something that little bit louder than usual on the iPod/stereo/musical system of your choice. Going beyond the usual accepted volume for music when not living in a detached house, and just enjoying that extra pulse of sound.
What to pick? Today’s was a golden oldie – something I remember hearing for the first time almost 20 years ago. I’d been playing the odd track or two of the album, off and on over the last few days. I had another go – reached for the volume – and heard the whole album straight off.
Part of the fun was the set of memories associated with the album, including times of singing along to the songs, flats I’d lived in where it had been played, people who’d been there too. The extra notch or two on the speakers immersed me in the memories and the music together, the brightness of the sound, the sweetness of my life at that stage.
Not that life is lacking in sweetness now – I was baking at the same time as listening, singing, so sugar levels were guaranteed. But on a particularly cold wet afternoon, light levels low, it was just the pick-me-up I needed.
Sometimes we just want to feel plugged in to where life is at. We want the music to lift us, as it has before. We want to feel like the soundtrack of our lives is clear to all, making sense of all the tiny pieces of the day. Moving us from life where we only see separate tasks to get through, to life as a narrative, a smooth skein of silk to pick up and run your fingers over.