... curled up, and reading a book.
1. Black Market Baby - Tom Waits
In fact, the entire 'Mule Variations' album is perfectly suited to an evening spent alone. Daniel Durchholz described Waits as having a voice that sounds like it has been "soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car". Whether or not you agree, you have to admit, it's a fantastically imaginative metaphor. As it goes, I would agree with Durchholz - Waits's voice is raw, aged and rough as sandpaper; why, then, is his album the perfect choice for a night in? Simply because, despite the timbre of his voice, his jazz-influenced melodies are soothing - soothing to the extent that they border on hypnotic. The majority of the tracks are soft and low and melodic; 'Pony', 'Picture In A Frame' and 'Take It With Me' are particularly moving. 'Black Market Baby', the specific choice for this post, is as dark and smoky as a Parisian jazz-bar. You'll see what I mean.
2. Silence - PJ Harvey
Taken from the 2007 album White Chalk, this song, and indeed the entire LP, marks a change in the singer's traditional style. White Chalk relies heavily on simple piano melodies, effectively breaking away from her previous, and unquestionably rockier, sound. When compared to an earlier album, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, it is hard to imagine that one person created two such utterly different styles of music. And yet, that is not to say that one album is better than the other; they are simply very different, and each enjoyable in their own, largely respective, ways. This track, 'Silence', features soft, haunting vocals; halfway through, the staccato notes of the backing piano fade - and all that is left are the words: or, I should say, the word - 'silence'.
3. People Ain't No Good - Nick Cave
Because they really ain't.
Having been in the music business since the early eighties, Cave (and his band, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) has a back catalogue that is roughly as long as my daily walk to class. Understandably, then, he's a tough nut to crack - but he's definitely worth the effort. People Ain't No Good is slow and melancholic, featured on his 1997 album The Boatman's Call - an album that, would you believe it, was inspired by a relationship with PJ Harvey herself. Needless to say, it's emotionally complex; and, believe me when I say, it makes excellent evening listening.
4. Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
Not only perfect for an evening alone, I've recently found out (first-hand, I might add) that this song is perfect listening for a break-up, too: although, it goes without saying, I suppose, that break-ups tend to include more than the occasional lonely evening - and this song is more than fitting for those long, depressing hours. The track begins softly, with heart-rending vocals beside a low melody, but grows in pace and volume, until it reaches the status of angst-ridden ballad. The passion in Buckley's voice is moving; indeed, the entire album is heart-breakingly emotional.
5. For Emma - Bon Iver
'For Emma, Forever Ago' is, in my opinion, a masterpiece. The romantic nature of the album's conception drew me to the singer: following the break-up of his previous band, DeYarmond Edison, Justin Vernon locked himself away in a cabin in North Wisconsin to spend some time alone - or, in his own words, to "hibernate". He emerged three months later with the album. And - oh, my - what an album it is. When I listen to it, I feel as though I can hear the cabin in the background - can hear the wind blowing through a crack in the door, can hear the wooden boards creaking. At the very end of the final track, 'Re: Stacks', you can hear footsteps, and then the sound of a door closing. It's a fantastic way to end an album - to give it that literal sense of closure. 'For Emma', the penultimate track, speaks to me of a turmoiled love: the lyrics even read like an argument. Vernon's voice is versatile; and, on this song, melancholic.
.jpg)
