Natural Lyric

The season is changing. What started as a string of brilliant, dry summer days has given way to the reality of Mother Nature - clouds have been lingering, the mornings are darker, and rain has been falling more often. The moisture is a relief for the land, but a wake-up for my senses and humanity. Traveling to the Twisp river in North Central Washington (about 4 hours from Spokane) for some camping last weekend did just that. It re-awakened my senses, breathing fresh air away from the city and seeing the intimidating peaks of the North Cascade Range. We camped at 4,1oo feet near Black Pine Lake, 8 miles into the wilderness on gravel road. Given the elevation and seclusion, it got pretty chilly when the sun set behind the mountains to the north. I expected it to be crowded, but I did not realize how far we were going to be from the road. It turned out to be very mellow, as it should be. We spent our days exploring the surrounding area, building fires and stargazing. We were able to go for a leisurely hike up War Creek trail which bisects two
pockets of mountains in the range. It eventually turns and climbs in elevation, reaching Juanita Lake, about 6,000 ft. above sea level. I desired to make it there, but we decided to traverse only a third of the 9.3 mile trail. A few passing showers greeted us on our return, looking like a blanket of water gently covering the acres of pine along the mountainsides.

Back in Spokane now, looking forward to the upcoming GU intramural soccer season. A couple of my housemates and I rode into town last night to see a band by the name of Japandroid. The venue had pretty poor sound quality but the two person band threw out a lot of sound. The were synchronized and tight, but lacked in lyrical creativity. Nonetheless, it was good to see some live music again.

Give "Djohariah" off Sufjan Stevens' new EP All The Delighted People a listen. It is a 17 minute jam that rolls over and over, giving off tones of Pink Floyd and even Edward Sharpe near minute 10. The song returns to the normal Sufjan sound, producing a spontaneous calming that grasps your subconscious. Three minutes of this gives way to an electronic addition, reminiscent of a slow moving Postal Service track. Just processing the massive audio dynamic of the tune is a project in itself. "Djohariah" needs to be listened to again to soak in the lyrical impact.