Friday, July 24, 2015

Music, the Great Equalizer

 By Catherine Peace

As the great Stevie Wonder sings, Music is a world within itself, in a language we all understand. Music is one of my biggest passions. It transcends language, culture, political parties, everything, and it’s one of the things that’s gotten me through the toughest points in my life.
For a lot of people, myself included, a good music experience is like going to church—it can create a deeply spiritual connection with the people around you, it can bring you together like nothing else. If it’s 50, 100, or 100,000 people singing along with you, you’re all sharing the same experience. That’s one of the things that makes concerts awesome, and one of the things that makes writing musicians awesome.
I had a lot of fun writing Ty. Really, I did. But as I’ve been working on the sequel to Complete Me, I’ve been exploring the up-and-coming musician instead of the one-hit-wonder, and it’s brought a whole other dimension to the experience. I don’t get to write musicians nearly enough.
I wanted to share a longer excerpt from Complete Me’s sequel Valkyrie Rysing. Hope you enjoy!

The show couldn’t have gone more perfectly. The crowd ate them up, and watching Blake sulk by the bar made the night all the better. Plus, Pipsqueak got to show off her crazy drum prowess to a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’. Glad they finally got to experience what she and Rachel knew Pip was capable of. “All right, guys, we got one more for y’all.” At the chorus of boos, she shook her head. “I know, I know. I mean, I could go all night, but it ain’t my call.”  
Rach’s haunting bass line floated through the air, mournful and lonesome. The crowd stilled and a hush fell over the room.  
“This last song is a special one,” Joss said. “I wrote it a few years back, about a boy, like most everything else is. But then I realized something.” She strummed the opening chord. “It wasn’t about him. It was about me. This is ‘Broken Folklore.’” 
The song started in a whisper, just her dueting with Rachel’s bass.

I reminisce the things you’ve told me 
Glimpsing lies your life’s become 
I surmise what you’ve abandoned 
Then I mourn what’s come undone 

Through the second half of the verse, she built to a crescendo.

There exists more than you’ve shown me 
Living life deaf, blind, and dumb 
In a world of swords and dragons 
The fairest fantasy is homespun 

Then, back to the softness for the chorus.

Lies look so fair wrapped in metaphor 
So much to hide in certain vagueness 
But pretty words and broken folklore 
Can’t seduce a mind unshaken 
Enchanting words won’t hypnotize 
A string of lies can’t change the fact 
If you’d reopen just one blind eye 
You’d see that there is no.Way.Back. 

She screamed the last three words, and Pip’s cymbal-crash brought the crowd to life. Heavy guitar riffs reminiscent of Metallica’s filled the room. Screams and cheering almost drowned out her monitor. Exactly the reaction she’d hoped for.

Gaze at the sun too long, child brightness 
Taint your vision for all time 
Hold your breath and wade in deeper 
To your delusion of falsely fine 
In your realm of satisfaction 
Guard the ridges of your mind 
Censor, sort – make your world sweeter 
Sate your guilt, but leave the landmine 

As she went through the chorus again, she sought out August and her heart beat double-time at the heat radiating from him. Time to seal the deal with an epic guitar solo. 
Her fingers flew across the frets with minds of their own. Closing her eyes, she let the music carry her, lift her up and guide her. Regardless of how the competition turned out, she always had that feeling to depend on.
The drums and bass dropped out, leaving her doing her best Kirk Hammett impression with a nutjob solo that most guitarists wouldn’t even try, especially on a song they’d never performed.
Of course, she wasn’t most guitarists.
The solo led into the bridge and the audience couldn’t get enough. Softening, harkening back to the first verse, she sang the last barely above a whisper.

Calm your conscience with poetic lies 
Speak what may appease my ears 
Repress your shame and say again 
“You mean so much” to dry my tears 
Guide me through the storyline 
Let me rehearse my part, my dear 
Line and scenes, approach the end 
Where the finale’s forever veered 

In her mind, she counted the beats.... One, two, three, four. 

Lies look so fair wrapped in metaphor 
So much to hide in certain vagueness 
But pretty words and broken folklore 
Can’t seduce a mind unshaken 
Enchanting words won’t hypnotize 
A string of lies can’t change the fact 
If you’d reopen just one blind eye 
You’d see that there is No. Way. Back


The song ended on her scream. A few moments of silence passed, followed by the eruption of a frenzied crowd.

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