"Over the Pond"

Recently I found this amazing band called The Album Leaf. I had heard one of their songs while i was watching a Nooma video. (If you haven't heard of Nooma, i would highly suggest watching one... but I'll probably post about those later.) I had no idea what the words were, and I had no idea how to find out who this band even was. A little while after hearing them, I totally forgot about the whole thing. And then, about a week ago, I was on Nooma's website and saw that they were releasing a sound track that was comprised of several different songs that have been in their video's. Of course, I was excited because Nooma plays the best Indie bands that absolutely no one had heard of. So I checked out the band list that was really about 3 bands: Brie Stoner, David Vandervelde, and, of course, The Album Leaf... Too bad the Album Leaf just released a record from Sub Pop Records so they weren't featured on the cd. But I did find out that the song that I had heard was called "Over the Pond". So immediately I searched the web and somehow ended up downloading the song to iTunes on accident from the Sub Pop website... sometimes accidents are a good thing..

I listened to this song for probably an hour, over and over and over again. I couldn't figure out the words though. I mean, I can usually figure out the words to most screamo songs so I thought that a soft indie song wouldn't be too hard. Come to find out that that song doesn't have any words in it.

It's true, there aren't any written lyrics for it. All it is, is a nicely played piano and some cool background effects paired with two guys singing non-existant words. More like sounds that are all in the same key. I found this absolutely amazing. I was so drawn to this song for some reason, and I had no clue what it was. It's a very peaceful song, it almost has a healing quality to it... and yet, most people would reject it because it's out of the "norm". Why is that? (More about this topic to follow.)

As I listen to "Over the Pond", I feel so at peace. This song is one of the ultimate forms of expression and creativity. Alot of the time I feel like I can't put my feelings into words so I try to paint them or draw them out, but some of the time I don't feel like I've fully grasped what I had been thinking or what I had felt. Could it be that I have yet to unlock another form of expression? I hope so. I hope that The Album Leaf will be recognized for their great creativity. Many people will reject something because they don't understand it, or because they aren't used to it. I see it at Art Shows all the time. Just remember one thing the next time you see a piece of artwork or hear a song that doesn't sound like your regular Simple Plan song (not that I like them anyways, but I needed an example.), it's not always about talent. Some times people need to express their feelings in different ways. Next time you see a piece of art that you don't like or you think that the arist "lacks talent" so therefore, it's crap, ask yourself if you could've created the same thing if you just sat down and went for it.. Could you have come up with something that different? If you say no, then you have no room to criticize it. On the contrary, try to look at things in a different way and try to enjoy a new point of view every once in a while. It'll be like a thunderstorm after a long dry-spell.

peace.