Re: Northeastern USA - WV 103: Lana del Rey - Video Games
My PQ song is a wonderful and poignant song with a sad background story. It is the last song of his 2015 masterpiece album ”Carrie & Lowell” which was dedicated to his mum, Carrie, who died short time before the release due to cancer. His mom left him when he was young and hardly cared for him since she was alcoholic and schizophrenic. Just when they reconciled with each other she died. In this album he copes with his sorrow. On the one hand he forgives her but on the other hand there are emotions like confusion, sadness and anger. Moreover, his desire for a closer relationsship to his mom is noticeable in some songs.
This song do have an amazing ambient outro and for me that’s probably the icing on the cake. His explanation:
“I didn’t know my mom well in a lot of ways and I didn’t know how to say goodbye on the last track with articulation. So I quit playing piano and vocals and just stopped. I wanted to surrender her to the beyond with noises that sound bigger than just me.”
In live shows the ambient outro is extra large and something you would hear in Sigur Rós album. It even turns post-rock towards the end.
Look at this video. Amazing. Sufjan Stevens is one of my singer-songwriters cause he combines genuine emotions, good storytelling and gentle vocals. Let alone the dreamy bits that often characterize his songs.
This song was already part of one of my NFs while I was US juror. I called them "Muricavision" back then and it took part in Muricavision for WV 63. It became 2nd out of 6 and only lost so Montana by Youth Lagoon. I chose this as my PQ song now because Sufjan so far always failed in semi finals and I didnt want it to happen again. So I gave him the safe final ticket he's deserved for a long time.
Moreover, a PQ song must be something special so this was the first song that came into my mind.