Trying Times

Finishing a semester of college is weird. I took my last final a week ago, and it still has not hit me that I am free. I have been left with a surplus of free time that has been so exciting to fill. My general backlog seems to never clear up, but I would like to think I have been seizing each day by combing through it. The books on my shelf are getting read, the ingredients in my fridge are becoming meals, and personal progress is being made.

Recently, my partner and I have been watching Glee.¹ In season 4 episode 3, Kurt gives Rachel a makeover to help her settle into living in New York City. She says that a good makeover is nice since when you change your outward appearance, your inside follows. Her friend thinks the opposite, that the reason your outside is changing is because it is catching up to how you feel inside. Regardless of which of these takes you agree with, they are both built on a thesis of personal evolution. I love milestone moments because they feel like opportunities to catch up with yourself. I feel it is wise to take advantage of them; you owe it to yourself.

My older brother is the epitome of a "music enjoyer". I am not sure how he has the time to listen to as many albums as he does. Very regularly, he sends me albums that he thinks I will enjoy, and very rarely do I listen to them. I guess I am stubborn, or maybe just nostalgic, but it is difficult for me to let new music into my rotation, especially when it is not me discovering it. The worst part, however, is that 99% of the time, he is correct. Some of my favorite songs ever were introduced to me by him, like "Movies" by Weyes Blood and "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan (although the credit for this one is split between my brother, Timothee Chalamet,² and Tom Simons³). We definitely do not agree on everything, though, as my favorite artist by far is Harry Styles, while my brother thinks he is just okay. But we share a sizeable amount of the same favorite albums.

I guess since I am in a milestone moment currently, I am more willing to introduce new music into my life. For the past 1.5 months, my brother has been trying to get me to listen to the new album, Trying Times, by James Blake. In the spirit of clearing my backlog and personal evolution, today I listened to it. To no surprise, I thought it was brilliant. I love albums with interesting production, which this was filled to the brim with. I am not very good at writing reviews for music, so below is my brother's review of the album as written on his (surprisingly popular) Album Of The Year account⁴:

James Blake's seventh album (or eighth if you count Bad Cameo) feels like a culmination of his personality and a requiem of all the many soundscapes and styles we have come to know from his music. Trying Times is full of the moody R&B-inspired sounds of his most accessible output and blends it with his strangely unique production quirks to make something that is incredibly personal to himself and sure to be emotionally captivating for his audience.

• GARRRR !!

My favorite thing about evolving is the subtlety of it. Small changes should be celebrated as nobody's evolution is linear. Here is a collection of small changes I have noticed in my life lately:

• I have been eating an unholy amount of oranges.
• I got a new coffee mug.
• I started playing electric guitar.
• I got a cat.
• I started wearing knee sleeves on my runs.
• I am getting a new tattoo tomorrow.
• One of my favorite shirts got a stain on it.
• I listened to the new James Blake album.

My 16-year-old self would not believe who I am today, and I am sure that my 26-year-old self will say the same thing about me now. But one thing that will remain constant in my life is that I will sometimes listen to my brother.

Footnotes

1. Glee is a musical-comedy-drama that aired from 2009 to 2015. It follows a group of misfit high schoolers who join a show-choir group to find strength and acceptance with their voice. We started watching Glee around a month ago, and it is great. My favorite character is Kurt!

2. Timothee Chalamet is a French-American actor who starred in the movie A Complete Unknown. It is a biographical film about the early career of singer Bob Dylan. I watched this for the first time on an airplane, which was amazing!

3. Tom Simons is a British comedian and content creator. He is the co-host of the podcast Shut Up, I'm Talking, where in episode 21, he talks about his love for the Bob Dylan movie. This episode inspired me to watch the movie.

4. Album Of The Year is a website albumoftheyear.org where users can rate and review albums. My brother is addicted to this website.