The birds have returned. Returned from where? It's a good question..
I've never given too much thought about the migratory patterns of geese vs. sparrows or bluejays, but it is true that the smaller birds always seem to be chirping in the trees overhead long before the warmer spring wave brings the ducks to the pond in the woods by my mother's house.
Staring out at the woods bordering my backyard, I couldn't help but hear the high-pitched call of dozens of birds in the foreground and the distance. Hopping around the naked trees on cold February mornings in Connecticut, they almost seemed intrusive on the quiet of winter.
Sometimes I wake up to the soothing birdcalls wondering if I've somehow hibernated through February and March, only to find the trees have not revived themselves, nor has the Earth's axis tilted the Northern Hemisphere back towards the sun.
How bears accomplish that feat, I'd like to know. Unfortunately Grizzly Man offers no worthwhile suggestions.
The other morning I saw a cat slyly slink out of the forest, in hot pursuit of a sparrow hopping around a bony looking bush. There seems to be some kind of lame internet obsession with adorable pictures of emotion-filled cats paired up with purposely misspelled phrases like
"I can has cheezburger?"
or things like that. Personally I've never found it funny, but 'to each, their own' I suppose.
A few years ago, a friend and former classmate of mine who now lives in Copenhagen introduced me to Mikael Simpson, yet up until...yesterday, I hadn't given him a second thought. I was sitting on my computer, spending far too much time on YouTube as usual, when I randomly decided to search for him.
Maybe the cat in my backyard triggered some kind of memory, but I found myself thinking about a video of his I've seen. You can find it on his website, but I can't speak or read Danish, and I'm assuming you probably can't either.
Simpson combines Blues-y, almost surf-rock (a la The Ventures) bass lines with echo-like whispering vocals, and catchy electronic beats and synth lines. The guitar is simple but fits really well with everything else. In a locative sense, I'd suggest Simpson for scenarios like the one I've been talking about, or maybe driving in the rain on a day off of work, or for a change in season.
A bit of false hope? Maybe, but at least I'll enjoy it in the moment, sipping my tea on brisk Connecticut mornings while the springbirds chirp in the dead of winter, and neighborhood cats attempt to shake out the domestication.
MIkael Simpson - Drømmer om et andet sted (the cat video)
Posts
