All tourists exist on a spectrum. At one end, you have the person who plans everything a year in advance, and has the whole trip timetabled by the minute. At the other end is the person who has no intention of going on holiday until they get a promotional email from an airline, and one hour later has packed their one carry-on item and is out the door.
So what kind of tourist are you? Most of us fall somewhere in the middle: we like to know what’s happening, but want to leave some room for impulsive side-trips or unexpected adventures.
Personally, I like being prepared and everything, but there is nothing more exciting than being in a new city with no plan and no timeline. Exploring a new place haphazardly, by foot or by transit, is my kind of tourism.
I’ve had to curtail that impulse a bit since having kids, but not entirely. On our most recent family trips, some of their favourite days were not the big sightseeing days, but the days when we would hop up to the top level of a double-decker bus and see what we can see.
That dreamy sense of freedom is what I feel coming through in the music of Britain’s William Phillips, aka Tourist. He manages to pull together organic and electronic elements in perfect balance, with the same compelling results as his compatriots Bonobo and Jon Hopkins.
This track, from an upcoming full-length release, puts me right back on that double-decker bus, with my 4-year-old son bouncing on my lap, gazing in amazement out the front window.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The energy is somehow relaxed and tense at the same time. This comes through the strongest in the repeated vocal line, that ethereal “ooh” melody that seems far away but urgent, like a distant ambulance siren.
2. The tempo is perfectly paced to synchronize with a brisk walk.
3. The hyper-fast arpeggios create a crazy cross-rhythm with the percussion, like unexpected quiet side streets in an otherwise crowded city.
Recommended listening activity:
Putting some extra money in your vacation jar.