Week 552: “Liquid Blanket” by Matthew Solberg

It’s blanket season.

Normally, peak blanket season is limited to those aimless, nebulous days between Christmas and New Year’s. That’s the window during which it’s socially acceptable to cocoon yourself in a blanket while recovering from the family gatherings and frantic shopping of the previous weeks, while steeling yourself for the social chaos of December 31st.

But considering that most large-scale family gatherings have been nixed, malls are standing empty, and kissing a stranger in a bar at midnight feels like a myth from an ancient culture, I think we could all do with some extended blanketing this year.

So grab some PJs and let’s get comfortable.

The first thing to figure out is which type of blanket is right for you. Your options include, but are not limited to:

  • The Classic Fuzz – Soft, cozy. Often received for free when making a $50 purchase at Indigo.
  • The Rough N Tumble – the kind of blanket you’d likely find at an old family cottage. Abrasive, but in a comforting way, like when your dad went a couple days without shaving.
  • The Holey Moley – knitted, with holes big enough to stick fingers through, which feels oddly pleasing.
  • The Tracer – features a pattern that can be traced with a finger as a form of self-hypnosis.

Not feeling like a traditional blanket? No problem. Blankets come in forms other than a fabric that physically envelops a person. Consider:

  • The luminous blanket – the right lighting, warm and dim, can wrap you up almost as effectively as a duvet cover.
  • The nutritional blanket – a freshly baked muffin works well for this. Like eating a heated pillow.
  • The human blanket – if you’re lucky enough to have a newborn, you know what I’m talking about. If no newborn is available, a significant other will do just fine.
  • The liquid blanket – this refers to the inside-out warmth delivered by the alcoholic beverage of your choice. I’d never heard of this expression until guitarist Matthew Solberg told me about it, but I think the “liquid blanket” might become the official winter apparel of 2020. For me, at least.

What makes this a beautiful song:

1. While it’s pretty in a very traditional, slide-show-of-family-photos type of way, there’s an uneasiness about the chord progression, just a hint of dissonance, that gives the song surprising depth for such a short piece.

2. At 1:32 Solberg adds a slide guitar solo worthy of a George Harrison track.

3. Listen on headphones and you’ll hear that each gently-picked guitar track is panned just slightly left or right of centre. It’s this subtle layering that makes this song the perfect audio blanket.

Recommended listening activity:

Closing your eyes and wrapping your brain in your favourite memory blanket.

Stream it here.