There are three things I remember about going off to my first summer job as a camp counsellor:
- Trying to act like it was no big deal as my parents left me to get on the school bus that would drive us out of the city.
- The aforementioned school bus smelled like pot.
- I didn’t know what pot smelled like yet, but figured it out pretty quickly when a senior staff member who went by the enigmatic nickname “Hoof” pulled a guitar out of nowhere and started singing.
Okay, I remember more about that summer than just those three things. But an extremely powerful emotion running just under the surface of all three of those memories was an irreversible sense of falling over a cliff. I had made a decision to go take care of kids not much younger than I was, and I was going to do it for 10 weeks. I had a feeling it would change me.
But in those first few moments, leaving mum and dad behind, there was a rushing feeling of irreversibility.
If you’ve ever embarked on a relatively long-term commitment that you knew was going to be a huge disruption to your normal way of life, you probably know that feeling, and this song, whose title translates to “The Start,” sums it up pretty well.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The opening vocal harmonies trick you into relaxing, but the quickly-bowed strings set you on edge.
2. There’s a cinematic feeling to it. It’s not hard to close your eyes and imagine the opening credits.
3. L’Imperatrice made the unusual and admirable decision to re-release their “Odyssee” EP in its entirety with acoustic versions of each track. Most bands that do this are hard rock acts trying to prove that their music is smart. But most of L’Imperatrice’s music belongs more to the “French Touch” family tree, alongside acts like Daft Punk and Phoenix. (Listen to the original version of this song to get the idea.) Not the type of music that typically gets the acoustic treatment, but it just goes to show the value of changing direction.
Recommended listening activity:
Packing your bags, whether literally, metaphorically, or both.