Good Vibrations

By Christina R.

I was just reading Paste, a cool new magazine that I discovered back in November. On the cover of every issue, it says: “Signs of Life in Music, Film & Culture.” Now, this is my kind of magazine! I’m thinking of getting a subscription. But anyway, in the process of reading it cover to cover – as I am occasionally wont to do – I turned to an article about the recently socially reintegrated artist formally known at Cat Stevens.

Now known as Yusuf, he has just come out with a new album that seeks to bring Muslims understanding of the West, and the West understanding of Islam. This wasn’t necessarily surprising, as I already knew that this was the kind of person Cat Stevens/Yusuf is. But then he said something that blew my mind.

“The closest you can get to a person, I think, is listening to the vibrations of their voice.”

In and of itself, it is not all that astonishing a comment. And it didn’t strike me as such the first time I read it either. I nodded and said “hmm” to myself. Like “good point, Yusuf. Well done.” But then I read it again. “Wow,” I thought this time, “I agree. Those words are exactly what I’ve been thinking for the past few years.”

I always liked music; listening to cassettes and CDs was always one of my favorite pastimes. But a few years ago, my obsession began. Listening became my therapy for whatever was wrong. Depression? I have an album or song for that. Feeling anxious? I have some good calming music for that too. Over the past five or so years, Music has become my cure-all.

But trying to describe what I love about music often just brings me odd looks. I am in love with voices. Good music and good lyrics are wonderful. You can’t have a good album or song or whatever without them. But a good voice is like the end-all be-all for me. A good voice can send me to my happy place and make me forget about everything that’s wrong with my life and the world.

Emotion in a voice makes the muscles in my neck weak. The timbre of a singer’s voice can send me over the edge. Just listening to a song, the voice streaming through the air, emoting over the singer’s own laments or joys makes me almost sick to my stomach. You can kind of get the gist of what someone is feeling by the words that they write, and the music can typically add to it, but you don’t understand until you can hear their voice straining to make them understood. If you can hear the pain, you can feel it too. And there is nothing sexier than a voice ripping across lyrics, raw and honest.

So well done, Yusuf. In passing, you said something that I have been trying to put into words for years. Finally someone else gets it! And that’s awesome.

(It probably won't get me to start listening to your music though. Sorry.)