A Musical Musing over my Year Abroad (Part I)

I've had this idea for a little while now. Music is a huge part of my life and I have to be listening to something at pretty much all times during the day-- I even have a playlist to help me get to sleep. If I can't play music for whatever reason, I'm certainly playing something in my head. Last year at uni, I co-hosted a new and unsigned music show with a few other students which was great fun, and next year I'd like to have my own show and play all the songs I love. Naturally, I brought all my music to France and have bought new things this year, and since I listen to music so much, there are a few (well, quite a lot of tracks) that have become synonymous with certain places/events or weather while I've been here and so I thought I'd share them with you. Maybe you'll discover something new!

As I write this, I'm listening to Bon Iver's eponymous album which I downloaded almost a year ago now (yes, very late on the bandwagon). I'd heard of Bon Iver, but never really listened to their music. Coincidentally, the first track of theirs I heard has just started playing. Every time I hear it I think of Christmas (not because the word is mentioned in the song) and snow and mountains in a place like Norway (where I went on holiday this time last year). There's something about the gentle, hypnotic guitar riff that makes me think of falling snow and the high pitched, whispy vocals that make me think of a cold winter wind. It's also beautifully produced and I would listen to it on repeat over the course of an afternoon because it's simply captivating. It's called 'Holocene':

The first and last tracks ('Perth' and 'Beth/Rest') are also two of my favourite tracks. 'Perth' as an opening track, I find anticipatory and stirring. It has quite a simple melody which makes me think of gentle waves on the coast-- quite appropriate given the title.

'Beth/Rest' is the end track and has an intoxicating, descending keyboard melody which, combined with the distant vocals, drags you into a musical reverie. I listen to it every night before I go to sleep.

Moving on to quite a different genre-- and to one of my favourite bands: I downloaded their debut album when it came out at the end of July last year and haven't stopped listening to it since I came to France. They're a band with a unique sound, who always manage to find a beat that makes you want to move and melodies that are usually incredibly simple and, probably for that reason, very addictive. Their vocalist is brilliant and has a voice with such raw character, I'm not sure anyone else quite matches up to him. Instead of picking a song from their debut album (which I listened to on the way to France back in September), I chose a song I particularly like from their EP 'Music for Cars'. It has a really edgy beat and the vocals are quite dominant-- unlike Bon Iver's songs. I really started to like this song when I'd first come to France and I remember listening to it a lot in the metro-- it's called 'Head.Cars.Bending'

Since their album is so brilliant, I will mention a couple of songs from it, although I could really just link you the whole album, I love it all so much. One of the first songs I couldn't get enough of is called 'M.O.N.E.Y'. Again, it has a great beat-- especially at the end where it's more pronounced. Their drummer is pretty creative and I always find myself wanting to move to the beat (which is not a desire I'm usually overcome with). I also love how nonchalant the vocals are and how witty the lyrics are at times. Another song from the album, called 'Talk!' is very lyrically clever. I particularly love the line "bulimic in the way you talk" which is so concise yet so cuttingly critical of whoever it's talking about. The vocal production is great too. I love the layering of the vocals and the abrasive sound it creates: it seems to recreate the irritating effect this person's voice appears to have on-- presumably-- Matty, the singer.

'M.O.N.E.Y'

'Talk!'

Okay, I can't resist, I'm also a massive fan of 'She Way Out' which is towards the end of the album:

One of my favourite genres is post-rock, and there are a few post-rock bands I like a lot. I know I've already talked about my beloved God Is An Astronaut in a post from way back, so I'll mention a different group here. I'd learned about them from a friend a couple of years back, but never really checked them out. Then I discovered an EP called 'Hymn for the Greatest Generation' on which there is a track that is wondrous in unbelievably epic proportions. It's a masterpiece, to put it shortly. I remember when I first noticed this track. I'd downloaded the EP because I'd heard the title track and liked it so much I decided I had to have it; I didn't actually listen to the full EP for quite a while, so I discovered each of the tracks gradually as they came up on shuffle. This particular track didn't actually grab my attention until almost the end. The thing with post-rock is that it can be quite mellow and subdued for a long time before building up and moving on. This usually means you have a lot of loops, which has a hypnotic effect and eventually you almost forget you're listening to anything: this track is one of those. It isn't until the penultimate minute that the music reaches its peak, but trust me it's well worth the journey. Once you've heard it a few times, you'll realise that the melody used at its peak is also played during the build up, but it's very subtle. It's a beautiful and gentle piece which suddenly transcends itself at around 4:45 and hits you with a heavy rock climax for a few seconds before quickly fading to an end, leaving you wanting more.

It's called 'The Heart that Fed' by a band called Caspian:

I distinctly remember being at my computer doing something or other online and at 5:40 I can remember being hit by the music, quickly looking at what it was, and then just sitting there agape until it ended, after which I swiftly played it again and listened to the whole thing with the reverent awe it deserves. If only equal craftsmanship were put into all music.

Another group that feel quite significant to me in terms of my year abroad came about seemingly out of nowhere about a year ago. I was unsure about them for a few weeks, because I wasn't sure whether I 100% liked the vocals on the current single of the time or not. Eventually, I decided that I was intrigued by the production of the song more than anything else. The band (London Grammar) recently won the Ivor Novello 'Best Song' Award for that song, which is now one of my favourites-- it's called 'Strong'. However, you've more than likely heard it, given its popularity, so instead I'll share with you a song called 'Flickers' which I'm currently listening to and which I vividly remember hearing on my way back home from church perhaps early-mid September, since I seem to remember it being fairly dark. London Grammar also have a unique sound for me. I usually don't like electro music that much, but they incorporate it tastefully and subtly into their songs and Hannah's voice is hauntingly beautiful. I listened to their album a lot whilst packing and preparing for France, and I also listened to it on my way here in September, so when I listen to it now, I feel quite nostalgic.

Finally, for this post, I'll leave you with an album track and a single from a fairly old album of another one of my favourite bands. Admittedly I only really started getting into them about four or five years ago, and was always aware of this album, but had never really got round to listening to it. It's a fantastic rock album and the album track stands out for me because of the opening riff and the vocals; the single, because of the energy and the rhythm of the song. Both of them have sort of become summer anthems for me, because I remember walking down the main road from the train station in Lille to the main square with the sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, and with these two songs playing it was just perfect. There are few singers out there who have the power and tone of Caleb Followill, and for that reason, I'm not sure I'll ever get bored of Kings of Leon music.

So, here's 'Ragoo'..:

...and 'Fans':

I hope you enjoy the songs. I'll probably do a second post as there are other bands and songs I'd like to cover.

Until then: salut!

The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Find a Travail.

I did tell you in my last post to hope not to hear from me for a while because that would mean that I hadn't yet left France, and since you haven't heard from me in a while, that would indicate that I write this to you sitting on my French bed, in my French room, in my French house, very much in France.

Since April, I had been going round every shop I could find and giving out CVs and smiling as sweetly as possible in the hope that someone would take pity on me and give me a job to start around May when I would have finished working in the schools.

The first thing I realised was that finding casual work/summer work in France is much more difficult than in England. A lot of places either had no vacancies, don't take summer workers or had already recruited. The problem when you want to find a summer job in a shop or café is timing it right: hand in your CV early and it will soon be buried under a load of other CVs and never be looked at; hand it in too late, and well, the job is probably already gone. I encountered the second problem more, it would appear. I thought applying a month in advance of wanting a job would be fine, but many places already seemed to be sorted.

However, I was fortunate enough to have a few interviews and, having talked to a few French people, I feel quite lucky because it really does seem that there is very little going at the moment, and even the natives are having a tough time!

My first interview was at a shop I have never actually shopped at. To be honest, I thought they'd laugh me out of the shop because I'd heard that their recruitment process is primarily looks-based, but I went in anyway. It was Hollister. To my surprise, I was immediately asked to an interview on the day of my choice... and that I was to come wearing no make up. Gulp. It doesn't help that the lighting in shops is unflattering even when you're wearing make up, so I could only imagine how awful I would look with none on. It was a group interview, and about 15 people were there-- even the manager was surprised. And... of all the girls there, I was the only one with no make up on. Fabulous. Just wonderful.

Nope, didn't get that one.

The irritating thing is that if they're not recruiting you, you just don't get called. The Hollister waiting period was two weeks. Two weeks! At least for my H&M interview I only had to wait til the evening to see if they were taking me on or not.

In the end I went to a few "Agences d'Intérim". I can't think of anything that resembles this in the UK and the concept is quite odd to be frank, but I at least got 15 hours' work out of it one week. "Agences d'Intérim" are a sort of job centre, but you don't send in an application for a specific job, you just hand in your CV and they assign you to jobs that you're suited to. However, we're talking "missions" that maybe only last a few days. What you're really doing is filling in for someone who is off for a few days, or-- sometimes-- a few months, but that's rare. My three days' work were at Grand Palais, which is the exhibition centre, where there was a medical conference going on and they needed us to welcome the people attending.

The work there wasn't hard, it was more... boring, but, naturally, where I'm concerned there is the odd bit of drama.

The first drama was more a trauma. The trauma of starting work at 7.30, but having to be there at 7 because they're picky about punctuality and to get changed into the uniform. The other issue was that we had to have our hair in a bun-- for 99.9% of girls, this poses no problem; for me, this is like climbing a mountain. It can take me about 15 minutes to get my hair into a bun. I'm just rubbish. Another part of the uniform was wearing make up to give you a 'healthy glow'. (Are we naturally unhealthy and dull looking? And, really, do healthy people glow? I don't think so. Silly concept, really.) Anyway, the trauma was really the fact that to get all this done and get there on time (40 minute commute) I had to get up at 5.30. The first day was surprisingly fine-- I was excited to finally have a job to do! Day two was a little harder. Day three was like rising from the dead.

Another trauma was aimed at my feet. The girls were required to wear black heels, of which I have one pair, which are usually quite comfortable. However, when you have to stand for five hours they are unbearable. I mean, really, if feet could talk, I think mine would have been shouting obscenities from the second hour of day one.

The drama was when on one of the days I was told by one of the girls in my team that I would stay outside the conference hall doors where we had been scanning people's passes before allowing them in, and that I was to tell anyone else who came up to me that we were no longer letting people into this particular conference, and that they would have to wait until the next one. It seemed an odd instruction actually, since we hadn't done that the day before, so I checked I'd understood and it was exactly what I'd been told to do, but I was feeling a little uneasy about it.

I stood for a few minutes hoping no one would come and that I could avoid any awkward confrontation (I hate confrontation-- especially with angry French people.) Of course, people came. The first few were a little surprised at being told they couldn't go in, but went away; a few others said that they had come for the following conference anyway and made no fuss; but another group seemed to have taken it quite personally. There were quite a few of them and they were all talking over each other, so I couldn't really understand what was going on, other than that they did not seem happy. I just explained even more apologetically than before that I had been told that I couldn't let them in and I didn't want to disrupt the conference, and they turned away.

There was a nice man that came up to me a few moments later and-- bless him-- he realised I was foreign and hadn't completely understood what had just happened, and he actually apoligised to me on behalf of the other people. He said they'd been quite rude and he hoped I was okay. Here's a lesson in life: there are possibly more unpleasant people in life than there are nice people, but the uplifting effect of one nice person far outweighs the damaging effects of many horrible ones.

I thought the matter was over and was silently musing over the good people there are out there when suddenly I noticed a large group marching quite speedily towards me. I thought I recognised the group and as they got closer, it dawned on me that they were the angry group from before. I'm not sure quite how to describe the feeling in words, so I'll let The Lion King do it:

Yeah, I'm Simba in case you were wondering...

They would not be stopped. I tried to reason, but they barged past, opened the doors (making a lot of noise I might add) and then a sort of official looking security guy came up to me asking why I'd not let them in. I just looked wide eyed at him, stammered out what I'd been told and hoped he wouldn't eat me.

In the end it was fine, but I was left wondering if actually I'd been set up to do that. Hmmm...

Anyway, eventually I found myself a job at my favourite café and have been working there for about a month. The irony is that now I've found a job, I feel more and more like it might be time for me to leave: my friends have gone home, my colleagues are on month long holidays and, whilst I have a few other friends, I feel that the time is coming and I'm planning on leaving at the beginning of August now. I can visit friends around the UK and prepare for my final year at uni at least.

In any case, I'll be sure to make another post when I leave about my thoughts on this year, looking back, and how it feels to be back permanently in the UK (which will feel strange). I can't believe I started this blog almost a year ago so excited about coming, and now I'm writing about it all coming to an end.

À bientôt!