The mono Experience In Stereo

I believe that there are times when people drive, at any time of the day, and they hear a song off their stereo, a certain feeling comes to mind. The song could give the driver a feeling of a good ‘Sunday afternoon drive’ feel or a ‘Chilled-out night drive’ kinda groove. Sometimes, the feel of the song could be more of a descriptive term, for instance the song could feel like ‘sunrise’.

However, the feel of the song could differ from person to person but somehow, there is a correlation between the driver’s mood and the genre of music played. For instance, if you happen to be in a drag race with another car (we do not encourage such actions, by the way), chances are the music off your stereo would probably be along the lines of ‘hard’ or fast, like techno, trance, drum & bass, jungle or even hip hop; if you are taking a drive in the still of the night (with stuff on your mind maybe), your playlist would probably be somewhere along the lines of chilled-out or slow music. If you are driving someone whom you have a crush on or just someone you wanna ‘boogie-boogie’ with, then most definitely, Marvin Gaye or Al Green would be crooning over the stereo. = )

Thus, I have decided to try and pen the thoughts of driving while listening to music, in a way, it is something of a musical experience, just like how listening to a vinyl differs very greatly from a ‘live’ performance. I call this pet project: “The mono Experience In Stereo”.

Time: Wee hours of the morning
Weather: Cloudy and breezy with the smell of possible rain in the air
Album: Lovers Rock & Soldier of Love
Artist: Sade

The Experience: I was sending a friend back when we decided to play Sade’s Lovers Rock on the car’s stereo. As soon as ‘By Your Side’ started playing, I felt a slight chill in my body but I just attributed that to the cold weather. It did not take long before I knew what I was getting myself into. As soon as ‘Kings of Sorrow’ started playing, almost immediately, I felt that tingly feeling running down by spine. Sade’s voice was just way too infectious. I could feel the emotions in her voice and somehow, it just draws me in deeper and deeper. With each track played, I felt a gradual numbness taking over me. Weird as it may seem, at one point, the music was almost too overwhelming for me. I managed to go through it without a hitch and dropped my friend back home safely.

For the ride back home, I decided to put on Sade’s new album, Soldier of Love. I was expecting the feeling to be rather similar to what I had just experienced with Lovers Rock but was I wrong. Her new album is, without a doubt, good. The music production is good, her voice is still great, if not better, but the vibe I was getting was just different. I could feel the cool breeze caressing my face and the distinct smell of rain was in the air, while Sade’s sultry and husky voice was in the background. I could feel the emotions but it was not overwhelming. I felt very calm and comfortable. My grip on the steering wheel and the accelerator was light, to the point where I felt extremely relaxed but still in control. Her voice enveloped me like a mother embracing a baby, warm and comfortable. I actually felt like closing my eyes and sleeping but I regained my senses and continued concentrating on the road. Still, her mesmerising and melodious voice seemed to make my eyelids heavier, like a lullaby. Eventually, I reached home and as soon as I got out of the car and stretched, the breeze and smell of rain hit me and it felt damn good.

The Verdict: I did not realise the actual difference between Lovers Rock and Soldier of Love till only much later. Lovers Rock is indeed lovers’ rock. The thoughts that came to my mind were that of the love relationship between adults. It is not exactly the best album to listen to if you are driving and had just ended a serious relationship with your partner. Soldier of Love, on the other hand, has a more mature feel to it. It gives me a feel of reminiscence. In my opinion, Lovers Rock would relate more to the turbulent emotions of being in love whereas Soldier of Love would seem more of a sitting down in the patio with a cup of tea and reminiscing about the past and contemplating about the present and what the future may hold. To compare which album is relatively ‘more emotional’ is almost impossible. Of course, that is just my opinion of the general feel of both albums. Take a drive and play either one of the albums and maybe, you might just figure out what I mean.

It is a logical and common fact that driving requires not only the coordination of eyes, hands and legs but also concentration and awareness of what is going on. Just like in a movie, we would concentrate on the visual scene and the dialogue between the characters while the background music plays on. Although we tend to overlook or not think much about it, the background music helps accentuate the emotions of the scene and is as essential as the scene and the characters. Therefore in the car, we might tend to process the music subconsciously and sometimes, it may evoke certain feelings towards the music that we may not have felt before. It can be a pretty surreal experience at time. Just my two cents.