How listening to music transports me back to my past
Firstly, I apologize that I’ve missed a few weeks of my blog — but it’s been a very busy period of my life with a lot of change coming up (more on that next week!) so I’ve had to put the blog in the back of my mind.
That being said, I’m back with some thoughts around live music and the way in which music can encapsulate a moment of our lives.
Last night, with one of my best friends from high school, I saw Chet Faker Live at the Gardens here in Melbourne. Chet Faker is a Melbourne based soul/downtempo singer who also happened to go to my high school. And believe me, everyone who went to that high school will always jump at the opportunity to tell you that both Chet Faker and Vance Joy went there.
Personally, I’m still crossing my fingers that I’m added to the ‘Notable Alumni’ section of my high school’s Wikipedia page, although at this stage it doesn’t seem likely. That being said, Tim McDonald from The Cheap Seats on Channel 10 was in my home room class back then and he’s managed to snare himself a spot!
The Chet Faker concert was fantastic, but it also got me really pondering the role music plays in shaping our identity and place in the world. The concert was in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of his debut studio album, Built on Glass, perhaps best known for the single ‘Talk is Cheap.’
Back in 2014, I was 20 years old. As a 20 year old, me and my high school friend Daniel became obsessed with this record. It was not only fantastic musically, but it reflected the period of our lives we were in. To me, the record feels hopeful — but hurt. The vocals glide so effortlessly along the drums and the often simple melodies. Lyrically, it feels increasingly relevant to my 20 year old self.
Daniel and I would drive down to the beach together on weekends and sing along to these songs together — particularly our shared favourite: ‘Cigarettes and Loneliness,’ where the song’s simplistic and sombre mood really draws me straight back to those car rides when listening today.
“Eeverything that I take upon loses worth.
And now you’re not the one that I thought you were,
And it hurts that I’m done.”
Cigarettes and Loneliness - Chet Faker
These songs bring me straight back to ten years ago — where I felt so many emotions. I felt like I was owed the world. I was bitter about relationship break ups, family dramas and a yearning for purpose. I felt apathetic and nihilistic toward my life, and all of those feelings live and breathe within these songs.
Even the song ‘1998’ seemed to perfectly condense how many of us feel about our high school experience and youth. Our friends are always our friends, it just becomes harder and harder to see them.
The lyrics are so plain, but so real: “We used to be friends. We used to be inner circle.”
Seeing many of these songs — including Cigarettes and Loneliness — live for the first time was a surreal experience. It was like being teleported into another point of my life. It brought back all of the emotion and all of the feelings I felt at age 20.
But not only that, the entire evening allowed myself and my high school friend Daniel to open up and speak with each other. We talked about how much our lives had changed since those days. We promised each other that we would always try to make time to see each other as life becomes more and more complicated with our age. We laughed about how old we had become, drinking bottled water to keep hydrated instead of beers, and shared our goals and dreams for the future.
Then we shared our mutual (and probably universal) experience: that time moves so fast and being an adult makes things difficult. I told him that I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the people I loved as I could.
It was therapeutic and connecting. All of these emotions, all of these feelings and all of these conversations, were able to happen because of this album by Chet Faker (who went to my school, by the way 😉) and I think it’s fantastic that music has that power.
Just for interest and curiosity, I would love people to comment their own experiences with music in this way. If there are albums or songs that transport you to a specific moment in your life, I’d love to know.
Here are a couple more of mine…
Delete - DMAs
Que Sera, Sera - Doris Day
Anthem Part 3 - blink-182
In Too Deep - Sum 41
Cosmic Dancer - T.Rex
Mike Liberale
Hey! Thanks so much for reading my blog. I’ll actually be back next week, and in 2025, I think I want to try and write once a week. It could be about anything, but I really want to keep this up. I’m so grateful to everyone who has read anything I’ve written this year.
I started this blog as a little experiment because I missed writing and wanted a space to do it again. So thank you 😀
As I said, I have some big news to share next week which I’m excited (and nervous) about, but in the meantime, I’d love for you to check out some of my other stuff.
I actually did a video over on YouTube talking all about Australia’s proposed social media ban, and my thoughts on it. Feel free to check it out and maybe chuck me a subscribe on YouTube. I just hit 8,000 subscribers!
Thanks guys and speak soon.