Menomena "Queen Black Acid"

Do you have music that recalls memories? A song or album, that reminds you of exactly what you were doing, going through, and feeling when you first heard it or played it over and over? I certainly do. There are some songs and albums that I can't even listen to now due to the nature those tunes conjure up. Music I once loved is now purposely avoided as to avoid bringing up unpleasant memories.

This is perhaps one of the most fascinating elements of music. The ability to associate feelings and experiences in a visceral attachment. Music certainly isn't the only medium by which feelings and memories are established; the same associations can be made through all of the human senses. But there exists a level of authenticity in music. Maybe it's the melodies, the beat, or just the overall atmosphere of a song that makes you feel a certain way. When you pair that sense of feeling with what is going on in your life or how you are feeling you partner that song with an experience. Sometimes it’s a happy experience. Sometimes it's a sad experience. Regardless of what "type" of experience we create inadvertently, we are in fact creating truly remarkable, self-individualized segments of our lives. Almost as if we are writing a mental diary.

When I first started full-time college I had many emotions running through my mind. It would be the first time in my life I moved out of my parents house and succumb to levels of stress and attention that were never introduced to me before. It was an exciting and scary time for sure.

Moving out of my parents home I would move to a dormitory with a recent friend I had made. What would it be like to live with someone I had only met a couple of times? Will school be hard? Will it be fun? So much was going through my mind.

I'll never forget listening to this song while moving all of my personal shit into this tiny dormitory with this almost stranger. The song "Queen Black Acid" by Menomena is certainly a relevant notion. A feeling of being misunderstood. Not sure what you are doing is working. Or if it is working at all. From the first lyrics that wail after the thumpy bass, we can relate to the uncertainty. "I get so caught up in my own ways"Justin Harris sings on the first line of the song. Further along he eventually sings that he "walked right into the rabbit's hole". A great way of saying... "where the hell am I going exactly?" Which is exactly how I felt when I was playing the hell out of this song and starting college.