I’m afraid I lied to you all.

In my last post, I quoted, about the band Measure, that:

The music does what every songwriter wishes their music could do: it hollows you out, then fills you back in. It breaks your heart and builds you a new one. It moves you.

A lie. A mistruth. A deception. A dishonesty.

That quote was in fact about one half of the band Measure; an absolutely stunning singer named Laura DiStasi.

lauradistasi

And from Laura’s 2005 album “Winters Never Quit”, I give you the absolutely heart-rending “No City Life”.

To be honest, the rest of the album, while quite good, is a little too jazz-oriented for me. But “No City Life” is just stunning – a slowed-down, female-led Postal Service, it’s a truly haunting piece. I’m not sure I can say it much better than Laura’s own website:

A singer/songwriter by way of New Jersey, Boston, and now Brooklyn, NY, Laura DiStasi’s music captures both the vibrancy and isolation of city life. Her lyrics hit close to the bone and are heavy with imagery. She plucks moments from the everyday, holding up promise in one hand and heartbreak in the other. The music feels its way though impressionistic landscapes, exploring the complex depth of relationships and change… nostalgic, yet hopeful… that anything worth lamenting is, once was, or could be beautiful.

But I can try…

One of my favourite discoveries this year, “No City Life” has something of the epic about it. Starting slowly, sparsely, it builds to a wonderful crescendo over the course of 4 minutes and 7 seconds. A sad, sorrowful song of longing, of missing, of being an outcast, of not knowing your place in this world, of failing…

But has failing ever sounded this beautiful?

What have you built
Out of all that potential
More walls, different kinds
Colours, sizes and models

Silence
No city life
Can reach my apartment
I lose track of sound
It’s on the street
Five floors below

I take it
And take it all
As I cautiously
Just fake it
I feel so small
Never where I wanna be
Never who I wanna be

From the inside out
I should be so disfigured
Entered upside down
Feet grounded to nothing
I swallow my voice
It burns in my stomach
Pinballs around my brain
And I lie awake all night

And take it
I take it all
As I cautiously
Just fake it
I feel so small
Never where I wanna be

You take it
You take it all
And I selfishly
Just fake it
I feel so small

Never where I wanna be
Never who I wanna be

Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah

Laura DiStasi – No City Life

www: Laura’s official website, Facebook Page, and MySpace.