Monthly Wrapped: What I’m listening to in February

February feels like it’s gone by in a whirlwind.

I’m not sure if it’s made worse by the fact it’s actually shorter, but it definitely feels like I could fit in less stuff than I can normally. January turned out to be a record month for enquiries, and March features my first weddings bookings of the year, so I found myself eating somewhat of an ‘admin sandwich’!

No complaints of course, but an increase in desk-time is an artefact of this phase of Finlay Gigs - where I’m pivoting from almost exclusively pub gigs and very few private events to flipping things the other way around. This allows me to spend a lot more time speaking with and thinking about clients and how I can bring value to their events, but also it means a lot more time organising stuff (mostly in front of a screen).

All this means that music now feels like a welcome break from ‘the grind’, rather than the grind itself. The more work I do at my desk answering emails, drafting proposals, and double-checking calendars; the more time I enjoy with a guitar in my hand. This helps making music for others feel less routine and more special - which is exactly what I try to do at every gig. More admin time just makes this feel easier!

It also means that listening to music is more enjoyable. I’ve been trying (not all that successfully) to set aside time to listen to music without doing anything else. I’ve also been trying to do this for everything else I do in my free time. They range from the relatively straightforward (cooking without anything on in the background) to the nigh-impossible (not watching TV with a phone in my hand).

I think that for me, music is perhaps the most difficult of these, and the most important, to engage with without distractions. In order to properly take in everything about a song - the rhythms, lyrics, melody and counter-melodies - you have to really pay attention. Music is a complicated business, and we must give it the respect it is due.

There is no genre (not always a helpful term, but alas) that is more deserving of reverence, in my opinion, than old-school soul and R&B; and the likes of King Curtis, Al Green, Otis Redding, and the Staples Singers have been all over my playlist this month. It feels like, listening to a ‘Memphis Soul Stew’ or ‘Hard to Handle’ feels like peering into the very foundations of complex and interesting contemporary music. Everything from funk to EDM owes a debt to these men and women who forged such amazing constellations of sound from the ether, and distilled these onto records we can all enjoy.

Not to say, of course, that I’ve been listening exclusively to oldies and goldies - a couple of newer songs also feature in February’s playlist: namely The Police’s ‘Message in a Bottle’ and Stephen Fretwell’s ‘New York’.

If you only listen to one song this month:

There’s no amount of re-listening that can ruin a great song, and I would say you’d be hard pressed to find a greater song than ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ by Gladys Knight and the Pips. From those first snare-wraps at the top of the song, you are utterly entranced. The production is wonderfully tight, and there are barely any highs in the mix to speak of. Rather than lacking definition or shine, this leaves the song with a dream-like essence and also, conveniently, helps the record be enjoyable even when cranked right up in the car. The lyrics tell the story of a young man leaving his dreams behind and coming home to the arms of a woman, and the song feels like going home into a warm embrace.

And, I think, we would do well to remember that sometimes, dreams can be chased right at home.

Finlay