Coming down to London on the train yesterday gave me an opportunity to do something modern life rarely gives me time for these days...choose an album on my iPod, hit play and just sit back and enjoy!
This is something that is so easy to take for granted but should be savoured when the chance arises as hearing songs in the order that the artist intended can lead to an experience that can't be replicated elsewhere.
Recently I have found myself on numerous occasions just hitting the "shuffle" button on Spotify playlists or my iTunes library in search of missed tracks or new music or even a classic (in my opinion of course) that has escaped my ears for too long now.
Sometimes all I want is a particular song to capture the mood that I am in or provide the perfect soundtrack to whatever activity I may be undertaking at the time...and I won't know what that particular song needs to be until it randomly appears with that first note in my ears and I instantly know that I need search no longer.
Music can inspire us to future triumphs or remind us of moments or people that help make us who we are today.
Whether it is a 4 minute masterpiece or an entire album, just the intro or snippet of a forgotten clasic can gather a feeling that, in this modern technological age, no emoticon or hashtag can express!
The moment that you discover an existing album or artist you've never heard before can feel all your christmases have come at once...especially if their back catalogue before you found them is an extensive one!
Likewise, discovering a brand new artist or group can feel like the moment you've been waiting for and the anticpation for their new material can feel like a lifetime.
Arguably a better feeling is that of re-discovering a forgotten song or album. This is a feeling that allows us to recapture the years gone by, memories and moments that remind you of being a certain age, in a certain place or surrounded by a certain bunch of people.
Discovering older music or artists that inspired your current favourite artists is far more rewarding than in any other entertainment form, like finally getting around to seeing one of those classic films that you've "always meant to watch" but never actually got round to it.
Movies can inspire, amaze and delight in much the same way that music can. They are equally as era-defining and can make us aspire to be better people or change our lives.
And just like an over-hyped or eagerly anticipated album they can dissappoint just as quickly or leave you deflated after commiting 2 hours of your life to it!
Music however, reaches us on a much more personal level. We can identify with lyrics or just get lost in the moment.
And even songs that once annoyed us can be remembered years later with nostalgic fondness.
Ultimately, music is the most accessible form of entertainment that can break down barriers or simply capture an emotion.
It can be with us all day and night if we choose and there is no greater jukebox than the mind to help your favourite songs whirl around in your head for days at a time.
You can allow yourself to be defined by your musical taste or be open and eclectic with your choices.
Just like movies, everyone has their favourite genre's but other genre's are always out there, sometimes intertwining with one another to tempt us in to unchartered territory.
Whatever your taste, music will always be the greatest gift a person can give as it is out there to be shared with the world...but still enjoyed by the individual all the same.
So why not treat yourself this bank holiday weekend to that album you used to own or have been meaning to get but haven't got round to it. Maybe just download a selection of your favourite tracks from iTunes or hit the shuffle button on your music collection.
Whatever you choose to do in this film we call life, let music capture the moments and create the ultimate soundtrack!
Oh and for those of you wondering, I chose 2 albums on my journey down to London...HAIM's "Days Are Gone" and John Legend's "Love In The Future", neither of which I had had chance to listen to before and both of which I can thoroughly recommend...and for the journey back up north?...guess both you and I will just have to wait and see!
