7 Tracks For A Frozen Day

It's ten below zero in Minneapolis today, with a wind chill occasionally approaching -30. It seems like we've had a lot of days like that this winter, and it's usually around mid-February that I start to get really fed up with them. But today, the sun is shining spectacularly (in very un-February-like fashion) and thanks to the dusting of fresh snow we got on Saturday, my neighborhood actually looks fresh and clean for the first time in weeks.

It's winter days like this that inspire artists and musicians (for better or for worse,) and since I have the day off, I thought I'd put together a soundtrack to go with the sun-drenched deep freeze. All links in the playlist below will take you somewhere where you can hear at least a sample of the music...

1. February - Dar Williams. Okay, so I just got done saying that today is the antithesis of a normal, depressing, predictable February day, but there will certainly be plenty of those ahead, and no one's ever expressed the sheer mind-numbing hopelessness of this month better than Dar Williams. My favorite line comes at the end of the song: You stopped and you pointed and you said, "That's a crocus" / and I said, "What's a crocus?" / and you said, "It's a flower." / I tried to remember, but I said, "What's a flower?" / You said, "I still love you."

2. Hard Weather Makes Good Wood - John Howell Morrison. The eMusic review of this excellent piece for string quartet and tape says that it sounds like Moby collaborating with John Adams. That sounds about right to me, and the performance it gets on this little-known CD is a deeply committed one, played by some of the best young musicians in the Twin Cities.

3. It's Going To Snow - Jeff Louie. Jeff is about as unusual as singer-songwriters come. His songs tend to be far more musically complex than most folk/rock types, to the extent that they can actually be disconcerting, since you're hearing chords that you would normally expect to hear only in classical or jazz. (No surprise that he started out playing classical violin and piano - he and I actually went to music camp together for several years.) This is one of my favorite songs of his, and it nicely captures the bleakness of winter, and of relationships that don't work out.

4. Symphony No. 5 (first movement) - Jean Sibelius. The mournful horn call that opens what I think of as Sibelius's best work sounds like it should be coming from miles away across a still, silent, snow-covered field. The uneasy rolling wind lines that emerge from it paint a perfect portrait of Nordic winter, and the movement develops excruciatingly slowly, just like this season. Eventually, the pain and bleakness are too much to bear, and the music explodes into a furious scramble, which ends abuptly, like the entire orchestra ran into a brick wall.

5. Snow Day - Lisa Loeb. I've always liked Lisa Loeb for some reason. She's not exactly the type of singer I gravitate to in general, but something about the slight edginess of her lyrics when paired with her syrupy sweet voice works for me. I don't think this song is really about snow, or winter, but it's catchy as hell, and in the middle of the longest season, it's nice to have a peppy pop song or two to lift your spirits.

6. January - At The Fireside , from The Seasons' Digest - Alexander Raskatov. Gidon Kremer's group of talented young European musicians, Kremerata Baltica, regularly turns out some of the best and most interesting recordings on the market, and their album, "The Russian Seasons" includes this gem for solo violin, strings, percussion, and prepared piano. Raskatov's description of the January movement reads simply: "It's terribly cold outside. An old clock strikes midnight."

7. Snow is Gone - Josh Ritter. It isn't. It won't be for a good while yet. But no song can jolt me out of the winter doldrums like this one. It's what I listen to on my iPod right before going on stage for any big performance, and it never fails to fire me up. I'm singing for the love of it / Have mercy on the man who sings to be adored...