Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 4 - May '20

Planted and Enchanted
Written By Evan Hammonds
 
“During the summer take me sailing out on the Atlantic
I won’t set my sights on other seas, there is no need to panic
So honey take me by the hand and we can sign some papers
Forget the invitations, floral arrangements and bread makers”
— Archie, Marry Me, Alvvays
 

You can enjoy the Planted and Enchanted: Vol. 4 playlist in its entirety on Spotify. Just click on the included Spotify plugin.

Playlist Highlight: Archie, Marry Me, Alvvays

So I turned thirty this week. I’m still grappling with what that exactly that means, but so far it’s an age that reminds me of that old joke about how the suburbs are a place with all the disadvantages of the city, and none of the advantages of the country. And vice versa. By way of example, I have recently noticed some grey hairs coming in, yet for some reason I still occasionally get acne. (Jeez universe, pick a lane.) So yeah, I guess I’m now officially in the “awkward teenage years” of adulthood. Here goes nothing.

A band that knows a thing or two about my current Millennial plight (by the way, I abhor the term “Millennial,” In a if-this-word-gets-mentioned-in-a-conversation-how-annoyed-will-it-make-me contest, it ranks just above “FinTech” and just below “Big Data.” Barely.) is the Canadian five-piece Alvvays. Even their name is a product of my generation. Had they been around in the 60’s, they just would have gone by “Always,” but settling on such a common word would have banished them to page two and beyond in Google search results (which I’m pretty sure qualifies as the “dark web”). So, they went with an alternate spelling for better SEO in the digital era. Alvvays was born.

Depending on your point of view, their 2014 track Archie, Marry Me is either a humorous or tragic look at a modern couple’s clash on values: Pragmatism vs. Idealism. Sensibility vs. Romance. Progressiveness vs. Tradition.

Our narrator is a romantic at heart, has probably seen “When Harry Met Sally,” “Casablanca,” and “Pretty Woman” a thousand times each, is a total sap when it comes to heart-felt letters and silly love songs, is feeling societal judgement about cohabiting prior to marriage, and simply wants to marry Archie - with or without the accompanying pomp and circumstance. Just check out these lines:

“So honey take me by the hand and we can sign some papers; Forget the invitations, floral arrangements and bread makers”

“Too late to go out, too young to stay in; They're talking about us living in sin; Hey, hey, marry me, Archie”

This view juts up against Archie’s more logical (read: cynical) ideas on marriage and relationships. Why help pay for a wedding when I still owe money on my student loans? Half of marriages end up in divorce, do I really want to risk having to make alimony payments at some point in the future? Besides, isn’t it a little old fashioned that the act of signing papers is what actually legitimizes a relationship? He expressed as much in the song’s opening line:

“You've expressed explicitly your contempt for matrimony;

You've student loans to pay and will not risk the alimony”

As the song fades, we realize their whole conflict is left unresolved. It’s a cliffhanger. It seems apparent that it’s just one of those mystery rides they’re just going to have to figure out along the way. Kinda like your thirties.

—-

Oh, one last thing. This month’s playlist is called “30 for 30.” I shamelessly borrowed the idea from Bill Simmons and ESPN’s Documentary Series of the same name. I do one each year (last year was “29 for 29.” Try to guess what the one the year before that was called.) It isn’t necessarily a list of my 30 favorite songs or what I believe to be the 30 best songs. It’s simply a list of 30 songs that I’d bring with me if I was stranded on a desert island for an entire year and had no other access to music. I hope you enjoy my musical time capsule.

What is Planted and Enchanted?

If you’re anything like me, you surely have a “junk drawer” somewhere in your home. It probably consists of an old flashlight with dead batteries in it, a handful of rubber bands alongside some pens running low on ink, enough loose keys for you to qualify as a middle school janitor, some birthday cards given to you years ago (how quickly can I throw these away without it being rude? Better wait another decade just to be safe.), the box to your old iPhone simply because it’s a pretty darn cool box, and a small library of service manuals for among other things: your refrigerator, hot water heater, and that Instant Pot you used just the one time.

I don’t consider my junk drawer “worthless” mind you, but rather see it a collection of delightful discoveries (Hey! I didn’t know I had a yo-yo!), and delightful rediscoveries (So that’s where my playing cards were!).

That’s my aim for this playlist series: Planted and Enchanted. A monthly track list consisting of songs that likely won’t fit perfectly together in a classic album sense, but are useful in planting the seeds of discovery of new genres, artists, and songs as well as the unearthing of music you loved but had long since forgotten about. Who knows, there may even be a hidden theme or two that the savvy listener can piece together. The best part about this playlist? If you don’t like it, that’s okay. We are talking about junk after all.

If you have a specific song that you’ve recently discovered or come to love, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at freshcutfinds@gmail.com. We’re planning to roll out more content and a new playlist series in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Each month, we put together a playlist of our favorite discoveries new & old. Each playlist will be about the length of a mix CD (80 mins) and will be sent around the 15th of each month. Subscribe with your email address to receive the monthly Planted and Enchanted playlist, plus other occasional speciaty playlists.

Evan Hammonds
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Off the Beaten Path: Vol. 2 - Tom Petty
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Unearthed Vol. 10 - May '20