You ever been clobbered by beauty? It happens. You’re minding your own business, you’re sitting in a chair, maybe, engaged in some Cavandoli Macrame, perhaps, or calculating your Christmas card list to ten decimal places and a tune floats out of nowhere and lays you out. An emotional ram. A melodic haymaker.
Erik Enoksson’s “The Lingering Procession” did that to me. It’s a piece taken from his spare, chilly, gorgeous soundtrack to the Swedish film Farväl Falkenberg, the final cut on the cd, in fact. The film isn’t out here. I doubt we’ll ever see it, because as far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with Judd Apatow. The music, however, just might be enough.
The track in question is a simple little progression, picked out on a guitar (it might not be a guitar; it might be something else with strings.) Then a delicate chorus of voices joins in, introducing a similar melody. Another repetition of the melody adds another voice, this time in slightly higher register. Then a third repetition brings in even more voices, followed by a new melody. This is when the pummeling begins.
I believe that there are certain melodies, certain sequences of notes, that tap into something primal in the listener. It’s like hitting the resonant frequency in the shower when you’re belting out “I Made It Through The Rain” by Barry Manilow. It’s like that, but better. That melody, or combination of melodies has the power to stop you in your tracks.
This one does that for me. It’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in a long time. I’d be curious to know what others think of it.
One Comment
The movie is beautiful, and the soundtrack even more so. Damn, its so good. I hope I’ll be able to get one of the beautiful packaged limited cds.
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[…] #17. “The Lingering Procession” by Eric Enocksson. If I were being truthful, the only reason this isn’t in my top three is because it comes from a movie soundtrack. Don’t ask me to explain that, because I don’t think I can. As for the tune itself? I blithered about it quite enough here. […]