Nishat Recommends: “Champ” by Gleemer
If there were a song to manifest that desperate anxiety the turn of seasons brings, “Champ” is that song. On the second half of Gleemer’s 2015 full-length debut, Moving Away, the Colorado, noise-pop quartet’s twinkly guitars and gutting lyrics spare no sentiment.
“Hot like the afternoonswhen you kiss her on the mouth.Locked on the common groundyou won’t say you love me now.”
If you, too, subscribe to the emo-lifestyle, then you’ll agree that winter is a perfect season for slow songs that demand you wear a blanket to keep warm. Other midwestern natives understand how brutal the cold here can be, how autumn is so short it’s a myth, and how sometimes you’ve just got to double down on the weather with a song that’s there in the pits with you.
Maybe it’s the masochist in me, but lines like “You were right all that time/to feel like nothing you said made a difference” cut so deep that I am shocked back into myself.
Despite the short hours of light and the unforgiving cold, winter is a healthy reminder that all things must shed their old leaves and selves to be ready for new growth in the spring.
“and I lost my phone in that summer waterthe night your brother left town,and I could feel your hands move through that river acrossmy chest for the last time.”
“Champ” is a hard song to listen to at times; it’s a song about fading summers and memories, but it also serves as a bridge to carry you to whatever the next season might bring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92peQVCIlWI(Song recommendation by Nishat Ahmed)