We all love different things for different reasons—and that’s
one aspect of humanity that I find both intriguing and endearing. What we love,
and who we love—it’s like we were programmed to find certain things extremely
appealing and others not. It’s like we follow a flow chart of “nos” until we
find our way to the ultimate “yes” of art, music, style, author, genre, significant other—and the
list could go on forever...
Why we love our favourite things can't always be explained. Sometimes no gene, trait or life experience can be held responsible for what we love: we just do. Some like one thing, some like another, and I am constantly amazed at the subtle flecks in our brains that cause us to prefer one thing over another. (I often wonder why some people love spicy food and others absolutely hate it—things like that.)
Arcade Fire is my favourite band.
This post is not going to
include 101 reasons why I love Arcade Fire and why you should love them, too.
Maybe you love them like I do, but if you don’t, I would not be offended because
I can appreciate the variety in our preferences. Guess what? I have
never been a fan of James Taylor. Something about his voice makes my neck and
shoulder muscles tense up, and my mood gets a little darker. I don’t know why
because I can appreciate the fact that he can sing and that his music has been
loved by millions. I hope you don’t judge me for that!
Anyway, my goodness, how I love Arcade Fire. It’s like I was
programmed to love them or something. Somehow, they fit every criteria—even those
I didn’t even know I really had—for what the most significant and impactful and
inspiring musical artist to me should be. I hope I don’t sound kind of “out
there” or selfish by saying this, but it’s almost as though if I didn’t know
better—knowing full well that they don’t know me by any stretch of the imagination—I
would think Arcade Fire wrote their songs to impact me specifically. That’s the
connection I feel: those songs electrify my arms, resonate with me and inspire
me to create. Listening to Arcade Fire makes my pulse quicken, my spirits
brighten, my emotions swell and my soul soar with inspiring ideas and a renewed
drive to just be me. Their music, their lyrics (many of the best lyrics I’ve
ever heard in my opinion), their vocals, their choices of instruments, even the
look of the band members—all combine to form a sound and an image that appeals
to a very deep part of me. That is, a deep enough part of me that I prefer to
listen and experience and be inspired by Arcade Fire when I’m mostly alone—it’s
hard to fully appreciate and be emotionally affected by music like that when I’m
hanging out with a bunch of people. It requires introspection only available
with solitude. Arcade Fire is not background music, to me.
How does this happen? How is it that when one person creates
what is in them to create, that creation and the emotion behind it has such
power to affect other people so strongly, so profoundly? How is it that one
person’s DNA and destiny can combine to give something to someone—something
that is exactly what someone else’s DNA and destiny have combined to desire to
receive? Is this a random, lucky accident, or is there something more to it
all? Obviously talent and a certain general appeal is part of it, but there’s
that other sort of mysterious, intangible quality to this whole phenomenon—that
is, the connection between creator, creation and receiver/audience.
What I love the most about this whole idea of certain things
affecting certain people is that it basically perpetuates creativity. I am very
much inspired by Arcade Fire when I write my own lyrics. I’m sure that Win
Butler and everyone in the band have similarly been inspired by other creators
when writing their own songs. The cyclical nature of creativity makes me feel
like I have a part in creating these things we love—as though everyone who
creates is connected somehow. God has given us countless different ways to
connect with other people.
Perhaps that is the very foundation of this phenomenon. We
feel a connection with others’ creations because we are all part of the
creative cycle when we are affected and inspired by someone else’s creation.
After all, we are not so different from one another on a deeper level. Sure, we
all love different things for different reasons (many reasons that can’t easily
be explained), but those differences are superficial to the deeper, God-given, significant
similarities that we as human beings all possess—i.e. the way we love what we
love, and the way connections are made through our creations, and perhaps most significant, the amazing feeling that accompanies the connections we make with others throughout life.
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