Sometimes You Tube can surprise you - and I don't mean with images of skateboarding dogs. No, instead I mean the discovery of new musician who captures the tenor of the moment you're in and extends it in a beautifully reflective way. That happened to me recently when I had some music videos playing, and You Tube featured a song by San Diego-based artist Greg Laswell. The song "Comes and Goes" is a bit of melancholy meditation on our solitary lives. Laswell captured my ponderous Friday afternoon singing, This one's for the lonely/The one's that seek and find/Only to be let down/ Time after time. This one's for the torn down/The experts at the fall/Come on friends get up now/You're not alone at all. It was, surprisingly, a reassuring nod to the fellowship of loners who embrace those vacuous moments and seek to grow or just persist. Laswell's chords and soft tone evoked the sounds of such hauntingly introspective songwriters Elliot Smith and Nick Drake, whose songs are perfect for those times when we simply pause to reflect on the void.
So, check out some Greg Laswell when you're having one of those afternoons. Here's a great profile - Everyone Thinks I dodged a Bullet - from Pop Matters that delves into the sounds and identity of Greg. Laswell has been making music for more than a decade, and I don't know how I've managed to miss out on him until now. Yet, I have probably heard his music countless times in movie and TV soundtracks, for he has that deep and thoughtful tone that provides a great backdrop for those "dark night of the soul moments" in so many stories. I will certainly listen for him in the future.
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