35. Hater - “Common Way”

Heartbreak can feel like a barren landscape. It leaves the heart adrift, wandering as if lost, stumbling through familiar surroundings that have suddenly irrevocably changed, almost like witnessing a disaster event such as a flood or fire and being left alone in the aftermath, searching through the ashes and the mud in order to find a hint of something familiar – the pieces of you that once were.

This jam encompasses that feeling. It captures the distance one experiences in moments of shock while staring blankly into the echoing abyss that suddenly opens up between the body and the mind. It’s austere and regal, collected despite the turmoil tearing through the undercurrents beneath. It’s sort of how I imagine the Scandinavian winters must feel – unbelievably cold and interminably dark. It’s a momentary exile. She always knew this moment might one day come, just as she knows that it will eventually pass and that the sun will once again rise to shine its light upon her. And yet, for now she’s stuck. This is her reality – the penance of her pilgrimage, and so she’s embracing it, letting it wash over her as she basks – not in pity, but in resignation. In an acceptance of the highs and the lows, knowing that it takes both to shape the beautiful journey that is life.