Music Review // Hillary Reynolds "Can't Turn Off My Mind"

 

When thinking about the song "Can't Turn Off My Mind", one of the first things that I think of now is how I wish some people would turn their mind on.  I'm not saying this to offend anyone, but if you go out there and look at comments on social media you'll see just how many people in the USA seem to have forgotten what it means to think.   But, alas, this song is about something quite the opposite and that is overthinking.

One thing which can really make it feel like we want to turn off our minds is anxiety.  If I ever have to wake up early the next day, I'll get to sleep at a reasonable hour, set my alarm and then stay awake for several more hours thinking about what will happen that next day and other things, sometimes related and sometimes not.  It seems like these events occur most often when trying to sleep, likely because it's dark and quiet so your mind is free from other distractions.

However, night time isn't the only time such things can happen.  Sometimes it can be the middle of the day and you're a student in school or you're at your job and these random thoughts just enter your mind.  Some people call it spacing out, but in the song it is mentioned as: "Constant daydreams take me somewhere far away".  And you don't even have to be bored or uninterested in what else is going on, sometimes your mind just takes over like that.

Through these soft acoustics, sometimes a piano and a beautiful voice that makes this folk / Americana type of sound, Hillary Reynolds brings to light the fact that our brain can have us thinking about things not only at times we'd prefer not to, but we're not always kept up thinking about something important to us but rather are just trying to see if we can recall all fifty US states.  Yes, sometimes I wish I could turn off my mind, but music is definitely a good way to start.