Music Review // Highbush Caribou "Matter"

 

Highbush Caribou has found a wonderful sound with their new song "Matter".   Slowly, these dreamy, winding guitars come in to what could be borderline shoegaze but it just feels so chill.  I'm reminded of artists such as Mazzy Star and Audio Jane, as it just feels like there is this throwback to the 1990's grunge scene (and a little bit after that) but also just staying in the present as well, with hints of artists such as Softcult.

The subject of the song "Matter" can go two different ways, but it is something I've been thinking about lately.  How we are made up- of matter- is one of the ways which you can think about the title of being, and I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about how everything is made up of these same particles, if you dive into science, and so isn't it weird that the atoms which once made up a car could be reformed and used as a cheeseburger.   

In addition to thinking of this as being the weight of everything, there is also the idea of, as the title says, "Hey, it don't matter anyway", which is a good attitude to have about online life, as this song begins with the lines "If I live in a computer / Then why do I feel so much?"  Ultimately, the song does have that contrast between being online and not real, but then also having real emotions and still being human at the end of the day.   I particularly like the line: "Code me so I won't erupt", as I feel like I do sometimes need restraint when reading social media.

What people have to understand and what I take from the song "Matter" is that we are all made up of something greater than what we see on the computer screen.    People might sometimes take it too personally, but I come from the generation that didn't have social media like this, so there is still very much and always will be a world which exists outside of it.  Once you realize that, and you figure out how fake social media is as well (with bots, etc) then your life could become vastly improved.