Easing the Mind

Can you imagine the words "Apocalypse" and "lullaby" going together?  Because "Apocalypse Lullaby" is tonight's featured song.  In this song from the Wailin' Jennys' "Firecracker" album, Annabelle Chvostek (one of the band's past altos) wrote and sang lead.  The other Jennys join in for the harmonies, and I was noticing how Chvostek has a voice that at sometimes sounds like Makana's.


Now, Chvostek opens the song by saying that eventually, natural disasters occur, and civilizations fall, but at this moment, the person that she and the Jennys are singing to should concentrate on the present, and rest.  They instruct the person to imagine a place no light shown.  Then in that moment of concentration, just listening to their voices, the listener follows their heart to a place of home, a sense of golden warmth.

The lyrics for this song aren't always that easy for me to decipher.  I feel like some of the phrases are purposefully abstract and strung together because they sound pretty and soothing.  Unlike James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" or some of the more traditional lullabies, Annabelle Chvostek doesn't try to write about sleep or put a bedtime story to music.  Instead she eases the restless mind.  The song is slightly hypnotic as it lulls the listener.