"Just like that”

I wish I could set a melody as a blog post title. Maybe I’ll figure it out someday. It’s only on my mind because I found myself captivated by a song’s opening notes the second I sat down to type out this paragraph. Countless times I’ve had my attention firmly seized by the same short few seconds at the start of different songs, and it wasn’t until recently I realised it was because of how much sheer personality can be concentrated into things like production/arrangement. I mean it wasn’t something I was entirely conscious of for a long while, but it’s like the presence of a friend: you’ll always recognise it when you notice it and remember when you first heeded it, and the same applies to music since both evoke the same emotional responses in me.

This entire weekend I’ve spent inside, and I sorely need that kind of break as often as possible. I was fairly productive too, I like to think: I did some neatly written flashcards (a huge achievement because flashcards are usually messy beyond belief when I attempt making them), played something like 8 hours of Yakuza Kiwami (considered productive because making progress in a video game has yet to lose its novelty, especially amidst a 5 day a week study schedule which I haven’t had to deal with for 3 years), had some blissful voice calls that involved some karaoke (I LOVE VOICE CALL KARAOKE SO MUCH), aaaaaand halfway through typing this paragraph I watched the first episode of Trigun and I’m not even surprised in the slightest that I ended up absolutely loving it.

It’s the kind of story that, to me, seems like it couldn’t have been made at any other time period than in the late 90s. The western inspiration is all over the style of the show, in a similar way to Cowboy Bebop, in the way the entire art direction clearly takes from the whole Wild West genre. Only here it goes as heavily as possible into its gunslinging with the over-the-top slapstick shootouts, while Cowboy Bebop tones it down a fair bit and integrates it with the Sci-Fi interstellar backdrop, leaning more into its brooding melancholic story beats as a result. That’s my impression after seeing the first episode, anyways; onwards to the next 25 episodes.

But one of the greatest new comforts I discovered this weekend? A most serene melody reminding me: “let’s go to bed: let’s sleep”.

And, at this time of night, it's a lyric that truly is music to my ears.