We spend a lot of time on this playlist analyzing songs about a certain kind of love. Relationships, heartbreak, marriage — these topics have all produced incredible songs. But today, we're reframing our our perspective on what catching feelings really can mean, thanks to Amber Mark and her track: "Monsoon".
The song comes from Mark's 2017 EP, 3:33am, which moves through the seven stages of grief after she lost her mother at just 21 years old. "Monsoon" is the climax of the project, as Mark moves from depression to the reconstruction stage of grief. She samples the monsoon rains from India, where she had once lived, and where her mother died. The rain pours throughout the track, but starts to clear near the end, as we hear recordings of Mark's mother, playfully greeting her daughter with her soft German accent: "Hallo, hallo, hallo!", laughing, and finally reminding her, "I love you".
It's hard not to feel that pang of sadness in your gut, but Mark doesn't want listeners to focus on the sadness of "Monsoon". As she told Pitchfork, "You know that melancholy feeling when you watch the end of a movie and you’re crying—but also there is hope? I wanted that feeling. I don’t want people to be like, 'This is a really depressing EP. I just want to cry the whole way through.' I wanted it to be more like, 'I’ve lost someone. I’m going through this, too. But she got out of it.' You know, I’m still sad. I still miss my mom everyday. But I’m not on the floor, crying, listening to Sufjan Stevens everyday, like I was before. Thank god. I want people to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel."
We couldn't have said it better. Listen to "Monsoon" and let us know what you think!
You can learn more about Amber Mark here:
About the curator - Cormac McGee
Cormac McGee is a DJ, artist manager and concert promoter based in Toronto, Canada. He’s played in front of crowds from 10 – 1,000 people and has run concerts with some of today’s top hip hop artists, including Drake, Future, Mac Miller, 6lack, Ab-Soul and more. He also runs the Music Den at Ryerson University, a business incubator for entrepreneurs in the music industry.
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