Artist Review
Nick Drake:
The lost soul of the genius music world.
Personally, there is something very admirable about people who do what they do with absolute disregard of what others think. So engrained into their own existence that they kind of have no understanding of how impactful their words/music/art are to the world at large. Now I say all this without an entirely clear understanding of Nick Drake as a person, but what I do understand of him now, is that if this gentle human being was alive in this day and age, he probably would have been diagnosed as an anxious manic depressive who would have been on medication from his teenage years.
As it stands though, he wasn’t. Which means he is often described as a quiet sad young man who expressed himself through his music. Which makes me wonder how many young songwriters today don’t get the opportunity to find an avenue for their emotions through a creative channel because they’ve been put on medication so early, they detach from themselves and find the journey back to themselves so overwhelming, the idea of trying seems impossible.
But I don’t suppose that this is anything new. Like a teacher who used to throw a duster at his students (yep, I had a few of those) who would now be pulled up on harassment charges, things aren’t what they used be. Without saying that this is a good thing or not, I will say this. When hear about someone like Nick Drake, I wonder whether we would have ever have been given the gift of his music if it weren’t for the fact that he spent a great deal of his life reflecting his mothers sense of foreboding and infused his work with the most beautiful quiet sense of sadness I think I have ever come across.
For those that aren’t aware of too much of Nick’s work, I can’t tell you what it’s like, because to really understand it, you have to listen to it and then allow yourself understand how it makes you feel. I think thats why I love it so much. It always felt to me as though this is what would be playing on the radio if there was a room inside your heart that you had to sit in like a doctors waiting room. There never seems to be anything sharp or aggressive about his music. Always soft. Always thoughtful.
My first real exposure to Nick was thanks to my favourite Film Director of all time, Wes Anderson. In 2001 he directed a film called ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’. Admittedly I hadn’t been exposed to Wes much at that stage either, but the impact it had on me was profound. The use of Nick Drakes song ‘Fly’ hit me like the ‘Whats in the box?’scene from ‘Se7en’. (I was so thrown by that scene…for realsies. It shook me for days)
Used beautifully to flower the relationship between Margot & Ritchie, it captures exactly the quiet trauma that these two sustain throughout the film by playing during the quiet spaces within the film to enhance their own thoughts. Its friggen awesome. If you haven’t seen it…bloody well see it. It should be mandatory for all school children to see Wes Anderson films simply to begin their education in unspoken emotional angst and how to live through it.
I think that I love the fact that Anderson used this track because in a way, his films are very reminiscent of the way Drake writes and sings. Both have a very unique way of showing how beautiful emotional conflict can be and once we see past the angst and drama that is so often assumed, they leave space enough to begin the understanding process…which is the most interesting part of all.
