3 Things: A Record, A Film, A Lesson
Billie Marten's latest, the best movie of the year, and some ice cold water
I’ve got that “summer’s over, but it’s only just begun” sort of feeling.
I’ve been ready for a change of season, metaphorically, for a little while now, but, at the same time, I have no interest in saying what I’ve been doing is behind me.
Promoting my record saps my soul. I’m inclined to believe it’s not so much the self-promotion as the tools and mechanisms we use for it1. I’m proud of that record, and I’ve got some new, stripped down versions of those tunes coming out very soon…
But damn am I tired of talking about it. So let’s talk about some other good stuff that’s out there, shall we?
My goal is to get back on track with one of these every Friday2. So, without further ado…
Three Things I’m Grateful For
1. Dog Eared by Billie Marten
Billie Marten was one of those artists that kept popping up — someone I always found myself going “oh, that’s cool…who’s that?” Oh, it’s Billie Marten.
But passive, algorithmic Spotifying being what it is, I never really dug in: I knew the name, but I didn’t connect.
With her latest album, Dog Eared, I’ve connected.
From the first 3 seconds of the opening track, “Feeling,” you get a prime example of the “oh, that’s cool” effect — that ineffable magic of recorded music that somehow just grabs you and can’t be explained or recreated.
There are easily recognizable modern indie-folk vibes with that rubber bridge guitar — but it’s bright, open, organic in a way that so much of the post-Phoebe Bridgers world is hazy and viscous. The train beat on the drums, the gentle piano, even the swells of the pedal steel — it’s all very reminiscent, nothing novel…but I heard this in a playlist of similar “acoustic/indie folk” tunes the other day, and it just stands out. It has that magic.
Billie’s voice is similarly pure, clear, bright, simple. She has an airy quality that could fade into wispiness, but it doesn’t: it stays arrow straight and sturdy, like a wooden mast on a toy sailboat, which holds up well with her impressionistic lyrics and subtle, light-filled poetry.
Other standout tracks are “Crown” and “Goodnight Moon” — but it’s very much an album. The sounds, instruments, vibes stay so cohesive throughout, it feels like a band in a room playing down the tunes. Give it a listen on your way home from work or with a good breakfast.
2. Sinners…the film & the playlist
Okay, I’m late to the game here—but only because I’m a dork and, after missing the theatrical release, waited until I could catch it on a re-release in theaters here in LA.
And yes, it was worth the wait/hype/industry-shaking contract structure (No Spoilers here, but careful of reading too much in that last link).
It’s one of those movies I couldn’t (can’t?) stop thinking about. I don’t want to leave its world behind. Plus, it’s made me fall back in love with the blues.
And I mean the real blues, Delta blues, a dobro and a slide and a lifetime’s worth of pain and exaltation, the kind of pure emotional transference that only music can provide. Everything we have in American music — in modern music, FULL STOP — comes from the blues, and the film traces that lineage virtuosically with visuals, storytelling, and original music to boot. At a moment when I’d begun to lose some faith in what I do and why I do it, this movie restored every belief I have in the power of music to transform the world around it.
I haven’t had a piece of art move me this much in a long time, let alone a film. It’s funny, sexy, beautiful, poignant, and thrilling (no, it’s not too scary; I promise) — and it does about as good a job of anything at getting across its textured, nuanced worldview (this shit is DEEP) without ever being heavy-handed…and that’s in a movie that is also decidedly made for mass appeal, a blockbuster replete with blood, guns, and vampires.
Aka a movie about America.
This is The Godfather level. Except I cried way more during Sinners.
3. Being Uncomfortable
I’m good with heat. Sauna’s don’t phase me3. The AC never runs here for more than a few minutes—even in this latest LA heatwave. I run hot, and I’m fine with it, and I think that says something about my personality.
Confront me with the cold, though, and see how quickly I become a spazzy lil bitch.
That is, until my (hot) yoga studio got a cold plunge4.
If for nothing else, I’ve found tremendous benefit in staring down something I know will be uncomfortable — that I also know will (eventually) make me feel good. It is an extreme version of delayed gratification. Plop into some ice cold water and it NEVER doesn’t suck. But it is always worth it.
What helped me get in the first few times was just knowing I could get out whenever I wanted: no shame, no hard-o nonsense, no “you’ve gotta last 5 whole minutes.” Get in to that freezing cold water, get out whenever; simply “doing it” is good enough. Don’t think; just go.
But then, after like 20 seconds, it weirdly starts to get easy. And then, it starts to feel…good! Like really good. The longer you stay in, the more impressive the experience, until suddenly, when you get out it feels like your body is a glowing golden orb of energy, throbbing with power from the inside out — like Superman after getting a recharge of some good ol’ Yellow Sun.
I’m trying to take this practice with me not just for our future of untenable heatwaves — but also for life. I blink a bit too easily when looking into the abyss of something difficult. Cold water’s taught me not to think, to just get in, and to breathe deep — and that good things tend to come on the other side of something uncomfortable.
Here’s to facing whatever you hate doing too,
-David
Ya know, the ones that were literally designed to destroy our willpower and self-esteem? Yeah, turns out…they’re good at what they do!
If you think there’s a better day or time I should send ‘em, I am ALL ears. Leave a comment.
Careful touching my bathwater, baby: it burnnnns.
awww yeah let your LA FLY David…I do Hot Yoga and Cold Plunges like 4 days a week and it’s the bees friggin knees…and now I’m evangelizing about it? Whooooooeey! I seek no increased longevity or any sense of biohacking. It just feels great. Turns out, that feeling you get when someone splashes cold water on your back that makes you go “ayeayeasfhaslejf” and jump around like a 2 year old…it can be channeled productively.