It’s 6:35 a.m., and it’s time for another new listen.
Today, it’s an album by Album Leaf, entitled In a Safe Place.
It was suggested to me, and since I’ve never heard it before, it fits the criteria.
Let’s get started.
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7:28 a.m. End.
So… I guess this is relevant because it’s what I found myself thinking about while listening to this album, but… Robin Williams passed away.
I heard the night before that Robin Williams passed, and though I had plenty of thoughts, I didn’t focus on any of them. In fact, I wasn’t thinking about it before this album began, and I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never heard of Album Leaf at all. But once the music began, and as the album progressed, I found myself thinking of goodbyes. I’m sure the association has more to do with timing than anything else, but…
It felt peaceful and sad, like the end of pain, the pain of loss. Is it because the album is entitled In a Safe Place? Is that what I hope happens after death?
Or is it because of the music? Perhaps if the music was super hardcore crazy death-metal, I’d be thinking that the afterlife is full of supernatural entities playing cosmic ping-pong with tattoos made from the stars.
I don’t know. All I know is, while I was listening to this album today, I was thinking about Robin Williams, and how the last time I saw him on-screen it was during an episode of Louie, and in the episode, Louie and Robin meet after a funeral and they talk about it. Robin says something along the lines of, “Do me a favor? Go to mine?”
And Louie responds with an awkward, “Yeah. Mine too… I mean, if I go first.”
Anyhow, the music was beautiful, struck a ton of emotion (again, I don’t know for sure if it’s the timing or if the music was just that powerful), and humans created it. I’m glad I checked it out. It was the first time I listened to anything from Album Leaf.
In any case… Let me know of any suggestions if you have any. It doesn’t matter if it’s a famous album, an infamous album, or an underground album. It doesn’t even matter what genre! If I haven’t heard the album before and I can find it, I’ll give it a listen. It’s the only criteria.
Keaton G. Wolfe 
I like when you include what the music evoked for you in your “First Response” pieces, so I’m glad you shared how it brought to mind Robin Williams’ passing, and thoughts about what comes next. I haven’t listened to the full album, but what I’ve heard is simultaneously grounding and transcendent.