The latest addition to my music collection, and the last one I plan to get in a very long while, is Vienna Teng's superb new album Inland Territory. I greatly looked forward to its release, and was certainly not disappointed, as it's by far her best album - and as her first three are fair contenders for my favorite music ever, that's saying quite a bit.From the beginning I felt somewhat ambivalent about the second track, White Light. Not for any reason I could name at first; the lyrics, as always, are well-crafted and thoughtful (one of the reasons I adore Vienna Teng), and there's nothing specific about the music that bothered me, except a vague sense that it didn't quite capture my interest. After several listenings, I judged that I felt it was a bit over-produced - too much had been done to it, too many electronic elements, making it seem almost like techno. After more thought, I decided that White Light reminded me specifically of Madonna's Ray Of Light, which I hadn't heard in almost a decade. Though I used to like that song (not well enough to buy it, but well enough), I do not remember it fondly. I remember it as being over-produced, and overrated, possibly because of Madonna's massive popularity. It's also possible that I don't like to be reminded of what I was like in my early teen years, when I listened to such music.
Interestingly, I'm actually fond of some techno music, though in the past few years I've mostly left that behind in favor of more folk-style, acoustic tastes (and, of course, heavy metal). For instance, I still enjoy a techno song from my past, I'll Fly With You, which is very over-produced. And another Inland Territory song, Stray Italian Greyhound, also has a few electronic sounds in it, which I think add to its appeal. Yet White Light wasn't appealing to me.
Today, then, I received an email from Amazon saying that, since I had pre-ordered Inland Territory from them, I was eligible to download a promotional "free exclusive MP3" - White Light, the acoustic version. I was immediately intrigued, and curious what it would sound like - would I like it? After all, I actively disliked Faith and the Muse's song Annwyn Beneath The Waves, until I heard an acoustic version of that song and instantly fell in love. Might the same thing happen again?
Well, I downloaded the acoustic White Light, and though it wasn't love-at-first-note like it was with Annwyn, I did enjoy it much more than the album version. And, after listening to it a few times, I could listen to the album version and enjoy it, because it reminded me of the acoustic version.
I find all of this extraordinarily interesting.
