Daily Jam - Walk into the Sea

This column was originally published in August of 2017, right after the fascist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that left activist Heather Heyer dead. Almost seven years later, and things are actually worse. We live in a fascist state that is currently aiding and abetting a genocide, and it doesn't seem to matter whether there's a Democrat or a Republican in office. And while I am proud of the students and faculty currently holding protests at college campuses across the country, they are going to have to get bigger and reach beyond academia. I think we can do it. There's a sea change coming.

I’ve been writing this column for a while now, and after over 100 entries, some weeks are more difficult than others to say something interesting or insightful…even about the music I love. And damn, if current events don’t make it even harder to come up with something…anything to write about, either as escapism or criticism, devotion or aplomb. I love all of these songs so much, and I want others to as well, but it’s incredibly hard to whip up excitement, all of the ballyhoo seeming trite or conspicuously vacant when our current culture war is taking a decidedly violent turn. Nazis abound evidently, and that’s about as abhorrent a phrase as I’ve ever had to write before. And while it’d be easy (and certainly cathartic) to gather and listen to “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” all day, it’s just something I can’t do right now. (I am at work after all.)

Anyway, here’s a song about dying by the classic Minnesota band Low (RIP Mimi), from their 2005 album The Great Destroyer. “Walk into the Sea” closes the record out, a wistful desire to meet again after time washes everything away. It’s a wonderful, if melancholy sentiment, and maybe something to cling onto every now and again to let the anger subside.

Hopefully someday, time will wash these fuckers away too.