Sudden Bright Suns

I've always lived in places that have four distinct seasons. I love how the year can be drastically segmented, killed and reborn. There's obvious beauty in seeing nature seemingly wake up and bloom. But never have I waited so long for this bloom or experienced a dragged-out winter such as the one I just received here in these Nordic parts. This came as no surprise. If you check out a map or globe and trace your finger west from Uppsala, Sweden you'll pass through Canada and then just south of Anchorage, Alaska. At such a northern latitude one wouldn't expect anything different than what we got here: a snow that came late last year and never melted until just the other day, almost mid-April. Now, the crispness in the air is coupled with cloudless skies and a renewed attitude. Call it spring fever if you want, but I'm feeling something more like the end of cabin fever. Getting out and experiencing a day hasn't felt like this in too long.

Common reactions to such a weatherly change promote new love, physical activity, creativity and whatever other positive words you can come up with. Birds sing looping tunes and peoples' steps find those lost springs. And we're all in a loop. We're skipping in a circle that'll again come upon wonderful puddles, soft earth, hot sands, fresh-cut lawns, busted leaves and then again across slippery ponds. It's that circle of life that keeps it all beyond interesting to me. When that orange sun drops down and its warmth goes with it I feel that chill and it wakes me up just how the spring morning did. I'm jumping into cold water on a July afternoon because the opposite sensation from sweat to hydration is perfection. I'm walking through Joliet, Illinois only to walk through Braintree, Massachusetts only to walk through Norrköping, Sweden only to walk through Chicago only to be able to live out these differences. Can't forget where I've been. Can't forget what everyone has said to me on roads or in clubs or lecture halls. Can't (couldn't even if I tried) confuse this spring with last. Don't forget that it'll all come around again.

Sudden Bright Suns: Mike Downey's Spring Birth and Burnout

1. Here Come the Warm Jets - Brian Eno
2. And then it Begins - Bobby Birdman
3. The Flower Called Nowhere - Stereolab
4. Spring - Resplendent
5. The Rain, the Park and Other Things - Cowsills
6. Run into Flowers - M83
7. White Car Creek - Airport 5
8. A Bit of Wind - Fruit Bats
9. Surprise Ice - Kings of Convenience
10. Reality Check - Schneider TM
11. Merge - Grizzly Bear
12. The Fairest of the Seasons - Nico

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