Contrary to appearances on social media, that the American public is not any more polarized than it has been in recent decades. The American National Election Study and several other large studies show that the number of people who identify as “extremely liberal” or “extremely conservative” is very small percentage of the population, and that the number of people who identify as a moderate, be it left-of-center, right-of-center, or firmly in the center, remain the dominant majority by far. The same firms who conduct these studies also regularly report that most Republicans and Democrats have views that are often out-of-step with the party line, such as a majority of self-professed Republicans having neutral-to-positive views on increasing immigration and a majority of self-professed Democrats having positive views on the police and rural life.
“Long Lost” by Lord Huron is flawless. I mean that sincerely; this is a perfect album, an instant classic, a deeply profound meditation on the passage of time with the sounds of a life of reflection and contemplation on how one spent their days. At the climax of this breathtaking fusion of classic country and indie-folk comes a question we will all wrestle with at some point: “what does it mean if it all means nothing?”, and while the song (and the character in the album’s narrative) likely isn’t echoing King Solomon in Ecclesiastes, it’s hard not to listen to “Long Lost” and walk with the main character through his life and not be filled with a sense of questioning about our own lives and the choices we’ve made, wondering where all the time went along the way. Why did the golden days go away? What about the promises I’ve made to others? Where have I been all this time? When did I become the person I am now? “Long Lost”, mostly a calm and relaxing album, is a sobering shock to the soul weighed down by the gravity of life under the sun.
That Gravley Guy 