Stars - Look Up

Published Friday, December 16, 2005 by Abby | E-mail this post

“So far/ Keeping it together has been enough/ Look up/ Rain is falling/ Looks like love.”

I don’t like winter. Wet, dark, cold. Christmas means nothing to me, save the memory of blended family trauma, gift angst and more television than usual. But this year is different. This year, I’ve decided to happily submit to the world of carolling, mulled wine and brisk winter walks; scarves thick, icy breath, seasonal cheer and all.

Perhaps this is premature, a Spring melody to rouse you from hibernating slumber. Or necessary – melodic strings bringing a shimmer of spark to tired limbs. Slowly you unfurl beneath those heavy blankets and pull back the drapes. It’s tempting, so tempting to stay wrapped away from the world, but sweet, deep cello is calling you out and a soothing voice shows you the sunshine still fighting weakly against the chill.

Simple, sweet. Reminding me what I'm here for. It’s time to emerge.

Download
Bonus - ’He Lied About Death’
Buy ‘Set Yourself on Fire’ and ‘Heart’ from Arts and Crafts

4 Responses to “Stars - Look Up”

Anonymous on 7:24 PM

Oh man, you have no idea how much I adore this song. I wrote about it back in October 2004 (http://fractional.blogspot.com/2004/10/floating-world-look-up.html), mostly to say:

"In other hands the question ("maybe you just missed the sun?") might feel rhetorical or maybe even snide, but Millan sings it with such obvious affection and hope that you can't help but feeling the same way. Maybe you do just need to look up. Maybe the answer was up there all along, so obvious you just misplaced it there in the sky (remember the line from Rosenkrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead about truth being there all the time such that it becomes a blur in our eye). Maybe you just forgot you can be happy. The simple faith "Look Up" has that our problems are solvable, that the solution has been there all along, makes my heart swell, something not nearly enough songs do. In the right circumstances, why might not falling rain look like love? Why shouldn't we strive for more than just keeping it together?

And so my heart breaks a little, again. But hearts are infinitely malleable things; sometimes they need to crack a little to be mended, to flow like mercury until once again seamless. When your heart is broken, really broken (something I thankfully have little experience with) it feels like it goes on forever, like something inside you has gone away, but soon enough the heart flows back to where it belongs; it thaws and solidifies again endlessly, and all it needs it our permission to do what it needs to. Of course songs break your heart, with sadness or beauty or passion or anything else; they need the practice."

Thanks for throwing it up for more people to hear. This blog is always great, but visiting it and finding a song I already love to distraction is almost better than discovering something new...
Anonymous on 12:10 AM

God, yes, Stars. Good for this time of the year, Set Yourself On Fire. Last night I was at a party filled with dimwits who were trying too hard and put on "Elevator Love Song" and stared out the window. Nearly perfect.
Anonymous on 12:14 AM

yes, yes, yes. I can't tell you how much I needed to hear this song on the shortest day of the year. Yes, the light is returning. Yes, it gets brighter from here. But still! It's dark and chilly and...then this song.

Brilliant. Thank you!
Anonymous on 10:54 AM

hi, I just came across your site via some blog aggregator, and I just want to say that, in terms of writing, style, and selection of music, this is one of the best blogs I've ever come across. You are posting all of the electro girl pop I've ever wanted to hear.