You’re late. You’ve missed two trains and now you are on the third train that doesn’t go exactly where you need to go. Not only are you late, it’s also raining, and it’s the kind of rain that makes it look as though the sky is dying – a morbid grey at 8am on a Monday morning. And to top it all off, you’re somewhere between Leicester and Derby – the centre of England – where industrial apparatus peppers the sky and then and then and then you play this song. You close your eyes. Suddenly you’re somewhere else as tides of joy come rushing in. You are where the beach and the sun are, where you don’t have to rush. Here, living is about the rhythm. All other worldly concerns are somewhere past the horizon.
This is the very antithesis of your current situation – two juxtaposing moments of apotheosis collide. Temporarily, in your mind at least, you abdicate all responsibility and decide – do you know what? I’m going to the beach. I choose Joy, Relaxation, Happiness, Fun, Gladness. This is the power of the song. We have all heard versions of this genre of music, we know what it’s about, what it’s intention is, even if we don’t speak Spanish. But the vocals of Ms Gongora communicate a resoluteness, a repetition and a purpose that is as irresistible as the beach itself.
Isn’t it something special that we know what E Ye Ye means without knowing exactly what it means? Like how the inflexions of Ms Gongora’s voice speak to the parts of us that feel? Like the feeling of the sand on your feet? Like the sun warming your bones? Like the sound of the sea? Like the instrumentation at 4:22 where the Rhodes and the Flute take over? Bravo!
poetic reverb 