M is for Mondays...and Music: Musical Memory Sigur Ros' Staralflur

Musical Memory: Sigur Ros' Staralflur

Dover, New Hampshire - Autumn 2003

I don't quite remember how Ryan and I started hanging out, all I know is that we quickly became inseparable. We spent almost every other day together for months and months.

Before the advent of mP3 players, Ryan was the type of friend that always carried about 1,000 CDs in his car at any given time - so that he could have musical options. Ryan, like myself, was an audiophile - and was constantly introducing me to a plethora of bands that I had never heard of, spanning a variety of genres.

On a particularly beautiful autumn day, we were driving in Ryan's car down a curvy back road in Dover. I do not remember where we were headed, or why we were on that back road. Ryan popped in a Sigur Ros CD and said "You have to listen to this." Staralflur came on, and our conversation went completely quiet. As Ryan maneuvered the twists and turns of the road, the wind caused drifts of autumn leaves in brilliant shades of red, orange, brown and gold to flutter before the windshield. For six minutes, nature bent to us - and the leaves danced in perfect choreography to the rising and falling notes produced by the strings.

I remember barely being able to breathe. I remember thinking "This is one of the most cinematic moments I will ever live."

I never discussed what I had experienced that day, with Ryan, until years later. We had lost touch for years when he looked me up on Facebook to invite me to his wedding. We began to chat, when I said "Remember that day we listened to Sigur Ros in your car?" He exclaimed, "Of course I do!" The memory was just as strong for him too.

This is probably the strongest "musical memory" that I have to date. Staralflur will always make me think of that drive...of the autumn leaves descending to earth...and of a brilliant moment, shared with a brilliant friend.