I Was A Kaleidoscope — Death Cab For Cutie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Ju5TsynaY

All these early 00s indie rock records I first heard in middle school are geographically tied. So much music is; to an era or to a place or a subculture; Death Cab is from Washington state and the Pacific Northwest; they are tied to so much of middle school and exploring the city for the first time; the last days of sledding in Riverside Park as a child, the first days of Union Square / Washington Square Park, of navigating the subways; the last days of legos and television and the first days of trying to actually put myself out in the world; the growing sense of discomfort with staying in for a whole day, even in the winter; I had to find things to do; I had to listen to more energetic music, and this was always it. Even if the lyrics and vocals are softer and more low-key than some, there's a driving rhythm; it had to have been, to survive the dreary Northwest.