8/10

“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11 KJV

There are times in our life when we experience something that we struggle to explain. Whether it is good or bad for us, or maybe even neither. There are just moments that one cannot really put into words but just experience. Perhaps, such is what must be done. Understanding things that happen to us is important, but maybe thats not all that one must do. Maybe, some things are meant to be experienced, to be felt. I believe that this is something one may argue but I believe its a universal thing where we do not know everything and why things happen.

I was once an advocate for the seeming “pursuit of knowledge”, but that journey only proved to make me question everything a little too much. Some things are just unknowable and weird. But they happen anyway, and the world continues to run, life goes on. “What is the meaning of life?”, one may ask. I believe such is unproductive and is something better left unknown (if not unknowable). Such is a question for ones without a clear path in their life, or one with too much time. The moment one lives happily the question fades, despite its relevance to all no matter the condition. The way I see it, to ask the question is to miss the point of the question in the first place. That goal which aims to grant one a fulfilling life. But what does that even look like?

Lets take an example, in where there are two individuals. One lives for 20 years, the other 80. Which would you say had a more fulfilling life? Now, lets say the one who dies at 20 was happy, and the one at 80 miserable. Would your answer change? Moreover, what does it mean to have a fulfilling life? There exists no such objective metric to measure such, only personal opinions regarding the topic. Alas, I belive that most can agree that a life worth living is a life that lives it out to the best and one not wasted. Given that, I think that what constitutes the richness in ones life is experience. Such is the unexplainable and unknowable feeling. The thing that lives in our longing for the past and the depths of our heart. The things we may chase unknowingly again and again. This may be a little confusing I agree but I am trying my best to articulate this idea. You could probably say that its my personal take on Camus’ “absurd”, a mystery that one is meant to embrace.

Moving on to the main topic in hand, this album, Kawa, was an experience that I hope to share with others. It has been a while since an album brought me to tears, but this work had done so. Listening through, I experience this sort of melancholic longing with sparkles of hope. The cliche “emo-soul”-like singing, though I do admit is a little dramatic, screams bittersweet. I love the consistency carried throughout the album in terms of style and tones. It is a little hard to explain what it is about it that I love so much regarding the album, thus the short analysis.

However, one thing I can say. This album is a wonderful ride of complex melancholy with multiple highs following the frequent heavy suspense. I can only hope to experience this album for the first time again.