Well, well, well, here we are again Pen Sunday readers; another late-night edition of your favorite newsletter.
If you missed last week’s update, Pen Sunday will be taking on a new format for the foreseeable future. Longer form newsletters with a focus on culture and the zeitgeist at large. You can read more about it here if you’d like.
As for this edition, the first “PSS” [Pen Sunday Songs] of its kind, I want to write about Sade. Specifically, Sade live in Japan 1986.
It goes without saying I spend a lot of my time writing. Often, I do so accompanied by music. It has always helped me lock in and focus while typing and doubles as a measure of time so I can gauge how long I’ve written if I’m really locked into it and didn’t know what time I started.
Over the years, I’ve written to all types of genres, from lofi to rap to rain ASMR to house and back again — excluding metal & pure country — and always played at various degrees of loudness. Landing somewhere between gentle ambiance to ‘I want to hear this 808 like it’s my heartbeat’.
After spending a lot of time writing to music, it becomes easy to decide what type of genre/song WON’T WORK while you write. Too lyrical, too distracting, too far from the tone of what I’m writing, etc. This same criteria extends to playlist. But, it does become necessary to find something to write to. Often, playlists that are at least an hour long and can be played without interruption of tone or ads, or anything annoying/distracting, are the broad sweet spot.
Lately, this has brought me through a lot of house music like this:
I love this house playlist. But the question remains, how many times in a row can you listen to the same song/genre/playlist before you get bored and need some sonic disruption to reset the flow?
For me, the answer specifically for smooth deep house mix IV, is about a week. Give or take a couple of days where I listen to other similar house mixes. But still, house is house. New music leads to new feelings which leads to new ideas and better, or at least more fresh, writing. Even house can last for only so long.
So, in a never-ending search for the playlist that’s going to be my sonic guide through a deep writing session, I’m continually skimming through Spotify and YouTube. I never know exactly what I’m looking for, but I know it when I hear it.
This week, that special “Know it when I hear it” feeling came clear, graceful, and with lasting impact by the artist known as Sade.
I wasn’t completely blind to Sade. Her song, Kiss of Life, is one I had in steady rotation for a solid two weeks. But outside of that, I didn’t know anything about her as an artist. So, when I saw Sade - Live in Japan 1986 appear in my YouTube algorithm as I was about to clock into a writing sesh, obviously I had to listen.
There’s something about live performances from soulstresses that connects with me. Nina Simone live in Juan-les-Pins, Antibes, France for example. Or Ms. Lauryn Hill’s live unplugged album. And Sade is no different.
From her opening “Why Can’t We Live Together” to a timeless rendition of “Be Thankful for What You Got” and a 15-minute instrumental before closing with a sultry “Jezebel” I was stricken by her as an artist. And fully bought in on Sade being an acclaimed artist with a distinct voice who has a story and has something to say. As I get older that’s the trait I find myself most looking for out of artist. Do you have anything to say? Do you have a story? And Sade does.
Plus it earns some bonus points for being performed in Japan.
I love this album. I’m thankful to have discovered it because it’s one of those I’ll go back to every few months or every couple of years from now when it’s 2 or 3 am, and it’ll sound the same, and I’ll feel the same way about it.
In music that’s special. In life that’s rare. Never take something you like for granted.
This is exactly how I feel at work, typically I throw on chilled cow radio, but every now and again I try and find a live album. My go to is Matisyahu-Live at Stubb’s.