Geographer

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for checking our blog out over the last week! We are super excited to start regularly posting our favorite music and sharing it with you. 

We wanted to kick off our first collaborative post by writing about one of our favorite bands, Geographer. We started listening to them 2 years ago and haven't been able to stop since then. Geographer is a 3 person band from San Francisco, formed in 2007. 

Something that has kept us hooked to Geographer's music for so long is the emotionality contained within each of their songs. In an interview, lead singer Michael Deni stated they chose the band name because each song was like a "map of emotional states." Deni has revealed in other interviews that his reason for relocating from New Jersey to San Francisco was the death of his sister and father, and knowing this as a listener changes the perception of each of their songs. Even songs that sound cheerful and upbeat, like "Rushing In Rushing Out" carry deeper meanings within the lyrics: "And in the waiting room / Doctors did the best they could / But nothing lasts forever". Knowing Deni's struggles makes Geographer's music so much more personal for us.

Also, the cellist Nathan Blaz is amazing. How many bands utilize a cello in their music? Elements like this provide Geographer with a unique and unforgettable sound. 

Below we have each shared our favorite Geographer song with you (it was anything but easy to pick our favorites). If you aren't already familiar with their music, we highly encourage you to listen to a few songs. Geographer has released two full length albums, "Innocent Ghosts" and "Myth" as well as one EP, "Animal Shapes".



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Lori: "Paris"
This is the one Geographer song that I cannot stop listening to. I first got hooked on the upbeat rhythms and cello. I cannot stress enough how much I adore the cello incorporated into their songs. I find that it just provides so much more depth and substance to a song already so meaningful.

I am typically one to pay attention more to the music, rather than to the lyrics. This song is one exception. Deni talks about the fleeting moments with others, and that it requires effort in order to keep what is most important close. Humanity is transient, but it is up to us to make it worth working for.

Upon first listen, I thought it was a fun, happy song. However, the more I listened, the more I realized its superficiality. Underlying the joyful rhythms is the sense of wistfulness, most prevalent with the cello and Deni's lyrical singing. These underlying layers only further emphasize the transient nature of relationships, and that it requires effort to make life valuable.

The dept of these lyrics juxtaposing the poppy synth is what makes this song so fascinating to me. The layers of the instruments, the unique and unexpected rhythms, the contradicting musicality and lyrics; all of this is what keeps drawing me back in for another listen, another feeling, another experience.

I hope you take a listen and find your own experiences and interpretations, and let me know its impact on you!

 
Rahee: "Kites" (from Animal Shapes)
This is arguably my favorite song of all time. It's one of those songs that I'm always in the mood to listen to, that I'll never skip if it comes up on shuffle. I think I've tricked my friends into liking it too just because I have played it so much over the years. A good friend from home introduced me to Geographer's music, and this was the first song I heard. There are two versions of this song, one that was recorded for the Animal Shapes EP and another for Geographer's latest album, Myth. I personally like the Animal Shapes version better, finding the percussion to be a little too heavy for the song in the Myth version. 

"Kites" is a song about unrequited love, but still manages to feel uplifting. There's a line in there, "This is love, not loving," that I think is so beautiful. The song traces the highs and lows of the emotional intensity of the experience, and tells a story of an emotional landscape in a way that is so characteristic of Geographer. There are no clichés, no sugarcoating, it's raw and relatable, and that's what I love about this song.