I've been listening to Nina Nastasia for the better part of 20 years now, having discovered this album via its reissue that was highlighted on whatever episode of what show I was listening to on NPR.
I remember distinctly driving on the expressway from work back home as I listened to "All Your Life." Though the song is not about this, the repeated line "she's never coming back..." struck me, despite me being in my early 30s, it reminded me of my first real relationship, by first love from my college days. It was like Nina was singing from the future, a siren song to my former self, hearing the words that I knew I had to accept when I was in my early 20s.
It's strange, because at the time I was dating the woman I was going to eventually marry (and later still, divorce), and had been in a few different relationships between that relationship and my current one, but the words were still what my heart needed to hear at 21-22. It had been an old wound that never quite healed right, but with those words, I felt something let go that I had not realized I was still holding onto.
Again, I know the song is about loss and addiction, and does not reflect my experience, but for some reason when I first heard "All Your Life" a mental scar within me began to dissolve.
That's the power of music, even if that is not its intention.
Enjoy this melancholic Monday!
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