"From Stardust to Sentience"

"From Stardust to Sentience," by the High Places, is easily the song I've listened to most in the past year. Even after all the repeats, it's one of the most preciously beautiful pieces of music I know. The band, a duo, doesn't play actual instruments very often, but in this song, they make their drum machines, percussion, keyboards and the like rattle, stumble, pulse, waft and float in a way that suggests every moment of life is ethereal, but also for the taking.

Mary Pearson sings perched high above it all (appropriate for the band's name, no?) and lilts her way through a vocal melody that is more evocative than concrete. The only words I can decipher are "Your million-year-old...." something ("car parts"? "boyfriend"?), yet the words, in the end, are irrelevant when she hits the notes she does.

Lately, I've taken to lying on my playroom floor while listening to the song, to relax. I breathe deeply and spread my arms; confusion melts and my mind slows. Few other songs have that affect. Above is a video someone made of himself dancing ballet to the song. It's kind of ridiculous, but I figured I'd promote someone's else strange reaction to "From Stardust to Sentience." Also, there's no official music video, and YouTube's live versions of the song don't do it justice. This ballet dancer had the forethought to include the studio rendition.