Love, was the air in your mother’s lungs.


Written by

Cottage

The Middle East – The Darkest Side

Inside a blue-walled fisherman’s cottage, of timbre and fibro, with the roof a shade of brown that defied the backdrop of the sky above and the gate a chipped red too obvious to be red, a red you’re wantin’ to call something else, there’s an old dining table with aching legs draped in a plastic red and white cloth.

Nobody’s home. They’ve all walked down to the shore, to sit on the sand and run their dirty feet in the water until it tickles their knees and kisses the cuffs of their faded blue board-shorts.

On that table, there are a couple of sheets of paper. A few of them are bills: electricity, water, gas. The kind of paper that, with its invasive company header and the numbers always seeming larger than the words, makes people uneasy because they get the feeling that the latter should never be the case.

One is a note from the local school, encouraging parents to be more involved in the volunteer duties that help keep the school communal, and cut costs.

Never mind that Aaron can hardly keep attention in class, with his eyes on the hazed windows, glass fading from the salty air.

There’s a hand-crafted coffee mug, misshapen and chipped at the handle, with the morning’s liquor crusting at the bottom. Next to it, a plate with a toasted crust and crumbs scattered across it.

[Buy Recordings of the Middle East.]

5 Responses to “Love, was the air in your mother’s lungs.”

  1. Pablo Diaz says:

    Pretty intense, but brilliant. I’ve been listening to as much as I can of The Middle East for the past week or so and I think they’re wonderful. It builds brilliantly making listening to them a tense yet enjoyably pure musical experience.

    Their song ‘Blood’ is great, it’s pretty morbid, telling the story of three couples and the story of their separations, death for two and divorce the other. I like music you can relate to.

  2. Stevie Nicks says:

    I downloaded their album but quickly deleted it. I probably didn’t give them a fair chance, and I’m sure they are the sort of band that would usually appeal to me, so I’ll be downloading it again soon. More to come.

  3. Milad says:

    I am loving this song. I’m just peering outside my window into the cool afternoon sky, a blissful canopy over my quiet neighbourhood. The light breeze is gently whipping my hair, nicely cooling my head. This song could not be more perfect at the moment.

  4. Stephen says:

    When you are going around looking for a beautiful song just to close your eyes and listen to, “Blood” delivers everything you want for that moment. Simply amazing.

  5. mordred says:

    Yes thank you for showing them to me, they were playing like 30 minutes from Los Angeles but I had a dentist appointment or something, no actually I think I had no money to get there and it was starting in an hour and yes I wish it had worked out.

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