Tim Buckley and How To Nail Wistfulness

Buckley senior, looking suitably wistful

Wistful is an overused word when describing music. '11 has seen a lot of wistfulness within indie spheres, from the reverb heavy nostalgia evoked by Real Estate, and Youth Lagoon to the bittersweet hyperreal narratives of Sam Beam's Iron & Wine. There's an art to being mopey. It can't just be depressing, it must be sad, yes, but beautiful somehow, too.
 Allusion to summers lost, childhood or things perpetually just out of reach usually feature highly in such songs. And they can either take the understated approach a la Real Estate, or go the whole hog- rushing strings, falsetto vocals, transcendent yearning etc. Think Sigur Ros, or perhaps Coldplay.
When it's done right this is my favourite kind of music. When its not it usually ends up on the X Factor.
       Tim Buckley, (father of more famous son Jeff ), was a master of melancholy, as seen on the track, "Once I Was". The title itself evokes a time romantically distant. And he goes further - even the present moment is rendered null and void by time's winged chariot: "Soon there will be another, to tell you I was just a dream."
      Such ruminations sound bleak on paper but Buckley's tune is effortlessly dramatic, and shockingly beautiful. Just listen to his voice on "sometimes" or "me"- during the chorus- as his voice skips octaves like stepping stones.
    So, yes, it does aid wistfulness if you have an outrageously good voice. But its not showy. And it's the whole package here which combines to make the song so timeless. The marching style drums, the harmonica - (one shade the right side of 'Last Of The Summer Wine' theme tune) and the sparsely strummed acoustic guitar. It's all seamlessly perfect.
  There's more profundity in a couple of seconds of this song than in the entire history of stadium rock.

Listen either via this spotify link. Or through a superb live video below