September 1, 2021 - Humbird’s “Pharmakon”

September is going, going / gone. - Humbird

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Last summer, again and again, I found myself listening to the “Your Favorite Coffeehouse” playlist on Spotify. Working from home, most songs on the playlist were perfect ––– the closest thing to a coffee shop when working in a coffee shop was no longer possible. They weren’t country and they weren’t alternative; the closest thing you’d call them would be acoustic, or singer songwriter. The playlist is over seven hours long and is made up of one hundred and twenty-six songs, all of which I have not listened to. Even so, I played the playlist so many times that I must have heard ––– at least once ––– half of the songs. Here are a few standouts: Emily Scott Robinson’s “Better with Time”; Phoebe Bridger’s “Scott Street”; Valerie June’s “With You”; and Au/Ra “Concrete Jungle.” These are light on the twang, though having grown up in the midwest, at times and in very small doses, I find a little bit of twang accessible, and even enjoyable.

Still, of the one hundred and twenty-six songs on the playlist, there's only one that I still find myself going back to, again and again, over a year later. And at slightly over two and a half minutes, it’s so short that I can’t only listen to it once: Humbird’s “Pharmakon.” The tile, “Pharmakon” doesn’t strike me ––– I’ve looked up the word and then forgotten what it meant and needed to look it up again so many times: “In philosophy and critical theory, Pharmakon makes up a composite of three meanings: remedy, poison, and scapegoat.”

I can’t make sense of the lyrics: “Love, you’re a fickle rule. Go home you drunk, you wondering fool.” But there’s so much sweetness and joy in the melody and chorus: “September is going going, going / gone.” Thirty more days.