Simply Seattle: Emo Music, Emo Music Everywhere

I’m now almost two months into being in Seattle. Let me lay down some things really quick: I have already been to many concerts within such a small time frame that I’m not sure if I should either be incredibly concerned for my financial status, or just go with it. (I’m just going to go with it, for now.) I’m discovering so many new artists by going to shows, finding cool venues, and enjoying myself overall.

I’ve noticed that there is a huge staple to Seattle besides the rain and coffee: the music. Any given night, you can find a show at a local band playing at a venue that’s within walking distance.

While walking around on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Pikes Place Market, I found myself in Lamplight Books. Playing inside the bookstore was a very suiting song; I don’t know about you, but I love listening to really acoustic and stripped down music on rainy days. I soon found out the song belonged to a Seattle artist, Damien Jurado.

Damien Jurado is an indie-folk artist with a sound similar to Sun Kil Moon and Great Lake Swimmers. With lyrics like, “I never had the chance to grow up into what they wanted me to be,” from his track, “Josephine,” he’ll make you reflect hardcore, and feel downright emotional.

With his most recent album release being this past spring, Jurado does not lack content for new listeners. Jurado’s tracks have melancholy undertones that can be followed from his first release, all the way through to his recent 2016 release. His sound is consistent, but there are identifiable variables throughout his discography.

Jurado even refers to familiar places in Seattle like “Queen Anne” and “Beacon Hill” that really add to the local quality of his music. When listening to these tracks I affiliate with the area in Seattle, I seem to end up getting swept into a very different experience. (Sidenote: other Seattle natives, The Head and the Heart, covered Jurado’s track, “Beacon Hill,” and it’s equally as great.)

If you’re unsure of what to listen to first, here are a couple of tracks good enough for a rainy day, or maybe just a typical Seattle day, chilling by the Puget Sound. In no particular order on the emo scale, “I Am Still Here,” “The Loneliest Place,” “Sheets,” “Intoxicated Hands,” and “Museum of Flight” are all must-listens.

If you need me, you can find me laying on the floor in my room listening to Damien Jurado until my roommate questions my sanity.

CELENE KOLLER | XOXO, your existential emo | KXSU Music Reporter