Mixtape: Monarch
Fort Reno
Washington, D.C.
Aug. 1, 8:52 p.m.
We peeled off from the crowd. Bubble wands discarded, soapy liquid seeping into beach towels. Bellies full of vanilla soft serve dipped in rainbow sprinkles. Sun setting, deep blue with yellowed edges, horizon folding over the green soccer pitch like an old book. No fireflies, but a cello and guitar sounding across the field where soldiers once defended the capital against its own Americans. Instinctively, she begins to dance — twirls and skips learned from beginner's ballet class — toward the teenagers under the oak tree. (They are dressed in crop tops and bell bottoms, baggy shirts and shorts, as if the mall from my teen years never closed.) The song is a waltz, its contours fluttering across an imaginary coastline; its colors autumnal and melancholic. If, for just a few minutes, the sticky summer night is brushed with salty sea winds. She's there… or somewhere I can't see, swirling the cello's ribbon-like melody around a world in her mind — I've learned to step back from these moments, not only to breathe in the memory but also let them grow within hers. She is beautiful. The song ends, she crash-hugs into my stomach with little kid force and takes my hand. We walk further into the night.
Stream the Viking's Choice mixtape via BNDCMPR. Follow my Bandcamp collection. Tracklist below:
Starflyer 59, "909"
Merce Lemon, "Backyard Lover"
Vieux & Cheick Niang, "Djelibougou - Bakaridjan"
Yasmin Williams (feat. Darlingside), "Virga"
Janel & Anthony, "Pacific Grove Monarch"
Zelienople, "Hold in My Hands"
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn, "Breath Out"
Dim, "Semilla"
Tenue, "Inquietude"
Ellen Reid, "Big Majestic"
Nídia & Valentina, "Mata"
High Vis, "Mind's a Lie"
Galen Tipton & Holly Waxwing, "keepsake FM"
Memorrhage, "1st Level"
Laura Cannell, "The Cosmic Sphere of Being Human"
Mayssa Jallad & Fadi Tabbal, "Ad-Douar"
Alan Sparhawk, "Can You Hear"
Galaxie 500, "Shout You Down"
Sandy Bull, "Bouree"
Lifeguard, "Ministry / Energie"
Papangu, "Ofrenda No Alguidar"
Great Grandpa, "Kid"
Karate, "Silence, Sound"
Wendy Eisenberg, "Lasik"
Sarah Davachi, "Possente Spirto"
Nicole Mitchell & Ballaké Sissoko, "Tara"
Snakeskin, "Sunburst"
Rong, "Apple Polisher"
Chat Pile, "I am Dog Now"
Carsick Cars, "Farewell"
Ehnahre, "There Is Only Light and Shadow"
The Flying Luttenbachers, "The Solution is the Problem"