Friday , March 29 2024
Tastes as good as it sounds...

VCV: Matthew Stubbs – “Mangoes”

I love the word synesthesia.  I love the sound of the word and as a music lover, I love the meaning of the word.  I struggled for years to find a word that meant what synesthesia meant.  It made so much sense to me.  How could there not be a word for it?  That's a flaw with dictionaries and thesauruses; they only tell you what you want to know if you already know what you're looking for.  What do you do when you need a word that other people will know and understand that means "the poetic description of a sense impression in terms of another sense, as in “a loud perfume” or “an icy voice?”

The tropics have sounds and they aren't the sound of the electric guitar, but Matthew Stubbs brings the tropics to you and he does it with an electric guitar.  Now that would be an amazing enough trick but the smartass contingent among you will start talking about studio trickery and special effects.  That's all fine and good but Stubbs doesn't rely on those and creating the sounds of the tropics is only one of the amazing feats on this song.  He not only paints pictures with sounds, he evokes flavors, creating the sweet sensation of a tropical fruit.  He feeds your ears and makes your mouth water.  

The best part about "Mangoes" is Stubbs gives you all the paradise without the headache.  You don't get sand in the places sand wasn't meant to go.  You don't have to get on a plane and get shoe searched by a stranger.  You don't have to spend your life's savings to escape problems and struggles that will still be waiting for you when you return.  You don't have to spend your life's savings for one week that will end too quickly.  You can get a ticket to the tropics and all the mangoes you can eat, all for $15.  Finally a deal that's as good as it sounds.  That's synesthesia.

About Josh Hathaway

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