Alyson McNamara's "Shutting Down" has arrived, as many great things do, with perfect timing. I am moments away from heading into a teaching about the bardo (in-between state) of death. The synchronicity becomes apparent when one considers the meaning of this song, as McNamara explains:
"This song is about being half asleep and half awake and wondering if that in-between feels anything like travelling to the afterlife."
I will continue this review after the teaching.
Alright, I'm back. So they spoke a lot about how our elements dissolve at the time of death and how we perceive or experience that. Now, while I can't really comprehend what is being said, it does make me question just what the heck we really are. Which I think is something Alyson McNamara does too, but while I abide in a perpetually perplexed state, she at least makes gorgeous music out of it.
"Shutting Down" has such beautiful vocal harmonies, reminiscent of Bahamas, and if this is what I heard at the end of my days, you'd hear no complaints from me...and not only because I'd be dead.
Living in a society that considers death — the most natural and inevitable occurrence in all of our lives — a taboo, it's nice to come across a song like this that touches on the simplicity, curiosity, and wonder of it all.
"Shutting Down" is the first single from Alyson's new record Let Me Sleep — I hope you enjoy it.