I’d Much Rather Levitate

Kurt Vile “Lost My Head There”

“Lost My Head There” is a song about dealing with “bugging’ out” and “funky psychosis,” but you just don’t feel those vibes at all in the music. This is about as laid-back and easy-going as it gets, with Kurt Vile singing his lines with a smirky stoner drawl over a crisp beat and a loose piano groove. But this isn’t really a song about an existing mental state so much as the one you aspire to when you’re freaking out. Vile sings about the creative process in self-deprecating terms – “I was feeling worse than the words came out / fell on some keys, and this song walked out of me” – but he’s acknowledging how making art can be something that can take you away from yourself rather than just display your worst feelings. He’s tired and feeling down, and he’d “much rather levitate.” I think he gets reasonably close to levitating in this song.

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