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cancatervation · 7 years

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favourite music 2017

The affording of enormous weight to barely concealed fragility and vulnerability; when I pore over the contents of my iTunes from the last twelve or so months it’s plainly apparent that this is the hill I’ve elected to die on. Almost all the albums I found myself infatuated with at some point or another in 2017 meditated upon desire, the transience of romance, and the anguish that often accompanies its pursuit.

I’m acutely aware of how oddly this contrasts with my own life, which for the past almost-two-years has been romantically fulfilling in the way that my previous 25 absolutely weren’t. On this, I would say two things. First, that stability is elusive even (maybe especially?) for the most outwardly rose-coloured of us, and that maintaining relationship hygge takes compromise and is not easy, and for those reasons feelings of vulnerability are never far from the front of my mind; and, second, that it’s testament to the skill of certain songwriters and performers that their work was able to make this gay-ass conventionalist really feel something every now and again last year.

I wouldn’t want to suggest that I only just worked out that the theatrical presentation of desire is something I’m drawn to, but certainly there were some things in the past year that I really did begin to understand. Theatricality is often used in a critical sense as pejorative; something that is too extra, that goes too far, that is all tell and no show. Despite its predisposition towards excess, musical theatre has, for instance, always played out as sterile and spurious to me. (Sorry. And look at it this way, you don’t ever need to worry about getting me tickets to Hamilton). It’s so dramatic that it becomes too dramatic; your self-awareness isn’t allowed the chance to be suspended, even for a moment. An album like Lorde’s Melodrama makes its intentions apparent before you’ve even heard a note of it, but its theatrics (and there are many - think of the wailed chorus of “Writer In The Dark”, the gory car crash of “Homemade Dynamite”, the bridge in “Supercut” that accelerates like you’re on a bike rushing down a hill) are as easily consumed by sitting silently in tears as they are dancing, or walking, or lifting heavy weights, or running up a hill (to make or not to make a deal with God), or lying in blissful supta baddha konasana. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that hyperemotional vulnerability is for all seasons and for all hours of the day and I am now happy to welcome it into every aspect of my life.

I wrote over fifty blurbs for various songs on the Singles Jukebox last year. Some I loved, some I hated, what’s new. I wrote a blurb for “Praying”, Kesha’s first solo single in nearly five years, which turned out to be both the highest scoring song on the site for 2017 and the champion of my personal “list”. I sort of said all this already on the Jukebox, but my love for “Praying” lies nearly entirely in the way Kesha leans so heavily into her aphorisms, finding new ways to bring profundity to ostensibly simple lines like “I’m proud of who I am”. (Contrast this with most of Taylor Swift’s 2017 work, which forewent specific detail in favour of portentously loaded maxim, but forgot about nuance and came up mostly dry). When Kesha punctuates her sermon with a thunderous kick drum, it’s basically game over. As the stories of survivors of sexual assault, abuse and harassment began to dominate news media in the second half of the year, the song only gathered further resonance.

Lorde’s album held court as my favourite for most of the year. A promo image released by Kelela at the beginning of August threatened a coup. The odds shortened a few days later upon the release of its lead single and the arrival of the full album at the beginning of October marked the tangible takeover. Take Me Apart is all juxtaposition, which when applied to albums is often code for jumbled quagmire, but here there’s too much attention to detail, steadfastness of narrative, and, er, feeling, to get mixed up in anything like that. It see-saws between playful flirting, introspection, self-acceptance, control, loss of control, falling slowly through the sky, and falling fast through the abyss. I love it so much. It’s also very queer and very Black. Support Black queer art! Especially when it’s this well crafted.

Aside from all THAT, my favourite things in music last year were Moses Sumney’s Tiny Desk Concert, attending the Lorde show in the Botanic Gardens, the line “every single day I fight another war; every single night I feel more powerful!” in Rina Sawayama’s “Take Me As I Am”, and Rihanna telling Diplo his music sounded like a “a reggae song at an airport”.

My ten favourite songs of 2017 were:

1. Kesha “Praying” - as above and here;

2. Lorde “Green Light” - see here. The score given, however, is wrong. Add another point.

3. Sigrid “Strangers” - see here. I can’t wait until she’s everywhere and everyone knows her; her potential to me scans as “unlimited / infinite / fucking enormous, if it must be quantifiable”.

4. MUNA “I Know a Place”. The album version is acceptable but I’m also partial to this live one, which involves some changes to the lyrics.

5. Tove Lo “Disco Tits”. Like a wonky, filthy Kylie B-side played underwater.

6. Kelela “Turn To Dust”. Refer also to the first set of songs below. She didn’t play this at her concert this week, which is lucky, because otherwise its title may have proved prophetic.

7. Nilüfer Yanya “Baby Luv” - see here. See also dirgey diatribe above re: vulnerability.

8. Rae Morris “Do It” - I’ve become more and more besotted with this as time has passed and am not sure whether I’m most impressed by a) the wordplay b) the ping-ponging percussion in the second verse c) the subtle yet giant switch-up halfway through d) the soaring vocals or e) managing all of the above in less than 3 and a half minutes.

9. Rina Sawayama “Alterlife” - it did not take me long to request for lamination of a stan card for a popstar who loves key changes and here deftly incorporates influences as diverse as the Need For Speed soundtrack, Samantha Mumba and Madonna at her glassiest.

10. Tove Styrke “Mistakes” - see here. I’m ready for her to run away with 2018, in or out of a wedding dress.

Aside from those, here are some other songs I enjoyed in 2017, variously categorised and (with the “top 10″) collected in a Spotify playlist, located here:

Songs that can make you feel like you’re floating slowly heavenward

Björk “Arisen My Senses”

Charli XCX “Track 10”

Julie Byrne “Natural Blue”

Julien Baker “Appointments”

Moses Sumney “Quarrel”

Rae Morris “Do It (Nico Muhly Dance Remix)”

Sampha “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano”

Sevdaliza “Loves Way”

Slowdive “Slomo”

St. Vincent “Slow Disco”

Susanne Sundfør “Undercover”

Dance music that I barely pay any attention to throughout the calendar year and then become unusually enthusiastic about come end-of-year-list season

Bicep “Vale”

Gerd Janson x Shan "Surrender”

Honey Dijon “Catch The Beat”

Jad & The “Strings That Never Win”

Kink “Perth”

Minor Science “Volumes”

Octo Octa “Adrift (Avalon Emerson’s Furiously Awake Version)”

Shanti Celeste “Make Time”

SW. “Untitled B2”

The xx “On Hold (Jamie xx Remix)”

Yaeji “Raingurl”

Songs for the summer gloaming

Charlotte Day Wilson “Doubt”

Daniel Caesar “Blessed”

Frank Ocean “Chanel”

Jessie Ware “Stay Awake, Wait For Me”

Ladi6 “Guru”

Rachel Foxx “Happen To Me”

Sampa The Great “Bye River”

Sevyn Streeter “Before I Do”

Syd “Body”

Tyler, The Creator “Garden Shed feat. Estelle”

Plaintive songs for grey afternoon walks

Alvvays “Dreams Tonite”

Amandla Stenberg “Let My Baby Stay”

HAIM “You Never Knew”

Kehlani “Advice”

Khalid “Winter”

Lana Del Rey “Love”

Laura Marling “Next Time”

Paramore “Forgiveness”

Perfume Genius “Die 4 You”

St. Vincent “Happy Birthday, Johnny”

SZA “Prom”

Taylor Swift “New Year’s Day”

Best bangers

Amber Mark “Heatwave”

Charli XCX “Lipgloss feat. Cupcakke”

Charli XCX “Porsche feat. MØ”

Charlotte Gainsbourg “Deadly Valentine”

Charly Bliss “Glitter”

Drake “Get It Together feat. Jorja Smith & Black Coffee”

Dua Lipa “New Rules”

Haiku Hands “Not About You”

Ibibio Sound Machine “Give Me A Reason”

ionnalee “Samaritan”

J. Balvin x Willy William “Mi Gente feat. Beyoncé”

J. Hus “Did You See”

Jessie Ware “Your Domino”

Jorja Smith x Preditah “On My Mind”

Kah-Lo “Fasta”

Kelela “Truth Or Dare”

Kendrick Lamar “LOYALTY. feat. Rihanna”

Kllo “Last Yearn”

Leikeli47 “Miss Me”

Lorde “Sober”

Maliibu Miitch “4AM”

Miguel “Banana Clip”

Nite Jewel “2 Good 2 Be True”

Paramore “Hard Times”

Phoenix “J-Boy”

Rina Sawayama “Take Me As I Am”

Ronika “Better Than Ever”

Rose Elinor Dougall “All At Once”

Sigrid “Don’t Kill My Vibe”

Stormzy “Big For Your Boots”

The Horrors “Something To Remember Me By”

Tove Lo “Shedontknowbutsheknows”

Whethan “love gang feat. Charli XCX”

Wolf Alice “Don’t Delete The Kisses”

Finally, here are thirty albums I loved last year. Onwards and upwards!

1. Kelela Take Me Apart

2. Lorde Melodrama

3. SZA Ctrl

4. Fever Ray Plunge

5. Charly Bliss Guppy

6. Wolf Alice Visions Of A Life

7. Rina Sawayama RINA

8. Jessie Ware Glasshouse

9. Tove Lo Blue Lips

10. Charli XCX Pop 2

11. MUNA about u

12. Moses Sumney Aromanticism

13. Sevdaliza ISON

14. St Vincent MASSEDUCTION

15. Susanne Sundfør Music For People In Trouble

16. Ibeyi Ash

17. Sampa The Great Birds & The Bee9

18. Kink Playground

19. Daniel Caesar Freudian

20. Bicep Bicep

21. Sophia Kennedy - Sophia Kennedy

22. Miguel War & Leisure

23. Laura Marling Semper Femina

24. Ibibio Sound Machine Uyai

25. Jen Cloher Jen Cloher

26. Dua Lipa Dua Lipa

27. The xx I See You

28. Honey Dijon The Best Of Both Worlds

29. Kesha Rainbow

30. Leikeli47 Wash & Set

#music #musicwriting #2017 #2017music

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cancatervation · 7 years

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Q3 2017

sorry, this is late

albums

Alvvays Antisocialites

Bicep Bicep

HAIM Something To Tell You

Ibeyi Ash

Jen Cloher Jen Cloher

Kesha Rainbow

Kitty Miami Garden Club

Leikeli47 Wash & Set

Ninos du Brasil Vida Eterna

Susanne Sundfør Music For People In Trouble

The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding

Tyler, The Creator Flowerboy

Wolf Alice Visions of a Life

tracks

Amanda Mark "Heatwave"

J. Balvin x Willy William "Mi Gente feat. Beyoncé"

Jessie Ware "Selfish Love"

Jorja Smith x Preditah "On My Mind"

Julien Baker "Appointments"

Kelela "LMK"

Kesha "Praying"

Lizzo "Truth Hurts"

Lulu James "Terrifying Thing"

PRETTYMUCH "Would You Mind"

Rachel Foxx "Happen To Me"

St. Vincent "Los Ageless"

Syd "Bad Dream / No Looking Back"

The Horrors "Something To Remember Me By"

The Preatures "Yanada"

The xx "On Hold (Jamie xx Remix)"

Tove Styrke "Mistakes"

misc.

- rihanna telling diplo that his demo sounded “like a reggae song at an airport” lmfao

- dua lipa’s new rules reaching #1 in the UK, the closest thing to true pop justice so far this year

- the triumphant return of kesha rose manifesting itself in one of pop’s tidiest album rollouts ever

- the singles jukebox’s post re: “look what you made me do”, swift’s nadir, rebirth or apotheosis, depending on your mileage

- playing lorde songs in a car in auckland, the true home of lorde!

- jessie ware entering her almodovar / guadagnino era. i’m very excited about glasshouse!

- watching (briefly) some of the free concert by the killers after the AFL grand final. i’ve come to realise their albums are sort of shit but they have quite an impressive singles oeuvre and experiencing them in australia’s largest stadium amongst delirious football fans was probably as ideal a venue as could be

#music q3 pop musicwriting

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cancatervation · 7 years

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word vomit re: the mess Australians are in re: marriage equality

Hello and welcome to a thought dump from a person in a loving, nearly 17-month-old same sex relationship. I often tell myself I’m above making these basic sorts of posts and yet here I am!!!!!!!

To begin: I am sympathetic to those who take the position that marriage as an institution is bad. Marriage has traditionally been used to objectify and disenfranchise women. It has been used as a tool to promulgate the false idea of “family values”. It reinforces the incorrect notion that gender is binary. It has been used to validate certain forms of relationship and not others. It has turned into a consumerist mess that, when you remove yourself from the supposed romance for a minute, looks like a whole lot of waste. Relatedly, it has and will continue to amplify the most grotesque aspects of white wealth.

Yet I am also sympathetic to the idea that the institution of marriage is not immutable. It has changed and has the capacity to change again. “Marriage” can represent something as ostensibly simple as making a commitment to another consenting person that you do and will love them and you want to be with them forever, through good times and bad. What you do from thereon out is up to you.

Of course, you can love your partner without the wedding, certificate and legal status. But when you do love your partner and can’t ever hope to have those things it feels like there is a circle and you are not allowed to stand in it. It feels demeaning and rude. It is as though your relationship is not important, as though the love you feel for your partner is not as worthy of validation as the love a heterosexual person feels for their partner.

I don’t believe marriage equality will be the massive catalyst that transforms notions of queer identity such that us non-straight people will all become dull conformists, facsimiles of the people that have hated and marginalised us for so long. Frankly this is already happening and anyone who’s been privy to the racism and sexism that pervades much of the white gay community will know this well.

What I do think is that marriage equality will make it easier for queer people to prove the existence of their relationship to certain organisations. I think it will mean that young queer people will feel more confident about expressing their sexuality to others, including their families. I think it will start positive conversations and might assist with addressing LGBTQI health issues or promoting trans rights or developing high school programs to deal with bullying of queer students or any number of other things affecting this community that have been pushed to the background because this matter apparently can’t be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Marriage equality has imperfections, but I think it will do more good than bad, and so I think we should have it.

Briefly, to dispel some myths that apparently require dispelling to members of the Australian media and commentariat:

Some people marry to have children. That is fine, though silly if it is their only reason. Some people marry for other reasons. That is fine also. Some people who cannot have children get married. Having children is not, and never has been, the sole purpose of marriage. A person can have children without being married, or even without a partner. Further, people in same-sex relationships are able to have children, and have been doing so for some time.

A child that does not have a “mother” and a “father” is no worse off than a child that does. There is no evidence that suggests this to be the case. A person’s parenting style should not be informed by traditional notions of gender.

LGBTQI people are not paedophiles. I can’t believe I have to write that.

Marriage equality will not be a “stepping stone” to bestiality, incest or child marriage. The Marriage Act specifies that a marriage must be entered into voluntarily. There is no suggestion that this should ever change. Marriages between a person and an animal, child, toaster, garbage bin, et cetera, are not between two consenting individuals and thus should never be lawful.

“Marriage has always been between a man and a woman so that’s the way it should be” is a line many politicians have trotted out over the last decade or so. I consider this to be an incredibly close-minded argument. It has already been established that the function of marriage in society has changed over time, and so the idea that it can change again should be considered uncontroversial. Further, amendments to the Marriage Act which stipulated that marriages in Australia were to be between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others were made only thirteen years ago, so to suggest that it’s “always been this way” is farcical.

“Marriage equality is forbidden by the Bible” is an argument that holds no merit. One does not have to read or understand the Bible to get married in Australia. Further, 30% of Australians selected “no religion” when asked about their religious beliefs in the 2016 census. To suggest that laws not be enacted because of certain interpretations of religious texts willfully ignores the nature of the Australian electorate - one that is increasingly disinterested in religion.

Further to this, it is a myth that marriage equality necessarily diminishes freedom of religion. In fact, the marriage equality bill put forward by renegade LNP members last week contained broad concessions to religious celebrants with respect to Australian anti-discrimination laws.

“Marriage equality doesn’t affect many people and is not important” is an untruth. Marriage equality will affect many LGBTQI Australians who may currently be in relationships, or who may enter into one in the future. It will also impact their families, friends, colleagues and allies. As I’ve also mentioned, it might open up the floodgates for broader societal change. Conversely, if it really were true that marriage equality is a fringe issue, then why not let it be law and do away with all the endless hand-wringing?

All this is really prelude, because the existence of majority support for marriage equality in Australia is long established and uncontroversial and I can’t imagine anyone reading this is suddenly having their eyes opened and is changing their mind. What has me writing this post is the absurd position Australians find themselves in at present, namely one where our government intends to poll Australian voters using the postal service as to whether or not marriage equality should be enshrined in our law.

Why is this course of action bad? Well, *clears throat*:

The postal plebiscite forms will be sent out it in mid-September and must be submitted by early November. That’s a couple of months of bigoted knobs expressing hateful views in the media, trying to influence your vote, while you have the ballot paper sitting on your kitchen table. A couple of months of LGBTQI people enduring discussion about the legitimacy of their relationships at home, at work, at school, in bars, on the tram, everywhere. A couple of months of extreme stress and anxiety that need not occur.

Voting in the postal plebiscite will not be compulsory, so who knows how many people will even bother to vote, and who knows how many votes the government is expecting for it to have any influence on their decision making.

The voting will be done by post. Post is not the communication method of choice for young people in Australia. People may miss their ballot papers if they have moved to a new house recently or don’t look at their mail properly. Australia Post has proved itself time and again to be unreliable.

The voting will be counted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, rather than the Australian Electoral Commission, the authority that one would expect to be equipped to deal with something like this. Why this is, I have absolutely no idea.

Perhaps most significant: even if millions of votes come in with an overwhelming majority, the government is still not bound to enact legislation to allow marriage equality. If the “yes” vote were to achieve a majority, a marriage equality bill will be put forward to be debated in parliament, and members will be permitted to follow their conscience when voting, rather than align with their party’s position. This is literally something that could happen if there were no plebiscite at all.

I know of no valid reason as to why marriage equality cannot be dealt with immediately by members of parliament. Members of parliament introduce bills, debate them, and make laws all the time. That is, indeed, the function of parliament. There was no plebiscite to change the Marriage Act in 2004. There is no reason why all eligible Australian voters need to have a say on this particular issue. The government’s justification for the plebiscite is that it had promised one on marriage equality prior to the most recent federal election, and so it has no mandate to debate the issue in parliament without a plebiscite first. This is an extraordinary position to maintain, given that anyone who tried to argue that the last federal election was a pseudo-marriage equality plebiscite would likely be laughed at, and that there are myriad instances of the current government’s inability to keep its own election promises.

It will cost lots of money. Currently the estimate is $AUD122 million. (!!!!!!) $122 million spent on an opinion poll that may ultimately have no bearing on a decision that must be made by members of parliament. What a fucking crock.

I really am just so, so tired, so fed up with the contempt shown for rainbow families, so frustrated by the meddling and dilly-dallying led by members of parliament, who happen to have no vested interest in this law, projecting their own prejudices on us daily and being cheered on by disciples of Rupert Murdoch. This relentless saga is but one of the examples of extraordinary incompetence of this government. I know, deep down, that the law will change eventually and that I won’t have to huff and puff on this issue any longer. But what about people in same-sex relationships with dying family members who want to see their relatives marry? Or what about people in same-sex relationships who are terminally ill and have always wanted to marry their partner? What about queer school kids who will now have to endure bigoted opinions every day from broadcast media, which filter down to their families and their peers? What effect will that have on their mental health? What about all the other things this government is doing badly, like failing to tackle the housing crisis or listen to indigenous people? What about the fact that the Australian government is locking people up in concentration camps in remote foreign islands and barely batting an eyelid when they start dying? When does all that end?

#auspol #gay #marriage equality #lgbtqia #australia

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cancatervation · 7 years

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UK ELLE May 1989, British Fashion

Sebastian by Gilles Bensimon

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cancatervation · 7 years

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Q2 2017

albums

Amber Mark 3:33 AM

Hey Violet From The Outside

Lorde Melodrama

Paramore After Laughter

Perfume Genius No Shape

Phoenix Ti Amo

Sevdaliza ISON

SZA Ctrl

TOPS Sugar At The Gate

songs Amandla Stenberg "Let My Baby Stay"

Carly Rae Jepsen "Cut To The Feeling"

Dua Lipa "Lost In Your Light feat. Miguel"

Flight Facilities "Arty Boy feat. Emma Louise"

HAIM "Want You Back"

Harry Styles "From The Dining Table"

Jorja Smith "Teenage Fantasy"

Ladi6 "Guru"

Maliibu Miitch "4AM"

Nite Jewel "2 Good 2 Be True"

Susanne Sundfor "Undercover"

SZA "Prom"

misc

- looks like i only update tumblr now with these quarterly lists. sorry! i have read some novels that i did intend to summarise. i’ll try my best to get around to that in q3

- laura marling, live. i think this was the 6th time around for me? i count that as impressive given that she can’t have done too many more than 6 australian tours. for someone so aloof she has an engaging live presence; her precise musicianship is undercut by wry between-song humour and i will never not get over listening to her sing in her higher register

- lorde’s kate bush impression on “writer in the dark” which grows more and more astonishing to me each day

- the podcast “unbreak my chart”. i listen to it ritualistically each tuesday and it is such a pleasant diversion from dour mornings at the desk. on a related note i really miss swoonstep

- on the morning of my 27th birthday, running past another runner who didn’t appear to be elderly or unfit while going up the anderson street hill on my morning jog. thank you to the climax of sigrid’s “don’t kill my vibe” for the inspiration

- tkay maidza in conversation with heben nigatu and tracy clayton. she is such a gift and we do not deserve her!!!!

- slow dancing with my boyfriend in the kitchen of our new apartment to jens lekman’s “maple leaves” one night after doing the dishes. we are living full-on hygge #blessed lives in this new place and it’s just 2 good 2 be true

#music q2 lorde

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cancatervation · 7 years

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Q1 2017

albums

Charli XCX Number 1 Angel

Chloe x Halle The Two Of Us

Kehlani Sweet/Sexy/Savage

Khalid American Teen

Laura Marling Semper Femina

MUNA about u

Rose Elinor Dougall Stellular

Sampha Process

Stormzy Gangs, Signs & Prayer

Wiley Godfather

tracks

Ama Lou "Said It Already"

Betty Who “You Can Cry Tomorrow”

Calvin Harris "Slide feat. Frank Ocean & Migos"

Catcall "One Time"

Cosima "To Build A House"

Drake “Get It Together feat. Black Coffee & Jorja Smith”

Jessica Says “Rock Candy”

Jorja Smith "Beautiful Little Fools"

Julia Michaels "Issues"

Julie Byrne “Natural Blue”

Lana Del Rey “Love”

Lorde "Green Light"

Ronika "Better Than Ever"

Syd "Body"

SZA "Drew Barrymore"

The xx "Lips"

misc

- the delightful, corny lady leshurr at howler, making us do the mannequin challenge months after it was a thing, introducing “queen’s speech 4″ as the song that allowed her to buy her mum a house, generally radiating so much positivity and light

- nao sounding like crushed velvet at the same venue a few weeks prior

- laura snapes’ hilarious, pointed criticism of the ed sheeran album

- betty cooper dancing around to a tove styrke album track in the pilot of riverdale

- my beautiful boyfriend appeared in my beautiful housemate’s music video and it premiered on the fader!!!!!!! i’m so excited and so proud of them both.

- i wrote something about the 1975′s “the ballad of me and my brain” and queerness for claire biddles’ zine to celebrate one year anniversary of the ILIWYSFYASBYSUOI release 💜💜💜💜

#music #2017

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cancatervation · 8 years

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I’m making a zine to coincide with the 1 year anniversary of ‘I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’ by The 1975 on 26 February 2017 and I’d love to receive your submissions! I’m looking for writing, art and photography relating to the record and the past year of The 1975, including but not in any way limited to:

Essays about individual songs, themes, or the record as a whole

Thoughts on life with the record over the past year

Art inspired by the album

Gig recollections or photography

Photographs of concert tickets, merchandise collections, things that you’ve made yourself

Conversations between fans and friends

Interpretations of your favourite Matty outfits

…but any responses to the theme are welcomed!

Please send your submissions to [email protected] by 31 January 2017 - if you have any questions or want to submit something but aren’t sure exactly what it will be yet, please get in touch too, I’d love to discuss it with you!

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2017: books (2)

The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler (2016)

Der Trafikant is the 2012 novel from Robert Seethaler, an Austrian writer, that has recently been translated and published in English, following the success and shortlisting for the Man Booker Prize of Seethaler’s later novel Ein ganzes Leben (A Whole Life). It is the story of Franz Huchel, an idle teen in the mountainous Austrian region of Salzkammergut, who is sent by his mother in 1937 to work at a tobacconist (or newsagent) in one of Vienna’s oldest and most dignified districts.

The proprietor is Otto Trsnyek, a war veteran who owes his mother an unexplained favour. The customers include a one Sigmund Freud, who lives around the corner at Berggasse 19, and strikes up an unlikely friendship with the hopelessly naive Franz, encouraging him to document his daydreams and to get out in the fresh air and “find” himself “a girl”. They bond over cigars and sighs. Unfortunately for Franz, Freud seems to regard the boy at best as an annoyance, and even falls asleep during one of Franz’s self-aggrandising pleas for help.

The novel positions Franz’s story of work, friendship and young romance - there is a girl, a gap-toothed Czech who performs at a local nightclub in blackface - against the Anschluss and the darkness of fascism - a “tumour, an ulcer, a suppurating, stinking bubo that will soon burst and spill its disgusting contents over the whole of Western civilisation”. Franz gamely carries on at the tobacconist while violence and terror pervade around him.

Franz is an unusual protagonist - an eighteen year old of typical naiveté but occasionally shrewd and discerning, such as when he proffers an astute allegory for Freud’s method of psychoanalysis when sitting on a park bench with him in the Volksgarten. He also pursues his Bohemian beauty Anezka with a disturbing tenacity, and I know the setting is 1937-8 but I’m conflicted about having to support this kid who spends hours prowling around outside this woman’s home and workplace, waiting for a chance to touch her fecund, “plump” body. In a book featuring Freud it was no surprise to see a mother-son relationship well developed, mostly through letters, but I would have liked to have read about a more mature friendship developing between Franz and Freud, or Otto Trsnyek, or Anezka. The book can’t seem to decide on which relationship to draw focus, and as such once these people withdraw from Franz’s life in one way or another, our grief is cushioned.

This was an engagingly written character study about a kid well stocked with ~principles~ but also certainly prone to being kind-of-a-dick. And a reminder indeed that in 2017, just as in 1937, that everybody loses when violence and disrespect diffuse.

#reading seethaler tobacconist books

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