The mother of the bride holds a place of honor at weddings. Her outfit of choice is much more than mere fabric and threads—it symbolizes her important and irreplaceable role in the romantic union.
As tradition dictates, whites are for brides, and blues and greens often are for bridesmaids. This poses a sartorial challenge in selecting the perfect outfit for the bride’s mother. You need something that stands out, but not too much, it outshines the bridal gown.
In such dilemmas, floral dresses come as an exquisite solution. They are not only true to the celebratory spirit of the ceremony, but they also flatter the feminine role of matriarchs to her daughter’s special day.
In this blog, we pronounce floral dresses as the best mother-of-the-bride outfit. Read on to find out why it’s in our top spot and how to pick ‘the one.’
Why Floral, You May Ask?
Beautiful, delicate, and graceful—truly, flowers poetically mirror feminity. With mothers’ nurturing and tender nature, floral dresses are easily the best option for nailing the perfect bride’s mother look. But let’s not confine the floral charm merely to the matriarchs. Floral attires are also perfect for friends or family members, whether they’re part of the procession or enjoying the ceremony from the back rows.
Picking the Perfect Floral
The color counts but it’s not the only box you should tick when finding the best mother of the bride dress. To help you make the best sartorial decision, whether you are the bride’s mother or the bride yourself, we’ve rounded five tips to guide you.
Keep the Theme in Mind
Weddings aren’t the best time to bend rules. Start by knowing the theme of the event and make sure your outfit aligns seamlessly. Black-tie weddings require more glamorous choices like floor-length mermaid floral dresses, while asymmetrical midi floral dresses go well with laid-back bohemian-themed ceremonies.
Consider the Venue
The venue should have a say in the bride’s mother’s outfit choice. This is non-negotiable. For outdoor weddings, opt for sleeveless floral dresses with light and airy fabrics. For air-conditioned indoor venues, long-sleeved floral dresses make for the most comfortable choice. The more coverage, the better.
Pick A Flattering Fit.
Look for a silhouette that accentuates your body. A-line dresses are considered as universally flattering. They cinch the waist and flare out, giving the illusion of a proportioned body. At MONDRESSY, we have a broad range of A-line floral dresses for weddings. Browse our collection for our exquisite line of bride’s mother dresses.
Know Your Best Feature.
Weddings allow us to dress up and show up in beautiful dresses and accessories. Knowing your best features will help you pick the right style to maximize your outfit. Flaunt your toned shoulders in a sweetheart neckline floral dress or flex your collarbones in an off-the-shoulder floral outfit. Understanding what’s best for you will help you narrow your options.
Showcase Your Personality.
The dress should not only be appropriate for the occasion but should also display your personality. As long as it aligns with the theme and occasion, you are allowed to make the rest of the decision. Pick a dress that is true to yourself and that you are comfortable in for later in the ceremony, there might be hitting the dancefloor, indulging in a slice of cake (or two), and potentially tearing up during speeches. You are the mother of the bride, after all.
Accessories and Final Touches
Floral dresses are beautiful on their own. Nonetheless, we all know the right accessories will pull the overall aesthetic together. Pearl earrings and necklaces go well with silk floral dresses. For shoes, think comfort. Silver or white platform heels can easily tie a floral dress look.
Beautiful braided buns or soft waves are classic for formal wedding updos. For beach weddings, a textured low bun can withstand windy conditions.
Lastly, choose a clutch in one of the less dominant colors found within the floral pattern of your dress. This ensures that the bag enhances the dress’s palette without clashing.
Weddings are a mix of emotions, but they should not be a mix of outfit dilemmas. At MONDRESSY, we believe that the dress you wear is half of your wedding experience.
Check out our carefully crafted selection of floral dresses designed with the mother of the bride in mind. For soirees and other luxe occasions, browse our Prom Dresses and Cocktail Dresses Collection.
Exploring Personal Contract Purchase options can seem overwhelming. With over 80% of new car purchasers choosing PCP deals, a significant number face disadvantageous terms because they lack proper advice. Although dealerships provide direct access to pcp car finance, working with car finance brokers is crucial for obtaining the best terms available.
Understanding PCP deals
Personal Contract Purchase revolutionized car financing by allowing lower monthly payments compared to traditional car loans. The key difference lies in its structure – instead of paying for the entire vehicle, you pay for the depreciation during your term of ownership, plus interest. This arrangement requires careful consideration of several critical factors that can significantly impact your financial commitment.
The foundation of any PCP agreement rests on these essential components:
Initial deposit – typically 10-20% of the vehicle’s value
Monthly payment structure – based on predicted depreciation
Final balloon payment – the guaranteed future value
Annual mileage allowance – affecting the car’s end value
Contract length – usually 24-48 months
Understanding how these elements interact helps avoid costly mistakes. For instance, a lower deposit might seem attractive initially but often results in higher monthly payments and greater total interest charges over the contract term.
Why brokers are essential for PCP deals
Car finance brokers bring invaluable expertise and market access that can transform your PCP experience. Their role extends far beyond simple loan comparison, encompassing detailed market analysis and personalized financial planning.
Consider the case of Michael Parker, a London-based IT professional. After receiving a dealer quote of 6.9% APR, he consulted a broker who secured a 4.2% APR deal with better terms, saving him £3,400 over the contract period. This real-world example demonstrates the tangible value brokers provide through their market knowledge and lender relationships.
How brokers match you with the right PCP deal
The broker’s approach to finding your ideal PCP deal involves a comprehensive evaluation process. They begin by assessing your financial situation, including income, expenditure patterns, and credit history. This thorough analysis helps identify deals that not only fit your current circumstances but remain sustainable throughout the agreement period.
A professional broker considers several key factors when matching clients with PCP deals:
Current and projected income stability
Credit score and financial history
Vehicle usage patterns and requirements
Long-term ownership preferences
Flexibility needs for future circumstances
These assessments ensure recommended deals align with both immediate needs and future plans. The broker’s expertise proves particularly valuable when navigating complex scenarios like self-employment or limited credit history.
Broker’s expertise in PCP specifics
Professional brokers possess deep knowledge of PCP agreement nuances that many consumers overlook. Their expertise covers crucial areas such as balloon payment calculations, mileage allowance optimization, and end-of-term options evaluation. This specialized knowledge helps clients avoid common pitfalls that could lead to financial stress later.
Finding and working with a PCP specialist broker
Selecting the right broker is crucial for securing an optimal PCP deal. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulates professional car finance brokers in the UK, providing a framework for consumer protection and service standards.
When choosing a PCP specialist broker, certain qualifications and characteristics stand out:
FCA authorization and registration
Specialist experience with PCP agreements
Strong relationships with multiple lenders
Transparent fee structure
Proven track record with client testimonials
A broker’s experience specifically with PCP deals can significantly impact the quality of service and outcomes they deliver. Look for professionals who regularly handle PCP arrangements and understand the nuances of different manufacturers’ finance programs.
Steps to secure the best PCP deal through a broker
The journey to securing your ideal PCP agreement involves a structured process that professional brokers follow meticulously. It begins with an initial consultation where your requirements and financial situation are thoroughly assessed. This preliminary discussion helps establish realistic expectations and identifies potential challenges early in the process.
Throughout the process, your broker will:
Conduct a comprehensive market search
Compare offers from multiple lenders
Negotiate terms on your behalf
Review and explain all documentation
Guide you through the completion process
This systematic approach typically takes between 3-5 working days, though complex cases may require additional time to secure the most favorable terms.
Cost considerations
Understanding broker fees and their value proposition is essential for making an informed decision. While some clients initially question paying broker fees, the potential savings often significantly outweigh these costs.
Consider the example of Sarah Mitchell, who financed a £30,000 vehicle through a broker. The £299 broker fee seemed substantial initially, but the reduced APR they secured saved her £4,200 over the four-year term – a net saving of £3,901.
Long-term benefits and protection
The advantages of using a broker extend beyond the initial transaction. Professional brokers provide ongoing support throughout your PCP agreement, helping navigate potential challenges and ensuring you understand your options as you approach the end of the term.
Their expertise becomes particularly valuable when:
Considering early termination options
Assessing whether to purchase the vehicle
Planning your next vehicle finance arrangement
Dealing with excess mileage considerations
Managing maintenance requirements
Conclusion
Car finance brokers play an indispensable role in securing the right PCP deal. Their market knowledge, negotiating power, and ability to access exclusive rates often result in significant savings. While the upfront cost of using a broker may seem like an additional expense, the long-term benefits – both financial and practical – make their services invaluable for anyone considering a PCP agreement.
For potential car buyers, particularly those with unique financial circumstances or specific requirements, working with a professional broker can make the difference between an acceptable deal and an exceptional one. Their expertise helps navigate the complexities of PCP agreements while ensuring your financial interests are protected throughout the term of the contract.
XL Recordings owner Richard Russell, aka Everything Is Recorded, has teamed up with Florence Welch and Sampha for the new single ‘Never Felt Better’. It’s the final single from Everything Is Recorded’s new LP Temporary, arriving Friday (February 28), and it comes paired with an accompanying video by Kristian Mercado and Mela Murder. As you’d expect, the combined effect of Florence Welch and Sampha’s voices is spine-tingling, and the song lets it subtly unspool. Check it out below.
Roberta Flack, the R&B icon behind a string of hits including ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’, has died. “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025,” her spokesperson said in a statement. “She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.” A cause of death was not provided, but the singer had been battling ALS in recent years. She was 88.
Born to a musical family in 1937 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, Roberta Cleopatra Flack started playing the piano at the age of nine. At 15, she entered Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she conducted the student choir. She began graduate studies in music there, but her father’s death forced her to take a job teaching music and English in Farmville, North Carolina. She went back to Washington, D.C., and taught at Banneker, Browne, and Rabaut Junior High Schools, while also performing at nightclubs in the area. She gave up teaching in 1968, when she was offered a residency at Mr Henry’s Restaurant on Capitol Hill.
Soul jazz pianist and singer Les McCann introduced Flack to Atlantic Records, who released her debut album, First Take, in 1969. Flack’s early Atlantic recordings didn’t sell particularly well, but when Clint Eastwood used her version of Ewan MacColl’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ in his 1971 film Play Misty For Me, the song became the biggest hit of 1972 and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. Around this time, she began collaborating with fellow soul legend Donny Hathaway, and the pair scored two US Top 5 hits with ‘Where Is the Love’ and ‘The Closer I Get to You’. When Hathaway died by suicide in 1979, Flack and Hathaway were in the midst of recording an album of duets; ‘Back Together Again’, released posthumously in 1980, reached No. 8.
Flack remains the only solo artist to win the Grammy for Record of the Year two years in a row, winning n 1974 for ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’. Her third and final No. 1 hit, the self-produced ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, arrived in 1974. Though the popularity of her musical output waned in the ’80s, she scored a hit with ‘Makin’ Love’, co-written with Burt Bacharach as the theme for the 1982 film of the same name. In 1983, she recorded the end music to the Dirty Harry sequel Sudden Impact at Eastwood’s request.
In 1996, ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ was introduced to a new generation of fans when Lauryn Hill’s the Fugees included their cover on the album The Score, and the group performed the song with Flack at the VMAs. Flack’s final album, a collection of Beatles covers called Let It Be Roberta, came out in 2012.
At the age of 81, Flack released her final recording, ‘Running’, which she served as the closing credits song for the documentary 3100: Run and Become. “The music remains my lifeline,” she told Billboard at the time, after suffering a stroke in 2016. “And the lyrics for ‘Running’ speak to where I am now, working to keep going through music.”
It’s one thing to write music from the stomach versus the heart, as was Will Wiesenfeld’s intention for Gut, his first Baths album in seven years. It’s not a guarantee the songs will actually hit like that. In Gut’s case, though, there’s really barely any separation between the philosophical and the guttural, the feeling and its translation, eschewing the fear of being lost in both. Since releasing his first album under the moniker, Cerulian, in 2010, Wiesenfeld’s work has always been characterized by an unshakeable and downright mimetic physicality, boundless in its erosion of boundaries between real and fantastical worlds. But the self-released Gut – which features live drums on more than half its tracks – is newly unfiltered and unruly in a way that carves a path forward for the project. The intricate nature of his music is still there, but its elasticity serves to stretch the feeling until it gnaws and bubbles through the body. Gut strikes, excites, and soothes in almost equal measure; it’s stomach music, to be sure, but it can’t help but speak to the heart.
We caught up with Baths to talk about noise rock, underwear parties, exercise, ex-Christianity, and other inspirations behind his new album, which is out now.
Rigid noise rock
I understand this is more of a formal or philosophical influence than a strictly musical one. You namecheck groups like Gilla Band and Protomartyr in press materials.
Exactly. I think it’s about the execution of a musical endeavor. I’m very inspired, constantly but especially with this record, by the idea of intellectually or deliberately delivered chaos. The thrill of something like punk rock or metal or noise music is often about cathartic release, where there’s just as much as you can put into it. It’s a wide breadth of sound and experience, this thing that’s understood as entirely unfiltered. What I’m talking about is this almost a futile effort, but not really – it’s a means of trying to cage that feeling, to still have some degree of ownership or building a contraption around it. To parcel it into pieces to make it more digestible or understandable, or to say more things with that chaos. I talk about Gilla Band all the time because their newest record hits that for me in a weirdly specific, brain-itching way. It’s my favorite thing, at least in the past few years in music – that kind of chaos and explosive intensity, but notched off. You’ll have sections that are the loudest thing you’ve ever heard, cut to something completely dry or different, or shaped differently even if it’s still intense, and then move through the next thing.
If that same Gilla Band record was at a constant flip with infinitely less dynamics, it wouldn’t be as interesting to me. It would be cool, and I’d enjoy it as a record, but the thrill of so much of what they do is the tempered nature of it: the holding back is half the intensity. That’s my thesis statement on it. That’s the obsession, like all this influence and inspiration I’m going to talk about – I don’t know how directly that translates to my record, maybe not at all. But it’s something in my brain that I think about. Some measure of it probably leads into what I did on my record, but nowhere near the same. It probably doesn’t even sound the same.
Whether consciously or not, did you find yourself making space for that controlled chaos? I hear the sturdiness of rock instrumentation in the record, but the chaos is often more lyrical.
I think there are a lot of moments on my record that are heightened emotion, but most of those moments I don’t want to let ring out. It’s almost a reflection of how anger exists for me in my own life. If I feel angry, I don’t let anger happen to me – just as an adult and a courteous person existing in the world, I try not to let anger be the way I move through things. But when I’m angry, what happens is I recognize the anger and immediately tell myself that if I need to experience it, I don’t need to force that on other people. I need to go somewhere or go away for a bit. That often happens if I’m in a really intense argument with someone, I’ll say, “Hey, I can feel how angry I am right now. I want to take ten minutes.” This is a very rare occurrence because I’m not an angry person, but when I experience it, it’s like, “I need to not be angry at you for no reason. Let me be angry for a little bit, and I’ll come back.”
The way I execute a lot of those more intense emotions, especially anger on this record, is almost that same idea of having to pull back and keep it tempered, and maybe explode in a moment, but then the next moment isn’t still there. I go back to some semblance of normalcy or pull away entirely and try to do something else. To have anger written into the album at a full clip the entire time is not only disingenuous to how I experience anger, but it’s almost emotionally irrelevant. That doesn’t get you any closer to how I feel or think. The only time I’m wildly, openly emotional and unbridled in that way, and I let it ride out, is maybe in the very last song. And that’s not even anger anymore – it’s more like a brutal acceptance. It’s the sound of having to deal with it, of how upset it made me, but I’m just like, “Okay, fine.” I feel like the way the record ends isn’t necessarily on a positive or negative note, it’s just acceptance. Which is still a tough thing for me.
There’s also the opener, where there’s this burst of an intense vocal, but then it’s quickly bottled back up.
Yeah, where it builds to me saying, “Could you find the patience?” But the first part of “patience” I get really angry on. It’s like, obviously, I’m not patient anymore. I’m very impatient.
Gym
Exercise has been a part of my life for more than 10 years now, probably closer to 12 or 13, in a very serious way. If not every day, I’d go three or four days a week; now I’m on a program where it’s every day, but it’s less intense, and that works really well for me. What I’m talking about here is how the idea of a gym has skewed my listening. Most of my listening used to be in my car, and I’d listen to music in my car all the time. When I wasn’t a regular gym person, I’d have music on at home. I think, as a person, I was way more into ambient or experimental electronic stuff that comfortably fills the room and creates an atmosphere. I’m still obsessed with atmosphere, but the tone of the music was much more subdued and reflective. But going to the gym more regularly, and also using my car less – now to the point this year where I’ve actually sold my car and only bike everywhere, which is crazy for LA, but it’s my truth now – most of my listening happens at the gym. The thing to keep in mind is that they already play music at the gym, so me listening to music means it has to be something that exists on top of that or louder than that most of the time.
Simply because of that fact, I’ve sought out music that’s more energetic, loud, or intense. Finding the beauty and excitement in the stuff I already love, but also in all sorts of other music in those spaces. The thing that really factored into my record was music like that – louder music that’s also really relentless. That’s my favorite word to talk about. I’d listen to, again, Gilla Band or Protomartyr or a lot of hardcore techno and noise. I also got really into Container – I’ve always been into Emptyset, if we’re talking more on the electronic side. Music that isn’t afraid to let an idea pound itself into your brain; ideas going so hard that it’s very difficult to forget them or the feeling of experiencing that. In the way I write music, I have trouble submitting to that. I have a lot of fidgetiness trying to let an idea ride out forever, so I tried to allow that a bit more – especially in that opener, where it switches to the second half of the song and just goes. There are still changes, but I just wanted the feeling to go as far as I could take it.
Looking at it a different way, do you feel like there’s an element of athleticism in your music, that factors into your process or life as a musician?
One of the things I think about a lot is what it takes to tour and your endurance as an artist for something like that. It’s a common conception that touring is really difficult, especially because you’re doing it for long stretches. The more I made a point in my life to keep up stable exercise habits, coupled with – I don’t drink, I eat fairly well, I sleep really well on tour – because of that, I’m really good on tour. The last two tours I had, I finished them thinking, “Hey, I could probably still do this for two more weeks.” One was six or seven months ago, and the other was a year before that. I finished both truly feeling like I could do double the amount of touring I just did and still be totally fine. I came home to LA and felt no different, I felt fine. That hasn’t been the case in the past; often I’d finish a tour feeling completely deflated. So this idea of longevity and fitness as it relates to health and the execution of your musical practice in a performance space – that’s something I think about.
It’s that idea of endurance, and that relating to physicality and sound and aesthetic – all these things tied into what I wanted Gut to feel like and sound like. Especially because it’s supposed to be stomach music, which is already such a physical incentive. There’s no separating my physical self, sex, and all these other things from what I was trying to make this record be.
Ursula Le Guin: “like an arrow, like thought”
I saw that this quote is from A Wizard of Earthsea.
That’s part of a cycle of books, I think five or six total, which I’ve read all of at this point. Firstly, I’ll just say that when I started the Earthsea cycle, it hit me very quickly that this was the author I’d been looking for my entire life. I’d never read prose that felt like that to me – it’s fantasy, but she’s also done a ton of sci-fi, and there’s so much of her work I’ve yet to dive into. But it hit me like: This is the author I’m going to take my time with and absorb more and more of her work over the course of my life. That’s already how her work feels to me.
This quote is from Earthsea, and it’s kind of from an innocuous moment. It’s just: “Quick as he had once done at Roke, Ged took the shape of a great hawk: not the sparrowhawk they called him but the Pilgrim Falcon that flies like an arrow, like thought.” The first time I heard it, and almost every time I hear it, it gives me goosebumps. I get very activated by it. It’s not a profound saying; it doesn’t have major weight to it. But it hit me in a really lyrical way that’s hard to explain, but I’ll do my best. The idea of great lyrics to me – and probably great writing and poetry, but lyrics is where I live when it comes to writing – is the ability to distill a feeling, an intensity, or an expression into the smallest possible strike so that it rings as true as it can without inflating it. With these words, there are already a million ways to describe an arrow, and then reducing that further to describe a falcon that flies like an arrow, which is what this thing is doing, “like thought” is such a crazy weight of a descriptor because it makes me think of so many things; so much connotation and intensity.
I’m trying to make it make more sense and sound less corny, but the idea of trying to describe the flight of a bird in the simplest terms possible – first, to call it an arrow, and then to describe that arrow as flying like thought – is such a beautifully precise descriptor. It sounds like intent, actualization, humanity, intellect, and all these things. It makes me visualize the idea of a falcon flying as the most straight and true thing that could possibly exist. It’s such a crazy amount of things that come from just saying “like thought.” So, I became utterly obsessed with it, for no reason other than I get hyper-fixated on things all the time. My brain is like, “Oh, that’s the best thing ever,” and now I’m going to think about it for nine months or whatever. It’s not that serious, probably to other folks, especially people who are, like, English majors. I don’t come from that territory. I only know what makes me excited, and I just think it was one of those things that reconfirmed for me that it’s possible to say the greatest thing you’ve ever heard in the least amount of words possible.
It made me really inspired to keep writing lyrics and to keep putting things together, imagining ways that words can make the world make more sense. It’s just the dream of writing coming alive for me in a really dumb, silly, small way. I just think it’s utterly perfect. Every time I hear it, I’m like, “I wish I could ever in my life write something that hit me the way that hits other people.”
I initially typed out “like a thought” to find the source, before realizing it’s “like thought,” which makes a big difference.
Right, there’s a major distinction. The idea of thought being zero disconnect from something, and then using that to describe the flight of an animal, is so strong.
You also have to be a really good writer to take such an abstract word and use it in such an exacting way.
That’s why I’ve become so obsessed with her. Every now and then some small thing she’ll say hits so perfectly. It’s not even grand gestures of storytelling, which I think she’s also great at, and I thoroughly enjoy her stories; but it’s just the way she talks about something that’s so exactly right for what my brain wants to hear or understand about the world. It’s medicine to me.
Do you spend a long time hyper-fixating on your own lyrics in a similar way?
That definitely happens, and it happens with titles, too. I have a working notes document where anytime I hit a title that feels inspiring to me, I’ll write it in there. Some of them just stick with me forever. It’s like, “I know this will be a title, I just don’t know what the song is yet.” It’ll just sit in my phone forever. One of them that I never made into a song but think about all the time is ‘Sinewy Brooklyn Bicep’, which is a very specific, gay-brained thing that I could say, and I feel like any gay person on earth – any American, especially – would be like, “I know what that is.” But to me, it was a very distinct thing that I thought was really funny but also horny in a very specific way. So I fixated on that for a long time, but nothing ever came of it.
And that happens a lot. I’ll fixate on lyrics, an idea I want to make a song into, or a sound or aesthetic I want to try to achieve. ‘No Past Lives’, that song from my record Obsidian in 2013, the entire aesthetic sound of that song was a hyper-fixation. I knew exactly what I wanted to try and execute, and it was a matter of getting there. Being like, “Oh, it’s not right yet; oh, it’s getting closer; ah, here we are.” So, it’s helpful in some ways, but in other ways, it’s the most annoying thing in the world.
Underwear parties
This definitely relates to the song ‘Chaos’, but also obviously the lead single, ‘Sea of Men’, and that lyric that’s so central to the whole record: “Carnal is the normal mode.” What’s striking to me about the album is how the spiritual often disrupts the carnal, often in the form of chaos or dissociation.
Yeah, my human brain – that’s what happens. There’s always this kind of religious undertone that battles with that stuff and makes me second-guess myself, even when I’m in full confidence. When I mention underwear parties, it’s specifically talking about this kind of party that went through the States for a number of years called the DILF party, which is literally an acronym for Dad I’d Like to Fuck. Which is very silly, but also, they were great parties with the exact kind of men I was attracted to, so I kept going. I was terrified to go my first time, which makes sense – going headfirst into the deep end of something like that is a pretty intimidating experience. But once I was in it, it was this whole other experience of life and actualization as a gay person that I’d never felt before. I started off, with the subtitle of this, by saying “intentionally aggrandizing,” which is kind of what you do. You force yourself, at least for me, almost into this idea of being larger than life. I have reservations about what I look like or what I think I look like, and mild body dysmorphia – I’ve always had trouble with how I appear to other people, and I lose confidence very quickly.
In those underwear parties, there’s nothing to hide about your body. You’re just in your underwear. Because of that, and because all these folks end up on this equal playing field of weird, all-animal nudity— – we’re all just beasts, suddenly – my brain switches, and I do this thing of almost pretending I think I’m hotter than I am, or that I’m more self-assured or confident than I am. I’ll still be shy, but in moments, I’ll walk right up to somebody I think is hot and just be like, “Hey, you look great. How’s it going?” And I feel like I’m 10 feet outside of myself – I’m watching myself do those things. It’s very not me. I’m an open and gregarious person to talk to, but I don’t have that kind of confidence in everyday life. So, it’s this weird thing of almost a practiced second self or second body. As the night moves on and it fills with more people, it’s just sweaty and meaty and gross, and really, really horny in a way that’s very specific to that kind of event. It’s a very unique thing that rewired my brain a little bit in terms of what I thought was even possible as a human being or as a gay person.
I feel like the intensity of those things still ended up going both ways: it’s a uniquely positive and actualizing experience as a gay person, but in equal measure, it can also be really lonely and isolating because you’re maybe not getting with the person you want, or you keep having this thing of, “Oh, I think that guy’s really hot. Oh, he coupled up with somebody,” or, “I think this person is this way,” and then they’re 10 dicks deep on the dance floor. You’re like, “Well, I see they’re different than the way I thought I saw them,” which is fine. I’m a total slut myself, so I have no shame about any of that. But it’s more just this tug-of-war with your fantasies about what you think you want and what’s actually happening, and who you are in the mess of all of that. It’s just so out of this world – messy and positive and negative. It’s such an overwhelming thing that I can’t help but be inspired by the wildness of it.
I’m a person who still loves bathhouses and public bathing, especially gay bathhouses. I could talk about those for an entire interview – we don’t have time for that – but it’s a stem of that. Talking about these underwear parties is almost the more outward-facing thing of that. Bathhouses are the more intimate version, the more behind-closed-doors type of thing, whereas these underwear parties are explosive. There’s no way to not be inspired by it and to pull some of that into inspiration for this record.
Is that tug-of-war hard for you to capture in a body of work as a whole, especially as you move from an experience to inspiration to expression?
I don’t think it’s expressly difficult, but I also don’t think it’s expressly easy. The way I do it is I let singular emotions have their moment. The euphoria of that sort of experience – that’s ‘Eden’. That’s what that song is, where I’m allowing the sexuality and the heightened sense of self and all of that to run at full throttle. That song is literally about having sex with an angel – it’s ridiculous. That’s the effort of allowing that emotion to have as much intent as possible. But then songs like ‘Verity’ and ‘Chaos’ are much more in the doubt of that: who am I as a person if I’m living this way and going this hard on these things, I’m this sexual? ‘Verity’ especially, because that one is a more difficult song. I’m all for having as many emotions as you want and making music go in any direction, but as a listener, to bring someone into the feeling you’re talking about, you have to let an emotion exist for them, however weird or obscure it is. You’ve got to let that ride sometimes. That’s my methodology: trying to give things the time they need to be felt.
Ex-Christianity
A lot of this is kind of subtext on the album, until the closing track, ‘Sound of a Blooming Flower’, where you refer to “a childhood structured by God.” How would you trace that relationship with Christianity and faith, as it affected you while you were the making the album?
I think Christianity – as a life metric, as a way to live, which is the service of a lot of religions – regardless of what I believe, it has existed as a metric for how my life was going to be. Whenever something went wrong, I would have to give it up to God. I would pray on the regular. I would marry a woman. I would do all these things that make sense for what a good Christian would be. The older you get, especially as a gay person, you gain more perspective, and for me, it started to fall apart faster and faster. I was like, there are things about this ideology that relate to me in terms of being a good person, but other parts of it are so maddeningly restrictive and indefensible to me in some ways that it’s like: What am I doing here, and why believe in something that is so flawed to everything that rings true to me about art, actualization, selfhood, personhood, gayness?
Describing it as the loss of one compass and gaining another is very much how it works for me with my relationship to religion. Christianity was a direction – I knew where I was going, what would happen to me, and how to get there. Having to abandon that meant either gaining a new religion, which didn’t, in my mind, help at all with all the different things I was going through, or creating basically a religion for myself where there isn’t religion, but just wide acceptance and understanding of everybody’s different versions of how they see the world. Using pieces of those that make the most sense to me and how I want to live a good life. There are lingering pieces of Christianity that will never escape my brain, try as I might; there are just some things that come back in a flash. But then, other times, I feel like I’ve blissfully superseded that, and I am so adult and confirmed in who I am that it seems miraculous I’ve figured out a way to live and move through my life.
Of course, everything about being a gay person is a mess and chaos, and you’re never 100% sure you’re doing the thing that makes the most sense – at least for me. My gay self and my gay brain have always been like, “What am I doing? Is any of this correct?” But at the same time, I keep seeing the rewards of staying myself. Even though it’s messy, staying true to what I think makes the most sense has continued to work for me and help flavor my art, my love life, my friendships – everything about the way I live makes more sense trusting myself in that way. And then staying open – I have to be able to trust the world as a whole in the same way I trust myself, that there are other people who will know things that I don’t, that I need to listen to and absorb. It’s all cyclical, but my point here is that the Christian things and religious things I can’t escape come up for me in the weirdest moments, when I’m almost so far along and doing well in how I see the world that it’s almost perverse. It’s impossible to escape in the way I write lyrics.
Gay illustration
This isn’t a new theme in your work, but how do you feel it fed into Gut in a way that was different? Is there a bigger chasm between the depiction of fantasy and the real world?
I think what it is is that I’m just further along on the timeline of being a person obsessed with gay illustration. There’s a difference between someone who just discovered it, someone who’s five years into it, and someone like me, who’s probably 15 to 20 years into it. It’s been a massive part of my life forever, and I can’t get enough of it. I’m still constantly saving images to my phone all the time. The difference is basically the depth – I’m this deep in that obsession, and how that relates to what I’m attracted to in the world, and how distorted that may or may not be. It’s a battle in both directions. I’m becoming more adult and mature, understanding how much of what I love about illustration is fantasy, and how to compartmentalize fantasy versus expectations of the real world and men I would meet or try to form relationships with. It’s another brain battle that’s happening all the time.
I don’t think I’ll ever do away with my obsession for gay illustration because I don’t want to, and it’s informed so many positive things. It’s a very healthy thing, but there are moments of unhealthiness with how deep I can get with my expectations of men, of the way I want the world to be. The projection of fantasy – it’s not unlike the way anybody else projects fantasy on looking at the most beautiful people in the world all the time. You start to get unhealthy ideas of what you’ll get out of the world or people you think you should associate with. It’s a constant level of re-engaging and undoing the wrong thoughts about it, and then learning the balance of all of that. It sounds kind of ridiculous when it’s like, “You’re having to deal with all this just looking at cartoons.” But it’s that deep with me, and it informs so much of what I feel and write about.
My imagination is disgustingly big – I mean that with my full chest. It sounds silly to boast about, but if there are characters I’m obsessed with, I build entire vast fictions in my head of how they are a gay person, the things they do, and the way they move through the world. It helps me articulate my own thoughts and things I want to have myself do and accomplish and see in the world. It’s the way anybody projects their own life onto a character in a TV show or whatever else in live action. For whatever reason, the thoroughfare for me is easier with illustrated or animated characters, and so I go really ham on that.
It makes me think of the line, “The dream isn’t wild, it isn’t new,” from ‘Cedar Stairwell’.
It’s cool that you pointed out that line because I feel like ‘Cedar Stairwell’ is maybe the riskiest song for me in terms of misinterpretation. If people don’t put enough focus or weight on that lyric, the whole song comes across wrong. The idea with that song – not to tell you how you should interpret a song – is that the dream isn’t wild, it isn’t new, and then the song describes a fantasy. I think some people, if they’re not paying attention well enough or sort of breeze by the first line, read that as a reality for me. The whole point is that it’s not, and that’s the only way that song makes sense.
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
It’s a trilogy, technically: The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and then Death’s End. It’s probably the best science fiction I’ve ever read in my life. My brother forced me to start diving into it, and I couldn’t believe how far it goes. It just goes further and further than anything you can expect. The first time I felt that way about a piece of science fiction was the first time I played the first Mass Effect game, which is a very isolated experience, but I was obsessed with the story in that game. This story is untouchable. I’ve never read anything like it in my life, probably never will again. One of the most central things of it is – I don’t want to say nihilism, because I’m not in my depth about that; I’m not researched on it – but if you talk about it in a profound way, the idea that nothing matters, and what that actually means about how you live your own life: it can be spun as a positive.
I think so much of that story and the way I felt about it is ultimately very terrifying and bigger than you could ever imagine, but in a way where it makes the way you live your life so much more about yourself and your surroundings, keeping to what keeps you happy in your own world, as opposed to trying to think about the weight of your relation to the universe as having meaning, which is completely irrelevant. I don’t really know how to go into it well enough because these books are way smarter than I will ever be. But it just made me terrified at first, but then kind of feeling positive by the end of it, about how, even if I live my life wrong or backwards, or I don’t do what I set out to do, I think it will still end up being good because, in equal measure, none of anybody’s lives matter. It’s spooky at first, but when you come to the balance of that, it’s kind of like, “Well, we’re gonna do what we’re gonna do.”
Video games: Returnal and Monster Hunter
I’m a big gaming person, and I mentioned those because they were full-fledged life lessons for me – not just, “Hey, you gotta check out these games; they’re really fun.” Returnal is an extremely difficult game. It’s this genre called roguelikes or roguelites, and it basically taught me to play games like that and taught me perseverance and what it takes to master something. I haven’t been in school for over a decade – learning new things is a really arduous process, and this game forces you to take a step back, be patient, and learn the way it needs you to play it. It was a massively rewarding experience. It’s one of my favorite games of all time at this point.
Monster Hunter, on the other side of that, is a more communal and fun and shared experience than any game I’ve ever played. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had gaming. You do it with three other people, where the four of you work together to take down a monster. As opposed to battling against your friends, where it gets kind of heated and you feel angry, it’s four of you working towards a computer objective. It ends up being ultimately far more fun for me because you’re just kind of like, “Oh, damn, we didn’t get it. Let’s go again – let’s get right back up on the horse and try one more time.” I love them both dearly, and I think all those things were happening to me during the recording process of this record.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Asheville-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Colin Miller has announced a new album, Losin’, which is out April 25 on Mtn Laurel Recording Co. The follow-up to Miller’s 2023 debut Haw Creek finds him reuniting with producer Alex Farrar at Drop of Sun Studio and features MJ Lenderman on drums and lead lines, as well as Lenderman’s Wednesday bandmates Xandy Chelmis on pedal steel and Ethan Baechtold on bass and keys. Check out the lead single ‘Cadillac’ below, and scroll own for the album cover and tracklist.
The pedal steel guitar does a lot of the emotional heavy lifting on ‘Cadillac’, an infectious tune that takes a vignette-like approach to heartbreak. “In the blood-black tinted window Cadillac/ It’s a good day at the wreck-yard/ It’s a bad day for my heart,” Miller sings.
Losin’ Tracklist:
Losin’ Tracklist:
1. Birdhouse
2. Porchlight
3. Cadillac
4. 4 Wheeler
5. Hasbeen
6. I Need a Friend
7. Lost Again
8. Little Devil
9. Thunder Road
Bill Fay, the cult British singer-songwriter, has died. His label, Dead Oceans, confirmed his death in a statement on social media Saturday. He was 81.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Bill Fay, who died peacefully this morning in London, aged 81,” Dead Oceans wrote. “Bill was a gentle man and a gentleman, wise beyond our times. He was a private person with the biggest of hearts, who wrote immensely moving, meaningful songs that will continue to find people for years to come.”
Born in North London in 1943, Fay released his debut single ‘Some Good Advice’ b/w ‘Screams In The Ears’ in 1967. His two first studio albums, 1970’s Bill Fay and 1971’s Time of the Last Persecution, came out on Decca Records subsidiary Deram. The label soon dropped Fay due to lackluster sales, and decades passed before he would record music again.
After those first two LPs were reissued by a small British label in 1998, producer and musician Jim O’Rourke played the records during the sessions for Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, which led to Jeff Tweedy adding a cover of Fay’s ‘Be Not So Fearful’ to the band’s setlist. Fay joined the band to perform the song twice – once in 2007, and once in 2010.
The title track of ‘Time of the Last Persecution’ also became a live standard of the British experimental group Current 93, whose founder David Tibet helped release Tomorrow, Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, a compilation of Fay’s studio recordings from between 1978 and 1981, in 2005. Producer Joshua Henry then helped Fay sign to Dead Oceans, which released Life Is People, his first album in over 40 years, in 2012.
“Up until 1998, when some people reissued my albums, as far as I was concerned, I was gone, deleted,” Fay told Spin in 2012. “No one was listening. But then I got the shock that people remembered my music. I was doing some gardening, and listening to some of my songs on cassette, and a part of me thought they were quite good. I thought, ‘Maybe somebody will hear them someday.’”
Fay would go on to release two more albums for Dead Oceans: 2015’s Who Is the Sender? and 2020’s Countless Branches. “It’s best I spend my available time doing what I’ve always done,” he told the New York Times in 2020. “I’m thankful that side of my life has continued for all my life — finding songs in the corner of the room.”
Sports betting is more than just luck; it requires skill, discipline, and a deep understanding of human psychology. While many bettors rely on gut feelings or intuition, those who consistently succeed apply psychological principles to make rational and informed decisions. Many bettors explore casino sites not on Gamstop for alternative betting options, further emphasizing the importance of psychological discipline in wagering. Let’s explore the psychological factors that contribute to successful sports betting.
1. Emotional Control and Discipline
One of the most critical aspects of successful sports betting is managing emotions. Betting often triggers excitement, frustration, and even overconfidence. Losing streaks can lead to “tilt”—a state of emotional distress where bettors make impulsive decisions to recover losses. Conversely, winning streaks can breed overconfidence, leading to reckless bets. Professional bettors maintain emotional discipline, adhering to a well-thought-out strategy rather than reacting emotionally to outcomes.
2. Cognitive Biases and Decision-Making
Psychological biases often cloud judgment and lead to poor betting decisions. Some common cognitive biases include:
Confirmation Bias – Bettors tend to seek information that supports their preconceived beliefs while ignoring contradictory data. This can lead to overestimating a team’s chances based on personal preference rather than objective analysis.
The Gambler’s Fallacy – Many believe that past events influence future outcomes (e.g., thinking a team is “due” for a win after a losing streak). However, each event in sports is independent, and past performance does not guarantee future results.
Recency Bias – Bettors often overvalue recent performances and neglect long-term trends. A team’s most recent victory does not necessarily indicate sustained success.
Understanding and mitigating these biases is crucial for making rational betting decisions.
Cheerful guy watching soccer match online
3. Bankroll Management
Successful bettors treat sports betting like an investment, carefully managing their bankroll. A key principle is the Kelly Criterion, which suggests staking a percentage of one’s bankroll based on the perceived value of a bet. Proper bankroll management prevents bettors from chasing losses and ensures long-term sustainability.
4. Analyzing Data and Finding Value
While casual bettors rely on intuition, successful bettors use data-driven approaches. They analyze statistics, team performance metrics, injury reports, and even weather conditions to identify value bets—wagers where the odds are in their favor. Understanding probabilities and implied odds helps in making calculated decisions rather than random guesses.
5. The Importance of a Betting Strategy
Having a structured betting strategy is essential. Strategies like line shopping (comparing odds across multiple sportsbooks) and hedging bets (placing additional bets to minimize risk) can maximize profitability. A disciplined approach ensures that decisions are based on logic rather than impulse.
6. Psychological Resilience
Betting inevitably involves losses, and how a bettor reacts to losses determines their long-term success. Psychological resilience helps bettors avoid emotional betting, stick to their strategy, and focus on the bigger picture rather than individual outcomes.
Conclusion
Successful sports betting is a psychological game as much as it is a numbers game. Controlling emotions, overcoming cognitive biases, practicing disciplined bankroll management, and using a data-driven approach are key psychological factors that separate winning bettors from losing ones. Understanding these elements allows bettors to make informed, rational decisions and increase their chances of long-term success.
The inability to watch BBC shows is a problem for travelers who live outside the United Kingdom. BBC iPlayer operates under a viewership restriction for United Kingdom users yet multiple acceptable methods exist to connect with this streaming service worldwide. The following guide will demonstrate an effective and secure method to access BBC iPlayer while outside the UK.
Understanding BBC iPlayer’s Geo-Restrictions
BBC iPlayer implements geo-blocking that blocks users from other locations except UK residents. The service maintains its restrictions because licensing requirements coexist with its revenue basis from UK TV license fees. The BBC iPlayer block does not present insurmountable obstacles since legal methods exist to avoid this limitation.
The VPN Magic: Your Ticket to BBC iPlayer Worldwide
A Virtual Private Network functions as your key to access British television content online. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) functions exactly like a hidden passageway that provides worldwide access to BBC iPlayer while maintaining direct links to the United Kingdom. A VPN used to bypass BBC blocking systems requires advanced capabilities beyond ordinary standards.
Why Top-Tier VPNs Are Worth It
Users attempting to watch the last episodes of Doctor Who or Peaky Blinders will receive the unavailable content notification when streaming from their current location. Premium VPNs including ExpressVPN NordVPN and Surfshark serve legally correct as trustworthy partners which provide:
The program will cloak your regional settings to present you as if you are enjoying tea in London
The military-grade encryption system protects your streaming activities from potential threats
Enjoy uninterrupted streaming experiences of your top TV shows or films through the platform
Getting Started is Easier Than You Think
To access British TV services follow this straightforward list.
Choose a well-established VPN service that lets users access BBC iPlayer without problems
Download the VPN service through its regular app installation process.
Select a VPN server in the United Kingdom especially in London or Manchester to achieve optimum speeds.
Create a BBC account through any UK postal address (choose SW1A 1AA for entry to Buckingham Palace).
Acknowledge the TV license request when prompted by the system Start watching TV programs by getting your favorite snack.
Pro Tips for Seamless Streaming
For an experience similar to British tea drinking through BBC iPlayer access you need these steps. Here’s how:
The streaming speed depends on the VPN server load strength which indicates its current workload. The speed of your connection will be best when you select UK servers that are physically nearby your location The kill switch provides your connection with a safety net so you should always enable it. Beginning afresh requires clearing the browser cookies that tend to accumulate. Experience the best BBC iPlayer viewing through its official application
The effectiveness of your VPN may fail in certain situations.
Hit a snag? Don’t worry! Try these quick fixes:
Try using another UK VPN server location because an appropriate server could be your solution
Clearing your browser cache provides you a clean operational beginning.
Look for servers that have been designed for streaming content
The most current version of your VPN application stands as the maximum optimization you can achieve.
The distance between your location and British TV shows should not be an obstacle. Your journey to BBC iPlayer content begins with a reliable VPN which grants you access to Sherlock episodes along with The Great British Bake Off and Doctor Who streaming services. The process takes just a few minutes to start watching British television shows worldwide. Your next binge-watching session awaits!
After finishing his tour in support of 2023’s Heaven Is a Junkyard, Trevor Powers stumbled upon a shoebox of home videos from his childhood in his parents’ basement. It’s no surprise, given his textured, self-reflective approach to songwriting, that audio samples from the tapes would end up on his next album as Youth Lagoon, Rarely Do I Dream. Powers’ most powerful tool, however, isn’t nostalgia but juxtaposition, which he employs to harden the line between the innocence of childhood and the violent currents of today, between juvenile dreams and intoxicated fantasies, obliviousness and imagination; and to diffuse it, too. The record also finds Powers making some of his most dynamic – and dynamically sequenced – songs to date, which only underlines the thematic contrasts. For every pillowy melody and irresistible chorus, there is a tragic story that’s hard to chew, characters with murky backgrounds, memories that can’t be erased. It’s relentless and revitalizing – proof that whatever Powers does next might look to the past, but will hardly look like the thing that came before.
1. Neighborhood Scene
The scene is hazy yet inviting; the piano delicate, the drums smoothly snapping into place. There’s not much distance drawn between the sampled audio and the innocence of Powers’ hushed voice and poetry, not until the disarming line, “Elvis lit the bomb.” The refrain of “Light it up” sounds like “la-de-da,” brilliantly introducing Powers’ knack for blurring the line between what he knows now and how he remembers his mind wandering. The guitars get grungier, the synths fuzzier, painting over celebratory memories with a tinge of horror.
2. Speed Freak
I don’t know if Powers had the idea for ‘Speed Freak’ written down before finding the right synth lead, but its restless, jittery tone instantly captures the vibe of the song’s protagonist. It “came from a thought I had of giving the angel of death a hug,” according Powers, though, of course, a dream is a lot more what it sounds like. (One of those rare ones, I guess.) You can’t really tell who the speed freak is, or why they’re the one apologizing – though you have to be struck be a line like, “The engine thundering/ through every mountain I can steer.” More than just waxing poetic, Powers revs up the music, too.
3. Football
A certain weariness seeps into Powers’ voice on ‘Football’, which hews closer to the dreamlike atmosphere of Heaven Is a Junkyard after the buzzing pulse of ‘Speed Freak’. “And you told me I was stayin’ strong/ When all I’ve done is play along ,” he sings, presenting the theme of resilience as sport, and then, sport as religion. Powers’ gift for framing songs as short stories shines through here, particularly in the second, for lack of a better word, verse. But it also feels startlingly personal – Powers repurposing the familiar language of his youth to commune back with the characters in his home videos.
4. Gumshoe (Dracula From Arkansas)
At the end of the song, a voice mutters something about this being what life is really like; or, as Powers sings more poetically, “life’s a baseball bat to the jaw.” (Again, a sports metaphor does the heavy lifting.) The song is about the summer that taught him that, and he lays out the scenes he wishes he never saw, for the real first time on the record, in morbid detail. At the same time, a weight is lifted off him, and his heavenly voice rises above the main vocal, which keeps quivering at the memories. A fondness persists despite the mad devils that surrounded him. And even, he admits, a real freedom.
5. Seersucker
When we grieve as children, fairytale villains can show up anywhere: “A wolf is in the shepherd’s pie,” Powers sings. He informs us of the year he – the person in the audio sample, we can only assume – passed, the refrain of “We’re doing alright” reverberating in the years that follow. The piano, by now a trademark of Youth Lagoon’s sound, has perhaps never played a more vital role in his music. “Every song that Momma wrote/ Pop learned to play/ When the old piano broke/ The music went away.” You can hear it hanging there like a knot in his throat.
6. Lucy Takes a Picture
Like snapping a picture, the pizzicato strings threaded through this early album single has the effect of suspending a moment in time. Powers doesn’t fully articulate it until the final verse, which finds him softly intoning words it sounds like he’s been looking for his whole life: “And we catch a little breeze/ When I catch you in the dirt/ And I feel the autumn die/ And the winter hold its keep/ I can see it in your breath/ I can taste it on your cheek.” You can hear it in the song, one of the most resplendent he’s ever laid to tape.
7. Perfect World
The album switches gears once again, but don’t let the title fool you: ‘Perfect World’ is not only the most eruptive song on here, but also one of the least idyllic. It’s a deep cut that makes you pay close attention: still piercingly melodic and narratively rich, but also wreathed in distortion.
8. My Beautiful Girl
From the knottiest, loudest song on the album to its simplest, sweetest piano ballad: in the world of Rarely Do I Dream, it makes total sense. ‘My Beautiful Girl’ begins with the narrator’s sole action: “I hold your hand…” Everything that follows is observation, understanding, and pure admiration. Unlike other girls mentioned on the album, this one remains nameless, but he notices the ways her family is in disarray, too – the loudness of broken homes that beg the song to be quiet. And beautiful, of course.
9. Canary
After the emotional directness of ‘My Beautiful Girl’, ‘Canary’ is harder to sink into, darkly enigmatic yet entrancing. Darkness materializes in playful ways, too, Powers remind us, but that doesn’t make the atmosphere any less foreboding. “Halloween and homemade alchohol,” he sings, which could serve as the song’s subtitle.
10. Parking Lot
Here, the audio sample is placed not at the beginning but right as the song’s groove flips from a twinkle to a shuffle, a bold move that’s enough to justify its inclusion on the album, though it bears less weight than the ones that come before.
11. Saturday Cowboy Matinee
The protagonist of ‘Speed Freak’ steers mountains; the one in ‘Saturday Cowboy Matinee’ wants to be one. It comes from a place of delirium that, by this point on the album, is familiar but all the more pronounced; the drugs less and less part of the subtext, more violently foregrounded. It’s almost like the mere mention of them is enough to trigger another audio sample, a powerful yet futile invocation of blissful ignorance. With its trip-hop influence, the song is a bit of a sonic outlier, but also another welcome change of pace.
12. Home Movies (1989 – 1993)
In this collage of voice recordings, one ultimately rings out: “Say, ‘This is Trevor’s story.'” It’s true, but it’s also, at the end of the day, an instruction: a framing device passed down from generations so our lives make more sense, so we can look back and cross-reference with ease. We can spend every waking day documenting our lives; we can dig into the archives; we can pick out the easter eggs, laying them out for others to unpack. We can even weave some fiction in for the hell of it. But that doesn’t stop us being hunters of our stories, not tellers. If Rarely Do I Dream clings to any form of truth, it’s that there’s still peace to be found in the rubble. And like any piece of us that remains, words can hardly do it justice.