How did you live without listening to these?

It's funny how only once you find a really good song you realize how much you needed it. Before that, you never really knew about it, and life was still fine. But now that you've heard it? - You can't live without it. I was very fortunate to find these songs this summer. Each one has a good memory associated with them, and I'm really glad music of this sort exists.

  • The Strumbellas
    Spirits - The music video & the live version.

    I got this song in my head and it won't go! The Strumbellas aren't a very famous band yet - they will be very, very soon though. All of their music is soft and meaningful. Bonus- they have an excellent violinist; that instrument can entirely change the mood of the song :D
    While listening to the live version of this song, you can genuinely feel the pain in his voice - the second half where the lyrics are -

    And I don't want a never ending life, I just want to be alive, while I'm here.

    There must be more to this, a deeper meaning to these lyrics, and a reason as to why he sings it with such hurt.
  • The Lumineers
    Ho Hey - The music video.
    The reason I love this song so much is because you can sing a long to it with such ease. It's a really short song, shorter than 3 minutes and I really wish they wrote one more verse. The confetti flying around towards the end of the music video really adds to the joy of the song!

    Ophelia - The music video.

    Watch the music video - it's a really cute fail at tap dancing! :D On reading more about the meaning behind this song, the band associates Ophelia to fame. Post Ho Hey they became really famous - for the right reasons, that song is amazing. The motive behind the lyrics was

    Fame loves intensely for a moment, and then wanders on, severing love, leaving that man to keep thinking about her after she's left.
    Just like fame, Ophelia loved intensely, and left him - she can't feel nothing small, and he can't feel nothing at all once she's left. He got a little paycheck while she was there, and now she's moved on because she's got more plans - she can only love a man for little time.
    In the music video, while performing the song, his soul forks out of his body and wanders around, probably reminding him of the time while he had Ophelia.
    :) This probably makes the song so much more meaningful.
    Read more here. The writer leaves an open question at the end; looking for a reason to why the Lumineers chose the name Ophelia - the name is originally of a Shakespearian character.
  • Mumford and Sons
    Believe - The music video.
    You know how we associate particular memories to each song? I heard this song for the first time about 2 years ago when I had my Mumford and Sons phase. I really liked I will wait - you should really listen to that song if you haven't.
    I rediscovered this song again during my trip to Dharamshala this summer. I spent a lot of time climbing small hill tops, sitting there for hours with a friend I made there, who was into photography. He'd click time lapses of the clouds right above the mountains, while I'd lie down looking at the sky and listen to the songs he played. Believe was one song that stuck with me.

    Watch the music video. I'm not sure why they came up with the idea of making this video for a song of this sort, but it's really nice - plus it's a time lapse. Coincidence? I don't know.
  • Of Monsters & Men
    All of their songs. All.
    All of their music videos. All.

    Particularly Yellow Light, Love love love, Your bones and Empire.
    Almost all of their videos are of monsters and men - animated characters in greyscale, and these monsters aren't particularly ugly. They blend in, and the music videos add a lot of meaning to their songs. They're as peaceful as their songs are.

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