John Mayer

I am actually in the middle of watching Bonfire of the Vanities (I wish the actors in this were different - not a big Hanks fan) so I'll make this emotional and uncharacteristic outburst quick. Basically, my friend instructed me to listen to John Mayer a while ago, and because I am a hideously snobby and punk obsessed bitch, I politely (or rudely, I can't recall) declined. On second thoughts, who am I kidding, it was definitely rude. Ashamedly, one of the main reasons for this declination was that I read one too many gossip magazines, and as we all know, Mayer's branded a bit of a Lothario: in other words, a cunt. So, moving on from heinous popular culture character assassinations, the other day, another friend of mine actually took the time to link me to a YouTube video of him, and because all the effort it required from me was a click, I thought, hey, why the fuck not. And man, am I glad I did. The song she linked me to, by the way, was In Your Atmosphere. It is, in short, a masterpiece. It's essentially one of those songs I wish I had written, if I could a) play the guitar or b) sing. You know, being able to do any of the things needed to write a good song, that would be a start. Anyway, so after making the gallant effort to click on a link, I also (shamefully) made the gallant effort to collect various torrents, download them, then listen to them. And I am now a fully-fledged John Mayer fan, and earlier today bought this to make myself feel better about the aforementioned torrents. The Where The Light Is live album is the music dreams should be made of. It's the kind of record that makes me want to pick up my desolate, dust-covered guitar and play it till my fingers bleed. If I did that, by the way, I'd produce about 1/100th of the beauty Mayer stretches across this record. Highlights for me are the blissfully melodic 'Neon', the somewhat devastatingly beautiful 'Gravity' and of course, the song that inspired me to listen to more, 'In Your Atmosphere'.

Anyone who hasn't heard it, needs to put that right, now. At worst, it will be like listening to colossal waves crash on a paradisal beach, i.e. pleasurable but perhaps not something you want to indulge in at all times, and at best it will be the permanent soundtrack to a reflection on the human condition whilst reading endless philosophical texts, as I am doing. Or you might just spin the record a few times and enjoy it, whatever.