SOUNDTRACK: JACKSON SCOTT-“Evie” (2013).
What if My Bloody Valentine were a little creepier–playing with the speed of voices and using their hazy shoegaze sound to slightly more sinister ends. You’d get something of what Jackson Scott sounds like on this track.
I don’t know who Jackson Scott is, but the NPR podcast that introduced me to him makes him sound like a very interesting guy (and that Melbourne is kind of a downer album.
This is a lo-fi recording (his first) that’s then played around with on the computer. His voice is pitch shifted (which is what gives it a creepy feel). But the guitars are beautiful and dreamy, floating to the outer reaches.
[READ: August 6, 2013] “Paranoia”
When I saw that Shirley Jackson was the author of this story I thought. “Isn’t she dead?” [She is}. And then I thought, “Did she write anything other than “The Lottery”?” [She did—6 novels, 4 short story collections and, gulp, 4 children’s stories].
I’m always confused when the New Yorker publishes a story like this. Has it never appeared before? Is it anthologized and they just wanted a story to fill the space? Are they contractually obligated to run a “classic” song twice a year? Whatever the case, I adored this story—which makes me think I should be reading more Jackson.
What I loved especially about this story is that as soon as I started reading it, I knew it was an older story—not because of any internal clues (it’s not until ¾ of the way into the story when he pays a nickel for a bus ride that an approximate date can be pegged to the story), but just the style, the spookiness without graphic-ness. It’s psychological without being violent or necessarily creepy. It feels like people don’t write psychological thrillers like this as much as they did. And sure the thrills are mild, but they are definitely psychological.
The story is a simple one, an average man, Mr Beresford, looks like all the other average men coming home from work in NYC. But Beresford remembered his wife’s birthday and is delighted that he bought her candies. He plans to take an early bus home and take her out to dinner. He’s very happy and looking forward to a nice night.
Until a man in a light gray hat, with a small mustache) approaches him. He makes eye contact, seems to frown at Beresford and then moves on. Beresford is confused by this, but puts the gray hat man out of his mind until he goes to climb on the bus and the same man pushes him from behind very hard until the gray hat is on the bus and the doors are closed in Beresford’s face.
Beresford is puzzled and more than a little annoyed. But he decides that his day is too good to be ruined by this man, so he puts him out of his mind and looks for another way home.
But then he sees the thin man again. And the man seems to be coming at him. So Beresford hops into a souvenir shop to escape the man, but when he tries to leave the clerk accosts him and engages him to look at more things. Then Beresford sees the gray hat man is approaching as well. Now Beresford is really freaking out. But what does this man want?
He runs to the subway, and sees the gray hat man follow him. Beresford hops into a car and plans to hop off as soon as the doors shut. He’s almost all the way out of the door when a woman grabs him, saying how rude he is to run away from a friend. Everyone on the car helps in dragging Beresford back in, but when he looks around the car he sees no one that he knows. He gets off at the next stop, and buys some sunglasses. Well disguised, he hops on the next bus, but as he walks to the back of the bus he sees the gray hat man is there as well. And the bus driver keeps ignoring his stop requests.
There’s more but not without giving away anything important.
This was just a wonderfully simple story of paranoia and genuine fear. It builds slowly and eventually makes even the reader suspicious of everything that’s going on. I definitely want to read more by Jackson.
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