“My grandma was an incredibly special lady. While in grade school, I didn’t have to load into the daycare bus like the other children—every day she was there to pick my brother and I up and care for us while my parents worked. Visits to her house were a delight—she spoiled us with ice cream, pastries, and the best homemade Ukrainian food nearly every time we were there.”
“I had such an admiration for her home; it was one of the first standing houses in her neighborhood—complete with the most adorable pink walls, little doilies on nearly every tabletop, and an oven that I’m positive would be considered a historic artifact today. My grandma also had quite the record collection—shelves full of her old-time country music albums that were meticulously organized and stacked. I don’t know how old her records were (I’m guessing VERY old), but she took such great care of them that not a single record had an imperfection.
My grandma hadn’t owned a record player for quite some time, so my family had the idea of gifting one to her for Christmas. My mom found a record player that was perfect for her—it was this charming little wooden box that looked like it had been revived right out of the ’60s. I remember how excited she was— and from that day forward how nearly every time we visited there was a new warmth in her house in the form of her records playing softly in the background.
I was delighted to learn about the world of vinyl records through visits to my grandma’s house—it always felt like an art to place one of the records onto the spindle and carefully lower the needle. I was raised on CDs and mp3s, so this was a new type of magic that I absolutely cherished—all the more special that I was introduced to it in a place that I loved.
These experiences undoubtedly sparked a love for vinyl into my late teen and early adult years. I would often purchase CDs, but would always save up a little extra money to purchase my most favourite albums on vinyl. I’ve always been adamant about owning physical copies of the albums I love—I don’t know why, but there’s something special about holding your favourite music in a tangible form.
Over the years I’ve gathered my own small vinyl collection (with some of my most treasured albums belonging to Bastille and Alt-J), however, as music has moved towards streaming, more record stores in my city have tragically closed—and my trips to the far away record stores that still stand have become less frequent. I found myself listening to vinyl less often—until earlier this year.
Suddenly struck by nostalgia (thanks to a COVID induced lockdown) I initiated a search and rescue mission for my parent’s old vinyl collection. Their collection was special to me; it included Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, The Rolling Stones, and The Police to name a few. These were artists I grew up listening to, whose music has had an incredible impact on me as a musician.
To my excitement, I located the massive box filled to the brim with records and immediately rushed to play them on my little tabletop record player. The poor little thing struggled to get any sound out (likely due to years of inactivity); so you can imagine my disappointment as I sat on my bedroom floor, defeated, with albums scattered around me still waiting to be heard.
That’s when I remembered that the same beautiful old record player that belonged to my grandma was now tucked away in our basement, long unused and covered in dust. Finding it was like discovering an old friend, and placing those records on it all these years later felt just as special as the first time.
It worked perfectly.
Now, as I sit here typing these words (with a Cat Stevens record softly playing in the background from my grandma’s old record player), I can still feel that exact same magic.”
—margø
“Someone Else,” the new single from margø is in stores now.
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PHOTO: TATIANA ZAGORAC
