We all have songs that take us to a higher place, that are less tunes than bona fide spiritual experiences. My short list includes “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by the Verve, “I’m in You” by the Pooh Sticks, “Sweet Thing” by Van Morrison, “Brazilia” by John Coltrane, and last but by no means least, “All the Young Dudes” by Mott the Hoople. I may be an agnostic, but it’s easy to imagine that it’s God Himself speaking to us through these songs, or in the case of “Brasilia,” Coltrane’s probing, seeking saxophone.
I’m happy to announce I’ve discovered a new treasure, one that will make me feel a bit better about being a human being down all my days. It’s “Shine” by Mondo Cozmo, the nom de rock of Joshua Ostrander, who spent time in alt-rock bands Laguardia and Eastern Conference Champions before going the one-man band route. Mondo Cozmo has only dropped a couple of singles thus far, but if 2016’s “Shine” (which gets my vote for best song of the year) is any indication of Ostrander’s skill set, the guy is going to go very far indeed. Because “Shine” will have you put your hands in the air in pure exaltation, and perhaps even skip through Central Park while you’re at it, like Seinfeld’s George Costanza after getting his high-paying gig as a hand model.
Big. The sound is big. And it gets bigger, and bigger, as in choir big, as Mondo Cozmo sings the larger-than-life chorus, “Let ‘em get high/Let ‘em get stoned/Everything will be alright/If you let it go.” Unlike all my other faves, this one is a direct message to God; Ostrander asks Jesus to stick with him through “the coming storm” and to “shine a light” down on him, before going into that fabulous chorus. The first go-round is muted, just Ostrander’s vocals backed by an acoustic guitar, but on the second verse the whole shebang kicks in, and it’s like walking into a perfect storm of total exhilaration. One that will transport you to a better place, a world that doesn’t hurt, at least for the length of the song.
Perhaps the most intriguing thing about “Shine” is the verse Mondo Cozmo sings about his friends; he’s afraid they’re lost, afraid we’re all lost. “My friends are so alone and it breaks my heart,” he sings, “My friends don’t understand we all are lost.” Should Ostrander be a born again Christian, which may well be the case, his words carry more than of a whiff of condescension, but that Ostrander cares about his friends, and by extension all of us, there is no doubt. And while I don’t want to go into it here, Mondo Cozmo’s “Hold on to Me” is also great, a slow crawl of a song that also explodes into pure aural epiphany. The guy personifies “swelling,” and I’m here to tell you he’s the real shit.
Songs like “Shine” more than blur the line between secular and spiritual music—they obliterate it. “Shine” is a spiritual, not only in sentiment but in the way it elevates you, or me at least, to a higher plane. John Coltrane and Van Morrison tried to blast through the wall of Maya separating us from godhood by main force; “Shine” is closer to “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” which seeks to gently part the curtain to give us a brief glimpse of the hidden and its sheer transcendental loveliness. But regardless of means, they all take you to the same place: Nirvana. And for as long as they last, they almost reconcile you to this awful, terrible, and totally fucked world.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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