Wilco – Ashes of American Flags
“I want a good life with a nose for things, the fresh wind and bright sky to enjoy my suffering.” Pretty much every line on Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is a quietly devastating jolt to the heart, but it was this couplet from the whispery middle section of Ashes of American Flags that grabbed me while listening to this album on repeat at the tail-end of this summer. It painted a picture, to me, of modest goals that are nonetheless worthy of aspiring to: a life that allows for simple pleasures and personal satisfaction without denying the very real challenges to them. Not long afterwards, I got a tattoo on my inner arm of a small room with a view, as a reminder that a good life is not too much to strive for – it may even be enough. Elle Hunt
