"Die Young" by Sylvan Esso, Thursday, September 22, 2022 (Updated Repost)

Sylvan Esso is an electronic duet composed of vocalist Amelia Meath and electronic programmer/producer Nick Sanborn formed in Durham, North Carolina. The group had some success on the radio and album charts and even garnered a Grammy nomination, but their genre-bending sound of pop, rock, dance, and adult alternative has mostly gone under-appreciated. Like Oh Wonder, Meath and Sanborn are a couple, and they married in 2016. "Die Young" comes from the band's sophomore album. The standout feature of the track is Meath's vocals, sometimes sounding old fashioned, but the synths remind the listener that this is a modern sound. It's a modern romance between two characters who met by chance and gave meaning to each other's life. 

I HAD IT ALL PLANNED OUT BEFORE YOU MET ME. On Genius, listeners debate if Meath is talking about suicide or living recklessly. Some may argue that living recklessly with various substances was equal to suicide. However, thinking about this debate took me back to a classroom in Mission College, listening to a literature lecture. Dr. (Let's use the name of the song today) Esso was the chair of the English department at Mission College. He was a tall man with an intimidating stare. Every time he looked at you, he was looking for you to say the answer he wanted to hear. If you didn't give it to him, he would look to turn your answer into the answer he wanted. His lectures usually contain lot of Biblical counterpoint arguments against the text. His approach to literature was from suspicion, not from a position of learning what it can teach us. His 50 years of building an apologetical wall, guarding himself and the students he hoped to safeguard as well against the nearly 4000 years of secular literature, culminated in our classroom as we studied the Romantics and the Victorians. I think it was in his lecture on Kipling where Dr. Esso asked the class: "What do you think is God's will for your life? Most people would say to get married, have a family, and get a job. But what if following God means going to India and starving, serving the people there?"

I WAS GONNA DIE YOUNG. NOW I GOTTA WAIT FOR YOU, HONEY. I kept that question in mind as I had applied to be a "missionary" in South Korea. At 25, I had very little planned for my life, but I wanted to serve God. First of all, I had so much college debt that I couldn't imagine ever living a normal life. Maybe that was for people with richer parents. For me, just getting a degree was enough. Second, I started to think that maybe married life wasn't for me. Maybe not being attracted to women could help me focus my life just in serving God. I'd have to do something about my Internet habits, though. Finally, what could be after Korea? I could pay off my loans quickly and go to a place in the world that had an even lower percentage of Christians. I had gotten my hands on a book of missions where you could learn about each county's specific needs. If I was single and unattached, I could take greater risks. "You're crazy," Jay said one night. A year before I worked for the C. Institute, Jay worked there. I met him through church and we were hanging out one night in his apartment, watching a movie. "God certainly doesn't want you to be alone. Sure, there are some people, but I think that's more an exception for people with personality disorders. Believe me, you're going to find a girlfriend here, and you're going to forget all about this." 

Read the lyrics on Genius.