"oslo" - little hands of asphalt

this piece of artwork is dedicated to danielle startin, whom without i would never have discovered this artist NOR would any of my beautiful ass artwork exist because she also introduced me to sumopaint.com which is where my superamazing art blooms into existence. be sure and send her some love.

did you know those were seals up there? AND NOT JUST BECAUSE MY ART IS SO AW(FUL)ESOME. but i genuinely didn't realize they were seals until i sat down to paint this cover art. pretty surprised.

this norwegian artist has captured a top 10 spot in my albums of the year for very good reasons. a little bit conor o., a little elliot smith, a little bit wilco (or rather wilco's latest. i get a very similar "you & i" feel in this. it might be the girl backing vocals. REGARDLESS, I LOVE IT.), but a lot himself, Sjur (pronounced "Like shoe with an r at the end. A short, rolling one.").

His voice is sweet, melodic, and not the least bit grating on the ears. (My eardrums are pleased and would like to thank you personally, Sjur.)

I love the piano, the guitar, the backing vocals from the girl. THE LRYICS.

It was a moment for the books;
The calendar looks
just like the novels we had only skimmed through.
so i circled out the days that i'll skillfully waste.

i like that bit. "skillfully waste." of course, i don't know if it's a waste of a day if you're enjoying it, but i think that may be the point.

we’ll put it in IKEA-frames. (IKEA!)
Up on the wall it looks profound,
and reminds us Oslo is a small, small town.

clearly, Sjur, you have never been to my town. my town is 1.9 square miles. our population is 2100. SHALL WE PUT UP SOME OSLO STATISTICS? HMMM?

population: 1.4 million
MILLION, SJUR. MILLION.

how many people live in my town? oh yeah. 21. HUNDRED. 2100.
who has a small town now, sjur? who has a small town now?

RIIIIIGHT. now that i've gotten my inner competitive gangster out, i THINK i know what he's trying to say. because even in a city that is so, so big, & where over a million people call it home, there's still so much more out there to live, experience. TRUST ME, I KNOW. (2100 people. remember that, sjur. remember that. though i doubt 'saint matthews' would make a good song about a location.)

i could say a lot more, but i'm not. there's a lot of love aspects to this song, but you can figure them out for yourselees. just listen to the song.

and because i'd rather you buy & support the artist, i'm not going to upload the released mp3; HOWEVER, i do have a link to a free EP he released, so do enjoy.

And with the way I say goodbye
I could have ruined everything.