Whim is the recording project of Sarah DiMuzio. Orignially from Portland, Oregon, DiMuzio is currently living in Galway on the West coast of Ireland and making music which she tours around the local area. Songs For The Funeral Guest is her second release, an EP of songs recorded for The Funeral Guest, an indie film directed by Matthew Kohnen.
We haven’t seen The Funeral Guest, but the tagline gives a fair indication of the plot. “A lonely girl seeks love, connection and family by crashing funerals.” This might sound bleak but if the music is anything to go by then it’s actually life affirming. Take opener ‘Small Infinity’, a skippy folk song which finds solace and even joy in the ephemeral nature of our existence “It’s our infinity” DiMuzio sings, “and it might be small / but I’d rather have this than nothing at all”. ‘Life’ is born of regret and missed opportunities, though still manages to communicate a certain sense of belief in things, as if what’s been done was done for a reason and a good one at that.
“We were friends and we hit dead ends
But there’s nothing here that we can’t mend
We hit the wall, I had to fall
But we won’t break, we’ll just bendCause all along I knew that we would find our places
Even if it meant we would lose this race called ‘Life’
Called ‘Life'”
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‘The Story’ confronts the classic existential conundrum of life being fleeting and meaningless. “So this is it?” sings DiMuzio, “This is how it ends? / A couple of tears, and a handful of friends”. However, she manages to find solace within this truth, succumbing to the inconsequential nature of life not with depression or anger but instead with a degree of comfort. So when she sings “And this is the story of how time moves on / and forgets us all,” it isn’t a nihilistic sneer but a way to view your worries at their true scale (ie. tiny) and feel a part of the human community, united in our obligation to pass on. From this ‘Okay’ closes the EP with a gentle assuredness as if taking courage from the previous tracks, striding through heartbreak with steady faith in the goodness of things and ending with the insistent refrain:
“But it’s gonna be okay
It’s gonna be okay
IT. IS. GOING. TO. BE. OKAY.”
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If you like your folk music to explore dark things with unyielding hope, Whim is very likely right up your alley. You can buy Songs For The Funeral Guest now from the Whim Bandcamp page. Find out more about the film via The Funeral Guest Facebook page.