It’s a Tuesday afternoon in spring, the sun beating down on a Subaru’s exposed sunroof as two girls in their senior year of high school pass a boba tea back and forth. The exchange is wrought with tension—or at least, that’s how I remember it—of all that such an afternoon could mean. Is this a date? Does she know I want it to be?
Nervous giggles die down, and the car goes silent. The atmosphere is expectant.
“So I heard you’re really into music,” I say, face expectant, looking for a reason to keep talking.
“Yeah, actually! I heard you are too?” the girl replies, her face lighting up. I breathe a sigh of relief. A shared hobby is totally safe, common ground.
“What are you into?” she asks tentatively, her fingers inching towards the boba cup I am anxiously gripping.
“Oh, a little bit of everything,” I reply, face growing red. It’s a stupid answer, not nearly stimulating enough.
I relinquish the boba, our fingers landing on each other’s for a moment too long to be accidental. I can feel my face growing hot. Our eyes meet, dartingly, curiously, an adrenaline invitation.
The girl tells me she’s really into indie rock, actually, and is that something I’m interested in? Admittedly, not really, but currently I’m really interested in interludes within albums. I rattle off three of my favorites at the moment: “Be Yourself” off Blonde by Frank Ocean, “Rant (Matt Pinfield)” off Significant Other by Limp Bizkit, and “Juice” off the original Acid Rap album by Chance the Rapper.
“Do you know those?”
“Not well, no, but tell me about them. Here, wait, have you ever heard of Magdalena Bay?”
“No! Tell me about them.”
The conversation begins to fade in my memory from this point, but very luckily, about eight months later, I have with me Aspen Blake, music aficionada and fantastic personal girlfriend, to talk further about the connective power of music in this Valentine’s Day special Crosstalk.
Blake is currently pursuing a music degree at Skidmore College, having spent most of high school performing in various student bands, and absolutely knows more about music than anyone I’ve ever met.
Isabella Bidwa-Canizares: I know music is something you’re really interested in and have dedicated a lot of time to exploring and understanding. What is it about music, or your preferred genres, that continues to captivate you?
Aspen Blake: I don’t know. I think the thing that I look for the most is that people are doing something new or something I haven’t heard before…like, there’s some quality that I’m not familiar with or that they’re building on some existing convention of their previous music or on music as a whole. It helps me never get bored…I think there’s a certain amount of charm that comes with the skill…I don’t think skill is necessary for the music I like, however, I think visible skill shows an element of intentionality that allows me to appreciate the artistry of the music more.
IBC: So it’s not necessary, but it is appreciated?
AB: Yes, exactly…there’s music that I listen to that isn’t necessarily the most advanced…but I appreciate it anyway…but I tend to gravitate towards music where they’re writing for that unconventional style or unconventional goal.
IBC: Take me back to that afternoon of our first date. Is there anything inherently romantic about music, as a medium or a profession or otherwise?
AB: When I think of music as a tool of connection for us, I don’t actually think of our first date. I think of before our first date…I think it depends on the people. If you’re two people that care about the qualities of the music you’re listening to…if it’s something you’re both passionate about, it’s a fantastic tool for connection…on our first date we talked about interludes and aspects of the music that showed me you were really listening…that was a tool of connection because I could tell that listening wasn’t something passive for you.
I think that [music] is romantic in the same way that creating any art is romantic…this is gonna sound so stupid, but I think it’s like you’re building a relationship with what you’re creating…you have to be intimately familiar with it, and I think that the process is inherently creative…the intentionality in the music that I like is romantic in a way because you can tell how intimately they know what they’re creating…it’s almost like there’s a connection between the two.
I’m smiling like an idiot at this point.
IBC: That makes total sense. That’s awesome. I totally agree. Okay, I have one more question. Any contemporary recommendations?
AB: Hold on…I’ve been waiting for somebody to ask me this question. Okay, so I’m gonna give three recommendations…in December of 2025, This is Lorelei released a new album and it is fantastic…it’s called Holo Boy…it’s really, really good…in terms of new releases, I think it’s flown under the radar, especially in the indie world, which is surprising to me…my standouts are “I Can’t Fall,” “SF & GG,” “Dreams Away,” and “Mouth Man.” A week ago this band Ratboys dropped an album called Singin’ to an Empty Chair…this is one of those bands where they’re not doing anything super crazy; it’s just really good music and totally worth checking out. Lastly, I gotta say, my top album of last year was Bleeds by Wednesday. Actually, fuck you. I’m gonna give four. This other fantastic album of last year was System by Prewn…that one is weird. They use all these strings and the vocals sound off in an enchanting way…it’s one of my favorite indie releases of 2025.
Isabella Canizares-Bidwa can be reached icanizaresbi@wesleyan.edu.
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