Imagination and puzzles.

Phish - Rift, Maze.

Probably the most difficult step of this whole project was choosing what song to go first, which one just "had to be" the first track, the first memory I went into. There were probably ten or twenty good choices, but in the end I settled on this one track, the opening track on the album of the same name. It's also pretty much the only Phish album I've ever listened to. My dad had this one in his collection, I never really found out where he got it from or why he did, as it wasn't like the rest of the records he owned. But this album came out when I was ten, and he must have got it not long after, as I definitely remember being a kid and listening to this album. I would put it on in my room on boring afternoons, and drive my toy cars around in time to the music, filming my own music videos in my head (this was a very recurrent theme throughout my childhood). The album, and this song in particular, just grabbed me from the moment I heard it and never let go. It was one of the first albums that I learned the words to, and as I must have been no older than twelve I consider that a decent accomplishment.

And to a lesser extent, I think the track "Maze" inspired one of my favorite hobbies of those years as well... puzzles and mazes. I would draw mazes, really, absurdly complicated ones, like video games on paper. I always got a kick out of making puzzles and then solving them, or creating things that had rules, patterns, or plans. Eventually, it led to me creating a board game in elementary school for some book report project... except that it was a three-story house made of foamboard, with stairs, secret passages, and a removable cellar. It was a big hit and we spent quite a few lunch periods playing it until eventually it got damaged (as happens to most things in a sixth-grade classroom).

I think a lot of things about this album simply remind me of childhood. With "The Wedge", I have a mental association with that feeling when you get out of the pool and your legs still feel the water pushing you around. "It's Ice" reminds me of holding the album booklet up to the bathroom mirror to read all the lyrics. And even though there are some dark lyrical elements to the album ("my friend, my friend, he's got a knife"), listening to this album will always feel like that carefree time between the years of eleven and fourteen, when you're old enough to know what's going on around you, but not old enough to be having typical teenager issues.

Plug in, and turn it up...