Cots – “Midnight at the Station” – Disturbing Body
It’s no wonder Cots’ picture is in blue; “Midnight at the Station” could be called A Study In Blue. This beautiful tune really hits me when she starts imitating the saxophone (played by Karen Ng).
The solo project of Montreal/Guelph composer, singer, and guitarist Steph Yates blends elements of bossa nova, folk, jazz, and classical against a modern art backdrop, her subtly unconventional style brushed across its lush palette.
If Edward Hopper would have made music to go along with “Nighthawks”, the song would sound like this. There is this sadness, this waiting and yearning enmeshed in this beautiful song, placing you in the train station, “while waiting for a train that is very late and might possibly not come at all,” Yates muses. All this passion and loneliness comes through. This could be what di Chirico would sound like as music, his landscapes empty of crowds while a lone train passes by in the distance. Cots has succeeded in painting a aural portrait. Listen to her late at night, hearing in the far distance the train whistle, wondering if your time will actually come.