it's d'angelo's fangirl gush that turned my ears towards this, the new single from dirty projectors. oh damn. indie rock kids figured out how to do a soulful mariah carey tune, and do it the right way. It's also a great lyrical conceit for a break-up-and-move-on song. Woody Allen once famously said that a relationship is like a shark, it has to keep moving to survive. "Stillness is the move" describes the opposite situation: when you realize that even standing still is a movement, that also indecision is a decision. Instead of waiting for you or the other person to make the call, you reach a point where having to wait is already the sign that the call has been made. I know at least one occasion when I've been that guy, waiting, without realizing it, for the other person to make a move against my standing still, and so I can understand why it's a good subject for a sad soul song, which can only attest to love's full splendor as it dissipates in the space created when two people decide to go their separate ways.
also here's the lucky dragons remix, which is nuts, going into deep afro-savannah territory, giving the highlife guitars room to breathe and spiral.
Stillness Is The Move (Lucky Dragons Remix) - Dirty Projectors
