Taken By: Pooneh Ghana
If you have never been to Texas, this song will for sure make you feel like you took a 4-minute trip there. With the warm acoustic guitar opening the song and carrying the rhythm the whole way through, the listener gets a taste of how the sun feels there. The sun in Texas is no joke. Yeah, it’s huge, but when the sun starts to set and turn orange, you feel obligated to stare because it radiates this hopeful and tranquil energy. You feel at home. This song does exactly that. When the electric guitar takes the melody 17 seconds in, you really feel like you’re driving on a never-ending road, just chasing the sun ahead.
Through Khruangbin’s psychedelic and funky feel and Leon Bridges smooth voice their collaborative song “Texas Sun” gives its listeners the chance to experience what it feels like to be encompassed by the vast open lands of Texas. Released on February 7th, 2020 by Dead Oceans, this song allowed people like myself to escape for a few minutes when the world was going through a complete lockdown from the Covid-19 pandemic. Falling underneath the genre of Alternative/Indie, this song puts into perspective how various genres can be found all throughout the state, but they can still come together to create something unique.
Khruangbin is comprised of three players: Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and DJ or Donald Johnson on drums. Mark Speer knew DJ from playing at St. John’s Church in Houston. Both of them would hang out at a local pub called Rudyard’s, where they would eat burgers, drink, and talk about music. Soon, Mark would end up meeting Laura at a mutual friend’s house. Laura saw Mark watching a video on Afghan music, and at the time she was studying art history from that part of the world. Soon they started talking and exchanging numbers. After meeting each other, they didn’t talk for ages until Laura got a random text one evening saying, “The Universe Smiles Upon You”. From there, she knew who it was. Then they started hanging out, and he taught her how to play bass. Eventually, she would join Mark and DJ every Tuesday for burgers, years before they started the band.
It wasn’t until Mark was able to get Laura a gig playing bass as a beginner that, after she finished touring, she decided she wanted to quit her job teaching and pursue music full time. She went to Mark, saying she wanted to create her own band, and soon DJ came along, making Khruangbin what it is today. A funky, 60s-70s Thai music-inspired instrumental band from Houston, Texas. The best part is that the band name means “engine fly” or “airplane” in Thai.
The album “Texas Sun” was the first time Khruangbin decided it would be interesting to collaborate with a singer. Taking on this special role is Leon Bridges. Although he was born in Atlanta, Georgia, he grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. With his bluesy and 60s soul feel, the two developed a unique blend of sounds. Two years later, they even released another project called “Texas Moon.”
We try not to have too much of an intention, because it gets in the way of what the music wants to do. If you just let the music do what it’s supposed to do, it will reveal itself. We tried to take that same approach with Leon. For us, it was opening up our world to have another person in it. But all of it feels like Texas to me.”
Laura Lee, Dead Oceans
The music video and the lyrics of the song itself represent Texas in many ways. One of those things is trucks. I mean, Ford has a brand deal with King Ranch to make their Ford F-150 King Ranch Truck. Many people associate trucks with Texas, and they’re not wrong. Theres tons. Leon Bridges even refers to driving a truck in the outro of the song, where he refers to it as a “big body”. If you knew what this meant just by listening to it, you would know he was in a truck. The music video is easier to understand because the character is driving his truck across vast areas of Texas.
“It all feels like a cross-country Texas drive to me…I hope that people can listen to it while putting themselves in that headspace. Some of my favorite moments listening to music are me by myself in a car—or preferably a truck—driving across Texas.”
Laura Lee
In relation to talking about the trucks in Texas, we also need to discuss their highways. Being the second-largest state comes with the realization that it’s not just a quick 20-minute drive to get to the next town over. I mean, in some cases, sure, but when we refer to what Leon Bridges says in verse 3 of “Texas Sun,” it’s easily a 5–6 hour drive. He says, “Caressing you from Fort Worth to Amarillo…”. As you can see from the picture below, that’s a long time. If we compare it to Connecticut, that’s like going to Maryland.
The band’s record label, Dead Oceans, even opens up the article where they introduce the band’s decision to collaborate together by talking about the vast openness and never-ending highways of Texas in the first paragraph. If you want to read, I highly recommend it.
Website to Dead Oceans:https://deadoceans.com/artists/khruangbin-leon-bridges/
Something interesting to note is that there’s also a magazine or website you can look into called “Texas Highways”. Here, you can find tons of places to stop and visit along the way if you decide to take the highway. The travel guide issue that is currently listed this month shares information on “The Kimbell Art Museum” in Fort Worth, which celebrates being 50 years old this year.
Website to Texas Highways:https://texashighways.com/culture/art-music/the-kimbell-art-museum-celebrates-50-years-of-shining-natural-light-on-international-art/
Referring back to the music video for the song, the main character spends the majority of his time just chilling in his truck, following where the road leads him. In this case, it leads him to the perfect spot to capture the sun. As you can see in the photo below, it’s gorgeous. What’s even better is that in the music video, the main character “captures” the sun with this odd contraption and brings it back to his wife, who is laying in bed. She opens this wooden box where a piece of the sun was “captured,” and their bedroom starts to glow brightly. I found that really touching, especially with how the song feels. Warm, open, pleasant, and content with the people around you and the surrounding environment
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges made a wonderful song that makes the listener feel like they’re in Texas. If you ever want to go to Texas but don’t feel like spending the money, just get in your car and blast the song. Or the album too.
Resources
“Khruangbin & Leon Bridges.” Deadoceans.com, 18 Feb. 2021, https://deadoceans.com/artists/khruangbin-leon-bridges/.
Soulr. “Khruangbin: How a Houston Trio Brought Thai Funk to the Masses.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Feb. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8DDID3-rP4.
“Texas Sun.” Deadoceans.com, 3 Dec. 2019, https://deadoceans.com/records/texas-sun/.
