NYC singer/songwriter J Lind reminds us to be present and live in the moment in his radiant new song “Oxford Sweater,” a song of connection and embracing life’s little details.
Stream: “Oxford Sweater” – J Lind
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For me, it’s a song about unplugging from the buzz of my own ego and becoming more present to the miracles at hand… an ode to the peace that comes with learning to sit still and listen.
It’s easier and easier to walk around with your eyes closed these days.
With our headphones in, a music or podcast playing, and our heads focused on the little blue screen, the world can pass us by and we can pass it by like ships in the night. The people around us – on the street, on the subway – could be anyone; it doesn’t matter – they’re just bodies. We’re in our own little bubble, and they’re in theirs.
It’s easy to live like this, and yet every so often, someone or something wakes us up and forces our eyes open. We come back to reality, and remember how sweet, how wonderful, how magical it is to be alive, aware, and in the here and now. NYC singer/songwriter J Lind reminds us to be present and live in the moment in his radiant new song “Oxford Sweater,” a song of connection and embracing life’s little details.
You know I saw it in the crosswalk keeper
He was wearing neon holding up a sign
He was passing out the peace with two fingers
Something we agree on when it’s hard to find
And that one woman had an Oxford sweater
Started seeing Latin somewhere in my mind
It said something like the truth knows better
Than whatchya hang your hat on,
watchya try to hide
And I, I turn the lights out
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Oxford Sweater,” the third single taken off J Lind’s upcoming third album, Alchemy (out later this year). A multi-instrumentalist artist, producer, and songwriter whose music often focuses on themes of health and wellness – including hospice and addiction – J. David Lind has established himself as a singular voice in the indie music world over the past half-decade.
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, and now based in New York City, the indie folk artist (and MD Candidate at Weill Cornell Medicine) has toured throughout the country, performing for audiences in more than thirty states – including for palliative care teams at Johns Hopkins and Seattle Children’s Hospitals, and beyond. Lind’s music often explores deeper aspects of our shared human experience, and the songs off Alchemy – “The Potter and the Clay,” “Oceanside,” and now “Oxford Sweater” – all see him diving into the throes of life itself, with today’s new single offering a particularly powerful dose of reality as Lind opens his own eyes while encouraging listeners to be more present, too:
And then I heard it in the subway station
Someone playing trumpet, I was walking by
The six was coming just to test my patience
Tied up like a puppet, running out of time
A kid was tryna get his mom to listen
She was caught up in an algorithm state of mind
He was finding what his mom was missing
Hope he tells her all about it on the other side
And I, I turn the lights out
And I, I turn the lights out
I turn the lights out
“Oxford Sweater” is very much a reflection of Lind’s own life experience.
“There’s a crossing guard around the corner from my apartment who greets just about everyone who walks by—a tall order in Manhattan—with a sincere smile and a peace sign,” he tells Atwood Magazine. “I’d been having a tough morning, stuck in my head, when we crossed paths. His simple, earnest kindness snapped me out of my mood, and I wrote “Oxford Sweater” within the hour. For me, it’s a song about unplugging from the buzz of my own ego and becoming more present to the miracles at hand. It’s an expression of my longing for a reprieve from our age of too-much-information, an ode to the peace that comes with learning to sit still and listen.”
No matter how good that song or podcast is, or how fascinating that Instagram or TikTok post may be, complete absorption is no way to go through life. You end up letting the world pass you by, and it will pass you by in turn. You wake up and your life is all behind you, and what have you got to show for it?
To take a less extreme route, tuning out the world means missing all the little things – the fleeting connections that can make every day so singular and special. We lose a key element of life when we remove ourselves from the present day, and we can never get that back – but with a song like “Oxford Sweater” playing in our ears, we can remember to be in the here and now, to look alive and stay rooted in the present.
Co-produced by Andy D. Park (Death Cab for Cutie, Noah Gundersen) and Jake Gillespie, Alchemy promises to be J Lind’s most impassioned and electrifying album yet. Stream “Oxford Sweater” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned for more from this singular artist in the months to come!
And I, I turn the lights out
And I, I turn the lights out
I turn the lights out
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Stream: “Oxford Sweater” – J Lind
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