When we use an adjective to describe something, on what basis do we determine that the thing we’re describing has that quality? For example, I sat here listening to Jesca Hoop’s “Peacemaker” just now, and wrote out a list of the qualities I thought it possessed (or rather, that it evoked.) I’ve got words like: Tribal. Dreadlocks. Animal cries. Whistles. Iron works. Forgery. Witches. Shamans. Battle. Sex. Strength. Now, what is it about the song that summons those? To be sure, the lyric concerns battle to some extent, but that’s just one part of the experience. Instead, it has to do with the musical construction, the use of instruments to evoke not just sounds but a sensory environment. Of course, I appreciate this is just my perception of the song. Jesca herself might not agree, and someone else might feel it evokes something completely different. Or maybe nothing at all. But it nonetheless feels that part of the richness of the song lies in the fact that it’s not just a song, but a construction that appeals to other experiences, or a fund of associations that we pre-possess. The reason I like Jesca so much is because she seems especially good at this.
