It's A Little Chilly

   Have you ever listened to a song or heard a speech that filled you with so much emotional that you got goosebumps? Has anything ever been so powerful it sends a tingle up your spine and gives you the most pleasant of chills? This is called a 'frisson', and it's probably something some of you have felt many times.

   I can describe the sensation being as if there are thousands of tiny stars popping and shivering in my joints, which leave me with dimpled skin and a europhic feeling. Now these frissons usually occur when people feel the deepest of emotions for perhaps music, art, speeches or scenes in films. They are most likely to happen if something becomes extremely exciting or emotive. In musical cases, for example, whenever there's a huge crescendo or polyphonic rhythms, you are likely to get a frisson. The big fat sound you hear can stimulate your senses, your pupils dialate and the hair on your skin rises. 

 I find that the song which gives me frissons the most is 'You And Whose Army?' by my favourite band, Radiohead. Of course, most Radiohead tracks are so powerful I always find myself getting shivers when I hear them, although I find that this one is more special. The song starts off incredibly quiet, almost muffled, but once it's two minutes in, there's a huge build up of discords. Then, lead singer Thom Yorke wails 'WE RIDE TONIIIIIIIIGHT' in an almost ghostly fashion above all the clashing instruments, a bombardment of sound crashes into my eardrums, and it feels like my is heart beating 20 times a second. It's a tantalizing crescendo of musical chaos in a beautiful art form, filled with soul and emotion. Just thinking about it is giving me goosebumps. 

  I also can get this europhic feeling when watching certain movies. Perhaps if a scene is extremely intense or meaningful then the shivers will go down my spine. Some of these include the (SPOILER ALERT) last seconds of 'Fight Club' when Marla and The Narrator hold hands while they watch the chaos of credit card company buildings fall around them, the revealing of what's inside 'The Box' in 'Se7en', the "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE" from 'There Will Be Blood', and especially the famous 'plastic bag' scene from one of my favourite films 'American Beauty' (you'll know what I mean if you've watched it).

Although, I think a perfect example of a 'frisson stimulator' is the final moments of the film 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. Now, if you've not seen the movie then I suggest you don't read this part, because I am basically just about to describe the film's finale. Anyway, in a movie which is about a man's experiences in a mental institution, one can always expect an emotive ending - and that's exactly what one gets. The exact moment which gives me frissons more than anything is when (ahem, SPOILER ALERT!) supporting character, Chief, has just found out that protagonist Randal McMurphy has been lobotomised, and is now reduced to a vegetable-like state. I am in a stunned silence as I watch Chief (humanely) suffocate his friend to death, so he won't have to live a life without mental control, although my heart really starts pumping faster and faster as the actions afterwards go ahead. Chief follows McMurphy's earlier plans to escape the mental institution, and with difficultly tries to lift a washroom sink which he can use to smash one of the hospital windows. Maybe it's the build up of the childishly sweet but sad music, or the cheering of the other patients in the ward when they watch the event take, but I think the moment which gets me the most is the second the mighty Chief throws the sink into the window, shattering the glass into a million pieces. Seeing him afterwards run off into the distance knowing that he now has his freedom as the film exits and the music fades out is an immaculate way to further emphasis this hair raising, spine tingling scene, something which I think everyone must watch one day...

Here is a list of great frisson songs y'all should listen to:

1. You And Whose Army? - Radiohead

2. Forget Myself - Elbow

3. Loaded - Primal Scream

4. Los Endos - Genesis

5. The Intense Humming of Evil - Manic Street Preachers 

6. The End - The Doors

7. Quicksand - David Bowie 

8. Hoppipolla - Sigur Ros

9. Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve

10. West Ryder Siblar Bullet - Kasabian 

11. Roxanne - The Police 

12. Heroin - The Velvet Underground

13. Let Down - Radiohead 

14. Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse

15. Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield (yes all of it)

16. The Great Gig In The Sky - Pink Floyd

17. 20th Century Boy - T-Rex

18. Megalomania - Muse

19. She's A Rainbow - The Rolling Stones

20. Everything In It's Right Place - Radiohead

- Hayley