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There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it.

Maybe you will find a new favorite.

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I’ve moved a lot in my life. One year, in the second year of college, my friend and I moved eight times in a month and a half. We couch surfed at a few places before scoring a sweet sublet, but that was only for a month, so we were back at it all too soon. I think we may have skipped out on another place after only a week, because the landlord was an ass. We only had a few bags and no furniture, so being semi-nomadic wasn’t that hard.

Finally, the uncle of a friend had bought a six-plex so we got to stay in three of the suites while the cleaning and paperwork was getting finalized. The last suite was thankfully the last, and we enjoyed the next year and a half having a place to call home.

There’s a certain feeling you get when you look around an empty house or apartment once all your belongings have been removed. You can see events happening, and hear the laughter (and the tears). Even with a thorough cleaning, you can still smell lives that graced the space.

There is also a distinct finality when the door is shut and there is no turning back.

“Sun in an Empty Room” captures all of this perfectly. This is one of those songs that makes me stop what I’m doing and just listen.

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I hope you enjoyed my selection today.

-Leon

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Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.