The Standard Blues

The Standard Blues

n.
the dispiriting awareness that the twists and turns of your life feel new and profound but are not unique—marked by the same coming-of-age struggles as millions of others, the same career setbacks, the same family strife, the same learning curve of parenting—which makes even your toughest challenges feel harmless and predictable, just another remake of the same old story.

A riff on blues standards, the catalog of the most popular songs in the blues genre, which is itself famous for chord progressions that cycle through variations on a theme.

Sayfish

Solysium

Desanté

Viadne

Wellium

Lyssamania

Candling

Fool’s Guilt

Deep Gut

Nighthawk

Tarrion

Leidenfreude

1202

Endzoned

Bareleveling

Elsing

The Meantime

The Standard Blues

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car

Gobo

Rialtoscuro

a blurry image of a light source

Redesis

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

The Giltwrights

Anechosis

Suerza

a tunnel with a light emanating from the end

Fardle-Din