‘A gale is a gale, Mr. Jukes,’ resumed the Captain, ‘and a full-powered steam-ship has got to face it. There’s just so much dirty weather knocking about the world, and the proper thing is to go through it with none of what old Captain Wilson of the Melita calls ‘storm strategy.” — Joseph Conrad, Typhoon

What, me worry? — Alfred E. Neuman

Captain MacWhirr, the unimaginative anti-hero of Joseph Conrad’s Typhoon, steamed his ship into a cataclysmic cyclone in the East China Sea. He could not conceive of a plan to avoid the storm, because he could not conceive of the storm itself. How bad could it be? The ship survived the trauma, though it was left with the appearance of a decommissioned vessel on its way to the scrap yard. As she sputtered into Fu-chau, a wit onshore offered to give five pounds for her — ‘as she stands.’

The Blue Herons’ ‘Endless Rain’ was inspired by the dirty weather into which we steamed last March. I’ll admit to a MacWhirrian lack of imagination regarding the gale: I thought we would experience some mild discomfort and sail into a safe harbor by summer.

The song’s spirit applies to the storms of all hemispheres, including — or especially — the relationships we rush toward with all lights blazing, even as the second mate is desperately signaling Full Stop. Without a sun at which to aim our sextant, we drift aimlessly in a maze of metaphysical downpours.

If only we heeded the warning
We all knew this was coming
Apathy turns to a nightmare
No one is coming to save us
Everybody find your own life boat

‘Endless Rain’ jangles with melancholy minor chords, the wistful echo of days that have disappeared behind the flipped-over pages of last year’s calendar. But the track has a heft, the weight of a wall of sound that builds into pop with emphasis on the power. ‘Endless Rain’ joins the playlist of favorite rain songs that music was invented to populate.

The Blue Herons are Andy Jossi (music and instruments) and Gretchen DeVault (lyrics and vocals). The pair have put together an impressive CV: Gretchen is/was a member of The Icicles, Voluptuous Panic, and The Francine Odysseys, while Andy has planted musical seeds in The Churchhill Garden and The Serpent Garden. Today’s track is their second song of the day; last year we featured their previous single, the optimistically jangly ‘Go On.’

The Blue Herons’ music is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music. And be sure to follow The Blue Herons on Facebook.