Among the ever grave events in the recent summer months, we find deeply embedded inside the headlines and party politics a shred of decency. I’m afraid it does not lie in any delusion of a political savior or in some false silver lining in policy changes, but in the only thing I find to be truly and unabashedly reliable: music.

In a world that is frighteningly losing its humor, and the growing distance between people due to the massive influx of technological communication, we have begun to lose our ability to relate.

We live in a world with instant availability of new information spanning one end of the world to another. Today it is very possible to function without any sort of close human connection. A person could go days being completely connected and not actually interacting with another human in person.

With this, our compassion grows thin. With no help from our news sources we fall deeper into a narcissistic and pessimistic pit full of inflated headlines and show politics. Yet, it’s nearly impossible to avoid.

However, with this technology comes something great, a massive explosion in music. It’s a truly beautiful feeling when one discovers something that makes their soul explode with a simple chord change. Thinking deeply on the subject I find I rely on music much more than anything else to give me unconditional comfort and the inspiration I need.

I don’t think I’m alone on this either. More often than not I find that when someone is troubled, they turn to that song or band that brings them back to a place of bliss, leaving whatever sadness they have in the far reaches of their mind; even if it’s only for a little while.

It is necessary for our generation to understand our political and economic situation — that is an inarguable fact. However, I do feel that some get far too wrapped up in a political process based on party bias and under-the-table bargaining. It has stopped being about the people, it has become about a select few and their illusions of power.

Take time to sit and pay tribute to the music you love. We all know the condition of politics in this country, and there is only so much you can say before the argument becomes so obnoxious we form new and completely ridiculous ideologies — all it becomes then is embarrassing.

My true love is the music I love simply because, no matter what, I can sit down with a glass of whiskey, put on an album and trust that album to be as I left it; to be as beautiful as it was that last time I listened. It’s an uncertain world with frightening circumstances, but within the confines of our record players and iPods rest our real truths. Whatever music it is you love, the relevant point is music can make this politically convoluted system seem less apocalyptic.

Music is written for communication; for musicians to communicate with listeners and with each other allowing us find ourselves mirrored in something that expects nothing in return. I only hope we can keep the politics out of music. There needs to be something evident in our lives that allows us to be unconditionally comforted without the expectation of campaign contributions or lobbyists.

Music contains within it the ability for us to fall in love. For me, The National holds my heart all to itself. This band has the ability to render me paralytic. There is a unique kind of honesty in their lyrics that tells real stories about men and women, who live, sleep, get drunk and sleep together.

Their ability to be utterly self-destructive, but oddly optimistic, places a mirror before listeners — we find within the songs images of times in our own lives.

They released their new album, High Violet, in May; once again giving their fans the stories they fell in love with on their previous albums. Songs such as “Sorrow” and “Bloodbuzz Ohio” ring with nostalgia and emotional surges from the beautiful hooks that partly define The National’s wonder.

The characters are real, giving the band the title of a literary band or a band that tells consistent stories full of actions and reactions with consequences such as in “Lemonworld,” a stand-out on the album sung from the clear direction of a lonely man living in the city facing the reality of the world he lives in and taking comfort in the small things he enjoys.

It is bands such as this that gives the connection severely needed in this state of public affairs.