Joy Oladokun’s “Taking Things for Granted”
There’s this ritual you may or may not be familiar with, called immersion baptism. It’s an evangelical Christian thing, and generally involves people in their teens or adulthood formally becoming members of a church. Stay with me – it’s my partial analogy of Joy Oladokun’s song “Taking Things For Granted.” One of the meanings attached […]
About “Orion, The Hunter,” by We Walk The Earth
So there’s this UK band I follow on Twitter, called We Walk The Earth. Okay, I follow 5,698 accounts on Twitter at the moment – fewer than I once did, but you know, things have gone on…. Anyway, I’ve interacted with these folks a bit too. And so the one night, the constellation Orion was […]
On “By Their Standards,” By Angela Sclafani
It’s a comfortable thing to hang out with people who ‘get’ you – people who think the same way, do things the same way, aren’t particularly startling in their emotional peaks and valleys. It’s also kind of boring. From her new single “By Their Standards,” I get the feeling that Angela Sclafani lives in a […]
Fuel and Fire, Love and Anxiety in “Runaway” by Kylie V
“Runaway,” by Kylie V, is a song that comes from a deeply sensitive heart, for whom – because love and a relationship is so precious, and they care so much for their first love – contemplating and preparing for all the negative possibilities of the end of that relationship also feels like an enormous burden. […]
When You’re Feeling Down, There’s Lullanas’ “Cheap Silver Lining”
There are times when it feels right to play a “feelin’ kind of low” song. It isn’t always about the lyrics fitting where you’re at. People feel low for a million different reasons, at least. If the song has that sense of melancholy that goes with it, and you’re on your own or hangin’ with […]
Lightweight Champion’s “Daisy” is the Age Old She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
Maybe this song was the message he left on her answering machine. He knows Daisy lied that she’d be visiting her family, but he wants her to come over. It’s a bit of a long, rambling, message. It’s a uniquely pedestrian version of a fantasy, about food and a coin collection and conversations and reading […]
Oversoon’s “Reflection” – A Thoughtful Pizzicato Expression of Love and Faith in Relationship
“Reflection”, by Oversoon, and “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye, share pizzicato stylings and a mournful beginning. However, where “Somebody That I Used To Know” continues to wallow in regret and self-pity (and hey, sometimes you gotta wallow a bit, you know?), “Reflection” resolves to overcome both personal failings, and disappointment in a […]
Angel Envy’s “Forlorn Cactus” Portrays How Love Makes Fools Of Us All
If every rose has its thorn, does every cactus have a rose? Love is confusing. Angel Envy’s “Forlorn Cactus” hits like a young kid in the back seat of a car on a first ever family road trip, trying to make sense of how everything is new and strange by narrating their feelings in a […]
The Apparent Calm of Shy Yearning in SOMOH’s “Anything”
Sophia Moran (SOMOH), 20-year-old London-based Indie artist, has a subtle intensity in delivering her song “Anything,” about the yearning inherent in a romance that is mutually understood and desired, but unspoken and not yet in motion. The song begins a bit jouncy. It’s not bubblegum energy, but kind of like how some folks, when they’re […]
Hope in the Ebb and Flow of Lena Douglas’s “Friends of the Future”
A calm and consistent, easy and jazz-like, harmonic background functions as the ambient context for lyrics that are rhythmically structured – not in phrases, or in lines, – but rather, like breaths. The words emerge like air being exhaled, slowly and comfortably, but consistently and steadily. We need such music. When I’m away from the […]
