Bernie and Kaycie Satterfield want you to “Stay”
Bernie (Sarah Bernstein) and Kaycie Satterfield’s recent collaboration, “Stay,” alternates between creating moments of timelessness and evoking the march of days. Appropriately, it’s a love song. Somewhat unusually, it’s a love song focused on ordinary times. The lyrics contrast love’s way of measuring time with standard measurements. The singer observes “People on the corner selling […]
The Questions of Seba Safe’s “I Wonder”
The title of Seba Safe’s “I Wonder” doesn’t promise any answers. And indeed the song begins with questions: “What the hell is wrong with people? / What the hell is wrong with me?” Good questions; I wonder about that too. But instead of answers, the rest of verse one gives instructions: “Twist the hurt into […]
Jake Minch’s “handgun” and the Question of Growing Up
Jake Minch has a young adult voice: newly strong, brave enough to let its softness show. You can hear the little kiss he gives to the word “you.” His speaker in “handgun” narrates with that same combination of strength and tenderness: strong enough to carry some heavy questions, tender enough to sing about love. This […]
The Moving Stills are “Better”
“Better” by The Moving Stills makes poetry out of everyday conversation. It’s not until the last line that they sing, “I can’t wait to tell my friends” but the whole song feels like an excited announcement. Big news! “It’s developing, she’s so sweet,” and my favorite, “She’s in Melbourne but she’ll be back next week.” […]
Shana Cleveland’s “Walking Through Morning Dew” Buzzes with Love
Anyone who has spent time with beetles knows that weird things can have a deep and fascinating beauty. Shana Cleveland’s “Walking Through Morning Dew” is weird in that way. One may wonder, “What is that, and why is it buzzing?” Or one may just sit tight in incredulous delight. Cleveland populates the song with sounds […]
Jacob Humber wants you to “Stick Around”
I’m in the town where I went to college. It’s spring break, but I’m not going anywhere. Students and certain migratory birds are on the move. I hear spring makes people restless. Jacob Humber may have had this restlessness in mind when he wrote “I like it better when it’s colder / seems everything has […]
Gabrielle Grace’s “I Wish That I Could Tell You” Is A Song For What We Don’t Say
Nashville singer-songwriter Gabrielle Grace is a master of paradox. “I Wish That I Could Tell You” is a song about the pain of leaving things unsaid – but the song itself is a confession, a declaration, eventually an explosion of articulate desire. The musical arrangement makes the song feel like a journey, even though the story […]
Max García Conover Hears the Crows Calling on “caw”
Max García Conover says his upcoming album, everything in winter, is “somewhat inspired by a suitcase full of letters my grandfather wrote” in the 1940s, to the woman who would become Conover’s grandmother. Conover’s writing is grounded in close attention to the way people tell their stories. “May this be the kind of night / […]
“Oh, Shadowless” is Neko Case’s Loudest Lullaby
Neko Case’s voice comes from a world where birds are stronger than windows, and always get where they are going. Her first, unaccompanied words in “Oh, Shadowless” make the silence they break feel like something solid, a windshield with night behind it. “Oh” is the roundest of sounds – but when she sings it, it has […]
Scott McMicken and THE EVER EXPANDING Say it’s Time to Begin with “What About Now”
If Scott McMicken’s name, voice, or preoccupation with long-distance transportation seem familiar, you probably recognize one or all of these things from his time in Dr. Dog. His new project, Scott McMicken and THE EVER EXPANDING, release their debut album, Shabang, this March 31st. Out ahead of its release is the first song off the […]
