Anna Tivel on Loneliness and Re-Recording “One Thousand and One”
One of the great things about music as a medium is that it allows for change and experimentation even after the original has been released. Sure, books may have subsequent editions after its original release, and films can be re-released with “Director’s Cuts” and what have you, but any one song can have infinite variations: […]
“Real Pain” by Indigo De Souza: Glorious Communal Catharsis
There’s a scene in Midsommar, Ari Aster’s 2019 folk horror movie, that comes to mind when I listen to “Real Pain” by Indigo De Souza. Without spoiling too much, Dani (Florence Pugh) discovers a deep, personal betrayal, and staggers sobbing out into the rural Swedish commune whose macabre summer festival she was roped into attending. […]
“The Wife of Bath: Alysoun’s Tale” by Deborah Stokol: In Chaucer, Medieval Feminism
The Wife of Bath is named Alysoun. She is not the only traveler in The Canterbury Tales to have a name–the Miller is named Robin, and the Prioress is named Sister Eglantine–but the inclusion of her name in the title of Deborah Stokol’s sprawling “The Wife of Bath: Alysoun’s Tale” seems purposeful. As with the […]
“High Noon” by Dolfiin Alexander: Psych Folk To Unwind and Unnerve
When was the last time you heard someone use the phrase “high noon” in the context of time? Referring to the time of day when the sun is highest in the sky, having fully risen and just about to start its slow descent, “high noon” has fallen out of favor now that we don’t need […]
“One Love” by Dot Allison: Lush Folk Balladry, Crafted with Care
Pacing is an underrated skill when it comes to songwriting. There are plenty of people who can write sticky hooks or come up with memorable turns of phrase, but it’s much harder to understand the ebb and flow of a song, to know exactly how long it needs to be and how to space out […]
Wren Wilder on “Egyptian Cotton,” Regina Spektor, and Finding Your People
“If you’re the coolest person at the table, you’re sitting at the wrong table.” That was a piece of advice Wren Wilder got from a friend of hers, and it’s a sentiment that runs through the songwriter’s lovely “Egyptian Cotton.” Egos are a fragile thing, and it can be tempting to surround yourself with a […]
Alyssa Murray on “thx,” Kansas City, and Going Electronic
In the video for her intriguing art pop single “thx,” the Kansas City-based songwriter Alyssa Murray plays with her food. Dressed in a stylish scarlet pantsuit, Murray beholds an egg, toys with fistfuls of barbecued meat (like any true Kansas City resident), and stares into a small refrigerator that flickers ominously like the television from […]
Joey Hines on “How to Love and How to Be Let Down”
The first thing that strikes you about “How to Love and How to Be Let Down,” a lovely, heartfelt new song by Vegas-based Joey Hines, is the vocals. The song is built on a doo wop chord progression, which already points things in a tender sort of direction, but there’s tender and then there’s this: […]
Gal Musette on “Honeymoon,” Her New Album, and Romantic Realism
The sounds of dream pop are usually used to convey a sort of blissful, starry-eyed romanticism–think Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” Cocteau Twins’ “Heaven or Las Vegas,” or the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” an important forerunner of the dream pop sound. Gal Musette, also known as the California-based singer-songwriter Grace Freeman, has steeped herself in […]
At Last a Truth That Is Real: Sweet Trip’s Roby Burgos on the Band’s Journey and Their New Album
My parents, bless them, didn’t know why I was so excited. I told them that I would be interviewing someone from a band called Sweet Trip, a band whose music I’ve loved and admired for some time, and they were happy for me. But they didn’t quite get why I was grinning from ear to […]
