Field Guides on “Margaret,” Literature, and the 19th Century Writer Who Inspired Their New Song
“On 23 May 1810, was born one foredoomed to sorrow and pain, and like others to have misfortune.” A young Margaret Fuller wrote that as a note, which her father saved. It’s unclear what the context of that note was – it could have been a fit of pique, an expression of depression, or just […]
“Prism” by Rose Haze: Gorgeous, Tantalizing Synthpop
“Prism,” the lush, atmospheric new song by the Oakland-based duo Rose Haze, is the quasi-title track of their new album Maximum Security Prism. The album’s title isn’t just clever and evocative – it says something about their sound, as well. The press kit describes the album as “a testament to flying free in the psychedelic […]
“Flip” by Leah Dunn: A Shaggy, Funny Triumph for Memorial Day Weekend
As my grandfather has often told me, there is no such thing as a “happy Memorial Day.” Memorial Day, after all, is a day of remembrance: while Veterans Day is for all members of the military, Memorial Day specifically honors those who died. It’s supposed to be a somber, reflective holiday; of course, us Americans […]
Lucy Roleff and Lehmann B. Smith on “In the Doorway,” Reflection, and Folk Influences
Written by the Australian singer-songwriter Lucy Roleff some time ago before being fleshed out into its current iteration, “In the Doorway” is the kind of quiet, sober reflection on lost love that’s necessary after a heartbreak. Plenty of songs have been written about breakups, and plenty of songs have been written about the triumphant rebound, […]
Emily Merrell on “Closer to You,” Taking a Different Songwriting Approach, and Something Worse than the Friendzone
There are two things about Emily Merrell’s music that usually remain constant from song to song. The Arizona-born singer-songwriter’s music features lush, jazzy musicianship, with sumptuous piano chords and breezy melodies: most of her songs sound like music for a hotel bar in Heaven. But her music also features dense, wordy lyrics, fitting a lot […]
Robert Leslie on Lockdown Dates, Dream Collaborations, and “My Bananamoon”
“My Bananamoon,” a song by the New York singer-songwriter Robert Leslie, has an unfussy, old-fashioned beauty to it. It boasts the kind of graceful chord sequence that you’d hear in traditional pop standards, and the lyrics have a classic, AABB rhyme scheme. But it’s not exactly a throwback, either: it feels reflective, elegant, and quietly […]
“My Love Went To Sea” by māsa: A Stirring, Determined Search for Connection
A harmonium is a kind of keyboard known as a pump organ, operated with one hand pressing a pump to provide air while the other plays the keys. It produces a uniquely haunting tone: droning, wheezing and scraping, it sounds a little like an accordion turned inside out. The harmonium was a valuable instrument in […]
“Amberlit Morning” by Joan Shelley and Bill Callahan: The Fleeting Beauty of Childhood, and What Comes After
In Ray Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day,” humans have colonized the planet Venus, which (in the story, if not real life) is blanketed in constant rainstorms. The sun only comes out for one hour of one day, every seven years. A classroom full of Venusian schoolchildren eagerly anticipate this short summer, especially […]
“DB Cooper” by Emily Yacina: For Those Who Are Gone But Not Forgotten
D.B. Cooper is almost certainly dead. Most likely, he died from skydiving out of the plane he had hijacked for ransom in 1971; it was a rainy, windy night, and he had neither the experience nor the equipment to survive such a dangerous jump. If, by some miracle, he landed in one piece, he would […]
“Just for Now” by Michael Crean: An Ethereal Plea for Intimacy
I’ve always loved a certain kind of piano balladry: not the clumsy, over-earnest kind performed by the Lewis Capaldis of the world, but something more delicate and ethereal. These sorts of songs stray from the traditional pop chords and structure, building to a shimmering climax or disappearing as mysteriously as it arrived. Thom Yorke is […]
