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 […]
The Unrequited Love in Mary Middlefield’s “Band Aid”
At first, it seems that Mary Middlefield’s beautiful song “Band Aid” is about the kind of unrequited love that takes place in what is already supposed to be a romantic relationship. The relationship is unequal – one person is looking for love, but the other person is only looking for some a way to patch […]
LADY SLOTH’s “Freedom Bailey” Will Give You a New Appreciation of Life
Storytelling is one of the best ways to give a song significance. It’s like this weird mental thing where the narrative adds to the music. There have been plenty of moments in my life where I listened to a song, maybe I enjoyed it, maybe I didn’t, but the experience wasn’t really all that deep. […]
Shannon Hoon Makes Time for Grandma on “Vernie”
For music acts lucky enough to find substantial success with their debut album, there quickly arises an asterisk, and it adheres to every achievement, accolade, and royalty dollar earned from such swift and vast successes. That asterisk is the age-old “sophomoric album test.” Have they spent all of their artistic integrity and ability, pent up […]
Meija’s “Matter Over Mind” is All About the Vibe
One of my favorite things about reviewing music is taking in obscure and (relatively) unknown artists and sharing them with the world. In my search for chill indie songs that would fit well into a winter playlist, the final track on Meija’s Side A EP, “Matter Over Mind” stood out to me. Meija (real name […]
Belle Shea’s “Cheyenne” is a Goodbye that Leaves You Speechless
It’s a music reviewer’s job to… well, review music. You’re supposed to have a lot of words to describe a song. But once in a while, a song will come along that stops you in your tracks, because any description you could give it would just fall short. And it’s because the song itself is […]
Aimee C. Alexander Wants Us to Go Searching In “Storage”
I am a massive fan of test cricket. For those that don’t follow the sport, it’s the version that lasts five days and can still end up in a draw. There is time for a story to develop, for subplots to thicken and for a grand finish to be set up. Give me five days […]
Alastair Leonard’s “Pavlova Dogs” Uses Simple Tricks to Find Hidden Spaces
Spotify Wrapped is a digitized summary of your listening on the platform for the year. It told me I had listened to over 3000 artists across 95 genres, including the cheery tones of post-doom metal, with a bit of indie soul as an antidote. But I don’t know which genre Alastair Leonard’s “Pavlova Dogs” belongs […]
Let Zzzahara Haunt Your Ears with “cupid’s out tonight”
As we move towards the end of the year, it’s exciting to see that there are still “single of the year” contenders in our midst. One of the most recent ones, “cupid’s out tonight” by zzzahara, is another single worth taking a listen to. zzzahara is an LA based artist who released an album earlier […]
“Keep Talking”: Pink Floyd’s Starkly Accurate Warning to Humankind
One could make a valid case for the 1990s being the last decade of true, unadulterated human experience. A new yet unobtrusive invention called ‘the internet’ is, in its infancy, skirting the corners of society. Mobile phones won’t be a ‘must have’ until the turn of the next century, and most communication is conducted in […]
