Coldplay Go Large (Again) With “feelslikeimfallinginlove”
How do you feel about Coldplay? It’s a question that has become similar to discussing political leanings. It can split friendships and start angry discussions one way or the other. I don’t quite understand why. Sure, by anyone’s standards, Coldplay are a huge band and yet they come across as ordinary, everyday people. With the […]
Courtney Farren Ponders “Will I Ever Love Me?”
(Photo: Garrett Borns) Some albums – like Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour – have enduring beauty. You enjoy listening to them from beginning to end, year after year. I’m sure that Courtney Farren’s new debut album Punchlines will likewise sound just as marvelous in 2034. On the strength of her songwriting alone, Farren is already in […]
Valley Remembers to “Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden”
The title of Valley’s “Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden,” could have been taken from someone’s to-do list. The character conjured seems to need reminders of how to move forward – they’re “honestly, all out of options.” This song gives us an inside view of what loneliness sounds like. The vocals are compressed as though […]
“Sorry Now” Is a Nostalgic Reminder That Breakups Cut Deep – On Both Sides
In the pantheon of love songs, Juliet Lloyd’s “Sorry Now” explores a far less common theme than usual. It’s not about unrequited love, the hurt someone causes or the feeling of freedom at the end of a toxic relationship. This about is the person who initiated the “split” opaquely stewing on their regret. And to […]
The Japanese House Puts a “:)” on Her Face
Something’s happening. The Japanese House feels happier. That’s the chorus of her new single “:)”. And it’s also the first thought I had when I finished listening to it. Historically, The Japanese House (the sparkly, introspective project of singer-songwriter Amber Bain) has been an exercise in bright melancholy: how happy can you sound while still […]
Retrospective: “Telegraph Road” is Mark Knopfler’s Magnum Opus
Let’s look at retrospective in a unique way – searching for the artist’s peak. Not the most popular song; something harder – something we might think of as the Platonic peak. A song that conveys the essence of their good. Won’t reasonable people disagree? Let’s hope so. Mark Knopfler is a challenge because he does […]
Julia Pratt Deals with Her Past on Family Feud EP
A car crash inevitably produces a gapers’ block (the traffic caused not by an accident, but by the people who slow down to “gape” at the accident on the other side of the highway) and the fascination of the gaper is kin to the proverbial “there but for the grace of inscrutable cosmological forces and/or […]
Holly Humberstone Works Through Something on “Cocoon”
Holly Humberstone released the album Paint My Bedroom Black in 2023 which contained the track “Cocoon.”, and now she has released a new version of that song in collaboration with Medium Build. The original version is a lively, fully produced affair that kicks in with a relentless beat from very early on. The new version […]
Katie Pruitt Doesn’t Need to Be “Jealous of the Boys”
Who dresses up in a fabulous costume to step into a fearless alter ego capable of extraordinary feats? Whose hidden, secret self is maybe more true than the face they present to the workaday world? Drag queens. Also, Superman. “When I was younger, I wanted to be Superman,” sings Katie Pruitt on her new song, […]
Hovvdy Embrace the Power of Singing on “Make Ya Proud”
How do you harness the power of song? Hovvdy, the quirkily spelt duo from Austin, Texas, do it by jumping right in with a cymbal splash and luscious piano chords over a bare drum beat, somehow managing to get those chords to pull out all sorts of powerful emotions from me as they start to […]
