“Pull” by Joel Ansett is a Welcome Moment of Calm
It’s a loud, busy, frenetic world out there, isn’t it? Sometimes it can be overwhelming, I know! If you need a couple of minutes to escape from it all, you could do a lot worse than to listen to “Pull” by Joel Ansett. Gentle, confident guitar notes are counted in and a sweet voice with […]
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 […]
Elizabeth Hume’s “Somewhere in Arizona” is Like Seaglass
Maybe it’s summer approaching, but I can’t get it out of my head that Elizabeth Hume’s music is rather like seaglass. There’s something translucent, but hued – hazy and rounded, but inherently sharp – a sensation that until the moment her song washed up on shore, it was quietly but violently roiling, roiling beneath opaque […]
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.” […]
“Pebble” is a multi-genre banger
Every song should take you somewhere. Tugaloo’s “Pebble” takes you to places without you even realizing it. The song starts, and your first thought is that you’ve stumbled upon a solid singer-songwriter acoustic piece. It builds a bit, it’s all lovely, then after a minute comes a shift. And from that point on, it keeps […]
Joy Oladokun’s “Taking Things for Granted”
There’s this ritual you may or may not be familiar with, called immersion baptism. It’s an evangelical Christian thing, and generally involves people in their teens or adulthood formally becoming members of a church. Stay with me – it’s my partial analogy of Joy Oladokun’s song “Taking Things For Granted.” One of the meanings attached […]
Meditation in loss: “Holy Smoke” by Nicki Wells
It seems fitting that “Holy Smoke” is highly minimal. It’s a track that invites you to quietly join it in the open space, to have the room to feel what you need to as the track slowly calms you. Nicki Wells seems to have been influenced by a wealth of different musical styles but here […]
Jettee wants you to dance like no one’s watching
This is a song that will, without a doubt, make you feel good.
Demanding Answers on Tom Waits’ “What’s He Building?”
The American Dream. Long heralded as one of life’s ultimate destinations, it immediately evokes untattered images of picket fences, manicured flora, children’s laughter, and, of course, “keeping up with the Joneses” – the everlasting opportunity to peek over said flora in attempts to truly understand and out-class your neighbors. Now, what happens when we subtract […]
Old Friends, New Friends writes lyrics to get lost in
Life, in many ways, is a set of routines. Some are small, such as putting the cutlery away in the correct order. Some are a little bigger, such as putting the recycling out on the allotted night. Other routines impact us in ways we don’t always recognize. “Now That You’re Older”, the debut single from […]
