Death Cab For Cutie Ponder Movie Stars, Eternity, and Pop Perfection on “Here To Forever”
For more than twenty years Ben Gibbard has been honing the sound of Death Cab For Cutie, trying to distill what they do to a set of musical fragments that, when played together, make up a melodic whole. On “Here To Forever” he may just have mastered that technique. To my mind, modern Death Cab […]
Fuel and Fire, Love and Anxiety in “Runaway” by Kylie V
“Runaway,” by Kylie V, is a song that comes from a deeply sensitive heart, for whom – because love and a relationship is so precious, and they care so much for their first love – contemplating and preparing for all the negative possibilities of the end of that relationship also feels like an enormous burden. […]
Emina Sonnad Restarts the Music with “Turn the Record Over”
Emina Sonnad’s “Turn the Record Over” is an elegant song, built around a warm piano with just enough reverb to sound full but lonesome, like it’s playing in a sunlit but empty room. The piano carries the waltz-time foundation, while the drums provide atmospheric surprise. The drum sounds are particularly hands-on: the wooden click of […]
When You’re Feeling Down, There’s Lullanas’ “Cheap Silver Lining”
There are times when it feels right to play a “feelin’ kind of low” song. It isn’t always about the lyrics fitting where you’re at. People feel low for a million different reasons, at least. If the song has that sense of melancholy that goes with it, and you’re on your own or hangin’ with […]
Lightweight Champion’s “Daisy” is the Age Old She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
Maybe this song was the message he left on her answering machine. He knows Daisy lied that she’d be visiting her family, but he wants her to come over. It’s a bit of a long, rambling, message. It’s a uniquely pedestrian version of a fantasy, about food and a coin collection and conversations and reading […]
Parkland’s “Trainwreck” is the Perfect Amalgamation
Human memory is a funny thing. Every New Year I go in positive. Then every January I remember how horribly cold, dark, and depressing those days can be, and how a task list of a million new ways to change my life is unsustainable. Next year, though? I’ll do it again. You could say this […]
Lonely Choir Sings a “Kind Song”
This will be nice, I thought. A kind song, drawn up from the well-wishing wishing-well of someone’s heart. And sweetly, sweetly, Lonely Choir begins, “I hope you get hit by a bus.” So it’s that kind of song, the kind that lets you know right away the title is ironic. This is a detailed anti-prayer, […]
Grace Gardner’s “Scorpions Don’t Live Forever” & Undefinable Hats
Grace Gardner wears many hats. A black belt in Tae Kwon Do, proficient in 10 musical instruments, introspective while also being a bit of a TikTok star – Maybe that’s why I’ve been struggling to find the words to describe her sound. I immediately though SZA – there’s melancholy dripping from every line. Then Aurora, […]
Noele Flowers’ “Portland” is a New Kind of Break-Up Song
Noele Flowers’ “Portland” is a different kind of break-up song. It’s a bit upbeat, a bit fast, and its resentment, pain, and frustration is understated, stretched out – subtle but ever present. See, it’s not a romantic break-up she’s singing about. It’s the more grisly, more gruesome, and horrifying kind. A friendship break-up. How was […]
Saintseneca’s New Monster is “Wild Violent”
Saintseneca’s songwriting is a unique beast. Lead singer Zac Little writes with internal rhymes and assonance as dense as those of Gerard Manley Hopkins (“Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s / Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name” – Hopkins could’ve been an indie singer-songwriter, if he wasn’t a […]
