Mistakes Are Okay On Everything But The Girl’s “When You Mess Up”
Tracey Thorn has one of the most beautiful voices in pop. She sings with Everything But The Girl less frequently these days, and with an even more evocative sound than before. But the sudden appearance of 2023’s album Fuse was worth the wait. The band left their jazzy, acoustic beginnings to experiment a little more […]
Nostalgia Wins the Day on “So Sick Of Dreaming” by Maggie Rogers
The moment “So Sick Of Dreaming” starts, it whisks me back to a warm-coloured, fuzzy-photographed version of the 70s. The dreamy electric guitar, slightly washed with a chorus effect, pairs with Maggie’s close, clear, dry vocals to make the song feel like an old classic. And if that wasn’t classic enough… well, this song is […]
Kacey Musgraves Has Questions About Creation for “The Architect”
I’m no theologian, but it seems to me the title character of Kacey Musgraves’s “The Architect” is probably God… The name Architect is not too far off from Creator. This song approaches the world as a work of art, and reaches out for the artist’s hand. Musgraves hides complexity in simple questions. She begins with […]
Jason Wozniak Floats Dreamily on “It’s All The Same”
The power that music has to move you is phenomenal. It seems to physically make a part of your brain go from one place to another – in this case happy to melancholy, simple acceptance to complicated doubt, light to shade, sun to clouds. That’s what Jason Wozniak’s “It’s All The Same” does to me. […]
Destitution Meets Compassion in Holly Humberstone’s “Easy Tiger”
Well, I spent the whole of last week underwaterOn occasion, I would surface from my roomGot a first-class view from right here in my fortressGot a staring contest going with the moon Holly Humberstone’s “Easy Tiger” is not lacking in slow, deliberate destitution. The song begins with the kind of sadness that settles like humidity […]
Elbow Create a Monster Called “Balu”
Elbow (and lead singer Guy Garvey particularly) are a sort of underground national treasure in the United Kingdom. They play shows for royalty, but they appear to be the kind of band you’d want to spend the afternoon in the pub with. Garvey himself presents a popular and very enjoyable regular radio show. But his […]
Aedan Peterson’s “The End Did Come” and Thwarted Expectations
How often do we find ourselves saying, whether out loud or in our heads, Nothing came of it? In high school, I spent most of my free time playing tennis. I was decent, and thought that with enough practice, I might play in college. I still remember key matches that left me either exuberant or […]
Fleetwood Mac’s Secret Weapon Strikes Again on “You Make Loving Fun”
One of the well-documented wonders of Fleetwood Mac’s seminal album Rumours is how all the members of the band managed to devote themselves to making the best music they possibly could whilst simultaneously ripping each other apart emotionally. Some of the songs on the album understandably have bitter, heartbroken, or regret-laden lyrical content. But one […]
Ships Have Sailed Get Pensive on “Walking Into Walls”
California duo Ships Have Sailed have a new single called “Walking Into Walls.” It belongs in the closing credits of a major motion picture. Ships Have Sailed is the brainchild of vocalist and guitarist Will Carpenter, usually configured as a duo with drummer Art Andranikyan. Although most people consider the phrase “that ship has sailed” […]
Robby Hecht’s New Song, “Old Radio”
Bracing for nostalgia, I was surprised to find that Robby Hecht’s “Old Radio” is as much about the future as the past. The chorus may sound like something you’ve heard before. Some of it you have. Hecht rhymes “fly/high/cry” and “long ago/low/radio.” These sets of words are frequent co-workers in song. One could call them […]
