Hannah Lee Thompson on “Handsome Ugly”, Songwriting, and Building a Chicken Coop
It can be hard to find queer relationships in media that feel like real relationships, rather than idealized replicas. Part of the problem is that queer relationships, unlike straight relationships, aren’t allowed to exist in a vacuum: they’re expected to carry the burden of representation, and are judged on those merits first and foremost. While […]
Nan Macmillan’s “Walk the Dog”: A Gentle Reminder to Live in the Present
Some songs just feel like a particular kind of day, a certain season, or a certain moment. They illicit feelings like the hopefulness of spring and long days of summer, the cooling nights of fall and biting days of winter. Nan Macmillan’s “Walk the Dog” is one of those that harbors an unmistakable feeling of […]
Yukon Blonde’s “In Love Again” Will Give You Butterflies
It’s not easy to describe the feeling of being in love. Though many of us have felt it, we tend to convince ourselves that our individual experiences of it are unique from others’ — as though each of us as invented this new, indescribable feeling that could not have possibly been felt by anyone else, […]
Christopher’s “Irony” Celebrates Sincerity–How Ironic!
Let’s be real, quarantine has revealed to us all just how dependent on technology we are. We’re constantly connected online: reading the latest headlines, texting our closest friends, swiping through our Explore pages. And because of this, we’ve all probably read or heard about one of the latest people on the receiving end of a […]
Cavern Company’s “Enough?” Searches for Happiness
We spend a lot of time thinking about what makes us happy. We try to do the things that make us feel good, surround ourselves with those who uplift us, listen to the music that pumps us up. When you think about happiness as methodically as that, you can’t help but wonder why we seem […]
Evelyn Eng’s “Run with the Eventide” Takes Us to the Oceanside
The late, esteemed poet Mary Oliver once wrote about her connection to nature: “In the beginning I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, […]
Standing at a Crossroads with Wingtip’s “Pavement”
It isn’t uncommon to find oneself standing at a crossroads, torn between two equally enticing alternatives, wondering which path will lead us toward optimal happiness. But is it possible to have both? Is it possible to mend our ideological quandaries? At the intersection of electro-pop and folk, we find Wingtip’s genre bending single “Pavement”— a […]
CF Watkins on “Frances”, Inspiration, and Collaboration
Even if you didn’t know that “Frances” was based on a true story, you’d be able to tell just from the lyrics. Written with care by the North Carolina-raised CF Watkins and released ahead of her upcoming album, Babygirl, “Frances” is clearly about someone–a specific someone and not an amalgamation of various someones–and the songwriter is […]
Lore City on “Into Your Blue”, Spirituality, and Collaborative Marital Bliss
Lore City, a Portland-based dream pop duo, consists of a married couple: Laura Mariposa Williams provides vocals, Eric Angelo Bessel provides production, and both provide keyboards and guitar. (Dividing chores and responsibilities is, of course, an important part of any relationship, but most people don’t make great 4AD-esque songs out of those arrangements.) Six years […]
“Better Days” by Black Cat & Magpies: The Truth Behind Isolation
No matter where you travel in the world, music always seems to be a constant. While different countries might have different artists they idolize, any country’s music can be listened to from another part of the world and still invoke an emotional response. Language-barriers aside, this universal relation to music stems from our ability to […]
