“Too Happy” by Similar Kind: Tackling Mental Illness with Honesty and Hooks
We’re approaching four months in quarantine, and if you want to be very optimistic you can say it’s been a learning experience. For better or worse, I’ve learned a lot of things, some major, some minor. For instance, I’ve discovered that I can go for weeks at a time without wearing socks. I’ve discovered that […]
Yasmin de Laine on “Hope Forest”, True Crime, and Australian Gothic
To Americans, the stereotypical view of Australia is rife with the sort of imagery you might find in an Outback Steakhouse commercial: kangaroos, Vegemite, friendly men with big hats and Crocodile Dundee accents. But Australia is a country with a rich culture of its own, and that culture often has shades of the Gothic and […]
The Sunflower Thieves Play a Heavenly Game of “Hide and Seek”
There is nothing that feels safer than falling asleep in the back of a car. You may not be in bed, you may not be lying down, you may not even know where you’re being driven to, but you’ve put your trust in whoever’s driving, and you let the soothing monotony of a long road […]
“Catches Me Tonight” by Cole Supple: Charming, Timeless Pop
When “Catches Me Tonight” started playing, I didn’t know if I would like it. It begins, you see, with the jaunty strum of a ukulele, an instrument that has become a hoary indie cliche. While the ukulele is obviously an important instrument in Hawaiian music, and even outside of that setting every instrument has its […]
“The Duel” by Three Sides: A New Old West
Place yourself in an old western town – and then bring in a surf rock band to play in the tavern: that’s what you get with Three Sides’ new single, “The Duel”. This is one of those relatively short songs that somehow feels longer in its delivery. With the tumbleweed intro and extended outro reminiscent […]
“Dreamer” by Mermaid: A Search for Peace and Happiness
From the opening two-note guitar motif “Dreamer” takes you on a journey. Candace Quarrels and Brittany Campbell, the two artists making up Mermaid, weave floating, ethereal vocal lines. Whether singing in perfectly balanced unison or stunning harmonies, their voices transport your mind to relaxing places – waves on a beach or the rustling of leaves […]
FAYYE on “She”, Her Favorite Movies, and the Power of the Piano
On her website, English singer-songwriter FAYYE describes herself as someone with a lifelong passion for the piano. She started exploring melodies on the keyboard from a very young age, and she found herself enamored by the possibilities those 88 keys provided. “There was something about the resonant fullness of the piano sound that I loved […]
A.O. Gerber’s “All I’ve Known”: A Beautiful Search for an Impossible Truth
“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.” Walt Whitman wrote that, in “Song of Myself”. I quoted that line in part because I am the kind of insufferable music critic who starts an essay by quoting Walt Whitman (one day I’ll quote Emerson, just to see […]
The Burning Nostalgia of Brad Peterson’s “Charcoal Soul”
The honesty comes across so clearly in everything that Brad Peterson creates. Plus, he creates everything in his garden shed, so of course that makes his music even cooler. His new song “Charcoal Soul” is no different. It’s got an interesting vibe to it that I really enjoy, so let’s dig in. Recorded this spring […]
Carey Clayton’s “Everything Passes”: An Open-Armed Hug of a Song
Until recently, I didn’t find much comfort in the phrase “everything passes”. It’s not that I didn’t believe it–it’s pretty difficult to deny–but rather that “everything passing” was what troubled me in the first place. I’m a naturally anxious person, and I’m comforted by consistency, by what you can rely on every day no matter […]
