“Love Me” is Lights’ first new release of 2019. With some help from Felix Cartal supplying EDM sounds to the track, “Love Me” is a song that grabs you by the hand and drags you onto the dance floor. Twisting you around until you don’t know which way is up or down, “Love Me” leaves you dizzy.
Starting with the lines “you know I give”, Lights immediately sets the tone for the song: frustration and longing. The straight dance sound of the track acts as a front that the singer puts on for the listener, much like she does for her love interest.
“You’re leaving me hanging
So I’ma play cool when you think I wouldn’t
Liquor by the pool and I know you’re looking
While I dissect conversations
Maybe there’s something there for once?
I’m trying not to let these mind games play me
I’m down to be your casual lady
As long as I got you loving on me”
Lights shoots the lyrics at the audience in rapid-fire succession, taking a slower pace during the chorus to allow herself and the listener a chance to breathe. She’s breathless with obsession, chasing after a love interest that doesn’t seem to have the share her feelings.
The sound of the track and story the lyrics are perfectly paired. The singer is giddy and playful with the listener while her words express her dissatisfaction with her romantic situation, expressing a carefree attitude while dealing with a one-sided crush that she can’t get off her mind.
The singer never does bridge that distance between her and her love interest, the tension between them going unresolved. The song ends in a similar fashion, suddenly ending while you’re hoping for more.
“Love Me” is a fantastic dance track from Lights and Felix Cartal that’ll keep you dancing until daybreak.
Ava Max’s song “So Am I” is a fun, poppy hit that’s pretty formulaic in its sound. Max tries to distinguish herself with her lyrics though, selling the listener on how it’s okay to be unique and different when the music to her song does none of that. It’s a very odd mixture of lyrics and melody.
I’ve heard songs that mix happy lyrics with sombre or haunting melodies, or sad lyrics with upbeat tunes. Those times, these songs I had listened to had a duality to them. I could appreciate both sides of what the artist was trying to do and how the blend of expressions allowed for a more nuanced listening of the track.
Max’s track doesn’t really do that for me. To me, it sounds like she’s trying to fit in with the ‘hipster/outcast’ crowd in order to sell her music. It comes off as a little inauthentic and contrived. It’s filled with cliched lines of how it’s fine to not fit in while the buoyant music very much tries to fit into the popular music scene.
I think my favourite lines from the lyrics are, “Do you ever feel like an outcast? /You don’t have to fit into the format/ Oh, but it’s ok to be different/ ‘Cause baby, so am I”.
Really?
And that message of being different and not having to “fit into the format”, is the most effective when paired with a high energy pop beat that’s probably being blasted through a neon-lit club right now?
“So Am I” by Ava Max is an okay track that’s perky and fun, but the lyrics are seriously out of place here, creating a disconnection between the form and the message. It is ok to be different, but I don’t think the best way to be different is to conform to popular music just to sell your single.
We’ve all had those moments that come after heated arguments, or when someone throws a nasty comment or mean criticism your way and you think of the perfect thing to say way too late hours later. We all know how it feels to have that encounter just stew inside you until a flash of inspiration hits and it releases all that negativity in that perfect sentence you wish you had when you needed it. This is what you get with Blood Red Shoes’ newest album, Get Tragic.
Between this and their last album, the alternative rock duo of Blood Red Shoes, Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell, have been through a lot together. Get Tragic is an album filled with social anxieties and tension, Carter and Ansell clearly working through their frustrations with each other, as well as their frustrations about their lives and the music business. Carter especially, having injured herself during a biking accident, was unable to resume her role as the group’s guitarist and had to limit herself to vocals when recording the album, which is probably why the tracks feature so many synth sounds. The couple eventually reconciled enough to come back together and work through their issues, creating a pretty standout collection of songs.
The first track, “Eye to Eye”, sets the mood for the rest of the album. Filled with tension, it clearly addresses the problems that Carter and Ansell had to work through in order to come back and make Get Tragic. The chorus replays the same phrase, “We don’t see eye to eye”, giving the listener a good idea as to the fragile layer of apprehension, ready to break all over again if someone makes a single wrong move. It’s pretty cathartic actually, especially for those of us who have difficulty putting our frustrations into words. Using “Eye to Eye” as an outlet, the listener can let go and imagine themselves confronting the people that might have pissed them off all from the safety of their own homes. I’ve always found the electric guitar to be the best instrument that was aggressive enough to fully summarize any adverse feelings I had and was unable to put into words. The use of the electric guitar in this song is just right that it makes me feel like my body is just slowly releasing all the tension in it without me having to throttle someone. However, using this song as an outlet, the listener gets no real resolution to their problem, much like the song, which ends abruptly saying “We don’t see eye to eye.” It really showcases how things that we leave unsaid really impedes our ability to get closure.
Another track that’s a good example of the subject being unable to get closure is the song “Beverly”. The singer meets a man at a wedding and the man shares a story about his love for the bride. He tells the listener that “I know that I love her/ In these ways that you could never understand” and how torn up he is seeing her with another man. This man goes on to say how he slipped into despair with nothing but a lock of hair from her as a keepsake. The song is melancholy, Carter and Ansell’s voices layering during the chorus with synth sounds that make for a really dour and bleak atmosphere.
Not only does this album deal with outer conflicts between the artists and subjects of the songs, but they also take the time to look introspectively at themselves, ask at what level they were responsible for their problems and how they respond to that. In “Find My Own Remorse” Ansell takes over the lead vocals, with Carter offering up some backup. The lyrics for this song speak of a deep depression, Ansell’s tone almost apathetic as he sings about how he can’t be made to give the people badgering him the time of day, he’s just done with it all. But he’s mindful about what he’s thinking and feeling, aware of where these kinds of thoughts can lead and the danger in that. He sings that “I can’t give these thoughts the time of day…I am my own worst enemy”. Acknowledging this, Ansell promises to look for another way to deal with these feelings.
“Mexican Dress” follows a trend that’s been popping up a lot with artists. Carter herself has stated that “the track Mexican Dress is about the lengths people will go to for attention. Whether it’s online or in real life – small hits of validation and the feeling of having all eyes on you have become our generation’s biggest drug problem.” Carter’s voice dominates this track as she chastises the people who will do anything for their fifteen minutes in the spotlight. The music is a bit more fast-paced than most of the other songs, a reflection of how some people try to gain fame as quickly as possible without thinking of consequences and disregarding mental health if things should get out of control too quickly.
Blood Red Shoes explores their anxiety, their frustrations and the tension between them after a bad falling out in their newest album Get Tragic, a study in how people approach the relationships in their lives, whether they be someone the artist looks down at while on stage, someone they interact with on a social media setting, a good friend, a stranger they met at a wedding, or when they’re just looking inward at themselves. Get Tragic is an album that explores everything we wish we do and don’t say to the people around us and the effect that has on us emotionally, mentally and physically. The electric guitar is the perfect tool to de-stress the listener and translate the dissatisfaction Carter and Ansell have with themselves, each other and the world in general. Get Tragic is a great album if you’re looking for a little anger management in your life, ready to help you and lend you an understanding shoulder to lean on because you’re not alone in your anger and anxiety.
Marina Lambrini Diamandis, also known as by her stage names of MARINA or Marina and the Diamonds, is a Welsh singer and songwriter who has a long career in music. With about a decade of experience under her belt as well as a few awards, MARINA is set to release her fourth album this year, labelled Love + Fear, with “Superstar” being one of the songs released to the public.
Lyrically, the song is your usual love ballad, depicting a relationship that is supportive, accepting and affectionate. This song should feel a little happier than it does, but thanks to the creative choice to accompany the lyrics with almost gloomy piano-like EDM, the lyrics sort of come off as obsessive and dependent on the subject of the song, maybe even a little stalkerish with lyrics like these:
“And I, I know that you never sleep Oh, so impossible to dream When you’re far away from me Oh, I, I’m all you could ever need Oh, so impossible to breathe”
Pretty off-putting right? But I have to admit, I can see the other side of this coin too. If I focus on the words, I can imagine a happy couple who are so in love with each other that their worlds revolve around the other. They make each other stronger and happier, capable of taking on life’s challenges together as a team. The singer obviously cares deeply for the subject of the song, calling them their ‘superstar’, a point of strength and admiration.
“You never judge me for any of my fears Never turn your back, always keep my body near All of the days that we spend apart My love is a planet revolving your heart
….
We’ll stick together Make it through the storm You and I Whoever said we couldn’t have it all?”
This song is a contradiction. One one hand, you have a gloomy, borderline spooky and tense song that hints at dangerous obsession. On the other, you can hear the singer’s deep affection for their partner and the love they share for each other. It’s a very appropriate song to introduce MARINA’s latest album, , Love & Fear, coming out this April.
Orla Gartland is the perfect example of that artist you hear or read about that just went for their dream. Writing songs since she was 14 years old, Gartland brought her music to Youtube after unsuccessfully trying to perform at pubs in her hometown of Dublin. Starting in 2009 with singing covers before moving on to showcasing her own original music, Gartland now has almost two hundred thousand subscribers on her channel. And that just Youtube. This girl gets around on social media. She’s can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and has a Patreon page where her fans can support her and her music.
After moving to London right after finishing school, Gartland teamed up with writer/producer Ben Langmaid and Sean Genockey. “I have met producers that are so patronizing,” said Orla. “They want me to slap some vocals on the track and leave them to the rest, to have no other input. Ben and Sean know that this is my music and so they trust my instincts; they’re there to help me realize what these songs can be. I’m in really good hands.”
Gartland has since released a handful of singles, one of them being “Why Am I Like This”. It’s her most recent release and it’s a really personal track that almost seems like Gartland has been spying on me. She sings about insecurities and anxieties and thoughts that I believe are shared by more people than they’d probably like to admit. It’s like she’s speaking directly to the listener, confiding in them as they sit together in the corner of a small bar, or maybe on the edge of a rooftop looking up at the night sky, or maybe just walking down a quiet street as neon signs flicker in windows and street lights stutter and spark overhead.
Whatever the scene you picture in your mind, Gartland makes her song sound like she’s speaking directly to you. She doesn’t shy away from the discomfort she feels in her own skin, allowing her listeners to connect with her and her song. Orla shared on her Facebook page that “if it’s not a bit awkward and uncomfortable to sing, then it’s not honest enough.”
Gartland is a fantastic artist. Check out her Youtube channel. Seek her out on Twitter and Instagram. Give her Facebook page a visit. And if you’re so inclined, think about supporting this talented artist on Patreon. I think we could all use a little more of Orla Gartland.
This song makes me feel like a little girl again. It could be because of the piano, the haunting sound reminding me of a music box I had that my grandmother gave me, or it could be how Amos’ lyrics conjured up memories of friends that were found and lost through the years since I was in elementary school.
It makes me ache. It makes me want to travel back in time and confront the people who didn’t give me the choice of whether or not they got to stay in my life. Maybe if I had said something then, they’d still be around. Maybe not.
Amos prophecizes that neither she or I “can stop what’s coming, can’t stop what is on its way”. It definitely feels like that sometimes, doesn’t it? Looking back, could I have done something different? Could I have saved someone the pain their choices would cause? Could I have saved myself? How much control did I really have over my relationships?
The narrative that Amos shares through “Bells for Her” is that of two childhood friends who grow apart. Amos grieves the loss of the relationship and the change that her friend goes through, sad to see them less than they were. Ground down “to be sand under his shoes.” And the friend is not the only one who changes. Amos is changed too. But even though their relationship isn’t what it was and that their both different people, Amos says that she “can’t stop loving”.
This song is so personal. Whether it’s a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, parent, sister, brother, etc., sometimes you can’t stop a relationship ending. And that’s ok. “Bells for Her” tells you that when you leave someone behind or get left behind yourself, you don’t always get a clean resolution. You don’t get closure. And that can trouble someone for a long time. But I think the main focus of the song is, even if you can’t say goodbye, you’ll still have those memories to remind yourself that it wasn’t all bad. And if you felt as happy as you did then, there’s a chance of you feeling like that again.
This week we’re looking at Deerhunter’s new album Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? The particular track I want to talk about today is “Tarnung”.
This track makes you pick up your phone as soon as you hear it.
Not because you want to Tweet about how great the song is (although you could). It’s because of Deerhunter’s use of a marimba within the first few seconds of the song.
A marimba is like a big wooden xylophone. Which is used to make those ringtone jingles on iPhones.
I had to look this up.
What better way to grab your audience’s attention, right? Just make them think that their phone is ringing.
After my initial anxiety faded over the possibility of having to actually talk to someone on my phone (the horror!), “Tarnung” held my attention with it’s soothing, almost chant-like lyrics.
The lyrics are grounded, centering around natural images like rivers, rain and “gold light”. If I closed my eyes, I could almost smell the scent of peeling bark, hear the rustle of leaves above my head, feel warm touches of light than sneaked through branches on my face.
I was more relaxed after this song than if I’d just finished a strong cup of tea.
If I were meditating on top of a mountain with a bunch of Buddhist monks, this song would not have been out of place.
Maybe it was the smooth saxophone, or the steady drum beat, which was like a heart. Or maybe it was the tinkling sound of chimes. Maybe it was the combination of it all.
Whatever it was, I just found my new de-stressor track.
The lyrics are an in-your-face critique on popular songs that don’t offer much except for a catchy “hook”. The singer expresses their frustration with songs like this, as well as the consumer that continues to listen to them.
“It doesn’t matter what I say as long as I sing with inflection”, is a bold choice of opening words. You can almost feel John Popper, lead singer and harmonica player, grabbing you by your shirt collar and trying to shake some sense into you. He continues to berate the lazy listener for not wanting something more from their music, something more meaningful.
In proud defiance, Popper rages that;
“Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride till until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide by this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddies”
Finally losing his cool, sick of the gluttonous apathy of the music industry and the dull minded people who never ask for better, Popper threatens to “burn all your cities to the ground”.
Because only through the awesome cleansing power of fire can the world be remade! The unworthy are left to despair as a new world order comes to power, rebuilding the industry of music to a standard that NO ONE BUT GOD CAN TEAR DOWN!!!!!
Whoa.
Sorry, I think I got a little carried away there. Hahaha.
Where did these matches come from?
Anyways, after this moment of homicidal rage, Popper resigns himself and basically says, “Hey, it’s ok if you’re too lazy to care about what you’re listening to. It just means I don’t have to try as hard to take your money.”
Do yourself a favour. Get off your ass and listen to Hook by Blues Traveler.
Notes on Notes 