(via Shutterstock)
Our world runs on energy.
And naturally so do we, so it makes sense that the music we listen to would be heaving and bristling and danceably alive with the stuff, in turn gifting it to us so we can make live through those moments when our energy levels slip and it all seems too much.
These five songs don’t just possess musical oomph and momentum; they are lyrically full speed ahead too, and yet some are welcomingly and thoughtfully introspective too.
So, by all means, get on your dancing shoes but remember to open your heart too …
“Von Dutch” by Charli XCX
(courtesy official Facebook page)
You know what magic moment when the power of song, either lyrically or musically or happily both, hits you and you know, YOU JUST KNOW, that this is one song you’ll be listening to days and days in high super-intense rotation?
It’s a glorious feeling and it hit this reviewer near instantly when the first notes of British singer-songwriter Charli XCX’s (known to the British tax department as Charlotte Emma Aitchison) new track, and lead single for upcoming album, Brat, “Von Dutch” first hit music-hungry ears.
Described rather wonderfully by Pitchfork as being “made of helium and hydraulics, an easyFun production with its heart in the club and its ass on a Harley”, it’s a song that is all bristle and attitude and full speed ahead, do not even THINK of breaking intense musicality.
It seizes you by the ears, throat and anywhere else that will hold your attention and demands you listen to and lose yourself in it; as songs go, it’s vampy, clever intelligence in a poundingly melodic musical clothing and it will consume you on and on in the very best of ways.
And that clip? Who knew airports could be so damn, dangerously sexy?
“Open for Business” by Angus1
(courtesy official Instagram page)
Does a heady dose of melodic discordance make for a ragingly catchy track?
Indeed it does, and one artist who knows how gloriously true that is Angus1, a Sydney, Australia-based producer whose song “Open For Business” ducks and weaves and defies you to get a handle on it you fall, without question, for its many highly-listenable quirky charms.
So ducky and weavy is it that The Line of Best Fit rather playfully yet highly accurately, describe it this way.
The title track for Angus1’s forthcoming, debut EP plays like a shell-game scam: follow the ball while keeping from losing your mind. Immediately, everything sounds out of balance, yet, somehow, it’s easy to keep track of. From the broken-speaker snare to the rubbery, yet razor-wire bass, its sonic demands are initially child’s play. The first challenge is to politely ignore the cacophony: Angus1’s gentle vocal makes you press the headphones closer to your ears so you can listen; ‘Roughly half the time / Openly fantasise I’m somebody else.’
It’s all melody and bass and intense momentum heading somewhere utterly unpredictable and yet you stay on for ride because why the hell wouldn’t you?
One listen and you can well see where’s the singer’s inspiration came from.
… the track ‘was a release valve for a lot of pent-up frustration, dissatisfaction, and regret. I felt like the moment had passed and I’d missed the boat in life in so many ways. The feeling applied to how I’d approached romantic relationships, music, work, study, friendships, money, where I lived…almost everything.’ (Line of Best Fit)
“On My Mind” by camoufly
(courtesy Soundcloud)
A little bit of mystery in an information-saturated digital age where everything seems to be immediately known about everything and everyone is not necessarily a bad thing.
That’s certainly something that masked singer camoufly subscribes to, his face hidden away, Sia-like, from ready view and easy identification, with the man Forbes describes as a “shape-shifting artist” using “on my mind” as intro to his “clubbier sound”
Certainly the song could easily find a happy home on the dancefloor, its lightly sweet vocals skittering upon mischievously fun beats that dance up and down, lending credence to the artist’s self-description of ever-evolving new sound sound as “… euphoric, emotional and movement.”
Camoufly had this to say about the breezy, bright, bouncy delights of “on my mind”.
I made this track the same day I got my Moog Mother – 32. It’s the first proper analog piece of gear that I got and experimenting with it proved to be something I’ve never expected being this fun . The bassline you hear, as well as the main synth line, are all made from scratch on it. As soon as I had them laid down, I knew I wanted to make a track as euphoric as how I was feeling in that moment of experimentation. And Sarah ’s vocals were just the final touch that the song needed. (Acid Stag)
“Miss Me Too” by Griff
(courtesy official Facebook page)
Sarah Faith Griffiths aka Griff hails from the UK and the singer-songwriter certainly knows her way about a song that muscially kisses your ears and lyrically cuts straight to your heart.
It dives deep into that peculiar grief that comes from mourning the person you used to be at a happier, more fulfilling time of your life and it’s a searing inward look set to what Uproxx called “a hypnotic synth-pop instrumental”.
‘Miss Me Too’ is about being stuck in this hollow version of yourself after heartbreak and growing up, and wondering where the version of yourself went that once had faith in the world and love.
I wrote this in one of the many little Airbnbs I booked to hide out and write my new music in,” she added. “I texted Lostboy and SIBA my location (who I worked with on ‘Black Hole’) and we converted the kitchen/living room into a studio to write ‘Miss Me Too.’ (Uproxx)
It’s highly brilliantly danceable but existentially truthful and real in the kind of way only real therapy and time away from the day-to-day same old same old can bring about.
“Weird World” by Allie X
(courtesy official Instagram page)
Canadian singer-songwriter-visual artist Allie X, know to her mum and dad as Alexandra, has real presence.
Every last bit of it, visually and musically, is on mesmerising display in “Weird World”, a song that harkens back to the ’80s with all its emotional intensity, delicious synth flourishes and penchant for captivating theatricality.
Allie X takes all those elements, runs through a clearly imaginatie artistic outlook and a vivacious personality and they come out in a story that is all brilliantly propulsive dance laced through with some intensely real emotional moments.
It’s charmingly idiosyncratic and yet groundedly human all at once, proof that pop, especially in the hands of someone as creative as her, can be escapistly light and profoundly introspective all in one truly beautifully weird moment.
SONGS, SONGS AND MORE SONGS EXTRA!
I was put onto Lindsey Stirling’s music over a decade ago by a writing group friend and I have loved her and her music ever since. Happy there’s a new song on offer from the forthcoming LP Duality …
And finally … LOVE THIS CLIP! That’s all ..