Life is busy and wonderful and exhausting and full of a million things to contemplate normally, even more so when things take a very dark turn like they have in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Processing it all can sometimes feel like an impossible task, beyond anything we can manage, which is having music artists who can give voice to what we’re feeling is such a rich and precious gift.
These five artists do just that with thoughtful lyrics and exquisitely beautiful music that take you a wholly reflective place where you can think about where life has you and what it means to you.
So stop what you’re doing, sit back, listen and remember that life might sometimes feel too much but it will eventually make sense and you will come out the other side, no doubt clutching these meaningful songs close to your heart.
“Sober” by Aquilo
Hailing from the beautiful surrounds of Silverdale, Lancashire in the UK, Aquilo, comprising Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher, have crafted an exquisitely beautiful track in “Sober”.
Sporting lyrics that deliver some hard words of truth and a recognition of darker moments in life including the break-up that is the subject of the song, “Sober” is a softly exquisite song that is never but a piece of insubstantial pop.
It is brave, honest and true, all qualities that co-exist perfectly in a track described by Original Rock this way:
“‘Sober’ finds Aquilo embracing a warm, organic sound. Soothing vocal harmonies, elegant piano and raw beats provide the foundations of their sonic approach. Yet the production by Jack Sibley complements their naturalistic style with some subtle electro flourishes that give it another layer of depth.”
“Sober” is drawn from the EP of the same name which release 3 June.
“Don’t Run and Hide” by Ane Brun
What a fantastically, evocative song!
“Don’t Run and Hide” is all emotional portent and existential angst set to the most gloriously luminously beautiful of melodies, a clear case of dark and light mixing together to moving effect, all anchored by Norwegian artist’s emotive vocals.
If the music feels freeing and uplifting and expansive even as it discusses the most intimate and heartbreaking of circumstances, that’s quite deliberate says Brun.
“‘Many of the songs I like are based around a single bassline that repeats itself, yet the melody remains accessible and interesting throughout. That’s as true of the old baroque arias I’ve covered by Purcell (‘Dido’s Lament’, ‘Laid in Earth’) and Monteverdi (‘Lamento Della Ninfa (Oh Love)’) as of Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’. It brings a sense of boundlessness I find liberating.” (13th Floor)
“Don’t Run and Hide” is from Brun’s forthcoming, as-yet-untitled album.
“Give Me Love” by Price Park and Jade Alice
An electro-pop singer/songwriter/producer from Melbourne, Jade Alice has one of those ethereally, emotive voices that invest each and every song with the longing and beauty of the ages.
So it makes sense that she would join forces with fellow Melbournian producer/songwriter Tom Armstrong, the artist behind Price Park to create some appropriately moving and beautiful pop.
Described by EDM sauce as “a bubbly, glistening electropop collaboration [that melds] Price Park’s lush alt-pop production and Jade’s heavenly vocal sounds”, the song came together in some pretty creatively unique circumstances.
“Jade and I were invited to a song-writing camp at a beach house last year organized by our good friend Motaki and his dog. It was a really fun weekend and spawned heaps of great songs from a bunch of different artists. I’d written a bit of the instrumental for another song with my friend/long-time collaborator Joe Kosky and had been sitting on it for a couple of years. I re-discovered it during the week leading up to our song-writing camp and as soon as I opened the session, I knew I wanted Jade to work on it with me, and she perfectly captured that emotion I’m so into at the moment.”
“All I Hear” by uomo
uomo aka Pietro Filippone is a musician who calls Adelaide, South Australia home, uomo describes himself as a “young, electronic artist … [whose] sound is a blend of Future Bass and Australian Wave that emanates deep, atmospheric chords with playful vocals and sound effects.”
That’s a pretty cool description that gives every indication that the resulting songs will be things of quirky cleverness and fun with an ethereal sensibility and emotional evocativeness that really affects you in the very best of ways, which is exactly what “All I Hear” is like.
There is a quiet, giddy but sobering joy that comes from the track which charts the beginning of a new relationship with all the energy that brings to the equation, not all of it good necessarily, but you suspect dealable with since the overarching feeling is a pretty wonderful.
“It tells the story of a beginning a relationship and finding how quickly your personality changes and becomes a reflection of the person you’re falling in love with. It deals with themes of self-doubt and second guessing, the negative thoughts your brain makes up and overcoming vulnerability.” (AAA Backstage)
If you’ve ever felt simultaneously thrilled and excited, and fearful and overwhelmed at the start of a new relationship, “All I Hear’ will really hit home, helped along a gorgeously ruminative and evocative melody that stays with long after the last thoughtful note.
“Something Comforting” by Porter Robinson
Speaking of songs that really affect you in the very best and transportive of ways, “Something Comforting”, by Chapel Hill, North California-based DJ, record producer, musician, and singer Porter Robinson, is a thing of memorable loveliness.
Normally the word “lovely” sounds insubstantial and lacking in any real impact but in Robinson’s it’s a wholly apt word to use since the track is so inventively catchy and infectiously danceable and listenable.
Kicking off nice and slowly, it builds up speed to the point where it races with vivacity and buoyancy to a finish that comes all too often, a song anchored by effervescently affecting vocals, introspectively meaningful lyrics and a beat so insistent and upbeat that it lifts you up, an important thing to note given its birth in a time of “creative struggle and depression.”
Lyrically it’s raw and vulnerable, but also hopeful and alive, a reminder that while life can be dark, like it is for so many during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a reassurance to be had in the presence of others and their ability to comfort and sustain when all else seems lost.
SONGS, SONGS AND MORE SONGS EXTRA!
Do “Jump” by Van Halen Song and ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor go together in a gloriously good mash-up by D J Cumberbund? Yes, yes they do indeed …