Life comes in all kinds of weird emotional shapes and sizes.
There’s the moments of exquisite sorrow and heartbreak which bend you so far out of shape you wonder if you’ll ever bounce back to who you were ever again.
Then there, thankfully for who can take that much pretzeling in one life, those deliriously happy times when all the good things come home to roost at once and you wonder how one soul can contain that much happiness.
And there’s all kinds of variations on those themes in-between.
Which is why it’s wonderful we have artists like the five featured here who can channel all those moments, no matter what they look like, into music that sounds amazing and lyrics that hit the soul, all carried off with an artistic sensibility that means you can’t help but sit up and take notice.
“Jackie” by Yves Tumor
We live are living in existentially dark and troubling times, and so as antidote, we need someone like Yves Tumor, the recording moniker of Floridian experimental music producer Sean Bowie, to divert us with thoughtful lyrics, engagingly effervescent music and a persona that rise well and truly above the pack.
Their vibrant musicality is on abundant display in “Jackie”, a song which Pitchfork describes thus:
“Their latest single “Jackie” is from the same family, a cut of heat-sick psych rock that closes in on heartbreak with sharp precision. Like their damaged ballad ‘Kerosene!’, ‘Jackie’ is a dispatch from a relationship in purgatory …”
The song is an exploration of the emotional hell of love dying and not dying at the same time, with the artist singing about being caught up in the resulting chaos with a voice that Pitchfork poetically says “could boil water”.
It cuts right to the core, a song that perfectly fuses agonised lyrics with crunching music and a whole world of bewildered hurt in the emotively-rich vocals.
“Overexposed” by Jelani Aryeh
There was a jaunty vibrancy to “Overexposed” by Filipino-African-American Jelani Aryeh which is captivatingly bouyant and stands in marked contrast to the lyrical intent which takes a good hard look at a major feature of modern digital life.
As Aryeh tells Ghettoblaster, “This song stemmed from a conversation about how social media never lets you feel like you can be alone with your own thoughts because you’re always being updated on things that you don’t need to know or care about.”
The recurring line throughout “Why do I do the things I do?” speaks to a penetrating sense of self-recrimination and moving thoughtfulness, the kind of ruminative intensity that has played a part in the artist’s just-released album I’ve Got Some Living To Do which, again via Ghettoblaster, he says was borne out of being rigorously honest with himself and trying to speak to others in the process.
“This was made out of loneliness. I just want to make people feel less alone. Like dude it’s ok, I’m here for ya.”
It’s rare to find pop this emotionally rich and authentic and you can tell Aryeh has poured his 21-year-old heart and soul into this brilliantly affecting song and the album as a whole.
“Mezzanine” by Ethan Fields
With airily atmospheric guitars washing over emotive but pleasingly far off vocals, “Mezzanine” by American artist Ethan Fields is a pleasingly non-throwback to esapist ’90s rock that actually has something to say.
Making his name, notes The Crimson, “through iconic music mashups” with one of the most notable being “an alternative cover of Mike Posner’s 2010 hit ‘Cooler Than Me’ in the grunge style of Nirvana”, Fields clearly has a gift for music that makes a statement, wrapping its music around in an all-consuming cloud with lyrics that indicate someone very much wearing their hearts on their sleeve.
“If it feels like it feels right when you’re down
(I’m ready for it) then I’ll take time to make time for you now
(I’ll wait) and it seems impossible till it’s near
(I’m ready for it) and I whisper wet dreams in your ear.”
Very much embedded in the what is known as “influencer culture” Fields has a real knack for staying real there too, with The Crimson approvingly noting “Fields takes a parodic approach to the typical promotional video. Instead of describing himself as an influencer or even a musician, the banner under his name simply reads, ‘Gemini’ and, on another occasion, ‘Read Nietzsche Once.'”
He is determined to create music that doesn’t sound good but makes lyrical impact too.
“Oftentimes, people will get to this two-minute thirty-second loop that doesn’t really have a bridge, but the beat in pocket sounds nice. And it’s very listenable. I think people are just trying to make stuff that’s listenable without getting to that deeper level of, like, ‘What’s a hook that’s really going to last beyond the initial playlist curation?'” (The Crimson)
“Ears Bunny” by Maddie Ross
If you’re wondering if it’s possible to sing about having your heart broken and sound quirky and crunchy guitar pop vibrant and lyrically quirky, then it very much is.
“Ears Bunny”, which Broadway World observes “[laughs] off the arrogance of her ex and their new lover before thanking them for the betrayal”, has a clever title, bitingly incisive but somehow playful lyrics and a carthatic message that the artist hopes resonates with people.
“I hope this song makes people feel powerful, feel some catharsis, and maybe enjoy a little revenge with the twist in the final chorus.”
And it comes from a very broken place too as Broadway World details.
“Later that year, she received the kind of phone call that divides your life into before and after. Her partner of six years called from a stop on tour, admitting to having feelings for someone else and ending their relationship. Ross had spent the last half-decade writing bubbly, upbeat songs with this partner, accepting her queer identity and finding happiness, trying to fill a niche of ultra-femme, women-loving-women, positive pop that she felt was missing from the queer canon. Now she found herself heartbroken, needing to release a tidal wave of hurt, betrayal, and anger.”
No one should ever live through that but while nothing ever really eases that kind of hurt, “Ears Bunny” is a powerful response that shows that kind of betrayal never really goes unchallenged.
“Truth” by Jungle
Hailing from London, Jungle are a duo with an ear for an impossibly catchy beat.
In the case of “Truth”, they have married a brilliantly listenable piece of vivaciously upbeat pop with lyrics that captures the joy of finding love, true love.
“‘Truth’ is another moment on the record which came very quickly and naturally. It was the most different sounding thing we had made at the time, and for that reason couldn’t ignore it.
‘For us it’s about youth, love and trust. The feeling of finding someone who means more than anything else in the world.'” (NME)
It’s a dancefest of epically retro proportions that channels the noholds bared delirious excitement of falling head over heels in love, hopefully for the duration of your natural life.
acidstag.com/2021/07/jungle-truth/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=this-week-the-presets-baths-miami-horror-slumberjack-emotional-oranges-dro-carey-meredith-2019_92
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST NEWS!
One of my absolutely favourite artists from the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest was Switzerland’s Gjon whose astoundingly beautiful song “Tout L’Univers” was one of the highlights of the week.
If you’d liked the song as much as I did, you’ll be thrilled to know that there is a new single and album incoming, something that Eurovision.tv covered when they sat down for a chat with the talented singer …
And if you love going back in time to previous contests, you will adore the high-def version of the 2006 event, held in Athens, which is now available for everyone to enjoy.