here they are:
"Exits" by Foals: The fusion of electronica and rock in Foals latest song, "Exits", is nothing new. However, its length of nearly 6 minutes IS something new! Why did they decide to go for such a long song this time around?! Perhaps they wanted the "epic" feel of the song to go along with their video for it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6YMCjpfH0c), which was inspired by "Game of Thrones". This the second GOT inspired music video we've had so far in 2019, the first of which was Beirut's "Landslide". However, unlike that video, there is nothing silly or "Monty Python"-esque about the video for "Exits". Both the song and the video are meant to serve as a reflection of just how backwards and scary society has become for humanity today. How apt, also, that the song is called "Exits", as it will be one of many songs that the 2010's itself will exit with! Not exactly the exit I was hoping for, though. Oh well. There's always next decade to set things right again, right?!
"Old Black Magic" by Josh Ritter: Josh Ritter is normally more mystical and folk-y than he is on his latest song, "Old Black Magic". This song sounds more like an angst-ridden country-rock song, and there's a good reason for that. This is because of country-rocker Jason Isbell's production of the song. Isbell had a politically angry song back in 2017 with "Hope the High Road", and the mood (though not necessarily the lyrics) of "Old Black Magic" is meant to evoke the disaster in the air that many Americans are continuing to experience day after day. Isbell's influence is especially apparent on "Old Black Magic"'s guitar solo, which sounds like a Lynyrd Skynyrd song if it was suddenly induced with paranoia. Yet another dark song to end the decade with! Keeping my fingers crossed that the coming years and coming decade won't be as fraught with turmoil as this one has turned out to be.
"Ready to Let Go" by Cage the Elephant: Our last song of the week is yet another dark entry, but not one of a political nature. "Ready to Let Go" does tackle another subject of a controversial nature, though, and that is the subject of divorce. The divorce happened for CTE's lead singer Matt Shultz within a matter of just 5 years. Since their separation happened in Pompeii, the song is filled with metaphors relating to volcanic activity, such as "At times I wonder, are we just a puff of smoke?" and "Underneath this bed of ashes". Explosion in both the literal AND metaphorical sense?! I can see why the song is called "Ready to Let Go", because if that happened to me, that's exactly what I'd wanna do!
