here they are:
"Lifetime" by Romy (from The xx): The female half of the guy/girl electro-indie-pop duo, The xx, Romy is striking out on her own this time around. Her debut solo single, "Lifetime", sounds like an odd cross between Madonna and Imogen Heap. How this came to be is anyone's guess. "Lifetime" is both energetic dance-pop and soothingly ambient. As it turns out, there is a reason this song sounds like something Madonna might have done in the '90s. The Material Girl's fave sound engineer, Mark "Spike" Stent, was the one who mixed this track. Who would have guessed?!
"Making Do" by Lake Street Dive: Lake Street Dive have been making blues-y R & B revival music since 2014. A lot of it has sounded fun and energetic, and the lyrical themes usually revolve around romance. "Making Do" is not such a song. It still has that chugging retro R & B flavor to it like most of their songs do, but this time it's a bit slower. What's most noticeable about "Making Do", though, is how serious the subject matter is! When a band as (typically) carefree as Lake Street Dive wants to shift gears into making protest songs, you KNOW something is wrong with the world! "To the next generation, Merry Christmas", lead singer Rachael Price half-sarcastically states in the opening of the song, following the line with the more truthful whammy of, "You're working harder than ever now, and the coffee sucks." Rachael continues addressing problems ranging from climate change to unfair pay throughout the song. Many more painful reminders of reality can be heard during the rest of the song, as Rachael questions where the heroes are in this day and age. Having just been married last year, the "baby girl" mentioned in the song is literally Rachael's own baby, not even a year old yet. Rachael brings her up to complain about how irresponsible contemporary society has been in creating a world where people are more physically vulnerable than ever before. My heart weeps for humanity!
"Shaken" by David Shaw (from The Revivalists): David Shaw from blues-rock group, The Revivalists, has struck out on his own now, after having been in a surprisingly successful band for 6 years. His debut solo song, "Shaken", doesn't sound too different from his material with The Revivalists. The song does have noticeably more acoustic guitar than most Revivalists songs do, but that just provides as a backdrop here for the more blues-y instruments up front. The song appears to be about a breakup of sorts. As much as I like songs with metaphorical messages, I'm glad that "Shaken" is NOT some sort of allegory for the present crisis we've been facing. Sometimes, songs with simpler topics are just easier to take!
