It's Groundhog Day...again. But this time, I'm doing something I don't think I've done on previous Groundhog Days: a music blog! Here are today's songs of the week:
"Hold U" by Indigo de Souza: The late '80s brought us the innovative, cutting-edge folk-rock duo, Indigo Girls. The early 2020's have brought us an equally innovative and cutting-edge indie-pop girl NAMED Indigo. Indigo de Souza, that is. Indigo is a North Carolinian with Brazilian heritage whose style of music can't be easily defined. It combines elements of techno, R & B, new wave, and pop music to create a uniquely catchy sound. Her breakthrough song, "Hold U," is a simple love song lyrically, but its sound is truly a breath of fresh air on alt and adult alt radio stations.
"Paddle to the Stars" by The Dip: As far as the indie-folk/rock record label, Dualtone, is concerned, The Dip are probably the most jazz and soul influenced band on their roster. The Dip have cultivated such a sound for a few years now, but "Paddle the Stars" marks the first time that adult alt radio has truly taken notice of their music, which carves out a sound more reminiscent of Stax Records than it does Dualtone. The song's lyrics aren't out of the ordinary for a love song, but the song definitely seems like it would hold appeal to fans of vintage, sax-heavy soul musicians like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.
"Pierced Arrows" by Hurray for the Riff Raff: Where our first two entries of the week focused on love (fitting for the month of February), "Pierced Arrows" by Hurray for the Riff Raff focuses on heartbreak, and possibly on other negative emotions like fear. The song even starts on a sour, questionable note, with the lyrics, "Trying to avoid running into my ex on Broadway." Yikes! HFTRR's Alynda Segarra must have had some bad experiences with love before, if we are to go by those lyrics. The title alone indicates something negative, but Alynda holds nothing back right from the start in this paranoid yet catchy synth-driven indie-pop song. The song might also be a "screw-you" to the world at large (the third to the last line of the song is "The whole f**king world is changing.") Alynda gets both more fearful and more fierce than she ever has before on "Pierced Arrows."
"Seventeen Going Under" by Sam Fender: Sam Fender's bittersweet yet catchy and Springsteen-esque song, "Hypersonic Missiles," might have just been the perfect song for 2019, exactly one year before the coronavirus pandemic. The song focused on the end of the world, but in a very triumphant and poetic manner. Two years later, Sam gives us the equally Springsteen-esque "Seventeen Going Under," combining shimmering, soulful jangle-pop guitars with stellar sax riffs, much like The Boss did during his early years. Lyrically, the song is about being 17, the age Sam was exactly a decade ago, and how awkward it is to be such an age. It's also about both the hunger and the pressure many teenagers feel to "grow up" at that age. Sam was no exception to the rule. He made the realization at this age that although he was no longer a little boy, he didn't feel like a fully-grown man either, and he struggled to cope with the confusing reality of this situation. At age 27, Sam has now realized that "growing up" and growing old are two different things, unlike what his teenage self probably thought. I think a lot of people can relate to this one!
"Simulation Swarm" by Big Thief: One thing that might jump out at listeners about Big Thief's latest song, "Simulation Swarm," if they listen carefully enough, is the contradiction between how sweet and warm the song sounds and how weird the lyrics are. It's a bit hard to make sense of Adrianne Lenker's rather stream-of-consciousness narrative, which consists of vivid imagery that never quite comes to fruition as a coherent story. Midway through, the gentle vibe of "Simulation Swarm" becomes slightly more trippy with its fuzzed-out, psychedelic guitar solo, yet it never climaxes to a point of intense loudness, remaining in the same state of blissed out calm throughout. The song leaves on a quiet, almost whispery note upon fading out.
