Category: Indie

Wild At Heart – Darling

So, this is all sorts of lovely.

Tim: So, this is all sorts of lovely.

Tom: Is it synth-pop time again, then?

Tim: Certainly is. Enjoy.

Tom: Add some sleigh bells, this could be a Christmas song.

Tim: What with the twinklyness and things at the start, the mystic vocal and gentle beats mushing up together, it may remind you of The Sound of Arrows, which hugely surprising, as they produced it. But ignoring that—well, actually, I almost can’t. It’s annoying, because their other stuff is brilliant, but whenever I hear this I think, ‘it’s not quite as good as Nova was.’

Tom: If you’re in the mood for some calm electronic pop, this’ll probably do the trick. Yes, there’s better out there, but this is pretty high up the list. I think you’re being too harsh.

Tim: I probably am, yes – it’s nice enough on its own, and objectively it’s great as dreamy synth-pop goes. It’s just…not as great as I know it can be.

Lotti & The Mizuna Greens – Complicated

Ooh, that’s all deep and emotional, isn’t it?

Tom: Avril Lavigne cover? No. Never mind, forget I asked.

Tim: I think I should. Quite what Mizuna Greens are, I have absolutely no idea (though according to Wikipedia, mizuna is a sort of spicy flavour, which would sort of indicate that these people identify with village open spaces that have had Japanese stir-fries spilt on them); regardless, we got sent this and it’s really rather pleasant.

Tom: Remind me never to ask you any etymology questions, Tim.

Tom: Ooh, that’s all deep and emotional, isn’t it?

Tim: Takes a while to build up, sure, but by a minute or so in it’s got something quite strong going.

Tom: It’s rare that a singer has the voice to match lyrics like this, but she definitely does.

Tim: The lyrics are, well, complicated – something about heartache, and nothing ever turning out right, so we should break up, but with all sorts of extra metaphors and stuff like business and haunting and fairytales and stuff.

Tom: Deep lyrical analysis, there.

Tim: What, you want Advanced Etymology and Basic Lyrical Interpretation in one post? I know I’m a very competent person, but I think that’s asking a bit much, even for me.

Tom: I think not using ‘stuff’ twice in the same sentence would be a good start.

Tim: Fair point. Anyway, this stuff’s basically a thoroughly depressing song, if you spend the effort working out what the lyrical stuff is. On the other hand, if you just listen to the musicy stuff you get something else going on. It’s a sort of Florence and the Machine type of stuff, with a voice that you know will get you down if you concentrate on it, so you kind of want to shut it out and listen to that lovely piano stuff going on in the background.

Tom: And there’s some gorgeous guitar-playing in there: the moody, Dire Straits kind of mournful, singing guitar that evokes memories of lost loves and rain pouring down on windows. I could listen to that for quite a while.

Tim: But if you do just concentrate on that, you miss out on her fantastic voice.

Tom: There’s a lot of pain in this song, and I mean that as a sincere compliment. I’m going to go and give someone a hug.

The Colour Movement – Future Man

Tom went and made a song-writing machine.

Tom: It is cross-promotion time, Tim. You know I try and keep this blog fairly personal – but you know how I’ve got this whole other life going on where I’m making ridiculous things for a TV show?

Tim: Yes…

Tom: Well, we went and made a song-writing machine.

Tim: I see.

Tom: It mashed up lyrics from online chatter and melodies from the last fifty years of pop music, and came out with things that generally made no sense. Occasionally, though, there’d be a spark of genius in there – and one particular spark was taken on by indie band The Colour Movement. They turned an unlistenable mess into… well, into this. And it’s getting a proper single release.

Tim: Well, I guess I’d better give it a shot. And be careful what I say about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fwcVdBxQIQ

Tom: And the thing is, I’m not just doing this for the cross-promotion gag. I reckon this is actually quite a good track. It’s a slow builder, sure, but that last chorus is glorious. Am I too biased, though?

Tim: Hmm…video makes no sense, and I’m a bit disappointed my initial belief that it was an octogenarian roller-skater turned out be wrong. As far as the lyrics go – they’re sung in that type of voice that makes it impossible to really hear what they are for a sustained period of time without really trying, which is perhaps a shame.

Tom: My system wrote some of those lyrics. Maybe it’s not too much of a shame.

Tim: Fair enough. As for the music – yeah it’s okay. Glorious might be going a bit far, at least on an initial listen, but quite good I will agree with.

Tom: I’ll settle for that.