SONG OF THE DAY

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #21

Today the song is the critically acclaimed track Maybe Tomorrow by Stereophonics from their 2003 album You Gotta Go There to Come Back. I was inspired to pick this one today because I've been rewatching the fantastic Long Way Round/Down/Up travel documentaries by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman with my Dad. The three series have an excellent soundtrack that features great UK alt-rock moments and unique global/cultural pieces. This alt-rock track has an earthy or rusty sound due to its Soul/R&B influence and Kelly Jones’s crooning vocals manifesting a better and happier day on the horizon. The song feels grounded with rustic percussion, textured backing vocals and samples, as well as gently humming strings. The track then evolves into something sexier when more elements are layered on towards the peak of the track starting with a toe-curling guitar solo. All of these components soar then blur out at the end of the track, finishing with you feeling lighter and more resilient, ready for tomorrow.

“So maybe tomorrow

I'll find my way home

I look around at a beautiful life

I've been the upper side of down

Been the inside of out

But we breathe

We breathe”

Just for fun

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #13/14

I want to think this isn't cheating but oh well… OH MY GOD WE’RE HAVING TWINS.

Today's pick is by alternative rock group Mud Flow and is a merge of the first two songs from their 2004 album A Life on Standby. The intro The Sense of Me flows beautifully into Chemicals on the album, so we've been blessed with an almost nine-minute version of the two in their Best Songs album from 2020. If you're an alternative rock girlie like me who weeps at American Football and Black Country New Road you will probably like Mud Flow as well. The Sense of Me opens feeling like raindrops rippling on a flooded pavement, and with the layers added before the transition into Chemicals, it begins to feel like a rainstorm. Chemicals then blooms into a moody track that's soft yet strong with muted vocals and complex guitar that feels yearning. Their music feels like driving through your hometown ten years later: nostalgic but laced with melancholy.

“Neon lights are buzzing ‘round my head, I feel the sense of me

The sublime afterglow of inner peace”

P.S. While researching for this one I could not figure out for the life of me why Mud Flow has so many listens on Spotify when I couldn't find anything about them online except that they are Belgian and popular in Europe. Turns out The Sense of Me was featured in the game Life is Strange, which explains the 15 mill listens on that track, more you know? 🤷

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #18

Today's track is Heir by Public Memory from their 2016 electronic album Wuthering Drum. With a striped back beat, breathy rasps, and fractured lyrics presented by faint and fuzzy vocals, Robert Toher creates a moody and dark soundscape. What makes the song a unique experience however is its use of bells and chimes throughout the track, giving it a mysterious melancholy. This dusky track is captivating and three minutes just doesn't seem to be enough.

“Oh there's a violent sea

Where the light is far, refractive

All this has made remains

An alleged near disaster

Long toothed man that runs

From a masters change in patience”

Song of the Day

Day #22

Today’s pick is Simmer by Hayley Williams from her 2020 album Petals For Armour. Hayley Williams is known for her work as the leading lady for the generation-defining band Paramore, but her solo projects are also worth the hype, as she is an amazing vocalist and songwriter in her own right. The alternative track Simmer was her first solo release and is an excellent showcase of her talents. Churning percussion and moody strings pull the track along, however Williams’ vocals are the true star of this track. For example, the best moment of the song is during the second verse where it breaks into something softer between a charged chorus. Williams enunciates the lyrics “and if my child needed protection, from a fucker like that man, I'd sooner gut him” at 2:08 with such soft but brutal anger it's electrifying. The emphasis on the lyric fucker is such a spine-tingling moment in particular, as it's said with such conviction but surrounded by butter-soft vocals. The track's lyrics are personal, about female rage and gender norms, how we are encouraged to repress extreme emotions and project something softer, literally using “petals for armour”. The layering of breathwork and lyrics like “give in” or “control” adds to this point, where Williams is struggling to channel calm while being placed into the vice grip that is being a woman in the spotlight or music industry. It's an emotionally charged and vulnerable track that has you enraptured by the first line: “Rage is a quiet thing”.

“How to draw the line between wrath and mercy?

Gotta simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer down”

OH MY GOD HE’S BABY

he's streaming; tip?