Sometimes I dislike writing. I've been attempting to write about Virginia Woolf for the past two days, and I can't, I can't. Her world is so far removed from mine. She lived a funny and tragic life. Stringing words together on the subject seems wrong.
In other news, I've made another great music discovery. Gratis Nicole McLernon. "You're WELCOME."
Was it Andrew who tried to convince me that piano rock was a genre? I still don't believe him. But, if piano rock is at least a subset of "alternative" singer/songwriter music, Wakey!Wakey! fits the label better than Seabird does. At any rate, I loved what I heard so much that I impulsively bought the whole album before listening to it. And it was WORTH it. Comparable to fun., this band is probably all I'm going to be listening to for the next month.
I actually know next to nothing about this band. Really. It's some tall, skinny straight guy who's really musical. I don't know. That seems to be the definition of most of the music I like. Failure.
But really, I promise, their sound is new and fresh and unique -- it doesn't sound like everything else, and that's why I like it. The instrumentation is really varied, with plenty of synth, and piano, and guitar, and violins. At some times it's old people polka music, and other times it's frantic crazy Panic at the Disco-esque arrangement. Their sound is rhythmic, the melodies are unexpected, and it's the farthest thing ever from "stripped down" -- this is anti-folk music at its epitome. They use a lot of vocal instrumentation, too. Which I usually find tacky when anyone other than Regina Spektor uses it, but, their whistling and "ooh"-ing, it works. And, I do, I'm picked about male vocalists, but I do, I like his voice.
Lyrically, well, they're less impressive than Sleeping At Last. But, of course, that's comparing them to an impossible standard. Lyrically, I'm not excessively impressed, but they're not bankrupt either. "Car Crash" is a beautiful song lyrically, the highlight perhaps being, "Just because you're full of yourself doesn't mean I'm not full of you." I love the line in "Almost Everything" where it says, "So you miss the feeling when you step outside and your mind comes all untied and then you open up your eyes and you don't feel lonely anymore." On the other hand, they're mostly soppy spurned love songs. And of course, "Got It All Wrong" has an ugly word in it.
But I'm kind of obsessed. Enough to mention them to you here. Try it, you'll like it.
Hah, and a jewel I snagged from my dad's XM radio perusing habits: Valerie - Steve Winwood
7 comments:
"Their sound is rhythmic, the melodies are unexpected, and it's the farthest thing ever from "stripped down" -- this is anti-folk music at its epitome."
. . . I know that that sentence is poorly constructed, but I just can't explain WHY! "this is the epitome of anti-folk music." would be the correct wording, but I couldn't say why. However, god bless the SAT, I don't have to know why to rub it in ;)
Anyway, I'm going to have to listen to this band now, even though I think their name is completely stupid (which is probably part of why I also think it's so awesome)
Virigina Woolf is such an interesting and disturbing character. I am beginning to be disturbed by how much I can relate to in "To The Lighthouse" . . . considering what a psycho she was.
. . . quiet, you! :rests in the deceptive assurance of my SAT writing score:
Yes, the band name is totally stupid! and a rip off of "Awake! Awake!" failure.
"I am beginning to be disturbed by how much I can relate to in "To The Lighthouse" . . . considering what a psycho she was." I know, oh, I KNOW. The more I study this novel, the more I find assorted pieces of myself. The more I study HER LIFE, the more freaked out I am that I adore her novel.
@Michael: It's comforting that there are other people whose minds are a little too steeped in SAT prep.
Hayley... you used epitome to be synonymous to "high point" while epitome means something more like "a thing at its highest point." So... epitome can't be a place. You could say "this is anti-folk music's epitome" but I prefer "this is the epitome of anti-folk music."
:feels like she should apologize for not even commenting about the post itself:
Did that feel good, Rebecca? ;P
I don't know about you guys, but I feel much better about this whole situation. :P
this is good.
I like this. A whole lot. Now, I just need to say something worthy of Hayley's quote book and my life will be complete. :)
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