Listen Here #8
Hi friends,
Welcome back, to you and me! Work is still crazy, so I’ll keep this brief & just tease a Wicked/Showtunes theme for sometime in the next couple of weeks (and duh, if you have Broadway Feelings,,,, PLEASE).
Thank you to everyone who sent in a song! Incredible work, everyone! “Exvangelical Sadsackery” is now going to be my preferred genre designation for all the music that I both I listen to and make, thanks to Laura ;)
Hope everyone has a lovely holiday with all the very best in food and friendship and good music!
<3 Lauren
This Week’s Songs:
Any song that was shared via Spotify link has been added to this public Spotify playlist for easy access.
Plus! Now, thanks to Rae, there’s an Apple Music playlist! Wooohooooo!! Thank you, Rae!
Song/Artist: “In Stitches” by David Bazan
Genre: Exvangelical Sadsackery
Feels like: Goosebumps, melancholy, nails on my soul’s chalkboard
Loved by: Laura
Why I love this song: Song perfectly encapsulates my leaving Christianity, the love and anger at any deity out there that I feel
Other context: Met the singer once at a house show. Nice guy who ate some tzatziki and played pool with us. Seemed deeply sad.
Song/Artist: “Surrender” by Walk the Moon
Genre: Alt-rock-pop
Feels like: Swept away; longing
Loved by: Becca
Why I love this song: This song has been a favorite for years — it’s on my “songs that are perfect to me” playlist.
Other context: I know it’s not a traditional love song but this is one of the songs I think of most often about love. The line “if all that I could ever be / was the best ex-lover of your life” has stuck with me for years now. The idea of loving someone so much that you sing about being the best ex-lover of their life stunned me — I couldn’t imagine loving someone that much. I wrote about it in my journal, it was that impactful! It’s been my hope ever since to love someone like that, the kind of love that is so encompassing all you can do is surrender to it.
Song/Artist: "Belinda Says" by Alvvays
Genre: Reverby Canadian Alt-Grunge
Feels like: vivid imagery, heartbreaking, joyous
Loved by: Paul Faith
Why I love this song: A 2:45 short story with it all: stellar descriptive lyrics, fuzzy guitar tones soaked in delay and reverb, and a killer key change? A cleverly structured rock song with a beautiful mid-song bridge (middle eight? second chorus? I don't know I'm not a scientist). For me, it has been on endless repeat since I discovered it this year.
Other context: I read that this album was done end-to-end and as a live recording with 15 second breaks in-between songs. This is the 11th song on the album, and I almost feel like you can hear it - the recording is gelled, a little raucous, a little out of breath, like it's running - maybe at you?
Song/Artist: “I Wonder Why” by Kacy & Clayton, Marlon Williams
Genre: Folk/New-Folk
Feels like: Sweet and frustrated
Loved by: Katherine
Why I love this song: It's both comforting and relatable.
Song/Artist: “Throw Me Now Your Arms” by Damien Jurado
Genre: Folk/New-Folk
Feels like: Vulnerable yet Strong
Loved by: Lauren :)
Why I love this song: It’s as tender and true a statement of friendship and love as a song can be, I think.
Other context: Damien Jurado has been one of my favorite artists for YEARS. He’s a prolific, incisive and esoteric writer. This album was just him and an acoustic guitar in a studio for a couple of hours, and it’s a quiet masterpiece.
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