Five Songs For The Week
Big Thief
Each week, I will try to gather 5 songs I have heard at different occasions, either by discovering new artists at shows and music festivals or simply by listening to the radio while driving… because it’s the only moment I actually listen to radio these days. These songs are not necessary new releases, but there’s so much music out there that it’s difficult to keep up with new releases… So here are my 5 songs of the week:
Ezra Furman – ‘No Place’: There was so much urgency and madness in his set at Music Tastes Good that he almost blew up the stage. I also liked the fact he was using horns and saxophones like a rock veteran, but the young singer-songwriter had an enduring flame and the boldness to scream a justified anger. This song is a battle, a city in ruins, and a man on the run with the whole world against him and military drums pursuing him till the end. ‘But I’ll be bringing along a big broad smile/To wear as I walk that final long mile/Back to the city /Where they broke my heart wide open bleeding on the marble tile’…It’s romantic and dramatic, and totally over the top ‘This whole world is no place/This world is no place at all’. Ezra will be bleeding all over the tracks for his lost loves.
Big Thief – ‘Mary’: There is a great deal of beauty in this poignant and wordy song which sounds like an old folk battle hymn carried by Adrianne Lenker’s delicate vocals and a moving keyboard. You can almost see the landscape, the childhood sepia memory she evokes with an avalanche of words that lands on the ground like spring raindrops. It’s a very melancholic song which captures a rare intimacy.
Israel Nash – ‘Rolling On’: I know nothing about this artist from Texas, but this song comes up regularly on my favorite radio station, and it’s such a catchy one with a vintage flavor and a soaring chorus. which is psych-dreamy that you cannot not sing along. The song is a vast-sounding anthem with multi-layers and a drenched summery aura, I don’t understand why this is not a hit yet.
Glen Hansard – ‘Roll on Slow’: Another song which comes up on the radio, with a soulful sound and plenty of punch despite the dark tone of the song. With a Sam and Dave vibe in the horns, the Irish musician takes an almost-Joe-Cocker soulful voice to tell us how much he misses his girlfriend.
Jade Bird – ‘Uh Huh’: the first time I heard this song, I was wondering whether it was a new Courtney Barnett, as Jade Bird sings her ‘Uh Huh’ anthem with a similar passion, intensity, and conviction, at the edge of indie rock and outlaw country. You probably would not tell by listening to the song, but Jade is British and she cites Alanis Morissette as an inspiration.
