Fluxblog Weekly #103: The Magnetic Fields, Babaganoüj, She-Devils, Harry Styles
April 10th, 2017
The Oceanic Hum
The Magnetic Fields “’66: Wonder Where I’m From”
“Wonder Where I’m From” is the first song on Stephin Merritt’s 50 Song Memoir, a record with a song for each year of his life up through the age of 50. This is the one that is ostensibly about the first year of his life, but since he can’t possibly have any memory of that time and probably didn’t have much interest in literally singing about being a newborn baby, the song is written more as an intro to the project. The song, which sounds like a luau as imagined by Paul McCartney circa Revolver*, is a meditation on the idea of being “from” a place. Merritt’s family moved so often when he was a child that he doesn’t feel rooted to any particular place other than generally being from the United States and the Northern Hemisphere. But it’s not entirely literal. He’s also wondering about how and why he exists, and what places and things meaningfully contributed to the construction of his identity. As a discrete song, it’s an open-ended thought, but in the larger context of the project, it’s essentially setting up the “plot” for the story of his life.
* Please note that Revolver came out in 1966, the year this song is set. I wonder if Merritt deliberately intended the bass melody to be so Beatles, but either way, I love that it strongly resembles the squarest aspects of the band in that time.
Buy it from Amazon.
April 11th, 2017
Allergic To Being Alone
Babaganoüj “Hoping That It’s You”
Power pop is basically rock music about loving rock music, and wanting to turn everything about ordinary life into glamorous, catchy, fun rock music. It’s about wanting action and romance and fun, and having complete faith that riffs and “doo-doo-doos” and hooks and zippy solos is a fast track to feeling those things. “Hoping That It’s You” is an exceptional example of the genre, and I was sucked into this band’s rock fantasy the second the guitar chords kicked in after the first line. I love the way this song is produced – it sounds like they did everything they could to get a Mutt Lange vibe on a budget, to the point that it sometimes resembles Shania Twain at her most rocking. That said, I can’t imagine Mutt being OK with having the flat, mumbly Charles Sale shadow Harriette Pilbeam’s lead vocal like that, but I like the contrast of her assertive, earnest voice and his sorta shy and stoned vibe.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
April 12th, 2017
Waiting For Prince Charming
She-Devils “Hey Boy”
It would be so easy for this song to be a fast garage rock thing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually started out in that mode. The genre conventions are all right there, but She-Devils opt to play it mid-tempo and spacey so it comes out sounding very sensual and psychedelic. A faster tempo would imply a very different type of lust – manic, messy, urgent – but at this speed, it’s more seductive and confident in the projection of desire. “Hey Boy” sounds readymade for burlesque or go-go dancers – the tone is just right, and has just enough campiness to feel light, fun, and entertaining without getting in the way of its lusty sentiment.
Buy it from Amazon.
April 13th, 2017
Breaking Through The Atmosphere
Harry Styles “Sign of the Times”
“Sign of the Times,” Harry Styles from One Direction’s first solo single, starts off in a tasteful but sorta dull place that sounds like someone trying to hack the piano part from John Lennon’s “Imagine” the way Noel Gallagher did for “Don’t Look Back In Anger” without also plagiarizing that song. And then it shifts into something a little more Coldplay-ish. But then the drums kick in, and it evolves into a full-on rock power ballad. It’s an incredibly effective song, and I felt like I needed to wave a lighter around and scream along by the fourth minute of it the first time I heard it. It helps that this song is full of fabulous drum fills that ramp up the drama at every opportunity.
Styles is wearing his influences on his sleeve here, big time – in addition to the aforementioned artists, there’s traces of The Verve, Queen, David Bowie, and Guns N’ Roses in its melody and structure. Styles is making it very clear that he intends to be a rock star, and a very theatrical one at that. This is a wise move: He looks the part, he was always good in this mode in One Direction (a rock band more often than not), and he’s emotive and vulnerable enough to make the cheesiest power ballad moves feel completely sincere. People love rock power ballads, and since more “legit” rock acts seem generally uninterested in going there out of fear of appearing soft and pandering to women, it makes sense that a guy like Harry Styles who has no hang ups whatsoever about pleasing a mostly female audience would embrace the form.
Buy it from Amazon.