Fluxblog Weekly #131: Destroyer, Fever Ray, Jessie Ware, Melkbelly, Miss World
October 23rd, 2017
Bands Sing Their Songs And Then Disappear
Destroyer “In the Morning”
“In the Morning” was built to deliberately evoke the sound of early New Order, specifically the way that band created this overwhelming grey atmosphere and a rhythmic momentum that’s like pacing around nervously in circles. Like most Destroyer songs, Dan Bejar creates a familiar, nostalgic musical setting and knocks it off kilter simply by singing on it. The character of his voice is incredibly distinctive, and he always sings with this odd mix of aloofness and sentimentality, like he’s visiting someplace but is embarrassed to be a tourist.
Songwriting is a form of time travel for Bejar, but it’s not always clear whether he has a particular mission or destination. The lyrics of “In the Morning” don’t seem to evoke anything particular about the early ‘80s, and he’s too young to have anything other than childhood memories of the era. But I get the impulse to go back in time to a period just slightly ahead of your time – this is, in fact, one of my greatest fantasies. (And something I’ve also indulged in music, with the survey sets on this site.) With this in mind, the crucial lyric of this song is the refrain “you wanted it to be cool.” Maybe part of this song is in wondering why things from this period, particularly New Order, have been considered cool for so long. What is it about this feeling that never seems to go away? Is it about it sounding cool, or because it’s the sound of decline and it hasn’t stopped being relevant?
Buy it from Amazon.
October 23rd, 2017
Things Can Start Happening
Fever Ray “To the Moon and Back”
I wouldn’t have expected Karin Dreijer’s first new song in several years to be something of a throwback to the aesthetics of The Knife’s Deep Cuts, but it’s a very welcome surprise. “To the Moon and Back” has a perky bounce to it, and melodies that are overtly catchy while resisting the traditional verse/chorus/verse structure of pop music. The song is very generous with the listener, but holds back from providing the catharsis of a chorus. This seems rather deliberate – the lyrics are full of lust and anticipation, and while there’s some vivid action going in the words, it’s always just shy of a literal or figurative climax. There’s the old saying “always leave ‘em wanting more,” and that applies here, even more so because the song is very much about wanting more.
Buy it from iTunes.
October 23rd, 2017
Deepest Desires
Jessie Ware “Midnight”
I’ve appreciated Jessie Ware’s earlier work, but never connected with it until hearing her new record Glasshouse. Two things changed – the songwriting has leveled up, and her voice has become more confident and focused. Her phrasing now reminds me a lot of Anita Baker and Whitney Houston in the ‘80s – bold and assertive in expressing emotion, but shaded with nuanced, complicated feelings. Her performance on “Midnight” is particularly excellent, with her contrasting a soft, fragile tone on the verses with a direct, passionate approach on the chorus. The vulnerability leads to strength and vice versa, it’s presented as a continuum of intimacy and lust. The music shifts too, starting off in a more atmospheric space not far removed from a lot of other contemporary pop before shifting into the firmer structure of a chord sequence that sounds quite a bit like Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets.”
Buy it from Amazon.
October 26th, 2017
Constant Conversation Gets You Down
Melkbelly “Cawthra”
There’s a wired restlessness to pretty much all of Melkbelly’s music, a crazed energy that comes through even in the relatively still and relaxed bits of a track like “Cawthra.” The song is built so the entire first minute or so is like a lit fuse, and you feel the inevitability of the explosion coming even if you’re not totally sure on which measure it’ll come. The loud bits are cathartic, but the more quiet parts are the draw – there’s a touch of childlike mischief to the vocal melody, and hidden subtleties to the mounting tension.
Buy it from Amazon.
October 27th, 2017
I Fell In Love On The Internet
Miss World “Click and Yr Mine”
“Click and Yr Mine” has a lusty, sassy sound to it that makes it sound like a sort of love song, but listen a bit closer – this woman is literally singing about shopping for clothes online. I think a songwriter from a previous generation would’ve made this some kind of withering critique of capitalism, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here at all. The subversive element here is in upending the expectations of a crush song, and not only removing the guy as the object of lust, but dismissing men altogether: “I don’t need no boys telling me what is wrong in my life!” It’s not a mean-spirited song, though. It’s just someone allowing themselves to prioritize their enthusiasms.
Buy it from Bandcamp.