Fluxblog Weekly #140: Amber Navran, Veruca Salt, Lemuria, Dream Wife
December 29th, 2017
If You Need Convincing
Amber Navran “Lastaya Love”
Amber Navran’s performance on “Lastaya Love” – not just her vocals, but apparently on every instrument in the arrangement – conveys a gentle, confident serenity that brings to mind Erykah Badu at her most graceful. It’s neo-soul, but with a touch of cosmic jazz to bring out unexpected textures and harmonies. Navran is singing about holding on to dignity and knowing when to walk away from a dead relationship, and her vocal gets across that sort of resolute clarity, but also the raw vulnerable emotion beneath it. When her saxophone solo comes in at the end, it’s a signal of freedom and relief.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
December 28th, 2017
Right Where You Always Wanted To Be
Veruca Salt “Shutterbug”
It took me about 20 years to realize that this song is probably called “Shutterbug” because it’s a series of snapshots of people in small, pivotal moments. The chorus changes perspective with each iteration – “it’s her thrill” when it’s about a girl on tv who’s “a fool for the last living rock king;” it’s about “your thrill” when she’s addressing her power over a lover; it’s “my thrill” when she flips it to focus on the power they have over her. I love the way the verses build a tension that switches to euphoria at the start of the chorus, but then reverts back to a grinding tension: She can’t change. You can’t change. I can’t change. CHANGE! CHANGE! That last repetition sounds different depending on my mood – sometimes it’s like begging for change, sometimes it’s like cheering it on. Today it just sounds like slamming into a wall, over and over, and hoping each impact breaks through it somehow.
Buy the vinyl reissue of Eight Arms to Hold You from Amazon.
December 28th, 2017
A Better Living Person
Lemuria “Christine Perfect”
Christine Perfect is the maiden name of Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac, who is invoked in the first verse of this song in a… not entirely flattering way: “I’m not a Stevie, I’m a Christie McVie / I feel the weight of the world, I find comfort in being second best.” I like this as an assessment of self-esteem – I’m not the cool girl, I’m not the one who gets attention, but I’m still pretty great. Just a more subtle type of great.
This is actually a love song, and it’s pretty direct. She’s singing about her insecurities and issues, but points out that this person she’s in love with makes her better. Just being around them makes her ecstatic. And the song backs that up with the unapologetic catchiness of an old school tv theme song and the restless energy of the most cheerful end of punk rock. The chorus could signal desperation and neediness, but Lemuria plays it more as simple warmth and gratitude, which is very refreshing.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
December 27th, 2017
Stuck In A Kissing Booth
Dream Wife “Let’s Make Out”
The most immediately noticeable thing about “Let’s Make Out” is the way Rakel Mjöll screams the title phrase like an unhinged maniac. It’s a sexy, seductive line that’s delivered with an intensity and aggression on par with Courtney Love on “Violet,” and it’s all the more compelling in that the song opens with her screaming the chorus at this throat-splitting volume. It’s 0 to a million. She shifts into a more flirty vocal on the verses, but the song never really dials down from “sex-crazed frenzy” mode. It all sounds like it’s designed to incite a very horny riot.
Buy it from Bandcamp.