Line Graph Music Reviews
*sometimes they do.
God I love this shit. This popped up on my Rdio feed under Heavy Rotation (thank you whoever has been listening to this) and as always I was skeptical… MORE of this folky rock stuff?! Passing trend or not, I love this album. There seems to be ‘something’ that is missing from here to truly push this into the 5/5 territory (except for that track Change. My God, the lyrics to this song, beautiful) but this band is definitely on the right track. Great album.
Ending Score: 4.27
When Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons came out in 2009 and then The Civil Wars won a Grammy a few years ago, I was pretty certain that the next big music trend would be acoustic folk music. Could be worse right? (thanks, brostep)
Within the span of a few years, bands like The Lumineers are selling out big venues, and being slapped across the face by Elton John (yeah, that happened - to the drummer. It was a compliment). I think Of Monsters and Men had a pretty good 2012 as well, no?
I think we’re about 5 days away from these guy/girl folk bands being officially uncool and mainstream but who cares. This shit is so nice to listen to.
Tl;dr if you’re into this whole folk-y, guy/girl singing, acoustic band trend right now, listen to Milo Greene. You’ll love it. You’re welcome. Personally for me, there’s a warmth and depth to their songs that puts them ahead of the pack. But who cares who is better/shittier/more sell-out-y? Let’s just all succumb to the polar opposite of the EDM craze and feel all warm and fuzzy all the time.
Oh, and instrumental interludes with recurring themes? Genius.
Ending Score: 4.63
On my first few listens to this album, half of it really stood out to me. Shock To your System, Messed Up, Hero, Fool. The other tracks (other than Closer, which I’ve listened to too much the past few months) were kind of ‘meh’ to me. I thought they were valiant attempts at pop, but perhaps had ‘crossed the line’ to cheesiness or something, or maybe it was just the initial shock of the new Tegan and Sara sound. I don’t believe that pop music is a more/less noble art, it’s just ‘shocking’ as a long time fan.
3 weeks later, I have to say that pretty much every song on this album is a hit. My only gripe is that maybe some of the ranges/singing style that is necessary for this style of music is not exactly in their range/doesn’t compliment their nasal singing style, but the songwriting is typical Tegan and Sara brilliance.
This album is beautiful pop music - what takes Katy Perry/Rihanna et al an entire team of studio wizards and songwriters to accomplish, Tegan and Sara have done on their first true foray into pop, with help from just a few production geniuses (aka Greg Kurstin).
Beneath the hooks and slick production is substance and heart (and your usual T&S feels), and I think that is truly what is making everyone connect with this album. I have no idea how they are going to top this…
Ending score: 4.75
This album grew on me much more towards the end of the year and I have to say it is probably in my top 5 favourites from 2012. Jessie Ware has been called the ‘next Sade’ - I’m not a big fan of comparisons like that, but it’s a good way to give people a sense of what her music is like. She combines pop, RnB, soul, electronic (UK bass I guess, with her ties to SBTRKT etc.), and adult contemporary. It never reaches too far or comes across as calculated - this album is basically perfection. Everything from the songwriting, production, to the vocals, I can’t remember the last time I heard a debut album this good. I know that Pitchfork would have loved to keep her as their ‘little secret’ but this girl deserves Adele-like levels of fame.
Ending score: 4.2
The older I get, the more I love Dido. 2013 is going to be a great year.
