ALICIA NURHO – Stella Mea
It’s amazing how little approval you actually need these days. It’s surprising how many freedoms we have available to us, in particular, if we choose to do something creative with our time, if we opt to build something from scratch.
This is what Alicia Nurho has done: writing, playing and self-releasing a progressive pop-rock concept album about motherhood, and the evenly matched powers of creation and destruction. Best of all, this is not work that requires any sort of permit.
It’s quite unique. The majority of people don’t feel like artists until someone with more experience tells them they are. Most people can’t take the time to explore their own psyche until someone gives them that time. And, frankly, they can’t explore spirituality until someone in a church or temple allows them to do that.
This is why “Stella Mea” is such a refreshing experience. This is expressive, exploratory pop music that feels created entirely in seclusion from current commercial norms. It’s also the highlighted track of a very interesting concept album, a set of songs that work only when they are embraced by an audience, only when listeners project their own thoughts onto it.
Sanford: – Hooked On A Dream
There will always be people willing to spend everything they have for a chance to make everything turn out all right. And if they can’t create the positive outcome that they want in their lives, they’ll seek it in stories, movies, books.
That’s just human nature, I suppose. But while we’re all busy trying to save ourselves from being hurt by life, while we’re all busy investing in things that tell us everything is fine, how much are we really losing?
There are some special artists out there, like Sanford:, who have the ability to deliver sad tales with enough of a smile to make you stick around to the ending, no matter how sad it happens to be.
“Hooked on a Dream” is a single inspired by the sound of classic power-pop and of Replacements-like jangly, but tough guitars. It’s also a song about finding love in the wrong places, and, despite the evidence, staying happy with your decision. It’s the truth instead of Hollywood.
