
Aunty Social – Aunty Depressants
Modern music tries to clean everything up. Even songs about mental anguish and depression. It used to be that such subject matter didn’t get on the charts for fear that it would upset paying customers. Now, the reasons seem to be even more sinister.
An entire culture has been created in pop music where hardship is not just denied. It’s implied that it doesn’t exist anymore. Just like people in Western countries never actually feel hunger, the other problems of the world have magically been resolved by people like Bono, Chris Martin and their world-removed acolytes.
Some of my favorite songs are about trauma, or drug addiction. I haven’t particularly gone through these issues in the same way that, say, Layne Staley did. But, I relate to them. They speak of struggles.
Aunty Social’s Aunty Depressants is that kind of pop song. It makes a spectacle of itself and it should. Real people have real problems and if that’s the case there’s no point in writing about anything less important. Musically, this is cut from the same cloth from which some of the more challenging pop stars of the day are created. A brave pop song is a rare find.
Ashley Virginia – What’s On The Way
There’s little that is exciting about anxiety. Frankly, it’s exhausting. It can easily turn into a 24-hour job, a lifestyle and an unwanted companion. Angst, on the other hand, is different. It sells records. It makes for interesting character traits in movies. Certain individuals are able to turn it on and off at will.
That is, perhaps, the reason why so many songs about angst are world-famous, and why there are few songs about anxiety that have been written, let alone achieved fame. Describing the feelings that come along with it is quite a task. Invisible enemy as it is, anxiety chews through days like a dog that hasn’t been walked all day is taking out its frustration on the furniture.
Ashley Virginia gives one of the most tender, clever and, even, humorous accounts of what a day spent this way is like. There’s no self-pity on What’s on the way though, just self-examination. Not only that, but the talented singer does not merely coast on her sharp lines, but the jazzy folk of her music creates a deep, immersive atmosphere. A glamorously crafted song about a real and unglamorous issue that millions with which millions might relate to.