Basin Lot and Phasez Reviewed
Basin Lot – Not Much Different
There’s a real surge of pessimism lately, and if you’re a citizen of one of the developed countries, it is very likely that you’re feeling it more than others. Ask nearly anyone if things are improving or getting worse, and you’re likely to get a sigh, a bunch of curses and maybe even a hot tear shed.
Are things really getting worse? Or have we just lost confidence that we ourselves and our kind will be able to find solutions to the new problems that seem to appear each? I’d reckon that it’s the latter, and that this accounts for people so desperately looking for confirmation of their beliefs in others. Basin Lot see the same situation, but knows that nobody is wholly innocent.
Musically, “Not Much Difference,” is an attempt at the kind of sophisticated guitar pop that Elvis Costello and only a few other power-pop geniuses have been able to master. Lyrically, this makes for an interesting examination of the death of individuality, the rise of tribalism, and the lack of belief in ourselves. It’s a pop gem for uncertain times.
Phasez – Don’t Let Go
It’s hard to be a great artist, even a rock singer, and maintain any real secrets. The requirement, it seems to me after thousands of hours of research, is that you have to tell your whole truth and nothing but it, consequences be damned. Sure, we don’t know the name of Morrissey’s spouse, or if he has one, but all his listeners know all the truths that really matter.
In many ways, these rock songwriters are required to be their own guinea pigs. They have to inflict terrible pains on themselves, usually originating from matters of the heart, and then tell the whole wide world what it feels like. They’re required to be hopeless romantics even when all of their peers are pragmatists. That’s the approach that Phasez takes.
The Smiths are certainly a reference point for “Don’t Let Go.” However, it is not just the sound of the Manchester band, but that restlessness and the truthful words about being desperately in love and aching from it. “Don’t Let Go” is a song about identity and how one can’t really experience love while holding too tightly to the person they are at their core. It’s a darkly romantic song about the tragedy of love.
