Blue Goose – Dopamine
There’s great power in being the only one in a room that is able to speak. There’s even greater power that can be wielded when you’re sat higher than everyone else in the room and when you’re the only one whose face is not covered in darkness. This is the kind of power that performing musicians possess, a power that’s been understood by stage actors since the beginning of time.
Now, musicians whose first interaction with the audience is through the medium of recorded music must find ways to create the same effect. If they charge straight off the gates into a heavy metal cavalcade, they’ll only be a heavy metal band. If they half-whisper their music for the entirety of their songs, they’ll only be a band that whispers songs, not sings them.
Blue Goose have learned some great lessons from their musical heroes about the theatre of pop-rock performances. “Dopamine” is a song in which expectations are slowly built up, and information is not passed on liberally. But that’s merely a way for Blue Goose to get listeners focusing on a single point, on their music. It’s a clever strategy and one that continues to work.
One Of Those – Clinging Dreams
If you go to the circus and nobody gets in front of the audience and recklessly risks their life, do you ask for your money back? You probably should! The poster was likely advertising tightrope walking, firebreathing, and dangerous stunts that you’ve never seen.
Some rock genres are the same way. They’re designed to be extreme. And, if you’re not interested, there’s always pop music to lean on. On the other hand, you wouldn’t want your guitar virtuosos to play slow blues, or black metal bands to describe their feelings in rock ballad form (although many do), or Soundgarden-like grunge singers to whisper soulfully into the microphone.
I was worried about the singer of One Of Those’s “Clinging Dreams” the moment I heard the first seconds of the song. I was worried that he would not survive, or even worse that he wouldn’t attempt Chris Cornell-like vocal acrobatics. But, no, no. He goes there all the way with a raspy howl that either propels you to greatness or sends you to the infirmary. Fortunately, it was the former.
