
The Mossley Hillbillies – Can You See Me Falling? (For You)
Genre: Country, Indie-folk
You can’t trust alt-rock musicians that claim they’ve never heard country. You can trust them if they say they hate ABBA either. Good music is beyond coolness. Great musicians know this! Like a teenager that won’t bother erasing their browsing history, the songwriters going places have no need to label any of their listening habits as “guilty pleasures”.
Besides, not everyone is changing the world using pop tunes. And, how many rock stars would even dare admit to such a plan in 2022? You’d have to have had your kool-aid poured by Bono himself. For most, chasing a nice feeling, and a nifty melody are enough. Rock n’ roll coolness is a dictatorship that can’t control everyone after all.
Not half as silly as The Lumineers, and as fun as a springtime picnic, The Mossley Hillbillies a country-playing Brits on the lookout for sunshine, rainbows, and towering melodies.
Can You See Me Falling? (For You) is a proof of concept. But, unlike other country/folk musicians aiming to fill stadiums with their sound, The Hillbillies aren’t pushy about it. A quick glance at their lyrics proves this. Why bother writing a second verse when the first one will do just fine?
Cat Ryan – Rex Mundi
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Art Rock
If nothing else, crafting a career for yourself as a rock musician allows you to create your world under your rules. Stardom may or may not be on the table. Making a living and paying the bills aren’t always realistic prospects. But, if there is one thing to be gained by sticking to music making it’s the chance to set your world to right one tune at a time.
It’s no surprise that old rock musicians are on such powerful ego trips. How could they not be? They’ve spent decades and decades admiring the world through a glass that they’d painted themselves. What’s more relevant to a musician than the dreams that they have crafted and lived with across the span of their entire life.
Cat Ryan do a bit of world-building and fantasizing on their indie-pop single Rex Mundi. It’s a fairytale kind of guitar pop number about being given miraculous ownership over the world. The bass groove of the track is as vivacious as rope skipping and the vocals create a mythical world of their own. Cat Ryan dare to dream, and this should be enough for young artists.