Cattle & Cane – IOU
Similar artists: Bahamas, Leif Vollebekk, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Jason Isbell, Josh Ritter
Genre: Indie Folk, Americana
When it comes to relationships, most songwriters either write about mad love or breakups, but Cattle & Cane look to uncover the interesting bits in the middle.
The reason why this is rarely part of the discourse when it comes to modern songs is that these are the hardest things to pin down. Furthermore, they involve some of the most personal details that most would not want to show.
An endless history of love songs has taught us that a boy meets a girl, and they live happily ever after. But how do they manage that? Has the boy really told the girl about his stint in jail? Has the girl told the boy about her past opiate addiction? Real life is harder than the one in songs and movies, and that’s part of why we struggle so much.
Under a blanket of warm, familiar indie-folk strumming Cattle & Cane’s “IOU” is an anthem for communication and mediation. Musically, the tricks of the trade are the balmy vocals and the swell, minimalist instrumentation. This is music for people looking for curative effects from their songs. Cattle & Cane are looking to provide just that.
Cocktail Slippers – Good Love
Similar artists: The Len Price 3, The Woggles, The Launderettes, The Fondas
Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Rock, Garage Rock
Cocktail Slippers firmly believe that are few things more thrilling than classic rock n’ roll, and keep the torch burning with “Good Love.”
The fact is that any crisis has a silver lining. It helps shape people willing to do more to return things to how they were. Similar to partisans or revolutionaries, these are individuals hardened by their fight. Straying away from their principles is simply not an option.
As rock music has progressively lost ground in mainstream media, it has created a new brand of determined musicians. In Norway, in particular, the old values of rock music are honored as if nothing could dethrone it as the most important musical genre in the world.
Cocktail Slippers’ “Good Love” is music created to be loud and fun. It’s meant to be empowering, get people to dance, and trust in the invigorating strengths of guitar music. This is as much an attitude as it is a sound. The all-female quintet, whose fans included the legendary Steven van Zandt, is determined to show listeners classic rock is alive and well in Scandinavia and certainly not a relic of the past.
