Dru Cutler – Love Light
The next crop of big pop stars will be people who never reveal their identities, tell you almost nothing about what they like or hate, and, very rarely,even accept having their pictures taken. Finding these individuals will be hard, but once located, there will be no stopping them.
Why am I so convinced that this marketing ploy will work? Because nearly all of us are sick to death of knowing everything about the people writing and singing songs to us.
Suppose there’s a great, ancient mystery to falling in love that requires a soundtrack that resembles the music of Dru Cutler, and every other artist that’s been able to take listeners down dark avenues from which there might be no return. If falling in love needs a soundtrack, it won’t be delivered by pop stars who post stories about what brand of cereal they eat in the morning.
I know little about Dru Cutler and want to keep it this way. It’d be better to imagine that “Love Light” was produced by some strange alien nursing a blue heart and driving on the highway at night while picking up song ideas from thin air. That sort of story would, anyway, be the best representation for this kind of gentle melancholy. This is music for late nights and early mornings where nothing seems real and everything feels possible.
Conversing with Oceans x Nate Fox – Long Shower
Just try to tell the story of your life to a stranger sometime. They’ll need to sit down, order a few coffees and, if they show any interest at all, they’ll have to get your number and schedule another session where you can relate Part II of the tale.
Big stories take a long time to tell. That’s why any important topic is studied by experts for years and dissected in the kind of books that, should one fall on your head from a great height, would turn you into a pancake.
That’s why the music of artists like Conversing with Oceans or Nate Fox is a mighty important, lovely thing. Pop-rock songs, when they work, can tell gigantic stories in the space of just a few minutes. These songs can relate the truth in the world with just a few appropriate chords and melodies.
Conversing with Oceans x Nate Fox’s “Long Shower” is a well-crafted, moody alt-rock track. The song shines by doing two things well. First of all, it’s a very well-structured song that delivers the melodic payoff just when you need it the most. On the other hand, it manages to say a lot by offering very little information, and somehow never making it like it’s left anything out. It’s a reminder of the power of these pop-rock jingles.
