Foot Ox – Horseshoe
While there’s no vehicle that will return us to the Old West, the majority of us know what to expect. You don’t even have to be a student of North American history or a fan of John Wayne and his horse-riding buddies to know what it implies.
We all know how the West was really won. It’s hard to avoid finding out. Whatever it is that came out of it is part of popular culture throughout the world. It’s a story that happened to a grup of people and that was told so often to everybody else, that we all got to live some of it. Foot Ox trust that this might all ring a bell.
And while most of us don’t know the specifics, we know that honey must be blended with blood in this tale. We know that dreams cover nightmares, and that, just like the heroes in the movies, there’s never a time to relax.
Foot Ox’s “Horseshoe” is, technically, a song about the struggles of recent years that we’ve felt on a global scale. It’s a beautifully performed folk song designed to make you feel both jovial and uneasy. But more broadly, it could just as well be a song about all those old stories of the Americas that you’re bound to have heard, whether you live there or not. It’s an age-old story about fighting for your life.
Elly Kace – Even with the light on
Real people write real songs. But you may forget that from time to time if you’re busy following the way that the media covers the pop-rock spectacle. The news shows you people who’ve become rock stars and who, for the most part, have traded this for the privilege of never having to think of anybody other than themselves. Want proof? Read any of the (semi) autobiographies written by nearly every major star.
And if you’re one of the millions who have tried to discover the thought processes of their favourite rockstars through the memories they’ve written, you might be shocked to hear that, often, and without a trace, the side-characters in their stories disappear. A tear is rarely shed, guilt never exists, and the best that they get is a paragraph wishing them well in the afterlife.
Elly Kace, on the other hand, brings grace as well as conflicting feelings of the disappearance of a loved one in “Even with the light on.” This is, certainly, a love song. But it’s one where the songwriter and the object of their affection are just as important. The song acts as an acknowledgement of the fact that true love is never really over for better or for worse.
