Ghostbear – The Gossip Song
There’s a story about an elderly famous rock star going to meet with a publisher. The rock musician is planning to release their autobiography, a compendium of all of the things that they’ve learned throughout their life. It’ll include stories about how certain famous songs were written, and what he thinks these mean in modern times.
The publisher shrugs his shoulders. He says that this is all fine and good, but where are the sex scandals, the drug binges and the tales of imminent disaster? The rock star says he doesn’t have any of those. The publisher congratulates him, then shows him out the door. As the rock star is leaving, he hears the publisher tell him that nobody will want to read the book.
Ghostbear’s “The Gossip Song” is a tune about the lure of talking behind someone else’s back, a habit that is as old as time, but that, in our social media-obsessed world, is growing to grandiose heights. Musically, Ghostbear approaches this with cleverness and confidence. The song mixes indie melodicism with punchy punk-rock. It’s humorous, but serious, and, hopefully, will get stuck in your mind more than the latest gossip.
Roots Asylum – The Wedding Song
As we speak, there are kids meeting in underground shelters and experienced men and women passionately discussing in coffee shops across the world. And what do they all have on their mind? Rebellion and resistance. Trouble’s brewing everywhere, but especially in the two countries responsible for the Cold War.
“I know that civilisation is crumbling away!” That’s what Roots Asylum’s vocalist sings on “The Wedding Song”, and it feels like that line speaks for what each and every one of us believes is going on in the world at the moment. But, in saying that, in stating the problem out loud, you may also find the only sane solution.
Honest love is hard to come by. It’s even difficult to locate and admire from afar. “The Wedding Song” is a jangly protest song, one in which love, hope and creativity replace the Molotov cocktails, at least for now. In a world that’s mad about seeing you go to bits, the only logical thing to do is try and become a hopeful romantic.
