Guillaume Muller – Apprends-moi le bonheur
Similar artists: Green Day, Noir Désir, Kyo, Renaud, Benjamin Biolay
Genre: Pop Punk, Classic Rock
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, or for that matter, write a song. And that’s precisely the reason why lifelong rock listeners keep coming back to a style of music that is, at its core, a series of strategies on how to arrange 3-4 guitar chords together. The real lovers of this kind of music, however, know that it is the thing that is hidden in between those familiar chords that help make a song great or stop it from being that.
Paris and the South of France were two of the cultural centers of the world for centuries. Artists of all types from all over the world congregated in this place. These sorts of things do not simply disappear. It would only make sense that natives of these lands would continue to leave a power mark on the most impactful modern art form – pop-rock music.
Guillaume Muller’s “Apprends-moi le bonheur” sounds like a mix of Green Day and Belgium-born singer, Jacques Brel. There’s certainly a bit of the great guitar bite that pop-punk fans look out for. There’s no doubt that the melodies are poppy and enjoyable. But it’s the artist’s flair for performing, the theatricality of the way in which each word is spoken that truly helps make this be a song done from a different perspective from what we’re generally treated to as music fans.
Empty Heaven – Hauntology
Similar artists: Say Anything, mewithoutYou, Touché Amoré, Deafheaven, Jeff Rosenstock
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Screamo, Indie Rock
We first are taught about great artists, about writers, in particular, in our earliest school days. We’re always given biographical context. And, almost without fault, we’re told stories about just how miserable these writers were and just how interesting were the lives that they led. We’re made to believe that, in the end, this was a worthwhile sacrifice. They ended up creating tremendous work that people still care about.
Yet, few of us would take that deal. And who could blame us? An interesting life sure sounds like a tremendous thing. But it also sounds like a colossal burden. An easy life sounds like a blessing by comparison. Because of this, most of us will even trick our brains into believing that we’re living an easy life. The cost is that we don’t get around to documenting the misery when it is at its most interesting.
Empty Heaven’s “Hauntology” is designed to sound like someone having a spiritual crisis of the worst kind and make sure that every nuance of emotion is carefully documented in great detail. This kind of musical despair is kind of manufactured and easy for an audience to find common ground with. The sound might remind listeners of mewithoutyou’s loss of Faith rock episodes. But Empty Heaven certainly brings their unique set of experiences to this, and it’s why the song works.
