Hayes Noble – Seven
Producers hate the rock bands that they need to work with! Or, at least, this is what you’d imagine, judging by the records they make for their employers. Modern examples are, of course, the most egregious affairs, with guitars, drums and vocals hidden behind such a processed layer of noise that you have to wonder if the musicians were actually there in person for the recording.
But the truth is that in such a noisy world and with so much information that we have to pay attention to on a daily basis, getting the public’s attention is no small feat.
What producers sometimes forget is that choosing the opposite strategy to what everyone is using may turn out to be the thing that helps you stand out. When everyone is trying to win The Loudness Wars, make yourself small!
Make people want to strain to hear! And, give them something worth paying attention to! That’s what Hayes Noble does with the lovely “Seven,” a song that tries, and succeeds, in sounding like a lo-fi cassette demo made in the early 1970s by some musical associate of The Beatles. “Seven” is a tender, special song, and Noble is clever in making you feel special for having found it.
Chris Larson – LAUREN
In truth, in order to be a music collector, one needs to possess both an incredible amount of optimism and a little bit of naivety. People who are sufficiently enthralled by visiting a record store and spending money as often as they can are either desperately searching for something or simply do not get depressed by the realities of life like most of their contemporaries.
Sometimes you do find a gem like Chris Larson’s “Lauren.” But, for the most part, music fanatics live in a world not too dissimilar to that of sports fans who tattoo the name of their favourite team on their skin, name their firstborn after the team’s manager and who never complain nor lose faith regardless of results. They are hopeless romantics.
Yes, Chris Larson is looking to produce the kind of guitar-pop rare find that would make a music collector’s endless searches worthwhile. The pop-friendly tale of love and loss found on “Lauren” is accompanied by enough top-notch hooks to make you happy for keeping the faith. The fact that this also sounds like a lo-fi, low-budget, DIY-recorded tune makes you think that there must be more of this out there. Yes, don’t stop believing!
