High Glow – Hideaway
Yeah, you’re right! There’s definitely a move back toward whatever was popular in the 1990s or 2000s. But, while trends are usually cyclical, this time around it may not just be nostalgia that’s driving this interest in the past.
You can spot it in modern rock music more than anywhere else. Bands, including High Glow, are interested in grunge, alternative rock and shoegaze once more. But they’re putting a modern spin on things and, frankly, giving it a glow up.
Why? Even though the original grunge and shoegaze heroes seemed haunted and afflicted by the state of the world, the 1990s now seem like a much more innocent, pleasant time.
Maybe this is a good time to reframe the past before we can handle our complicated present. That’s certainly what High Glow’s “Hideaway” is looking to do at the moment. “Hideaway” is a song that clearly has all the fingerprints of 90s alternative music all over it. But it’s also a track that encourages listeners to put on a smile, close their eyes and dream away. Perhaps it wasn’t all so bad to begin with and maybe this is what future inhabitants of this Earth will be saying about 2025.
REVERSE YR CURSE – Who Cares
Conflict sits at the heart of most great artworks, and fear is what drives most artists. Of course, many of these people can look at the world logically and attempt to get enough opportunities for themselves so that they no longer have to face the conflicts and the fears. But the moment that their troubles disappear, often so does their best work.
Luckily, there are those incapable or unwilling to cut a deal with fate. They’re the artists who grow and care for their anxieties like some exotic pet. They’re the people who daily investigate what they’re anxiety is doing now and thinking of ways to be of service to it. Now, they’re the people who’ll find it most difficult to ever find comfort in their lives, but also the ones who the muses will not desert.
REVERSE YR CURSE’s “Who Cares” is a spin inside the tortured mind of someone who has stacked up doubts for a long time. But this panic, some of it a result of the uncaring nature of a particular loved one, while others the effect of an uncaring world, is transformed into a sophisticated pop song, one with carefully designed guitar riffs, emotional vocals and great dynamics. Will this be enough to ensure a good night’s rest? While that’s unlikely, at least, it’ll signal to music fans that this is a place where they’re likely to find good songs and tortured thoughts.
