
Jett Kwong – Seeking Splendor
The people at the record labels have been trying to understand where it all went wrong for a while. It used to be that all they needed to do was find some talented musicians, press their songs onto vinyl records or CDs and rush them to the stores. Before you knew it, everyone involved would be riding around in Cadillacs and talking to a decorator about putting in a new pool.
One of the theories for why these days are gone is a simple one – there’s more entertainment out there, and it’s eating up the time people would otherwise spend with music. That may be an overly simplistic explanation. However, one only needs to look at the video formats used across social media to understand that most folks just don’t listen as much, as often or as attentively to music. And the same lack of focus, the same daze, is common across all activities that are vital for the soul.
Everyone’s looking for something to soothe their hearts and fill their minds with wonder and amazement, but very few seem to have the time anymore to really dig deep. Jett Kwong’s lovely, airy “Seeking Splendor” is one of the answers. This is not a song that you can ever enjoy just by skipping through it. This is a song that requires a kind of stillness and a bit of faith. Kwong knows that there’s beauty out there at all times. But it’s a moving target and you won’t be able to find it if you don’t sit still for a second. This song will help.
Grady Philip Drugg – David Died
Contrary to what Hollywood movies will have you think, personal tragedies aren’t short stories that can be told quickly. They’re novels that go on forever, and everyone who was close to someone to whom something terrible happened writes their own. People don’t just live with the grief of losing someone. They live through it, and they do it every day.
But those are difficult to tell stories. That’s why the movies and most songs simplify matters. They try to offer immediate catharsis. They pretend like life is a series of events, good and bad, that you oughtn’t to treat too seriously. They, as Tom Waits, would say it, greatly reduce the quality of our suffering and take us for fools.
Grady Philip Drugg’s “David Died” is a remarkable song about living in the shadow of grief. There’s no histrionic behaviour here. There’s nothing that suggests that the performer wants you to feel sorry for them. Over a gentle folk-rock and singing in a clear, clean voice, Grady Philip Drugg paints a picture a world without David, one that is now hard to bare for everyone who knew him, and one which they’ll just need to get used to. Heartbreaker of a song!