Riley Pearce – The Water
Indie Folk, Folk, Indie Rock
Of course, the great rock stars have quite a bit in common with the folks that run cults. Both parties have to speak a good game and have the effect of hypnotizing their audiences. Next, both of them need to convince the audiences that they are positively indispensable to their happiness. And, if those things work out, both parties are rewarded handsomely. Some would go so far as to suggest that the compensation received isn’t even reflective of the quality of their work.
Let’s not fool ourselves, being an entertainer is all about convincing a group of strangers that they have to pay attention to you. The longer you keep them hooked, the stronger the chances of making out with their money. This is the reason why, often, it is not the most talented or the ones whose work involves the most amount of depth that succeed. The ones that succeed are the ones that can keep an audience wanting to see and hear more.
Riley Pearce’s The Water is a tune that expertly creates a sound that is so small and tender that an audience won’t be able to help but strain to hear what the singer has to tell them. It’s also, appropriately, a song about faith, or lack thereof. The video mocks modern proselytes who offer to feel great suffering in order to honor their beliefs. But, through it all, Riley Pearce asks for your attention. And, once they’ve received it, there’s no way they are going to let it break loose.
Language Games – Bandit
Genre: Shoegaze, Indie Rock, Dream Pop
For the most part, rock n’ roll was created so that we can avoid talking about complicated problems. The deal is pretty simple. The stars will talk about frivolous things like money, girls, and parties. We’ll pretend to believe them, we’ll envy them, and we’ll buy their products.
Of course, not all songs are about sunshine and rainbows. Still, even then, they usually offer a distorted view of reality. Most of rock music’s dark songs are really an excuse for the rocker to metaphorically dress up as the hurting poet.
The fact is that rock rarely offers true empathy for those that wouldn’t be invited to the product, for those that are not useful to the rock star’s ascent. It’s an unavoidable truth.
Language Games’ Bandit looks to shake the conception of guitar music as mere escapism with a song about tragic addiction and the desire to withdraw within it. There’s no happy ending here and no way to sugarcoat it. It’s music reporting looking to capture the worst and the best of human nature.
