No Fun Haus – My Pomegranate
Many would-be rockstars hit a wall once they actually achieved the success they secretly desired so much. You would think that millions of dollars, a home out in the hills, an army of lawyers, and constant phone calls with the record label big-wigs would be enough to prop a person’s ego, but no.
My theory is that like taking a lion out from the savannah and planting him in a zoo, the environment in which they were expected to thrive once their music began getting notoriety was simply not ideal. Take, for example, the great early 1990s bands, almost all of which imploded quickly. Most of their songs were written out in the kitchen while making coffee, or in their living rooms while watching the tv. How could they possibly replicate that on a budget of millions?
No Fun Haus’ My Pomegranate sounds like the kind of tune written in the morning while the writer was stumbling through the kitchen in his underwear. It sounds unforced, natural, and absolutely charming, like somebody that has forced themselves to listen to the Beatles and Vampire Weekend for months at a time on a religious schedule.
MF Tomlinson – A Long Day
I’ll let you in on a little secret. The flower children of the 1960s, so lost and looking for spiritual experiences that would guide them, for the most part, hadn’t had the worst kind of lives when they started on their journeys. They wanted to be poets and writers. For the most part, they became folk singers. Some, like Leonard Cohen, also maintained an earnest interest in literature.
Now, fast forward a few years, and the kids who had very little to their name, whose interests may have not been quite as esoteric as the hippies, began taking an interest in punk. Perhaps because of the difference in the lives and their interests, their music sounded totally different. It was brash and bold. Neither of the two approaches is wrong, of course. But, the point is that both were compelled by sincere desire and despair.
MF Tomlinson’s A Long Day sounds like the kind of tune that the writer really needed to get off his chest. It also sounds like the work of a young man still working hard to learn as much about himself as he’ll able to do. A long day is a slow rumination on life and what to do with it.
