Morning Wars – Man with a Gun
There’s a reason why 1960s pop-rock groups were so beloved. There must also be a way to explain why most of the music can, for some listeners, feel dated, sound like it belongs to a completely different era from the one in which we’re today.
It’s the very same justification, if you ask me. The songs from the 1960s, especially the vocal melodies, had a kind of warmth and magic to them that seemed to suggest that wonderful, unexplored things could be found just beyond the horizon.
Of course, in this climate, in North America especially, the sweetness of classic pop music feels like it cannot make sense. But that’s precisely why the very talented Marc Ramos, the man behind Morning Wars, wants to work with these elements.
“Man With a Gun” is a sophisticated piece of pop-rock music. This is guitar pop where the arrangement and vocal melodies are brilliantly melded together. But what makes the song most interesting is that stripped of the lyrics, this would just be a new song of hope. The words, however, decay a world that’s choking on its inability to face up to the horrors within it. This is a mighty clever trick and one pulled off through the sheer quality of the performance and songwriting.
Goodspace – Easier Said Than Done
People try to explain everything. Audiences are fascinated to learn just why every little thing runs the way it does. Governments give grants to universities that pick experts to run studies. Books are written, analysis is drawn up, and criticism is provided in order to improve the findings.
However, these searches aren’t restricted to mechanics, weather patterns and the cosmos. It’s not just engineers and scientists who are involved. Serious studies are conducted on why pop music works, when it doesn’t, and what needs to be done about it.
Don’t be fooled! Sure, some college professors in a dusty old Conservatory could try to explain why Goodspace’s music works and why it bubbles over with emotion. They’ll tell you about tempo, the key used, or the chord progression employed for this one.
And while “Easier Said Than Done” contains a load of impressive musical tricks, while it’s an impressive technical fear, let’s, for a second, just assume that all of this is some kind of magic trick, in the moments where the vocals in this Godspace track reach for the higher register, and when the melodies blend excellently with the refined arrangement something very special happens. Yeah, let’s not reduce this to something as plain as numbers. This is magic after all.
