
Garlen Lo – London, Tell Me Why
Similar artists: The Kinks, Peter Doherty, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Noel Gallagher
Genre: Indie Folk
Garlen Lo wrote a love song about London because not any of the annoying tourists knew her as well as a native does.
David Bowie reserved a lot of praise for Ray Davies’ songwriting. Most of the contemporaries of The Kinks’ frontman had a similarly good opinion. But Bowie went one step further and singled our “Waterloo Sunset” as possibly one of the best pop songs written by an Englishman and a tune that could’ve only been written about London.
I tend to believe him because I certainly couldn’t write that song. I love “Waterloo Sunset” just as much as love The Kinks and Bowie. My impression of Waterloo, however, is one of derelict streets, nasty drunks and food that will test your digestive endurance. Plus, it rains all of the time. But I don’t get it.
It takes someone who knows London intimately and who loves it to write a sequel to “Waterloo Sunset.” That someone is Garlen Lo. Like Davies, Lo is a student of melody. “London, Tell Me Why” takes a queue from the best songwriters that England has produced over the past centuries and often matches their ability and charm. Lo might just know where to look. And even with a broken with which to contend, the songwriter knows what makes London special.
Paul Cherry – Waverunner
Similar artists: Chaz Bundick Meets The Mattson 2
Genre: Jazz Fusion
Paul Cherry makes the kind of elevator music you might remember and even consider paying for. At the same time, you may just choose to ride the elevator really often and prick up your ears.
We live in a post-cool world. And that’s not such a bad thing. Sure, your brand-new Keith Richards and Jim Morrisons are nowhere to be found. This fact alone has eaten into the profits made by rehab clinics. Fewer rockstar posters adorn the walls of teenagers all over the world. And not many are practising their poses in front of the mirror.
The lack of egomaniacal rockstars has also meant that more styles of music get a fair shake nowadays. Yacht rock, elevator music, mall sounds. Those are all things with which audiences ought to be familiar. And they are the kinds of pieces of music that were once ridiculed. Well, not anymore.
Paul Cherry writes clever light-jazz pieces designed to shimmer inside your brain and give off a sense of comfort. The music is inspired by easy-listening music and the kind of dad-rock that includes Paul McCartney. But while Paul may not be the bloke to deliver songs decked in a leather jacket and dangling a cigarette from his mouth, it’s the sounds that are so well pieced together that make “Waverunner” an undeniably pleasant listening experience.