
The Goldhearts – Verona with a V
For a while now, pop music has been either shown an obsession with the unknown of the future or has dipped into melancholy for the past. Both those approaches are fine, but they leave a huge gap in reporting about the present, a task that is arguably the hardest of all.
The truth is that the present is confusing and always has been. People usually do not possess enough information to feel as if they can truly make an informed decision. Take, for example, the recent health crisis. I have friends who have ventured out in the mountains to avoid the effects of it and who are absolutely convinced that the health scare never existed at all.
These are confusing times, but music and poetry are designed to help us make some sense of matters. The Goldhearts’ Verona with a V is an absolutely charming art project in which the indie-pop group creates a tale in horrendous bullying, which eventually leads to even more dire consequences. The performance is pure, zest-filled, and designed to be enjoyed by anyone fond of a pop hook.
Right On Yukon – Trade
There’s a certain blend of alternative pop where I instinctively find myself wondering if Natalie Portman would approve. It’s music that seems created to soundtrack movies, especially those whose themes deal with escaping difficult life circumstances.
This kind of music doesn’t work without some type of visual stimulant. That’s good news for one’s imagination which is forced into overdrive. It’s stimulating music, sure, especially because it leaves a lot of questions mysteriously unanswered. Other, louder, styles of music, such as punk or metal, do not possess this kind of subtlety, nor search for it very hard.
Right On Yukon’ Trade feels like a road song, the kind that would accompany a journey of self-discovery. There’s drama at play, certainly, but the lyrics and vocal delivery leave things vague enough for this to be a “choose your own adventure” kind of thing. The playing and the song’s construction are, however, very good, and, yes, Natalie Portman would jump all over this tune.