Steven Keene – Somewhere In Between
Similar artists: Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen
Genre: Folk, Americana
What eventually happens to the lion tamer? Few know, and even fewer people care. The lion tamer is there to do something most people wouldn’t dare try. He’s a superhero and a madman.
Both these things are roles that would make for an entertaining movie. We all like to think that our lives could be a movie. Most of us, however, would not wish to deal with the consequences of a fascinating existence.
Rock stars are a lot like lion tamers. Everyone wants to be like them. Few, really, would want their lives. Their existence is a monument to what throwing caution out the door would mean.
Steven Keene’s Somewhere In Between is a folk, poetic meditation on the allure of the extreme and the importance of balance. It’s the kind of lullaby a rock star would sing to themselves. It’s poetry about the forces that create and destroy someone going after the leading part.
Ruth Lyon – Flood
Similar artists: Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, PJ Harvey
Genre: Indie Folk, Folk rock
Turn on your favorite social media app and prepare for opinions that are more uniform in tone than a Chinese party congress. Everything has the same opinion about everything. This, of course, is not opinion at all, but a retelling of things they heard somebody say.
Modern musicians ain’t got much to say these days. It only makes sense! Few of their contemporaries are any more original. In the absence of imagination or guts, we’re left with wallpaper tracks to get us through our days.
We don’t even hear much emotion. Expressing seems unbecoming of modern people who are so interested in likes and reactions from folks that they don’t know. Where’s the truth? There isn’t any.
Ruth Lyon’s Flood is that rare song that feels wholly unique because it comes from a wholly original artist. No, there are no weird sonic tricks here. Instead, hearing a human voice, one that dares to speak about vulnerability and flaws feels almost revolutionary nowadays. Some songwriters are still obsessed with the human experience, thankfully.
