Strange Souvenirs – DMH
Similar artists: The National, Okkervil River, The Walkmen
Genre: Alternative Rock
What are the most common dreams? Flying, winning the lottery, playing with your pet puppy? Well, one of the most common ones is killing another person. According to studies, nearly 19% of adults have dreamt this recently. Researchers are split on what that means. The ones who love sticking to obvious theories believe that the dreamers are angry in the waking hours.
But the researchers who are more prone to reading poetry, taking long walks on the beach and contemplating the meaning of existence, thinking that there might be something deeper there. These dreams may simply be an expression of anxiety, ambition, or even express a certain loathing toward personal characteristics.
Strange Souvenirs’s “DMH” is a murder ballad but not a hateful message to the outside world. The country rock playing provides the soundtrack to the story and makes it sound like the events are unfolding at night when nobody is awake or aware of what’s going on. The vocals have a self-pitying tone to them. Is the storyteller about to kill someone else, or are they really talking about themselves? Before you know it, the Sun is back out, and the truth can no longer be avoided.
Kynsy – Money
Similar artists: NewDad, SPRINTS, English Teacher, Panic Shack
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Rock
Noel Gallagher always claimed that his greatest misfortune was not being able to stay 25 forever. Had he somehow managed to engineer this or simply delay the success of Oasis, Gallagher reckons he would’ve been able to write a few other classics. Once he’d become flush with cash, there simply was no motivation to write songs about being poor and anxious to find out what the world had to offer.
That may be. But if you can’t write about being poor and sad, bands must write about being rich and wild. This is even harder to do than pen Gallagher’s anthems of teenage angst. It’s easiest to catch someone pretending to be rich and without a care in the world. Get caught once, and you are humiliated!
It’s then a rare gift to be able to sound both like a pauper and like a millionaire. Kynsy managed to do that on the single “Money.” This is pure, modern indie-rock. It’s sad music for the greatest party. And it’s a song that feels like it was performed by someone knowledgeable about success who has voluntarily decided to slum it. Whether this is actually true or not is not important. It’s a great outlook either way.
