Tender Glue – My Sweetest Tone (Time Machine)
There’s always a new edition. And, there’ll always be someone willing to write it and come up with novel ideas. Don’t worry, or fret too much about the pessimistic predictions about how things, no matter how important or how many, must eventually disappear.
That is the case with music, as well as all other forms of entertainment that permeate popular culture. While there’s a school of thought that says that all of the world’s greatest songs have been created decades ago, those who claim this simply must be too tired to look for anything new or to trust anyone anymore.
The fact is that there’s a sound created by indie rock bands in the past decade that simply could not have existed in years prior. Bands like Tender Glue are a fantastic example of that and a good reason to be optimistic about what music may still produce.
“My Sweetest Tone (Time Machine)”, although largely, performed live and with just four instruments and lead vocals, sounds as much like a pop song as a sound sculpture. Hearing it feels like watching someone take a chisel and sculpt a cloud into perfectly symmetrical shapes. This song about struggle and identity is a perfect reminder of why the future matters and why being ready to be able to meet it is your best bet. Tender Glue ought to make your day!
KEM? – Kem tror du at du é
There’s nothing wrong with ambition, and there’s certainly room for it in rock n’ roll. The trouble is that people spend a lot of time trying to work out how they’re going to be successful. And, once they’ve figured out enough strategies, they begin writing rules.
Most of the songs that you hear on the radio nowadays are written according to those rules. Nah, there’s no escape in trying to change the station. They’ve written enough for all genres, for all locations.
That’s why it’s important to encourage bands like “KEM?” and refreshing to hear sounds that feel produced spontaneously and with the purpose of representing the band members and where they are in the world at the moment. It makes you feel just a little bit more in awe of life’s great mysteries.
Ot everything’s been figured out or done to death just yet. Not everybody needs to conform in order to lead a purposeful life. KEM?’s “Kem tror du at du é” brings together elements of alternative-rock and post-punk, but the group isn’t fishing for nostalgia votes on this one.
They’re painting their dreams through sound and taking a bit of a gamble as well, opting to stand out in an otherwise pretty conservative Scandi society. Nobody has quite done a song like this before because nobody has quite lived life like KEM?’s musicians have done before. And that’s a good enough reason to maintain, as a music listener, your excitement.
