The Reflections – Inner Child
It’s no secret that rock stars are some of the most pampered and spoiled human beings on the planet, second only to chiefs of state and royalty. But all of this is in the job description. And for many, it’s a good enough reason to put the effort in learning fancy guitar chords or difficult dance steps.
But because of the stars of the genre, musicians of all sorts may have gotten the wrong idea. Most musicians are spoiled before anyone’s even bothered to offer them the keys to a sports car or make them sign an endorsement deal. That might make a band like The Reflections laugh.
Because of this, musicians tend to operate in either one of two ways – by being horribly depressed, or by acting maniacally giddy. They bring these two moods into their music, and usually little else. And, these moods are determined, for the most part, by how well the world’s reacting to their little rockstar routine.
Why not stare the world and all of its troubles straight in the eye and decide to be happy anyway? That in itself would be an act of rebellion. That’s what The Reflections opt to do on the indie-pop meets The Beach Boys single, “Inner Child.” The lyrics admit to personal fears and worries about the world. But the music seems to say: “It’s not worth taking the time to consider all of this.” This is sugar-pop rebellion, and it’s praiseworthy.
MADANES – Your Dog
You can enjoy the big Hollywood movies, but never trust them. How many people fall madly in love and stay that way ever after? Similarly, there’s nothing wrong with scrolling through your social media and liking the posts of the people with ideal, exciting, well-balanced lives. But don’t start feeling bad for yourself or, for a moment, believe that those are true stories. How could they be?
And what if all these people who deal in illusions were suddenly forced to reveal their lives as they really are? What if you got to see the effort, the heartache, and the unattractiveness of it all? Well, most of you would flee by running in the opposite direction, thinking that this is not the fairytale that you were promised. Turns out that most people want the illusion.
Those who prefer a healthy dose of reality, and still manage to keep a smile glued to their faces while doing it, will enjoy the single “Your Dog” by MADANES. None of it’s perfect. The story’s tragic. The hero’s just willing to roll over for a bit of affection. And, the singing is wonderfully dishevelled. But that’s what makes this song great. It’s excellent in all of the things that a professional producer would first think to change. It’s real, sad and kind of funny, in the same way that reality is most of the time.
