Vacations – Terms & Conditions
Genre: Indie Rock
Vacations are looking to make vulnerability cool again in the realm of all-too-perfect indie rock.
“How much do you want to reveal about your life?” This should be one of the first questions that a record exec or a manager asks a band if the group has any potential to achieve large success, then, they will need to say a lot about themselves. And it won’t suffice to merely list off the groceries that they enjoy buying.
Most people go through life tight-lipped. It only makes sense. It’s a survival mechanism. Artists, in particular pop musicians, can’t afford this luxury. Apart from a select few who’ve worked to build a mystery around themselves, the rest need to find ways to open up.
Vacations’ “Terms & Conditions” is a look inside the psyche of the band, a revealing display of the band’s hopes and uncertainties. Musically this straddles the line between folk and power-ballad, two formats easily accepted in the indie-rock world. Its success, however, will only be determined by how close it brings it to the band’s fans.
Bathe Alone – Blue Days
Genre: Indie Rock, Dream Pop
Bathe Alone are looking to soundtrack pure melancholy through their gentle dream-pop sound.
How would you describe nostalgia? Sure, you’ll probably try to use words first. But unless you have the making of a budding Marcel Proust or Haruki Murakami, you’ll end up empty-handed. Nobody will want to listen to you, and you’ll end up trying to tell your story to your analyst and cat.
Musicians and filmmakers have a few more tools at their disposal. Through imagery and sound, they can evoke this powerful feeling while never having to define or spell it out. Still, there’s no formula for it, nothing that can be taught inside the walls of a fancy school.
Bathe Alone’s “Blue Days” is a dream-pop serenade about impermanence, loss of time, and endless change. The song may be built off of familiar vocal murmurs and gently cascading minimalist instrumentation. But the musicians are feeling their way through this just as much as we are. Nostalgia hits you when and where you least expect it.