Vinyl Williams – Soulgaze
There have always been people tempted to call music nothing more than mathematics that you can hear. The same people, if they’re serious about this idea, spent a vast chunk of their time learning the rules of this science.
The smartest of the bunch, after years of travails, figure out that they’ve led themselves astray. A good chunk of them never realise. And a very few extremely bright ones learn to pivot before it’s too late.
People have always been excited about the possibility that only music, and no other art form, could show truths that are otherwise hidden. But learning the algorithm behind it solves nothing. Experimenting with sound with the right set of intentions, as Vinyl Williams might, actually, solve it.
Williams is looking for a celestial sound, for a secret prayer of meditation that plays inside your brain at the very greatest moments in your life. “Soulgaze” takes musical inspiration from retro soul as much as the shoegaze revival sounds. However, it’s the exploratory approach of Vinyl Williams, along with Nailah Hunter, that really sells the song.
Plain Mister Smith – Dream to be free
People go on and on about how Springsteen used every street in New Jersey and wrote a song about it. They also go wild when they visit London and discover all of the places tied to some song by The Kinks or Bowie. And, of course, would New York City mean anything right now if it wasn’t for punk-rockers making it feel cool and deeply unsafe?
However, artists who don’t get to travel, or don’t allow themselves that opportunity, cheat themselves. They, without question, voluntarily refuse a really special gift. They trade something that will, no doubt, turn into inspiration for comfort. How else will you be able to make audiences lose themselves in gentle illusions if you haven’t experienced the world, and this is precisely what Plain Mister Smith is coming from.
On the one hand, “Dream to Be Free” is exactly what it sounds like – an invitation to improve your life by living it, by fading into your imagination. On the other hand, Plain Mister Smith pens a travelogue with this gently psychedelic song, a travel blog about Japan set to music. At the end of the day, “Dream to Be Free” really is about what brand new, never-before-seen experiences make you feel like, and about all of the weight that they take off of your shoulders.
