X.ILE – Days Go By
Did you ever wonder how pop stars get to be so confident while performing in front of thousands and thousands of people? What do you mean, “how?” Imagine being on a large stage overlooking the crowds, having an army of musicians, dancers and stylists working to make you look good, and the authority to say whatever you want to the audience.
Of course, it’s easy to look and sound impressive when whatever you’re singing is beamed down from gigantic speakers and shown on colossal screens. But the real test is being able to get people to hang on your every word once all of those tricks are no longer available. Can a musician tell a story with just their voice and an acoustic guitar?
X.ILE’s “Days Go By” dials things back, takes inspiration from ‘90s acoustic grunge just as well as jam rock culture. This is music that’s comfortable with silences and with lyrical concepts related to mental health, death and the passing of time. But, more than anything, with this X.ILE earns a ticket into an exclusive club, one where pure songwriting ability is honoured.
The Stone Souls – Bucking Bronco (vs. The Secretary Of War)
Perhaps I underestimated the cost of protesting nowadays. Yeah, I used to be one of the people astounded by the fact that there were so few songs against the wars in recent years, that there were no punk-rock heroes lending their voices to fight tyranny and that, for the most part, rock music was stuck on fashion rather than the importance of the species fighting its way out of this modern hellscape.
But perhaps I failed to consider what the people using their voices to signal their disapproval are standing against. They’ve got lists, files and recordings, after all. They’ve got software to add you to any of those lists, and enough people on the payroll to come knock on your door and check on you. We’re at the dawn of a new era of censorship. And that’s why The Stone Souls are a mighty brave bunch.
It doesn’t matter that “Bucking Bronco (vs. The Secretary Of War)” is more of a folk-rock poem about the knuckleheads running the military industrial complex, or that, despite this being a true-blue country-rock track, it’s written from the comforts of Europe. Nah, this is a brave song, alright, one that emphasises the sheer stupidity of war and the people waging it. Above everything, it’s mighty brave.
