FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: FOOD FOR THOUGHT

If music be the food of love, play on. The opening line of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is one of his most quoted, even though it is voiced by the rather silly Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, whose idea of love is more to do with the longing to be in love than the object itself. Love is probably the most common theme in songwriting but there is often another food in play, food for thought.  Songs are full of reflection and, in looking for a common link between today’s musical choices, it struck me that the songs I’ve selected are a particular thoughtful and thought-provoking collection.

Photo of Faraz Eshghi Sahraei above from his website – see feature on Hiatus

Photo of The Weather Station by Sara Melvin

The prospect of a new album by Toronto-based Tamara Lindeman aka The Weather Station is a welcome way to start today’s proceedings. While we will wait till 17 January for the release of Humanhood, it is previewed by the impressive lead single and video, “Neon Signs.” Tamara’s 2021 album Ignorance was, for me, one of the best of the year; musically intuitive, always inventive and lyrically challenging. It was no surprise that the record featured in many of those year-end top album lists with its connected take on break-ups on both a personal and a societal level, merging relationship failings with an overriding sense of damage to nature and ultimately to humanity.

“Neon Signs” opens deceptively with soft flute over a keyboard drone decorated with a scattered piano note or two before the vocal comes in over a simple, steady beat with an unsettling message: “I’ve gotten used to feeling like I’m crazy or just lazy / Why can’t I get off this floor? Think straight anymore?” The floor may be metaphorical but Tamara is clawing her way through a confusing world where neon advertising jars against climate emergency, where lies and coercion seem to contribute to inertia. Her expressive voice, from breathy murmur to a more strident attack, gives way ultimately to an instrumental coda with a fitting touch of discord. The accompanying video is equally fascinating panning from drone shots of a city at night through to an alienating street walk seen from shifting perspectives, both reinforcing a kind of wonderful sadness that pervades the song.

Cardiff-based Red Telephone is a name new to me I heard via Fresh On The Net last week when the band’s single “Delay The New Day” made it through to the Listening Post and was a whisker away from making the Fresh Faves. In another strong entry batch, it was my pick of the week. The five-piece is notable for having with two sets of brothers in its ranks alongside its first full-time drummer. After a debut album, Hollowing Out, earned a raft of media attention, Red Telephone has a second album completed and released today. The band’s compelling blend of psychedelic rock and darkwave has drawn comparisons to the likes of MGMT, St. Vincent and fellow Welsh outfit, Super Furry Animals.

“Delay The New Day” actually saw the light of day in July this year as an initial foretaste of the new album. It opens with the keyboard grandeur you might associate more with progressive rock and certainly the episodic bridges later into the song hint of early Genesis. Giving way to a searching lead vocal, the song develops into crashing guitar choruses and imaginative interludes before finally playing out more like a conventional rock song. It’s a piece that holds your attention from start to finish with lyrical reflection on the distraction of a more hedonistic lifestyle; easy to fall in with at first but ultimately tedious and a real restraint on creativity.

British-Iranian producer Cyrus Shahrad works under the aegis of Hiatus which may make it is difficult for him to explain when he takes a break! Hiatus is another with a new album, entitled IS, although the 8 November release will be his fifth such offering. He combines traditional Iranian music with electronic elements to create emotive, largely instrumental soundscapes, channelling his Iranian heritage through electronic music since 2005, after rediscovering his father’s record collection when working as a journalist in Tehran. It is a blend of music that has won him mainstream radio play, a New York Times profile, coverage in The Guardian and over 30 million Spotify streams.

From the new album, “Matriarch” is a homage to Hiatus’ late Iranian grandmother Aalam and a nod to female empowerment in a country that has long been defined in the popular imagination by men. It samples Aalam’s laughter to create a playful interlude within pulsating beats, synths and an east-meets-west melodic melange of kamancheh played by Faraz Eshghi Sahraei and lap steel guitar (Matt Falloon). The sound of the kamancheh put me in mind of the Scottish-Egyptian Ayoub Sisters who I saw at Glastonbury. The sisters play conventional violin and cello but there is something about both the energy and grace of Hiatus’ track that struck a similar chord. Cyrus writes that towards the end of her life his grandmother reaction to everything was “simply to laugh, as though she’d seen through to the joke at the centre of existence.” The accompanying video uses clips of OTT Iranian fight movies from the 1960s and 70s. Having decided not to intercut it with footage of his grandmother laughing, it’s now “just four minutes of men beating each other up, which she would probably have found funny. Plus she loved these old films” he added.

Photo of Wings of Desire by Charlotte Patmore

Next, to Wings of Desire, a band I have regularly featured here since first alighting on it via the single “Perfect World” back in February 2022. I had planned to see the dream pop pairing of Chloe Little and James Taylor live at West London’s Bush Hall on Tuesday night and scribble a wee live review for this column. Sometimes life gets in the way, as the cliché goes, whether in a nice, neutral or nasty way and sadly I didn’t make it to the show. A shame as I have always admired the band’s artful, thoughtful world view it expresses musically and visually, not least the vast smorgasbord of ideas and inspirations that makes up its website which many an act could do well to note.

Anyhow, in partial compensation for the lack of a live review, here is “Some Old Place I Used To Know”, another track from Wings of Desire’s recent EP, Shut Up & Listen. The song is a characteristic slow burner culminating in the exhortation “Come on, come on, let’s talk about it” repeated mantra-like over an extended outro. It plays on the contrast between being busy and seemingly engaged with modern life and escaping to somewhere where you can free your mind, get lost in your thoughts and actually speak to someone face to face. The full EP supports a social project local to the band, The Long Table, which is under threat of eviction. You can buy an exclusive cassette of the 4-track EP via Bandcamp for £8 or more with all proceeds going to The Long Table. It’s Bandcamp Friday, so what are you waiting for!

As I have already blown this week’s word count and there is still the Spotify Playlist to go, I will leave you with a choice from last week’s Fresh On The Net Fresh Faves with a reminder that you can vote for this week’s Faves via the FOTN site. London-based singer-songwriter Kitty O'Neal aka march has been a favourite of mine for some time and she continues to release thoughtful, reflective material of the highest order. This is “45 (I Think About This All The Time)”. A little gem.

FIFTY3 FRIDAYS SPOTIFY PLAYLIST SEPTEMBER 2024

For your aural indulgence on the first Friday of each month, I publish a Playlist on Spotify which reprises all the songs featured in this column over the previous month – in order, for the organised mind.

Our Fifty3 Fridays Spotify Playlist September 2024 includes the 17 songs from the month’s Fifty3 Fridays. September’s Playlist opens with the powerful “Conversation Killer” courtesy of Alexandra Leaving, revisits 2016 and closes with Sarah Buckley’s situationship inspired “What’s Going On”. You’ll find 4 years-worth of said Playlists on my Spotify page so please follow me @TonyHardy53, put the kettle on and give it a spin.