WILT_2024-08

A playlist of songs that intrigued me from Sunday to Saturday. Week of 18 Feb 2024 to 24 Feb 2024.

1. Far From A Friend – Sophie May
2. Vashti – Hag
3. Rest Easy – yeemz
4. Beau’s Old Bones – yeemz
5. Life’s Got A While – yeemz
6. Fly To You (feat. Grimes and Dido) – Caroline Polachek, Grimes, Dido
7. Animal – AURORA
8. All is Soft Inside – AURORA
9. It Happened Quiet – AURORA
10. Runaway – AURORA
11. The Seed – AURORA
12. Myself Nobody Else – Baby Combat
13. The Ghost – The Infinites
14. Slime Wave – The Slimetones
15. Stay Away From New York City – Fig
16. Your Mess – Charlie Gradon
17. Finish In Silence – LSSNS
18. Out In The Sun (slow with reverb) – Little Bird
19. Fever Dream – junodream
20. Infinity – Hohen Ford
21. Clementine II – Hana Bryanne

Hyperlink to Spotify playlist: WILT_2024-08

Notes

I carried on from the previous week by exploring more material by Sophie May and yeemz and along the way, the wistful Vashti by Hag and the drum and bass inspired Fly To You by Caroline Polachek both stood out with the unique arrangements and approaches.

However, I discovered the music of AURORA through their KEXP performance and was immediately hooked, prompting further exploration. Animal is both visceral and nonchalant in the way love demands and hurts selfishly, yet unabashed in why it can make one feel good. All Is Soft Inside I added for its amazing baritone guitar passage during the performance’s interlude though I’m not sure it really translated in the recorded version. Next comes It Happened Quiet which has really stood out for me as song of the week. Their performance at Nidarosdomen really stood out for me for its intensity, particularly when they sing ”Are your dreams as dead as they seem? / Don’t you speak over my voice / I will return from the shadows / Love is wild.” Truly stupendous. The performances of Runaway and The Seed at the Haik Concert were also very magical having been performed in a forest and as usual, extremely poignant in that AURORA is always so immersed in the performance that you cannot help but be pulled in. One more thing about these performances is that every musician on stage is also incredibly proficient at what they do, and so considered as well. The level of restraint to continue burning like a candle in the wind is such a privilege to commune in such a perfect storm. 

As we progress from AURORA, my friend Baby Combat released a new single, Myself Nobody Else and he does what he does best by finding the melodies that nobody else can, and giving words to displaced observations and disembodied emotions.

The songs that follow Baby Combat tether on the edge of indie rock, never really landing on a particular genre. Whether it’s the “sewer surf” of The Slimetones, the nostalgic synth ballads of Fig, the percussive riffing of Charlie Gradon, the dark electro pop of LSSNS, the playlist journeys through the valleys of creativity and melancholy.