2 weeks Ago
Buried like a treasure in the 31-song tracklist of ’s “Anthology” edition is “How Did It End?” – a stark piano ballad in the vein of 2020’s sepia-toned . Over arpeggiating notes that rise and fall like waves on a shoreline, Swift alludes to the gleeful press frenzy surrounding another public heartbreak: “Come one, come all/ It’s happenin’ again/ The empathetic hunger descends..
.” Then comes the tussle between mature acceptance and childish disbelief: “The deflation of our dreaming/ Leaving me bereft and reeling/ My beloved ghost and me/ Sitting in a tree/ D-Y-I-N-G.” Songwriting of the most exquisite kind.
Australian dance-pop four-piece Confidence Man make great smoking area music, spacey keyboard nonsense built to accompany comedowns and lazy, end-of-the-night head-banging. “Who Knows What You’ll Find?” is the pulsing, glitchy glitter bomb that kicks off their October record , an album inspired by their 2022 move to London. In it, frontwoman Janet Planet invites the listener to hang out, orders us to shut up and dance, then admits through giggles that she kissed a DJ – but that it’s really no big deal.
So a typical night out in Dalston, basically. “Speyside”, the first single from Bon Iver’s EP , is startling in its simplicity – a welcome reminder of Justin Vernon’s mastery of understated indie-folk. Here, he evokes a sense of yearning with the rich, warm tones of an acoustic guitar and his resigned admission: “Nothing’s really happened like I thought it would.
” It’s his most pared-back song in years, and all the more powerful for its restraint. Nashville-based singer-songwriter Robby Hecht has produced some exquisite albums in recent years: his latest release, , is another fine collection of gentle, lyrical folk songs. “Someone to Dance With” is the pick of the bunch, a sweetly sad song about loneliness, sung with whispery vigour.
It’s deceptively slight, but the vibe is beguiling, and not a million miles away f.
