1. Bemyself (Live Vol. 1) by Parcels
Bemyself is track #3 from Live Vol. 1, Aussie band Parcels’ recently released live album (my review for which you can read here), recorded and filmed (pre-virus) in Hansa Studios, Berlin.
A very chill original version of this song was already included on the band’s 2018 debut album, but I think there’s something to be said for its live performance. For one, the beat and overall energy are much more lively, but most importantly: unlike the original in which singing carries through the entire song, this version allows for a full minute and a half of instrumental jamming out --- which is, after all, what Parcels does best.
The fact that this live session isn’t edited in any way (only mixed) makes it all the more unique.
Also note the transition coming into Bemyself from Myenemy – seamless! Given their knack for transitions, Parcels’ record offers a new appreciation for listening to an album in order. For a really fun one, listen to Comedown and Lightenup one after the other (Gab, if you're reading this, thank you for that).
2. Real Love by Big Thief
As a friend advised when sharing this one, “FULL volume”. Big Thief’s Real Love is a real masterpiece (no pun to its album title intended) – unpredictable and messy and turbulent in all the right ways.
The song feels like it's grasping for air during the first few verses before diving headfirst into the rough-edged chorus – “Real love, real love / real love makes your lungs black / real love is a heart attack”. Everything becomes more and more volatile as it goes on, a piercingly real reflection of the experience it’s trying to express.
And then finally the crescendo culminates in two thrashing guitar solos at the end, described perfectly by Wesley Schultz as “a beautiful ‘I don’t give a Fuck’ solo moment that reminds me of Nirvana and Neil Young having a baby.”
If ever I heard a song that was so entirely a poem, I think this would be it. Adrianne Lenker of the band once gave beautiful context about its meaning: “There’s no answers in it. Struggle is inherent in love…We make love and love makes us. Maybe that’s why it is so hard for us when we feel that we’ve lost it, as if we’ve disappeared.”
3. And the Living Is Easy by Guts
Changing pace entirely, And the Living Is Easy is just extremely fun and funky. It’s Guts’ modern rework of Billy Stewart’s 1966 version of Summertime, which was itself originally composed in 1934 by George Gershwin. This is always such a cool result of sampling – the ability to connect these different eras of music and the various artists that adapted each other’s songs over time.
In his version, Guts keeps Stewart’s original horns arrangements but reworks the whole song with a punchy beat. He also keeps Stewart’s iconic intro, one of my favourites --- that little “b-rrrrr chuk chuk chuka chuk chuk” before the beat kicks in is SO good.
4. The Bells by Lowell
The first time I heard The Bells I didn’t think much of it – just a fun, candy-coated beat – but it quickly got stuck in my head and I’ve found myself returning to it constantly ever since.
So clearly there's something that keeps me coming back --- probably the way the twinkling intro and fluttering bells tinkering throughout the song are so sweet and uplifting. And then after the brief comedown halfway through, the “hey where’d the beat go?” at 2:33 is catchy as hell, bringing the percussion back in for the second half.
I'd call this a light-hearted electronic bop that fits many occasions.
(As a fun aside about Lowell: she’s Canadian (which we love to see) and she co-write the three songs on the debut EP of up-n-comer Bülow, a fellow Canadian singer, including Bülow’s hit single “Not A Love Song”.)
Listen on Spotify to all 'Songs of the Week' here.
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