These LITM Rock Picks are all about hope – in the easy times and the hard; featuring Billy Bobak, Kristian Grostad, The Side Effect, and more!
1. Billy Bobak – Saving Grace
From Billy Bobak’s album Billy Wakes Up, comes Saving Grace, a track suffused with warmth and optimism. Opening with a serene guitar below understated vocals, it’ll immediately remind you of the calmness of early mornings. The song blends folk with a country twang effortlessly, resulting in a sound that envelopes you in tenderness; midway through, it shifts gears, with an electric guitar taking over the track, along with drums that pack a punch with their frenzied feel. It’s lively, bouncing along through the emotional rollercoaster it creates. It’s a great opener for the coming-of-age arc woven through the album – listen to it here!
2. Kristian Grostad – Separate Ways
Kristian Grostad’s Separate Ways is carefully optimistic and easygoing in its progression. Both lyrically and musically, it feels like the kind of song that could soundtrack a summer montage in a coming-of-age film; with lyrics like “Here’s a broken paper / make a fold and build a plane,” it’s constantly on the hunt for the little joys. It’s carefree in theme and production, making it the perfect pick-me-up on a dull day: with drums that drive the song effortlessly and Grostad’s energetic vocals, it’s light despite the subtle thread of bittersweet, nostalgic melancholy that runs through it – listen here!
3. The Side Effect – Break Out
“When you wake up in the morning feeling poisoned by the sunshine / and you step out in the evening where everyone looks so fine...”
So begins The Side Effect’s Break Out, from their album Poisoned by the Sunshine. It’s brazenly hopeful in the way it encourages you to change your life when you’re unhappy with every bit, filling you with energy and the optimism that no matter what, your life is in your control. With vocals carrying a bounce-off-the-walls energy and drums grounding it all, it feels like the title track to a ‘90s sitcom set in the big city – give it a listen!
4. David Palfreyman – Locked Door Key
From the album Opening Time for the Battered, David Palfreyman brings Locked Door Key, a track brimming with tension and earthiness. It’s sharp in its instrumental and catchy in its melody; beneath all the ‘80s-reminiscent grit and intensity lies careful hope and positivity, a reminder that this too shall pass, no matter what “this” is. The instrumental solos towards the middle and end of the track give it a buoyancy, rippling through the track with a sure-footedness that grounds it all. Produced with clarity and distortion in equal measure, it’s all in all an enchanting listen – watch it here!
5. JOANOVARC – Hey Sister
Hey Sister is a turbulent tale of pain, isolation, and self-worth. Centred around JOANOVARC’s eponymous ‘sister’, the song charts her position in an abusive, isolating relationship, fighting resolutely against the forces that oppress her. “For every lightning bolt / For every thunderstorm / There is a light at dawn,” she promises, relentlessly, almost vengefully, hopeful. Hey Sister is a promise: to fight alongside each other, to be there for each other in the good times and bad, and that no matter how broken down her sister gets, she’ll always be there to help her pick the pieces back up – give it a listen here.
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