This edition of LITM Rock Picks takes you through 5 unique rock experiences within different subgenres, including dark folk, prog rock, and more, featuring the artists RISE, Plural Gallery, 3Mak, Eternal Mourning, and Allan Jamisen.
1. RISE – Talking to Your Ghost Again
Liverpool, England-based artist RISE have just released their latest song ‘Talking to Your Ghost Again’, a deeply profound track with influences from indie and prog rock genres. The song, being themed around the weight of loss and grief, talks about the difficulties of taking the next step of "moving on". The music itself feels like a merging of a heavy drizzle and the evening sun, with each instrument build a lucid atmospheric setting using echoing reverbs and resonant guitars. The production brings in unique instruments that layer different textures together along with soothing vocal harmonies which deepen the emotional weight of the track.
2. Plural Gallery - Skin Deep
If you’re looking for something unique and hypnotic from the alt rock genre, Plural Gallery has just the song for you, with ‘Skin Deep’. From their album Portable Aura, this track is infused with vivid tones and shapes, taking the listener through a tunnel of silky and simmering textures that float around the vocals. The short, mesmeric acoustic fingerstyle alongside the deep bass notes doubles up with the singer, diverging at different points, and blends soothingly well with the long, sustained synth notes, creating intricate patterns that your ear latches on to right from beginning to end. Check it out here-
3. 3Mak - millennium man
Another song that brings in a mesmeric melding of tones, ‘millennium man’ by 3Mak’s takes you through what feels like a journey through a wormhole, or a rift in the universe, with its unique approach to music. Built on kaleidoscopic tones and a dense atmospheric fog escaping from the ‘spaceship’-like vessel the tones float in, the song feels like an endless passage, where the only things keeping the listener grounded are the looming bass notes and the beats. At times, it almost feels like you’re passing through memories as different voices and harmonies gently glide past you. If you’re looking for an experimental, unique converging of tones, this would be a great song to check out!
4. Eternal Mourning – Drums are Beating My Steps
Just like the title suggests, this song does feel like deep, echoing bass drum beats tread like the footsteps of a lone, shadowy memory. The soundscape brings in a mix of unfamiliarity with familiar, nostalgic dark tones through its dark, alt-folk-inspired arrangement. It takes you through dense landscapes of looming melancholia, drawing from a palette of deep hues and dark tones. The vocals surround the listener as if the singer is right there, while the instrumentation floats overhead. The song acquires more such footsteps along the way with different drum textures and rhythms, bringing in that slow-sinking feeling, almost like walking through a dark alleyway.
5. Allan Jamisen – Leave It All Behind
This track balances deep and crunchy tones with luminous and glossy textures. The lead vocals stand at the forefront and closest to the listener, while the underbed of music following the singer's lead, bringing in is a grungy mix of textures—crunchy overdrives, tense bass notes, sharp, yet viscous, along with rippling neon sheen from the synths. The mix retains most of the original texture of the lead vocals, making it a soothing listen, and one of those songs that you lose yourself to. It's got that 2 AM feel with its nightlife imagery, and dark palette. Find it here-
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