On this edition of LITM Rock Picks, tracks take on the bright throes of wistful nostalgia while occasionally dipping into moments of thematic and sonic depth. Each track captures a specific emotion, wrapped in synths and what sounds like 80’s reminisces. This list features RISE, Sleeping Together, John Deering and more!
1. RISE - Dreams
‘Dreams’ by RISE and stayMellow is a song packed with bright, synth-led optimism, bright and clear. Its lyrics feel wrapped in warmth, with the narrator offering to be somebody’s support during the hardest of times. This with an earnest sense of sincerity and gratitude. “...You guide me, you help me, you show me the way…”.
The song’s soundscape conjures up the brightness of 80’s synths, firmly placing the listener in the bright colours that inform warm nostalgia. The song evokes this sense of nostalgia that mingles with warm gratitude, making space for earnest intentions that pool and almost overflow with warmth. “...I need direction, reflection, I need you to stay…”.
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2 Sleeping Together - Pour Me Another
‘Pour Me Another’ by Sleeping Together is a sound wrapped in warm, looping cascades that becomes progressively more heady as the night progresses. The lyrics begin by attempting to surrender to the whims of the night, until the narrator drinks till they “...can’t hear myself think…”.
From wanting to “...see what happens next…”, which informs the song’s bright, dynamic energy, to overthinking “...I’m scared I’ll say the wrong thing…”. Our narrator here moves from simply wanting to feel the headiness of the moment to falling into a heady spiral. Much like the melodies, the narrator’s mood through lyrics moves towards looping, falling cascades.
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3. Somnolence. - Walls
‘Walls’ by Somnolence. takes on deep melodies and slow-moving guitar melodies that feel attempts to reflect on circumstances as they are. The tone almost implores depths of thought, fuelled by the melody’s constant yet quiet build, layering the track with depth and violent cascades.
The song’s lyrics keep a steady pace, braiding in evocative realisations with deep rhythms, allowing lyrics to resonate deep and slow. “...You try to be someone you’re not, I try to be someone who I am…”. But haunting melodies come to a conclusion that feels counter to the sense of self that our narrator is only beginning to explore. “...But these walls will keep me attached to you…”.
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4. CS Hellmann - Waves Waves
‘Waves Waves’ by CS Hellmann takes on a dark, subdued groove that feels hard-hitting and emotionally charged. Deep melodies, like familiar emotions, seem to come in waves that are deep, spiralling and resonant. The soundscape offers up a melancholic, moody atmosphere that seems to stick.
“...Waves waves rolling on you,...they’re rolling on me…”. These lines feel like connection, a moment of solidarity in the middle of stormy static. There’s a weight to the melodies that feels as though it’s pulling you in, but that line in the song’s refrain seems to make weathering that swelling storm a little bit easier.
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5. John Deering - Groove, Groove, Groove
‘Groove, Groove, Groove’ by John Deering leans into escape with what feels like bright, indie rock nostalgia. The song’s lyrics tell a story that constantly seems to shift perspective, wrapped in the warmth of what feels like warm community almost. A time reflected on with wistful nostalgia cocooned in bright, loud melodies.
Catchy guitar melodies capture this groove, solid and familiar, while the lines keep the listener engaged in the story being told with what feels like dynamic, oscillating frequency. Warm escape into rhythm seems to unite all the narratives, with soundscape and melodies seemingly boiling down to a space in time where all can let loose a little bit and “...groove, groove, groove…”.
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