Editors’ Picks: The Fluidity of Musical Expression
As an art form, music claims the ability to waver between and capture a variety of sentiments. At times playful and ambitious, and, at other times, raw and severe, music offers us a furtive glimpse into our collective and individual histories, cultures, and emotions. In an effort to capture the fluid and multivalent nature of music, members of the Review’s Editorial Board compiled albums, artists, and songs that exemplify the form’s propensity toward reflection.
Mira Calix — “there is always a girl with a secret” & “rightclick”
The beloved experimental electronic artist and longtime Warp Records staple, Mira Calix, is set to release a collage-inspired album on November 5, 2021. While I eagerly wait for its release, I’ve been obsessively replaying the album’s single “there is always a girl with a secret” and the 2019 “rightclick.” Calix’s influences on “there is always” are hard to pin down, but the bongo-driven percussion and nonsensical a capella lead me to believe that much like the visual collage in the song’s music video, the sound collage is intended to be difficult to decipher. “there is always” is arguably Calix’s most structurally progressive song yet, leading an unsuspecting listener to unconsciously shift their weight on their feet and perhaps swing their limbs around.
In 2019’s “Utopia” EP, we got a hint of Calix’s direction toward danceable song structures. Although more repetitive than “there is always”, “rightclick” allows you get accustomed to a short sequence which is obscenely movement-inspiring for how minimal and dissonant it is, but then switches the groove to a climactic break which is perfect for some bedroom dance drama. All of this is to say that if you like strange beats and dancing by yourself, this song is for you.
— Sage Rhys, Personal Essays Editor
Peter McPoland — “Shit Show”
Last August, I was scrolling through TikTok—as one does, of course—and I heard the first line of Peter McPoland’s newest hit, “Shit Show.” Peter was dancing to his single as a promotion for its September release. With the relatable heartbreak of adulthood and the heavy guitar riff in the chorus, the song was purely addicting. I was hooked. It took a moment for me to recognize the 90s-inspired singer in the video as the viral “Romeo and Juliet” artist, but once I started scrolling through McPoland’s feed, I realized who he was and dove head first into his discography. His songs emit the same vibes of the Elton John and Nirvana hits my parents used to blast in the car when I was little. But imagine driving alone in the midnight chill and having nothing but empty highway ahead:
Blasting his music for a thrill…
I lost myself during my ride into the city on the bus.
…and to slip into your memory between the chords.
I caught my eyes locked in that comfortable position of falling in love.
You love the lyrics, even if they describe you a little too well.
Born in 2000, Peter McPoland is a Vermont native who, like many artists today, gained popularity on TikTok. His music seamlessly blends teenage angst with intricate melodies and instrumentals that make his listeners feel understood and infinite—in a sort of Perks-of-Being-a-Wallflower way. This is the music you play to put your emotions into words. These lyrics will echo the best moments of your life and make you dance down memory lane.
With “Shit Show,” Peter has composed an acoustic Bildungsroman.
I’ll drop the act of adolescence and I'll play a new part
The 20-year-old Scorpio is currently on tour and signed to Sony Music.
I’ll try to find where my voice went and I’ll stop breaking my own heart
With his current upward trajectory, this “Shit Show” is a must-see.
Italicized lines taken from “Shit Show” by Peter McPoland.
— Olivia Medeiros-Sakimoto, Features Editor
YEBBA — Dawn (2021)
Capturing a myriad of emotions, such as grief, peace, strength and acceptance, YEBBA (known otherwise as Abbey Elizabeth Smith) released Dawn on September 10th of this year. Her debut album explores the emotions felt after the major, sudden loss of her mother, Dawn, which the album is named after, as well as her struggles with PTSD and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The intricacies and enduring fragility of the album is a testament to the talent of YEBBA: she is unafraid of raw vulnerability, and she is likewise undaunted by rooting her artistry in her past. Taken as a whole, the album is an ambitious mixture of jazz, soul, pop, R&B, and gospel, musical styles or influences that are clearly inspired by her church upbringing. In just 38 minutes and 54 seconds, unfolding across 12 songs, YEBBA’s album traverses melancholy and nostalgia, with each note caressed as gently as a whisper.
— Chase Smith, Editor-at-Large
Yves Tumor — Heaven To A Tortured Mind (2020)
I don’t know if 2020 was necessarily a great year for music, with COVID interrupting tours, delaying albums, and producing more artistic stagnation than it did innovation (most great art comes from hardship, but I suspect that the great art of the COVID era hasn’t been released or discovered yet, in music or otherwise). The year, however, was nevertheless buoyed by Yves Tumor’s early April release of Heaven to a Tortured Mind. Yves Tumor, whose real name is Sean Bowie, had mostly trafficked in heavily experimental and ambient music, with 2018’s psychedelic though more pop-based Safe in the Hands of Love marking their first entry into more accessible song structures. Heaven to a Tortured Mind leans further into this style while recalling Yves Tumor’s numerous psychedelic and sound collage influences—and, in doing so, produced a real tour de force. Yves Tumor seems interested in exploring every possible sound an electric guitar can make—these trevails are musically interesting on their own, but would not have broken through to the mainstream if not for Yves Tumor’s substantial vocal charisma and melodic adroitness. Their voice is guttural as if you’re listening to them at the encore of a particularly intense show. Yves Tumor puts these considerable talents to work in the bass- and horn-driven opener, “Gospel for a New Century,” or the album’s lead single, “Kerosene!,” a banger deserving of its name. The latter, with its music video inspired by David Cronenberg’s Crash, is an almost delirious expression of desire, befitting of being played at only the highest volumes. It’s one of many on Heaven to a Tortured Mind which are bound to make an imprint.
— Alexander Del Greco, Music Editor