Galantis – Unless It Hurts

“This here is Galantis on the very top of their game, and I am ALL HERE FOR IT.”

Tim: Galantis have got a new album out today, hurrah! And even better, over the past few days, they’ve been putting out lyric videos for multiple tracks. First there was Steel, probably the closest they’ll ever get to releasing a heartfelt ballad; Wednesday gave us Stella, which is entirely okay; and yesterday we got this, probably the second closest they’ll ever get to releasing a heartfelt ballad.

Tom: Those are some Matt Bellamy-quality inbreaths on that first verse. But, uh, well, it doesn’t stay as “heartfelt ballad” for long, does it?

Tim: So, yeah, I say second closest, it’s not really close at all, save for the slightly soppy lyrics and piano-only first verse. (Steel, on the other hand, is thin piano line all the way through to the start of the post-chorus, and boy is it frustrating.) It gets going fairly quickly, though, with that drum build coming along soon enough leading to a good chorus (with a memorable lyric line!) and typically great post-chorus. This here is Galantis on the very top of their game, and I am ALL HERE FOR IT.

Tom: It is! I disagree with the message of the song, but–

Tim: BUT ALSO that might have sounded like a conclusion, but speaking of that lyric line, it’s struck me that it almost goes counter to what I was saying yesterday about dance tunes having meaningful lyrics.

Tom: I mean, they’re not that meaningful, are they? “If I had to hit a train to make you stay”? And like I was saying, I’m not convinced that insisting that love should hurt is really a good message to be sending.

Tim: Sure, this absolutely doesn’t need a press release talking about how it was inspired by a break-up after an ARGUMENT OF EMOTIONAL TORMENT but which should have been put back together but now it’s too late, but the lyrics do work to build up even more to the drop, to sing or shout along to before going nuts with your arms in the air. Or is that just me?

Tom: I think it’s just you.

COY – Promises

“It’s a proper dance banger.”

Tim: “This song is about love-bound promises that are easy to make but harder to keep,” but more importantly it’s a proper dance banger so no-one will really care about any of that.

Tim: I do wonder with dance track why songwriters come out with all the guff about how the songs are deep and meaningful to them, because when it’s a big soulful ballad or something then sure, that comes across, you can hear the artist singing it, imagine what they’re thinking, get even more from the song, that sort of thing.

Tom: Sometimes, it’s just the PR team insisting that there be some words to send with the press release: the songwriter might just take a look at what the PR team’s sent over, and go, “sure, yeah, I guess”.

Tim: A song like this, though, where you’ve taken your words and are wrapping them up in MASSIVE BEATS and BIG VOCAL WEIRD THINGS and PULSING RHYTHMS, and we might as well have H.P. Baxxter chatting about how Back In The UK is a song about how strongly he feels for this country, and what a great sense of joy he experiences every times he lands at Gatwick. I mean, sure, the lyrics are there: but who cares when you’ve got this level of backing?

Tom: I wasn’t convinced about your description of ‘dance banger’ until I listened back a second time: I was expecting it to go all-in at the start rather than saving it for the middle eight and final chorus. But once I adjusted those expectations: yeah, I agree with you. This doesn’t need the description.

Tomi Saario – Just A Little

“You know how when you hear a song described as ‘jaunty’, it can either be a compliment or a sign of something terrible to come? Well.”

Tim: You know how when you hear a song described as ‘jaunty’, it can either be a compliment or a sign of something terrible to come? Well.

Tom: “Something about your naked body when it’s shaking / tells me all I need to know” isn’t technically the worst lyric we’ve heard here, but it certainly made me grimace. I think it’s mostly that he used “it”, not “you”: that tips it over into creepy. I think the typewriter makes it worse.

Tim: Why a typewriter? No idea, but I can’t help the feeling that if this were happening eight years ago he’d be wearing a stupid fedora or something, and that we’re only a couple of songs away from the video being him busking. I don’t know, I’m probably being unfair (though I doubt it), so let’s move on to the song, and in this case I’m actually enjoying it.

Tom: I can see why: and that introduction showed a lot of promise. I just can’t get over those lyrics, the weird vocal samples in the verses, and the fact the entire track is just proclaiming how much sex he’s having.

Tim: Yes, it wouldn’t take much for it to push it over into ‘irritating’ territory, but as it is I like it. It’s catchy in a good way, the melody (or lack of it, in the chorus) is nice, everything in the background works as well (though I suspect that kazoo sound may prove divisive). For me, I’m just about in. Just about.

Tom: As, apparently, is he.

Benjamin – Kaksi kotia

“To be honest I’m kind of having trouble verbalising.”

Tim: “I’m bored of arguing, let’s just call it quits.” Nope, it’s not what I’m thinking right now about this site, but what Benjamin’s having a sing about.

Tom: I could not remember a single thing about that after it finished.

Tim: Hmm. So, I really, really like this – but for lots of reasons that to be honest I’m kind of having trouble verbalising. Sure, I could describe the individual parts of it, but that wouldn’t really come across right because I’d be mentioning things like that peculiar eagle sound effect, and even though it’s objectively weird it just kind of works.

Tom: I went back to listen again, and found that all the things that stood out now bugged me. The talky bit in the middle eight, the eagle-scream synth, the echoing “baby” at the end of the first verse. I’ve got the exact opposite reaction to you.

Tim: I could also talk about the melody, and production levels, and that sort of thing, but again nothing would quite sum it up properly, really, because it’s more than that. It’s just the whole…thing. Just works, unquantifiably. And you know, I like that, every now and again.

Tom: I’m glad someone does.

Dolly Style – FRKN PERFECT

“Sometimes, formula is absolutely FRKN PERFECT.”

Tim: A song for you today in which it continues to be confirmed that, for all their monthly line-up changes and cynical merchandisability origins, Dolly Style are actually a really good girlband.

Tom: Good production, if saddled with songs that are… well, let’s say inconsistent.

Tim: WHAT. A. CHORUS. Not that the rest of it’s bad, by any means – within a few seconds of it starting we’ve established the genre and that they know what they’re doing, and all we have to do is wait for the good stuff to come along, and oh boy, we are not disappointed.

Tom: Careful with “we”, there. I’ll grant you it’s a good chorus melody, but a lot of the production behind it sounds like someone’s just plugged a vague “early 2000s” synth and percussion pack into their computer, and kept it on the default settings. It might well be a style choice, but it doesn’t sound like a deliberate one.

To be fair: there are some occasional strings in there that do lift it up a bit. But as for that verse…

Tim: The verse is, sure, standard stuff – nothing special, but the second half comes along and it dutifully ramps up a little bit – then it goes a bit quiet for the pre-chorus, all yes, yes, yes, box ticking stuff. And then the chorus happens And the melody, the vocal power, the lyrics, the shoutalongability, again those lyrics I’M TOO FREAKING PERFECT FOR YOU.

Tom: Yep, that’s not bad at all. For a band that was originally set up to be a full-on bubblegum pop act, this is… much more credible than I’d have ever thought.

Tim: After that, we’re back to the start, and of course we have the exact same verse structure, then a decent middle eight, and then, oh, would you believe it, there’s a closing chorus with some added howling over the top of it. Of course there is, it’s formula. And sometimes, formula is absolutely FRKN PERFECT.

Tom: No key change though, is there?

Tim: Out of character as it may be for me to say this: sometimes they’re not needed.

Saturday Flashback: Kim Petras – There Will Be Blood

“Well, that doesn’t sound like a novelty track, does it?”

Tom: We’ve never talked about Kim Petras before. In fact, I’d somehow missed her entirely until I heard one track on the radio in Luxembourg this week. Not on Radio Luxembourg, you understand, it was just on the radio while I was in Luxembourg.

Tim: Right, sure.

Tom: Anyway: Kim is German, has self-published her dance-pop music to great acclaim, and is now at the point where she’s doing Proper Tours. She also released a Hallowe’en-themed EP in October 2018, and while I’m not saying every track of the seventeen on there there is a banger, it’s got one of the highest hit rates of an album I’ve heard in a while. One of them’s got Elvira as a guest voice, for crying out loud. Novelty themed LPs just aren’t meant to be good, and yet, I reckon this one is. There are multiple tracks on there where I looked up from working and actually, properly, listened.

Anyway, here’s the big opening number.

Tim: Coo, blimey. Yeah, I see why.

Tom: And I’ve got not much to say other than: well, that doesn’t sound like a novelty track, does it?

Tim: No, but just because an album has a theme, there’s no reason for them all to be weird – hell, My Chemical Romance released an entire album about a fictional guy’s death, and I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to some of those tracks.

Tom: I know “four beats on the same note” is hardly an original idea for the first line of a chorus—

Tim: Well, neither’s doing it for every line of a chorus – but it works.

Tom: —but hey: there’s a reason it’s still getting radio play. Albeit in Luxembourg. I couldn’t tell you about the rest of the world.

KEiiNO – Colours

“It’s been quite the year for KEiiNO.”

Tim: It’s been quite the year for KEiiNO – storming to victory in Norway’s Eurovision selection programme, winning the televote (stupid juries) in Tel Aviv.

Tom: That’s still a frustrating result: Norway won the televote with a great song, Sweden won the jury vote with a great song. But the combined winner was… well, let’s go with “decided by committee”. But yes, KEiiNO mean that a lot more people now know the word “joik”.

Tim: And, most impressively of all, producing a version of Fairytale of New York that’s actually likeable. Today they’re out with a new one, and I’ll be honest: if you don’t like it, you’re a proper wrong’un.

Tim: Oh, ain’t it good? Part of me was worried, throughout the first verse and chorus, that we might get a sudden STOP in everything, so he can come in with his chanting joik, which, however much it is their USP, would break it up horrendously.

Fortunately for everyone, they know how to make a good piece of pop music, which this absolutely and totally gone and done.

Tom: Somehow, they’ve managed to perfectly straddle the line between “novelty act” and “serious pop act”, and just end up with “pop act with unique recognisable sound”. That is incredibly difficult.

Tim: It really is, because yes, he’s there, as a notable part of the backing track, so it’s recognisably them, and it also works really, really well as part of this track.

Tom: I’m sure I’ve heard bits of this melody in other songs (“show me where your heart is singing” feels rather similar to the opening of Feel This Moment), but that just means you’ve got a combination of familiarity and novelty. It’s good.

Tim: Sure, and I’m the same with the Christmas mix of Are You With Me with the verse backing and occasional jingle, but so what? That’s a perfectly good track to be reminded of, and like you said, familiarity and novelty. Everything about this, really, is perfectly good. Perfectly great, in fact.

La Roux – Automatic Driver

“Maybe you’re expecting too much?”

Tom: In For The Kill is more than ten years old now. 

Tim: Huh – I’m fairly sure you’re saying that as a “God, that’s a long time”, but I think I’d actually have placed it as older than that. But anyway, she’s still on!

Tom: Possibly controversial opinion: this is a song that perpetually feels like it’s about to go somewhere, and then doesn’t.

Tim: Controversial maybe, but I won’t disagree with you. On the other hand, In For The Kill, and much of their other stuff, never really went in for Big Banging Numbers, and I think this is the same. Maybe you’re expecting too much?

Tom: It is absolutely full of promise. The production is incredible, the vocals are great, and the whole track sounds suitably modern and retro at the same time. It’s even got a repeat-until-fade!

Tim: Indeed, because everything it wants to do is right there.

Tom: It’s just that the chorus sounds like a verse to me: perhaps because there’s not much differentiation between the two.

Tim: No – but nonetheless, it sounds okay. 

Josef Sedraïa – Lillasyster

“You know what? I’m actually prepared to go out on a limb and say I like this.”

Tim: Normally, Tom, I’ve a vague idea whether or not you’ll like a song before I send it to you. This time, though, I don’t know whether you’ll love it, think it’s just too over the top, or have just a general ‘ehh’.

Tom: Statistically, it’s very likely to be the latter.

Tim: Have a listen.

Tom: First off, I’m uncomfortable with that video, which was apparently filmed in Mosul on the day it was officially liberated from ISIS? There’s clearly a lot of context that I’m not translating well in that article — or at least, I hope there is. I’m going to assume this wasn’t just some guy turning up to film a music video in Iraq.

Anyway, the music, which is now in a background tab for me.

Tim: For me, you can probably guess, I love it. The nice thing about it is that yes, there are bits that I’m not keen on – the pre-chorus, the first half of the middle eight – but in each case they are immediately followed by something much better that what came previously.

Tom: You know what? I’m actually prepared to go out on a limb and say I like this. I don’t love it — like you said, that talky bit in the middle eight is pretty awful, and I am baffled by what appears to be boogie-woogie piano briefly appearing in an early chorus. There are good bits.

Tim: That chorus, for example, is entirely lovely, and that bit at the end is…well, to be honest I’ve no idea what it is, it’s a complete musical smorgasbord, but it sounds delightful. Any good for you?

Tom: It’s… good. I’m actually willing to say it’s good.

Isak Danielson – Light Up

“Yes, it’s a sad one, and yes, it’s a slow one, and yes, I’d normally chuck it straight in the bin, but OH, BOY.”

Tim: “After dealing with anxiety for many years, I decided to write about my experiences. The result came to be ‘Light Up’. A song about the strength that comes from sharing the things we feel.” Yep, it’s a melancholy one, but it does sound lovely so have a listen.

Tim: So, yes, it’s a sad one, and yes, it’s a slow one, and yes, I’d normally chuck it straight in the bin, but OH, BOY does the instrumentation make it worth it.

Tom: I was about to ask “why on earth have you sent this”, and then the chorus kicked in.

Tim: Yes – I should admit that I didn’t start paying much attention to the music for the first minute or so (until then I’d been working out whether that was the artwork or whether Isak was just very, very good at standing still and looking zoned out) so I didn’t get put off but the lack of anything massive under the first verse. When I eventually paid attention, though, the chorus was on, and, well, the drums and the piano and LORD ALMIGHTY that fabulous string section were all there sounding absolutely gorgeous.

Tom: I always feel a bit bad talking about music like this, because my reaction is almost always “sure, that’s okay, I guess”. This is, at least, a bit above that: in short, I can see why you like it, even if it doesn’t quite work for me.

Tim: It carries on getting bigger and better throughout the second verse and chorus, and I really just can’t get enough of it. It’s marvellous.