Sunday, January 19, 2025

Noah And The Whale - shape of my heart, 2008

"a luscious, marshmallow-centered pop ditty, complete with horns and strings to brighten up the sweeping baritone of lead singer Charlie Fink. It doesn’t stray as dangerously close to ‘twee’ as the band’s aformentioned summer smash, and is all the better for it. Instead, it is simply basic guitar chords, with a few bits of fancy orchestration and the astounding lyrics of Charlie Fink. It’s truly a joy to hear him croon ‘The trees were all leafless and lifeless and black and I wonder if the leaves could grow back’."

My Morning Jacket - two halves, 2008

"Even more ironically, Two Halves, the most "pop" sounding, also manages to be the centerpiece of all the themes. Two Halves is also a metaphor for the fans' reaction to Evil Urges: People wanting them to grow up into a great band, but also keeping their roots. "You want this now, you want that now, can't have it all, you should enjoy what you have" is the typical reaction to the haters, but Jim knows that they are all missing the point, that both halves are meant to work together. There's so much hidden here that you could spend hundreds of times listening to this album and finding something different. Brilliant."