Soot and Stars
I AM SOOT!
In the 2,000's the Rock scene even though maligned now by some was my second favorite wave of Rock from the Emo Rock bands with their stellar harmonies like Jimmy Eat World, the New Waveish brilliant Pop Punk of Anberlin, The energizing loud soft dymanic of The Used, Emo bards like Dashboard Confessional and The Spill Canvas and the raw, lyrical Blue October. Those were only a handful of the artist from that decade that rank in my all time favorites. I've never had a hard time shifting with each decade and finding bands to connect too. Style is irrelevant. If it's sincere and hits me in the emotional core I'm in.
In the 2010's I still found plenty of music but it wavered more than it has since finding my groove in the 90's. So many more genres out there but it was hard to find consistency and a pure Rock movement to find similar bands to follow. Come 2013, a year where I bought a ton of music and the vibe was bright Electronic Pop and Downtempo Electronica. Now this wasn't a bad thing. in fact, bands like The Naked and Famous, Grouplove, Chvrches and especially M83 are high watermarks of the genre that I still follow today. Like with every movement though having all those bands cascade out can cause burnout and honestly as a Rock fan I was looking for something a little more pure and goosebump inducing in a different way. Layer upon layer of sound coming at you can be transcendent when done right but there's something about the stripped down quality of a more organic and pure tune. So when I needed it most here was London Grammar walking in. I don't even remember which single got me to order the debit album but I was adding so much music at the time that it was added as an impulse buy.
When I first played the album, "If You Wait" I was mesmerized the second I heard Hannahs deep sultry tone. "Hey Now" indeed!
If You Wait
Hey Now
It got my attention. The music didn't feel like music that would be played booming at a club. It felt like music that would be played swaying the patrons of a club. The beauty centers like a classy fifties starlet, the lights filter in, the intro creeps in and everybody has their glass sitting in hand just enough to hold while they fixate on this new presence. It felt like the music that you would listen to after the club if anything somberly weighing your decisions in life after the comedown. It was beautiful, captivating, inspiring and only depressing if you consider the voice of an angel offering her gift of sweeping, effortless ranging sound and meditative, cathartic release depressing. Each note of Hannah's is complimented by just enough of a pulsing beat, simple melodic keys and moody bass to compliment her song. The musicians do just as much to compliment the music with a atmosphere that filters in with an ambiance but doesn't fog the soul that is the centerpiece. That's an equal talent in itself.
The album and subsequent album released this year is a bridge for me and I believe others as well. It takes what's become the current mainstream and Indie style and gives it credence with something. Even in the 90's the downtempo electronic artist weren't always blessed with the range to carry their gloom into something more. You could say that perhaps the XX were the blueprint for bringing back the sound into the 2010's but they are flat compared to our current subjects. The whole aforementioned album is filled with gems so to do a track by track commentary would be unnecessary so are three strong tracks imo:
Strong, If You Wait & Wasting My Younger Years
