SONG OF THE DAY

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #25

Today's pick is Quiet! by Australian indie band Flowertruck from their 2022 album Mostly Sunny. The four-piece band hails from Sydney with an emphasis on witty lyrics and a whimsical yet carefree production similar to 80s groups like Talking Heads. Quiet! is a tongue-in-cheek alt-rock track about not being able to fall asleep that's so delightful you can't help but smile while bopping along. Their discography is also similarly summery, using wordplay and bright nostalgic sound to explore the drama and melancholy of feeling adrift in your mid-20s (See tracks Liklihood and Sing Along to Your Life from the same album for relateable lyrics about the crushing weight of existence set to vocals and production taken straight out of a romantic comedy or coming of age film). I think the best way to illustrate Flowertrucks vibe is by this quote, from a 2022 NME article, about their song Pretending: “…Rushforth (lead vocalist) explains he’d written the music for (it) years earlier, but struggled to find the words to accompany it until an experience last year in which he turned up to a children’s birthday party hungover.” Yeah… that’s the band's energy in a nutshell: refreshingly self-deprecating yet confident, with a friendly and uplifting tone.

“I can't slip into rest

Overwrought by the mess

Of my thoughts unconscious

Pinch me!

Why does it have to be do quiet?”

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #28

I've had no patience for mopey songs recently and I want to bring some light in, so it's two fun dance tracks in a row. Today's song is Dancing in the Shadows by UK artists TSHA and Clementine Douglas. Released in 2022 and featured on TSHA’s album Capricorn Sun, it's a jubilant track that's electronic bliss. Accompanied by a kicky percussive beat, rippling instrumentals and lush synth, Douglas’s vocals are stunning. Fractured samples during the tracks peak adds to an already delicious electronic track, making it an engaging dance number that's an instant mood lifter.

“Dancing in the shadows

Tell me you remember

I'm moving in the dark again

For your love I will endeavour”

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #26

ALL BECAUSE I LIKED A BOYYYYYYYYYYYY

Today's song is Because I Liked a Boy by Sabrina Carpenter from her 2022 album Emails I Can't Send. I have a massive crush on Carpenter and I am a little shy to say that I appreciated her Instagram before listening to her discography properly. I was blown away by how skilled of a lyricist she was and I do love the witty and sexy energy in her other tracks like Please Please Please or Nonsense, but Because I Loved a Boy had me singing the chorus on the first listen. Oh my gosh, this song is a sucker punch and makes me want to hug my younger self. It also makes me want to hug every woman in my life the same way the Girl So Confusing Remix with Lorde did to the internet a little while ago. I think it's a universal experience for every young woman - you will be hurt by someone you love, and you will hurt someone because of love. I think we become so invested in finding villains or victims when witnessing complicated romances that we forget that everyone involved is hurting regardless of who threw the first stone. That's my two cents anyway as someone who has been in Carpenter's seat like in the song's narrative and regretfully the one who caused harm while under the haze of jealousy or for the shallow reasoning of ‘being in the right’. The song brings me back to the toxicity and devastating heartbreak of my first love, but it also fills me with the uplifting comradery of sisterhood: while I was crying because I liked a boy, Carpenter and many other girls were as well, then we became stronger, and the women we are today despite it.

“I’m the hot topic on your tongue

I'm a rebound gettin’ ‘round stealin’ from the young

Tell me who I am, guess I don't have a choice

All because I liked a boy”

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #34

Today's track is ‘Butterfly Net’ by American alternative pop artist Caroline Polachek, specifically the alternate version featuring ‘Weyes Blood’. Released in 2023 for her album ‘Desire, I Want To Turn Into You’ the baroque pop song was remixed in 2024 and was featured on the album's deluxe ‘Everasking’ Edition. Caroline Polachek’s vocals always have this shimmery quality, creating a transformative experience, like a waking dream. With poetic lyrics conveying longing and melancholy, the original track is delicate and soothing. The ‘Weyes Blood’ version adds a dusky veneer, giving it a glowing or spiritual quality.

“There I was

With my butterfly net

Trying to catch your light”

P.S. Check out one of Polachek’s older projects ‘Chairlift’ with Aaron Pfenning and Patrick Wimberly, they are brilliant especially their 2016 album ‘Moth’.

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #31

Today's song is ‘The Doll People’ by Australian Indie/Alternative artist Sofia Isella from her very recently released 2024 EP ‘I Can Be Your Mother’. Unsettling yet captivating, her sound has a similar quality to and takes inspiration from artists such as Billie Eilish, Nine Inch Nails, Caroline Polachek, Lorde, Imogen Heap, and Fiona Apple. The track is very dark exploring gender, sex, and identity with unflinching and purposefully crude lyrics. The track feels more like an avant-garde fable with its blend of conventional yet grand piano and strings with unconventional vocal work, such as her goosebump-raising runs, breaths, and clicking. At only 19 Sofia Isella commands your attention akin to a more established artist, so it's no wonder she was invited to perform as an opener for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and is fastly emerging into the mainstream.

“To be admired takes precedence over admiring

To be desired takes precedence over desiring

Drink the dolls

Legs spread like butter

We are wife, whore, mistress, maid, mother”

SONG OF THE DAY

Day #33

Today’s track choice is ‘Satellite’ by American Alt-Rock band ‘Guster’ from their 2006 album ‘Ganging Up on the Sun’. The indie/alternative rock song is relaxed with soft whistful vocals and acoustic guitar that tows the track along. What makes the song attention-catching however is its endearingly quirky sci-fi esc keyboard melody. It's beautifully restrained yet layered in a way that can't be appreciated with one listen, it's a lovely wholesome track.

“You’re my satellite

You're riding with me tonight

Passenger side, lighting the sky

Always the first star that I find

You're my satellite”