ST20.4 Reviews - Micah Sommersmith

What a great set of songs to end SpinTunes 20 with. Read on for my reviews!

The Pannacotta Army - The Baglady Bossanova

The production and performance elements are flawless here. You’re working within an established genre and doing so faithfully, with the possible drawback that the result sounds more like pastiche than a genuine personal creative expression. That makes for some dissonance between the music and the lyrics that makes it hard for me to connect to the song on an emotional level.

This American listener consistently hears “She’s nothing but clothes” as “She is nothing but clothes” rather than what I suspect is the intended meaning of “She has nothing but clothes”. Maybe the double meaning is intentional; regardless, it’s the most striking lyric in the song to me!

Ironbark - Thorn

A gorgeous, heartbreaking song that pulls poetry out of everyday language: “a normal man”, “I’ll get by”... the lyrics and the music are unadorned and stark, and exactly the right choice for your take on the subject matter.

The Alleviators - Stone Lions

An epic, engaging song about finding strength in books and carrying that strength out into the rest of your life. The drums don’t quite feel like they fit with the rest of the song, but otherwise pretty much everything works here. I particularly like how the coda reconceptualizes the chorus hook in 5/4 time. Both the piano and Beka’s voice sound fantastic!

Sober - A Place in the Choir

Great mandolin playing, and the fiddle playing is nice too: it holds its own among the other instruments in a way that it didn’t quite manage in your Round 3 song. Between the instrumentation, the upbeat feel to the music, and the sincere, life-affirming lyrics (and tangentially, the connection to your sailing museum), I can’t help but compare it to the greatest song ever written and find it coming up short, which is hardly fair. On its own merits, it’s a lovely song and a lovely tribute to your community. The middle instrumental section is pretty great.

Between the quick tempo and the syncopation, your choir didn’t quite nail the chorus, and the a cappella section sounds pretty hesitant; then when the instrumentation comes back they’re buried. Incorporating a live group recording into a studio track is a challenge, that’s for sure.

Phlub - The Hobo’s Hideaway [SHADOW]

Along with The Pannacotta Army and Ironbark, this completes the trilogy and is surely the most light-hearted of the three. Fun harmony, engaging melody, and well-constructed lyrics on the whole, although it bothers me perhaps more than it should that you seem to think “flagrant” is simply a synonym for “obvious”.

Cavedwellers - I Can Explain [SHADOW]

Catchy chorus, fun story, congrats on your Gleebleverse-level commitment to cricket songs. Listening to the opening riff feels like playing a game of “guess which eighth note will get dropped this time”, which is not my favorite game. Sadly, I confirmed with a reference librarian at Oshkosh that they do not have any hard copies of Wisden.

Mandrake - Long Walk Home [SHADOW]

You say this is the most pop you’ll ever go, but I hope you come back to this sound world at least occasionally, because there is some very cool stuff going on here. We all have to find the balance that we’re comfortable with between accessibility and individual expression. To me, this has a lot of the character I’ve picked up from your other two songs, combined with an engaging melody, thoughtful lyrics and a confident delivery. Well done.

See-Man-Ski feat. Sam Hemsworth - Where I Belong [SHADOW]

Your voice is in fine form and the piano playing is engaging and propulsive. The lyrics feel a bit sketchy: where you belong is… locked out of a library? I’m not sure what to make of the lyrics, nor of the “Star-Spangled Banner” quote from the guitar at the end (unless over there you associate the tune with a different song entirely, which I know is the case with e.g. “God Save the King”/”My Country ‘Tis of Thee”).

Hot Pink Halo - Our Missing Hearts [SHADOW]

A trademark HPH cascade of thoughtful lyrics, that in this case get a little lost among the (admittedly delightful) bleeps and bloops. I like the central idea of contrasting "Lost" with "Not Found", but the lyrics go by so fast that "Not Found" doesn't actually stick out as an important lyric while listening.