ST24.4 Reviews - Valerie Polichar

Read on for Round 4 reviews from Valerie Polichar:

Celestial Drift - Water Fox

Nice lead-in guitar/bass riffs. The jaw harp adds to the awesome grungy feel. But because this is a swampy sounding track already, it feels as though there's too much FX (probably reverb) on the vocals; they sound too far back in the mix, and the swampiness gets a bit muddy as it is. The guitar solos are not as compelling as they might be, and the melody has a bit more repetition than ideal. While the lyrics do a good job of describing the painting, they don't go much beyond that. They say "the living is good and his soul is free," but it's not really clear what the "psychedelic sea" has to do with that. The song without the painting doesn't leave us with much. That said, the lyrics describe the painting beautifully and scan well. The brevity of the song is good, and a lot is packed into that short space. Overall, more shape (dynamics/textural changes) to the song would add interest, and more could be made of the lyrics to make this song more universally relatable (outside of SpinTunes).

Vehicles of Beware - Vulpes Vulpes

Appealing and peppy, textured intro. The doubled vocals have a pleasantly retro sound, and the chorus harmonies are tasty. Riffing off an actual painting to criticize AI (or, if that wasn't the intent, at least, something computer-driven) has a certain wry irony. The well-crafted lyrics do an excellent job of conveying a social message while still remaining poetic. The guitar break around 2:25 (and again at 3:20) is an excellent change-up in the sound; overall this song has some great changes, giving it shape and interest. The coda is absolutely killer.

David Taro - Kitsune

Great story and a creative and compelling interpretation of the painting. The harmonies coming in on "down by the river" send chills up the spine. The melody on the verses and bridge is quite interesting and novel. The melody on the chorus feels slightly overused, and the repetition of both the words and the music wears a little thin. Incidentally, the vocal is a bit pitchy on the jump in the 1st/3rd line of some of the verses ("woodcutter's," "word for"). As vocals on your tracks are usually spot on, this may be an intended effect, but for this listener, it didn't work; it just sounded uncomfortable. With all that, though, the story and music are haunting.

Governing Dynamics - Blue Ruin

The lyrics are well crafted and fresh, and there are some impressive rhymes (e.g. arrival/survival) and phrases ("taste of copper and salt"). BTW, I'm guessing the song relates to the movie of the same name? The song does a good job of riffing off the painting without being too literal. The intro builds nicely and the outro also has an appealing sound. The guitar scream right before "scales" is great, and in general the arrangement has shape, though it's quite dense. The bridge has a great drop and sound, and an interesting melody. On the whole, though, the song doesn't have the strongest melodic line. There are a lot of the same intervals repeating. The song seems to move too slowly in general, and the lengthening of "blue-oo-oo" on the chorus feels clumsy rather than intentional. The song is performed and mixed well and the lyrics are a high point.

Joy Sitler - Survival of the Fittest [SHADOW]

Super compelling right off the mark, with tight guitar and percussion and equally tight vocals. The dual perspective is a creative take on the painting. The scream on the final "survive" is punchy and effective. Most of the lyrics are strong, but "And I stare out and think/ How can it end like this?" is a bit disappointing, especially after the strength of "My spirit rises alone but that’s just the climate." Overall, it would be nice to see the song take a turn or sum up at the end; right now the two perspectives are presented and then it just… stops. The song is so catchy that it has room to be longer, and a bridge or coda could be an interesting way to wind things up and get a little more out of the song.

Jealous Brother - Lost in the Fog [SHADOW]

Wonderful overall sound and arrangement, well executed and recorded. This is a good example of making a political point in a song without sacrificing the overall artistic quality or slamming it too hard in the listener's face. There are some great lines here, such as "This lie cannot be proved/ But it must be drawn to scale." The structure of the song (ABCDCDB) holds the listener's interest. The instrumental break and outro are pleasant. One quibble: Putting the stress on "in" and drawing it out on "Lost i-i-in the fog" isn't ideal. It may be worth experimenting with holding "Lost" over the first couple of the notes that "in" is carrying now, e.g. "Lo-o-ost i-in the fog" (I can put this on music paper or send you a sound clip if it helps, it's hard to explain in words) so that you avoid that heavy stress on the less interesting word "in."

Hot Pink Halo - See Something New [SHADOW]

An excellent treatment for the stimulus image, and a great broadening of your reaction to the specific picture to a way to approach art (and more). The melody on the chorus is lovely, and "Let the light bleed through/ Our afflictions/ Until we see something new" is a great lyric. The bridge is brief but effective. The performance and arrangement are strong. The very regular percussion on the verses serves the song, but it would be interesting to hear it break up more on the chorus — the better to convey the transformation of finding a different perspective. The mix might also be helped by bringing the percussion back a bit, perhaps especially on the chorus; one way to do this would be by taking the overall volume of the percussion down slightly, and perhaps adding a little reverb to it on the chorus.

Sober - From This Clay [SHADOW]

Catchy instrumentation leads into that great first line. The chorus has a classic sound while still being original — the harmonies are particularly lovely — that will get listeners singing along. The mandolin (I think) lines through the second verse and in the solo are delightful. Closing the song with the instrumentation drop on the final repeat of the chorus and then the build works very well. The lyrics tell a good story and use novel imagery (with a good tie to the painting) to express a sweet take on love. Not a lot to pick on here, but the vocals could be tighter on "I come back with fur or feathers that’s ok." This is a very well-crafted tune.

This Big Old Endless Sky - of droughts and flooding rains [SHADOW]

Great dark sound and accompanyingly dark lyrics. The beat change on the chorus, along with its wailing guitars, form a great contrast to the verse and add interest and shape to the song. The bridge, with the call/response vocals, is very effective. There are some excellent lyrics here, with "I’m a paradox/ I love what I do/ but I’m hating it too/ and I’m taking it out on you" being particularly effective. The final line is cutthroat! A great interp of the painting. Might be interesting to play around with ending the song right on the word "time," but it works well as is, too.