7 Singles

Merry Go Round. Fridolijn
Yes, I remembered the name, but when? I could not have told you for the life of me. It turns out that nearly four and a half years ago I reviewed 'Catching Currents', in December 2015. I do not know if Fridolijn released other work in between but Merry Go Round is an exceptional single.

Merry Go Round is like a daydream of the lightest and most friendly kind. Fridolijn sings with a light voice, avoiding all strains to her voice. It hovers over the music like a strand of fog over the pastures of Holland, covering only the legs of the cows in there. Fragile and touching but untouchable. A light moisture on my sleeve is all that remains of that fog.

The music is just as dreamy, just as light and floating. Deep down in the song is an acoustic guitar that may be its very heart. Over it layers of electronics are built, accompanied by a piano, a bass guitar, drums later on.

Together Merry Go Round becomes the stuff fairy tales are made of. Sprinklings of stardust, catching the sun's rays. The only word left to write is: beautiful.

Weightless. Lizzy
A new single by Lizzy. I may start out by sounding negative, but stay around because I won't end in this vein. Why? Weightless is not for me. Lizzy makes music for a different generation than mine. Sometimes we may meet somewhere in the middle like with 'Teach Me', early this year. With Weightless she moves in another, more modern pop, dance direction. This is a smart thing to do, as this is the music that is popular in 2020. She has a nice voice to listen to, as I have written on these pages a few times. Together with producer Joes Brand, also drummer in The LVE, she is able to catch the modern times and make it her own as well. That this song is not for me, does not mean it is not for you. All who like a slow version of electropop should check Weightless out, as it simply does a lot of things right.

Seventeen. Watts
Watts featured on this blog once before with a previous single. Now 'Queens' was a nice song, Seventeen is the ultimate 'Queens'. This single starts with the same powerchord as 'Skandal im Sperrbezirk', then blends all the strongest Herman Brood & his Wild Romance songs like 'Saturday Night', 'Never Be Clever' and 'Hot Shot' into one big thrust of energy. Connect that with the pop rock side of Billy Idol and the best punk singles where some horns are allowed into and we come close to the result called Seventeen. This single is 110% excitement combined with a chorus all lovers of powerpop punk & roll will crave shouting along to. Of course at my age I'm not allowed any longer to even look at a 17 year olds, let alone shout out calls like this. It is as strange as singing one of my favourite The Beatles song, 'I Saw Her Standing There'. All 17 year old girls, please forgive me this once but I just need to sing SEVENTEE-EEN!

they told us it was hard, but they were wrong. Ela Minus
And now for something completely different. I can see John Cleese sitting in the sea, walking in rags, etc. Ela Minus has nothing to do with the Pythons, it's just the stark musical difference between her dance/electronic track and the punkrockers of the Rum Bar label surrounding her, that brought me the image. Yet they told us it was hard, but they were wrong very much is worthwhile paying attention to. Ela Minus sings softly and totally undercooled with the aid of some electronics. Everything around her comes from digital machines, sequencers, synths, beats. What it does all together is create something mysterious that I have to admit I like listening to. Somewhat to my surprise, I'll admit, but none the same true. The song is danceable and listenable. If this is to become 20s music there may be something different in store for me than guitar oriented songs only.

Do It. Ken Fox and Knock Yourself Out
The second Rum Bar Records single recently released is Do It, the second single from Ken Fox & Knock Yourself Out. The mini album was already reviewed recently but lets focus on Do It for a few seconds. Do It is the most erratic song on the album. Ken Fox just can't help himself here. He's just has to, there's no self restraint left in him. And it shows. Like I wrote before, Ken Fox is not a singer. that shows the most in this song. Enthusiasm gets him a long, long way here. This song is one energy burst, with a great guitar solo explosion in the middle. Do It has an inner power of drums and bass over which a tight rhythm guitar keeps it all together and the lead guitar can fly off in little riffs and melodies whenever it likes. "Just do it do it do it do it!


Ydin. Out of Skin
We started out this singles edition of this blog with music dreams are made of. We end with it as well. Out of Skin is familiar to the followers of this blog by now. It all started with a support slot at the The Stream release party in 2018. Now circa two years later, in a totally different world, the band has released a new single.

And what a single it is. The band moves further than it has before. The music has been brought back to bare necessities. Sparse guitar notes, and loads of atmosphere. The typical sound of the harp moves in and out of the song. There is no pretending this is a traditional single. Out of Skin plays with the mood of its listener, adding a little eeriness and suspense. Where Merry Go Round is the safe and secure happy ever after ending of the fairy tale, Ydin is the part just before things go horribly wrong. "I'm on my way" Wouter Mol sings, "Deeper than the deepest sea", not the place one wants to be on an average day. Suspense is all around.

Musically I hear faint traces of Zita Swoon and other Belgian bands, while there certainly are influences from more dance oriented, electronic music. Together Out of Skin shows it has moved in an incredibly interesting direction. I can't wait to hear more, as soon as possible.

And just when I thought I had finished my reviews I discovered:

I Contain Multitudes. Bob Dylan
A second Bob Dylan track with new original music in a few weeks. It suggests a new album is under way. I understand that 'Murder Most Foul' is Dylan's first number 1 hit in the U.S. Well, it wasn't here, I can tell you.

I Contain Multitudes is more in line with the songs I have heard from Dylan in the last twenty years. Again though, this is a bare and essentials only song. This time with guitars over which Dylan croaks his lyrics but a little less so than usual. Again the song holds numerous references to other artists. We had The Beatles, this time The Rolling Stones gets its reference as do e.g. Anne Frank and Edgar Allan Poe.

As bare as the song is, in this it is in line with 'Murder Most Foul', again it simply is o.k. Dylan delivers once more. He seems to have given up on drums, percussion and bass. Having him in the speakers seems to be enough, as the music is purely for accompaniment, not to build or flash out a song. It fills small holes around the lyrics, in which an old man sings about "All The Young Dudes".

Keep this level up Mr. Dylan I will be buying a new album on release for the first time since 'Love & Theft'.

Wo.