A LETTERED SOUL, BOOK 2- MUSINGS ON ART AND CULTURE

CLASSICS, LEGENDS AND MODERN DAY YARNS- THE MUSIC OF 2021'S LATTER HALF.

I've waited for a long time to share this bounty of music from the second quarter of 2021. The simple reason being that I wanted to savour each new song and memorise every minute rhythm, aural texture and vocal feat like I usually do before writing about them.

I'm elated to present them to you as legendary artists like Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, AC/DC, Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen continued to make substantive records while the younger batch bolstered its always sublime creative output with melody and refined songwriting in tow. Lana Del Rey, Lady A and The Lumineers, familiar favourites, come to the picture hence.

I'm also happy to announce that the release of three album cycles by the likes of Bennett and Gaga, The Killers and Brandi Carlile was worth the wait and greatly impressed me.

So here is the gold standard for the second half of this year in which spirits and our souls seem to recuperate with the promise of hope. Music, then, is its befitting salve and companion.

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THE ALBUMS

1) PRESSURE MACHINE by THE KILLERS

Just less than a year ago, the Brandon Flowers fronted iconic outfit released the ebullient and uplifting IMPLODING THE MIRAGE. Among its coterie of standouts apart from CAUTION, MY OWN SOUL'S WARNING, BLOWBACK and MY GOD, all bathed in the synth soundscapes so beloved to its oeuvre, one song became my very own favourite. That is LIGHTNING FIELDS. I remember how it played in my head as I frequented my preferred riverside park for morning walks in the latter half of 2020, with guest star K. D. Lang's verse especially becoming resonant. The yen for effective storytelling continued with the 2020 version of LAND OF THE FREE, with modified lyrics and a spare piano accompaniment to the vocals. Of course just a few weeks ago, the update of one of their signature songs DUSTLAND featured Bruce Springsteen, in a clever nod to its idol whose aesthetics has influenced the group as a composite whole. So all members have been turning in a prolific collective output to prepare us for PRESSURE MACHINE, their latest album of original material.

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This one hews closer to an autobiography and portrait of frontman Brandon Flowers' upbringing in the isolated pockets of Utah. That very personal sense of belonging to a place, its inhabitants and a past seen through the prism of one's adult history makes for compelling songwriting and rootedness in humility of expression. NOMADLAND came to mind to this writer, given protagonist Fern's insulated life in rural Nevada, quite close to the geographical and emotional space portrayed here.

Interspersed with dialogues coming from different members of the community, a whole gamut of emotions, from a small town's suffocating mores, opioid crises, young deaths courtesy the passing railway line and even one's affinity to the natural world ( in this case, to the horses one grows to raise and deeply love) are covered.

Tracks like WEST HILLS and QUIET TOWN acknowledge those multiple strands, the former beautifully employing a muted vocal slowly building to an inner churn and the sonic textures of the guitar while the latter has the mouth organ and a rhythmic beat instantly capturing our attention. They begin the album on a solid note. I also liked the simplicity in the next batch comprising of the hummable CODY and SLEEPWALKER.