Songs to get you through lockdown 6
Wolfjay! Metallica and Miley Cyrus! Gamma Ray! Charlie Collins! Halsey! One Step Closer! Deafheaven! Rina Sawayama! Converge, Chelsea Wolfe and Stephen Brodsky! Turnstile!
Lockdown is hard. I’m one of the lucky ones, as I live at home with my parents, sister, and our dog; I get to work in an office once a fortnight and do freelance writing for Blunt Magazine. Things could be so much worse. However, the never-ending feeling of it all led by a frightened press gallery spurred on by state and federal Australian leaders drains our collective energy, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, where people have endured the harshest lockdown restrictions in the western world. Staying motivated and energetic is challenging, so I decided to do something different with this newsletter to take the pressure off. Music and Netflix have kept my family going, so I wanted to dedicate this piece to my family and friends, and to the artists who inspire, move, impress, and guide me during such isolated times.
Speaking of friends, my pal Hannah is a fantastic music journalist. You might have seen her writing on Pitchfork, GRAMMY, Them, and others. Hopefully, you’ve listened to her music under the moniker Fell from the Tree, too! In a way, this newsletter is inspired by Hannah, but by her writing on Singles Jukebox. I’ve written many album reviews, blog posts, and interviews, but writing about singles is where my skills have fallen short. So, this newsletter is an exercise and just for fun! Here are ten songs from Australia and abroad that I love right now.
Wolfjay – “Dichotomy” (Sleep Well Records)
With “Dichotomy,” Wolfjay has crafted the perfect loud, queer pop-punk single you could ever ask for. A harmonic here and there, a ripping solo, and lyrics straight from their personal experiences come together for the most confident Wolfjay track we've heard yet. You can't define them as an electronic, indie, or pop-punk artist, and quite frankly, it's a disservice to them as an artist to shove them into reductive labels.
“I used to be good at being small, but that’s behind me/Sometimes I wonder if I'm hot, if I'm masc or femme enough/But I don’t care anymore”
When Wolfjay released “Together,” their ode to the LGBTQIA+ community in Australia after enduring a torturous referendum on same-sex marriage, they drew from songs of their teens by the likes of Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and Green Day. Ultimately, they wrote it with a singular aim in mind: “man, imagine hearing this at 12 years old. Imagine if I could hear a non-binary, bisexual artist singing and making really good pop-punk.” While songs like “Dichotomy” were impossible to find when Wolfjay was a child, they can take comfort in knowing that queer kids of today have their music to lean on.
Metallica and Miley Cyrus live on The Howard Stern Show – "Nothing Else Matters"
I don't know if lockdown (day 241) brain has encouraged everyone in my household to get in touch with our emotions, but all of us were moved by Miley Cyrus and Metallica performing "Nothing Else Matters" and the subsequent Zoom call with Elton John on The Howard Stern Show recently. My dad teared up when James Hetfield teared up at Elton John praising Metallica – who are celebrating their 40th anniversary as a band and 20 years since the Metallica album – as the pinnacle of heavy metal music. Not only do I agree with that opinion, but to watch grown men embrace vulnerability so openly is inspiring to me. We were all blown away by the performance, while my sister and I are proud to witness how far Cyrus has come.
Like many people engaged with music and pop culture, I misjudged Miley Cyrus’ talent and misinterpreted her antics during her Bangerz era for years. My sister saw through the smokescreens – the twerking, collaborating with Robin Thicke – and recognised Cyrus' pure talent and desire to be treated like an adult rather than a kid.
How can any child star experience an "ordinary" transition into puberty and adulthood, anyway? What more does Miley Cyrus need to do to be taken seriously? Will she ever gain the approval of the old guard? Do the opinions of out-of-touch record executives, journalists, and artists actually matter in the long run? These are questions I ask not just about Cyrus but to myself and my music-loving communities.
Anyway, the performance itself is BONKERS. Miley is a fully-fledged rock singer now, James sounds great, and the band fires on all cylinders even while playing ballads. Miley and James possess wonderful vocal chemistry, which couldn't be more apparent when you see them giving each other space or looking at each other in a kind of awe. Two of my favourite worlds collided – heavy metal and pop – for one of the most fabulous musical moments of the year.
Gamma Ray ft. Ralf Scheepers – “Heading for Tomorrow” (ear-MUSIC)
This performance is stupidly impressive. Formed in 1989 by singer and guitarist Kai Hansen after he departed from Helloween, Gamma Ray released 11 studio albums between 1990 and 2014. Like his original band, the German outfit sits at the forefront of power metal. Metalheads know what the subgenre comprises: epic, sweeping storytelling, incredible guitar solos with nods to neo-classical metal, and vocalists with massive vocal ranges who command crowds in tiny rooms or thousands of people at Wacken festival.
Gamma Ray has no right to sound so good playing a song from 1990. Bringing in the band's original vocalist, Ralf Scheepers, to sing alongside current singer Frank Beck and Hansen is incredible. Gamma Ray can assure long-time fans that Scheepers still possesses banshee-like wails, and additionally, his entire vocal range has grown stronger over time. The band is super tight, with Henjo Richter's guitar solos acknowledging metal icons Dokken and Yngwie Malmsteen. This performance and I'm sure the whole concert is a celebration of music, the metal community, and proof that as the bands of my parents’ young adulthood get older, they only get better.
Charlie Collins – “Just My Luck” (Universal Music Group)
Charlie has written one of my favourite choruses of the year with this one. Teaming up with producer Gab Strum (Japanese Wallpaper), Collins embraces her penchant for pop melodies while her relationship falls apart. "Just My Luck" soars – the guitar is fun, drums are punchy, vocals are crystal clear – and should propel Collins from Tamworth, NSW, and independent radio to bigger things. If her opening set for Gang of Youths in 2019 and debut album, Snowpine, prove anything to listeners, it’s that Charlie can easily stand her ground with any of the big boys on songwriting alone.
Halsey – “The Tradition” and “Bells in Santa Fe” (Capitol)
No two opening songs have shocked me as much as these two have. I’ve enjoyed an on-off relationship with Halsey’s music since 2015. Their debut album, Badlands, hinted at what direction her fourth album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, would follow – they just needed the bravery to get here. Halsey has wanted to make industrial pop in the vein of Nine Inch Nails since their beginnings; even with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross attached to this project, I had no idea how remarkable the result would be.
"The Tradition" is anchored by an ominous piano while introducing the album's core themes of female empowerment, bodily autonomy, and independence. It depicts a woman being taken advantage of – "take what you need, take what you can," "ask for forgiveness, never permission," "and they said that boys were boys, but they were wrong" – before seamlessly transitioning into "Bells in Santa Fe." A glitchy alt-pop number, "Bells", heartbreakingly addresses Halsey's experiences with miscarriages through the lens of the unborn baby. "Don't call me by my name; all of this is temporary," they sing. Many melodies on If I Can't Have Love are simplistic when you ignore the phenomenal production, but they work. Stunningly, Halsey doesn't stop serving the curveballs. The remainder of the album is just as surprising (and exciting) as its beginnings.
One Step Closer – “Lead to Gray” (Run for Cover)
Luckily, One Step Closer is not a Linkin Park cover band. They are yet another incredible hardcore band who have released yet another fantastic hardcore album in 2021. If you’re missing Title Fight or you dig Defeater and haven’t found a band like them, you need to check out The Place You Know, the 28-minute debut album from One Step Closer. The band expertly utilise the balance of screamed and clean vocals on "Lead to Gray," the track that's finally sold me on the Pennsylvania group. There’s no gimmick here, only earnest hardcore that belongs in your playlists alongside Fiddlehead, Turnstile, and Have Heart.
Deafheaven – “Great Mass of Color” (Sargent House)
Like many Deafheaven fans, I was apprehensive about their turn to shoegaze on Infinite Granite. Of course, the transition away from black metal – not that Deafheaven have ever been purists of the genre – was predictable and not the shock some would have you believe if you listened to Ordinary Corrupt Human Love in 2018. “Great Mass of Color” is a brilliant song. The guitar work is bright and dreamy, and with Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Paramore, Wolf Alice) in the producer’s seat, you know that every element will sound great. George Clarke’s clean singing is lovely, but it’s nothing compared to the good old screams he lets out in the last minute of the song.
Rina Sawayama – Tiny Desk (home) Concert
I believe and hope that Rina Sawayama will be the next big thing in music. The British-Japanese singer engaged in numerous genres and explored intergenerational trauma on her debut album, SAWAYAMA. The record flicks from cinematic (“Dynasty”), to pop music inspired by 2000s Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera (“XS,” “Bad Friend”), to nu-metal (“STFU!”), bubblegum pop (“Love Me 4 Me,” “Paradisin’”), to wherever else you could imagine. SAWAYAMA was one of Elton John’s favourite albums of 2020; he loved it so much that he reworked “Chosen Family” with Rina, lending extra gravitas to a beautiful song written for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Rina’s inaugural Tiny Desk (home) Concert is held in an expansive London office space. Backed by her band and an orchestra, “Dynasty” becomes larger than life. As Rina couldn’t tour the album due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this performance was a long-time coming: you can see relief, inebriated happiness, and pent-up angst fall from her shoulders. Of course, “XS” remains a killer song even performed in this fashion, while “Chosen Family” brings all the tears. Let this Tiny Desk (home) Concert act as a gateway for something new if you enjoy clever, experimental pop music.
Converge, Chelsea Wolfe, and Stephen Brodsky – “Blood Moon” (Epitaph)
Converge are one of those bands I need to spend more time with. I’ve only heard their 2017 album, The Dusk in Us (sorry, Drew; if you're reading this), so there’s a lot of catching up for me to do! With Stephen Brodsky, I have only listened to his excellent joint album with Marissa Nadler, Droneflower, which melded her romantic folk style with his prolific background in heavy music groups Cave In and Mutoid Man.
The one and only Chelsea Wolfe drew me to this song, who has made some of the most exciting music in doom metal and folk circles. Opening with spooky piano (I have a type, don’t I?) and creeping chaos, Chelsea is the magnet pulling the supergroup behind “Blood Moon” – also the title of the upcoming album, out in November – together. She resembles a siren in the darkness; I want to get closer.
Turnstile – “HOLIDAY” (Roadrunner)
"HOLIDAY" is the song that brings Adam and me together; according to our Spotify Blend playlist – we’re a 77% match in musical compatibility: how cool!
No one can doubt that 2021 is unequivocally the year of Turnstile. No band in hardcore is more prominent than the Baltimore group right now. Furthermore, most heavy bands wouldn’t dare experiment in the ways Turnstile has on their 2018 effort, Time & Space or their latest album, GLOW ON, but maybe they should. Listeners are ready for something different. We like that Turnstile introduced elements of hip-hop into their sound; we like the cowbell; we love a band that screams triumph. “Too bright to live, too bright to die,” vocalist Brendan Yates yells over frenzied guitars; we wish we could dance and mosh mindlessly by his side.