Goodness, it has been a long time since I've been here. It's been a crazy month. I was in Australia on vacation (which was amazing) and then I went straight back to Bangkok to run a conference (which went very well, thanks for asking) and then finally came back to Shanghai where things have been non-stop with late meetings and work dinners every night and my sister now living here and also friends coming to visit from tomorrow. Just craziness. And work has been nuts also. So my brain is a bit fried. I will tell you about Australia, but later.
For now, I have so much music to share. So much good stuff. I've got 6 drafts lined up and waiting to go. And we're starting with the best, which is Loma. It's the best in terms of they're making my favorite music out of everyone who I'm going to tell you about (and will very likely be in my top 10 this year), but also they make beautiful, calming, soothing music. For example, Joy, which is beautiful and calming and soothing.
Now don't let the first song fool you. Loma does not make happy music. They make sad and distant and haunting music. It's still beautiful and calming and soothing, but it is not joyful. Even Joy, which you would think is joyful from the name of the song, is not. Somehow, they're comparing the loss of love and night falling and fire engulfing everything to a million waves of joy. But damn if they don't make it pretty. They are much more obvious in their general music ethos with the next song, I Don't Want Children. Yeah, fun stuff, right? But so good.
So now we're really into the haunting part. And I should probably tell you about the band also. Because I first heard them and liked them, and got even more excited when I read about them and figured out who I was listening to. And I Don't Want Children may have given you a clue. It's Cross Record. I found Cross Record in 2015, fell in love, put them in my Top 10 in 2016, and then they disappeared. But now they're back with a new name and a new configuration.
To retell the story, Cross Record was a husband and wife duo who moved from Chicago to a farm in rural Texas and made an album together. And that album was beautiful and haunting. Then, they started touring with this guy Jonathan Meiburg and they hit it off musically and decided to collaborate. So they started making music together as Loma. During which time the husband and wife duo of Cross Record split up. But kept working together. And then their eponymous debut album was the result. It doesn't have the same kind of building, explosive moments as Cross Record made, but the detail on this one is impressive. They would just record noises outside the house they were working in, and they got them all into the album. Listen for dogs and crickets and floorboards and all kinds of stuff. There are a lot of similarities to Cross Record, but it's subtly different. Shadow Relief is a great place to hear them. First, you can hear that the voice is different. Emily Cross, the singer, brought her voice down a step, so it sounds familiar but not the same (although it's close on I Don't Want Children and a few other songs). And then you've got the build. I keep expecting this song to explode in the same way Steady Waves did. But it never does. But it is still fantastic. And I love the little vocal bit when she says "I can see you're miles away." So good. Gives me all the chills. This whole album. I've listened to it many times. It makes me calm and happy. Which I need this week. I love it.
For now, I have so much music to share. So much good stuff. I've got 6 drafts lined up and waiting to go. And we're starting with the best, which is Loma. It's the best in terms of they're making my favorite music out of everyone who I'm going to tell you about (and will very likely be in my top 10 this year), but also they make beautiful, calming, soothing music. For example, Joy, which is beautiful and calming and soothing.
Now don't let the first song fool you. Loma does not make happy music. They make sad and distant and haunting music. It's still beautiful and calming and soothing, but it is not joyful. Even Joy, which you would think is joyful from the name of the song, is not. Somehow, they're comparing the loss of love and night falling and fire engulfing everything to a million waves of joy. But damn if they don't make it pretty. They are much more obvious in their general music ethos with the next song, I Don't Want Children. Yeah, fun stuff, right? But so good.
So now we're really into the haunting part. And I should probably tell you about the band also. Because I first heard them and liked them, and got even more excited when I read about them and figured out who I was listening to. And I Don't Want Children may have given you a clue. It's Cross Record. I found Cross Record in 2015, fell in love, put them in my Top 10 in 2016, and then they disappeared. But now they're back with a new name and a new configuration.
To retell the story, Cross Record was a husband and wife duo who moved from Chicago to a farm in rural Texas and made an album together. And that album was beautiful and haunting. Then, they started touring with this guy Jonathan Meiburg and they hit it off musically and decided to collaborate. So they started making music together as Loma. During which time the husband and wife duo of Cross Record split up. But kept working together. And then their eponymous debut album was the result. It doesn't have the same kind of building, explosive moments as Cross Record made, but the detail on this one is impressive. They would just record noises outside the house they were working in, and they got them all into the album. Listen for dogs and crickets and floorboards and all kinds of stuff. There are a lot of similarities to Cross Record, but it's subtly different. Shadow Relief is a great place to hear them. First, you can hear that the voice is different. Emily Cross, the singer, brought her voice down a step, so it sounds familiar but not the same (although it's close on I Don't Want Children and a few other songs). And then you've got the build. I keep expecting this song to explode in the same way Steady Waves did. But it never does. But it is still fantastic. And I love the little vocal bit when she says "I can see you're miles away." So good. Gives me all the chills. This whole album. I've listened to it many times. It makes me calm and happy. Which I need this week. I love it.
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