NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

When the five-piece metalcore band Pvris entered the studio to record their debut album, they radically changed their sound. Today, lead singer  Lyndsey Gunnulfsen , known as Lynn Gunn, is the only remaining group member. Pvris’ debut 2014 White Noise incorporates pop and electronic elements into a mostly rock sound. The band formed in Lowell, Massachusetts and lead singer Gunn has had a lifelong fascination with the supernatural, which she partly credits to the geography around her. The band’s second single, “ My House ” uses the setting of a spooky house as a metaphor for a person who won’t leave the speaker in peace.  I HEARD YOU DOWN THE HALL. One of the most common fears is the feeling of being watched by a stranger. It’s a particularly eerie feeling when at home. Thinking of one’s most intimate moments stolen by glances or words uttered in secret overheard can drive a person to madness. It’s a story that ends up on the local news or the plot of a horror movie, and the metaphor

I’m in no rush to finish my post of my top 23 songs of last year. I’m taking my sweet time. But it’s Friday night, and I’m in Soho so I thought I’d post a little bit more, most notably some of the more dance-oriented tracks of the year. The three I posted on New Year’s Day were closer to honorable mentions, but the songs I picked in 20-15 are great but lacking something from pushing them up a little higher--and that something in many cases is the lyrical depth found on songs a little higher on the list. But feeling the rush of a song is certainly a big part of why we like music. Let’s enjoy the weekend! 20. “ Padam, Padam ” by Kylie Minogue kicks off the top 20. I was a little late to the new club classic last year. Listening to a breakdown of the song on Switched On Pop made the very simple song gave me a huge appreciation for not only it, but then I had to listen to Tension , the album Minogue released, and I started revisiting her back catalog. A worthy challenger to "Padam,

Earlier this month Pvris released their anticipated fourth record, Evergreen . Starting with their 2019 release of the EP  Hallucinations , Pvris began a departure from hard rock into Alternative dark pop. This departure was partly due to producer JT Daly encouraging the band to experiment with pop hooks. The band's 2020 release Use Me was an even greater realization of the vision set forth on  Hallucinations ; none of the songs were straight rock songs with perhaps the exception of " Dead Weight ."   PRAY FOR BETTER TIMES. Between Evergreen and Use Me, Pvris shifted from being a band to a one-woman moniker, or as cleverly stated in the song  " GODDESS , " not a woman or a man but a "motherfucking brand," with only Lynn Gunn remaining on the band's roster. Over the years, band members dropped off, with guitarist Alex Babinsky forced out after allegations of sexual misconduct just prior to the release of Use Me. As of earlier this year, bassist

  J.T. Daly , lead singer of  Paper Route , has stayed busy in the music business during Paper Route and after the band ended. In addition to releasing solo records and several side projects, he has composed for an ESPN film, produced several alternative musicians including K.Flay and Pvris , remixed Anberlin , Judah the Lion , MuteMath ,  and Switchfoot , and worked in visual arts, making band merchandise, phone cases, and even directing music videos for other bands. Of course, Daly isn’t the only creative force in Paper Route. Along with Chad Howat and for their third and on their final record,  Real Emotion , with Nick Aranda , Paper Route is a seriously creative band. YOU PROMISED ME THAT EVERYTHING IS FAIR IF IT'S LOVE AND WAR.    Like yesterday’s song, the imagery in “ Chariots ” brings my mind to old movies like  Spartacus   or  Ben-Hur .  On other songs on  Real Emotion  there seems to be a classic film theme, notably in the song “ Zhivago ” and its intro “ Lara .” “Chari

Following the singles " Hallucinations " and " Death of Me " from the band's EP Hallucinations ,  Pvris   released the single " Dead Weight " from the third album  Use Me . The band has talked extensively about their new sound, moving from a conventional female-fronted rock band to, well, how would you classify Pvris? Each song on Use Me could fit into the genre of Alternative, one of the loosest genre descriptions today. Whether it's the programed drums, the pop hooks, the noisy guitars, or the throbbing bass, Pvris is now a rock-inspired dark pop band, or duo as of now. TAKING WINGS OFF A GODDESS. Of course music doesn't need to be neatly classified. I spend a lot of time thinking about what gets classified as Alternative, though, and it makes me think that my definition that I coined back in the early '00s was correct. At that time, I began to see rock bands that incorporating instruments and electronic programing that had not been in ro

The second single from the 2006 album Eyes Open  after the album opener and rocker, " You're All I Have ," "Chasing Cars" is the most recognized song by  Snow Patrol . The band's frontman and songwriter Gary Lightbody said that he wrote the song after sobering up after a white wine binge in the garden of producer Jacknife Lee 's cottage. Lightbody told Rolling Stone  that "Chasing Cars" is "the purest love song I've ever written. There's no knife-in-the-back twist." He stated that "all the other songs I've written have a dark edge." While the song and video for "Chasing Cars" don't have a dark side, the connotation the song has with dramas like Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill  certainly wields the knife so carefully left out by the songwriter.  LET'S WASTE TIME CHASING CARS. As tempting as it is to make a Bad Romance playlist or Sad Romance playlist, I've decided to make my Spotify al

When Red 's producer Rob Graves posted on Twitter a picture of a note on Red's guitars tuned to "A#, A, and G," some fans thought that the band's third album would be even heavier. In February of 2011, Red released Until We Have Faces , taking its name from the 1956 C.S. Lewis novel . The band delivered a more cohesive, harder rock sound than previous efforts with songs like  " Faceless ," the album's opener " Feed the Machine ," and " Lie to Me " (Denial). Today's song is a song about disappointment in someone's honesty. I recommend this song, not because I had someone hurt my feels because of a lie, but rather I'm hearing so many lies these days, it's hard to distinguish the truth. WILL YOUR HOPE DIE ALONE?    Okay, that's a little dramatic. Let me explain. I'm in the process of shopping for a new apartment, and it's very difficult to find an honest salesman. The whole thing has me more disheartened