NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

I've written a lot about Harry Styles since I discovered his talent on " Sunflower, Vol. 6 " last August. Whereas Fine Line was kind of a sleeper hit record for me I was expecting a lot from Harry's House . In some ways, the record met my expectations, creating an old-time vibe that borrows from obscure Japanese jazz records and seventies singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell who even wrote a song titled " Harry's House / Centerpiece " on her 1975 record The Hissing of Summer Lawns .  In other ways, the record feels a bit haphazard, blending the '80s sound of " As It Was " with '70s folk and disco. There's certainly a mood of the record, but it's not always the mood I'm in. THERE'S A HAZE ON THE HORIZON, BABE. . Take for example the second track and second single " Late Night Talking ." On the album, " Music for a Sushi Restaurant " sets up a tangy, tasty concoction of sounds. Lyrically, it's &

  Dave Barnes  is a Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, but he isn't completely bound by the genre. Barnes is a Nashville songwriter whose songs have been recorded by country, pop, and CCM singers. In fact, his 2010 hit, " God Gave Me You ," became a  number-one hit  for country singer and future  The Voice   judge,  Blake Shelton . Barnes's version has a lot less twang but all the production quality of a pop-country hit. Barnes wrote the song for his wife who had been through the "ups and downs" of his musical career. Shelton heard the song on a CCM radio station and decided to propose to his then-girlfriend, fellow country star,  Miranda Lambert .  WE ARE STITCHED TOGETHER.    The strap-line of the song is told in the title: "God Gave Me You." The speaker was broken until he met the right person. That person came from God, and together God and the man's soulmate mend the speaker's heart. Many of us listen to a song like this and thi

In high school,  Kim Sung-kyu , the future leader of the boy band Infinite , had to hide his vocal practice from his parents. In high school he sang in a rock band with some of his friends. When he graduated he left his hometown of Jeonju in hopes of having a career in music in Seoul. After failing an audition for SM Entertainment , he tried out for label Woolim Entertainment . His hope was to be a rock singer like his future label mates,  Nell . On the day of his audition, though, he was suffering from appendicitis. Determined to make it as a singer, he sang through the pain and went to the hospital after the audition finished. Rather than cultivating Kim's rock talents, the record label decided to place him as the leader of the their first boy-band, Infinite. Throughout the group's tenure, they would flirt with rock music; however, it wasn't until Sung-Kyu's debut EP,  Another Me ,  that he would be able to make the kind of music he envisioned.  WHENEVER THIS TIME OF

  In 1995, the band  Ednaswap , a female-fronted rock band from Los Angeles, almost released their song, " Torn ," as a single. However, nobody knows Ednaswap's version. Singer  Lis Sørensen  recorded the song in Danish as " Brændt " before Ednaswap recorded it in English. Ednaswap's version draws some comparisons to female-fronted rock bands of the time like Garbage or some songs by The Cranberries . In 1996 the song was covered by American-Norwegian singer  Trine Rein , whose popularity declined with the release of her second album. None of the previous versions would be remembered by the English-speaking world. " Torn " is best known for its 1997 recording by  Australian soap opera actress -turned singer  Natalie Imbruglia , whose version topped the US Airplay charts for 11 weeks. In the UK, the song is the most played '90s song, and in Australia, it is the most played song on the radio since its release in 1997. THERE'S NOTHING WHERE

" Cadence " was the third single from  Anberlin .  Vocalist  Stephen Christian  talks about the band overhearing him playing the song on an acoustic guitar one day. Thinking the song was too mellow for Anberlin, he thought the song would be better suited for his solo project,  Anchor & Braille , but t he band loved the song and placed it as the penultimate track on their debut record,  Blueprints for the Black Market .  The song is inspired by Christian's time in college when he roomed with his brother, Paul. The brothers talked about life, philosophy, relationships, and God, and the song was a culmination of those late night conversations. The song features some of the best drumming on the record. Before the band's  livestream  of the album  Nathan Young , who was fifteen at the time of recording  Blueprints,  tells a story about how producer  Aaron Sprinkle 's brother  Jesse , drummer of  Poor Old Lu  and later  Demon Hunter , was brought in to record drums

When Paper Route announced that they would be releasing their debut LP Absence on Universal Motown, a now defunct subsidiary of Universal Republic R ecords , I thought that it was an interesting, if not somewhat strange choice of a label. But Paper Route is a band that aimed to challenge musical genre. Absence moves away from the band's Americana roots and into an electronic sound. But it's tracks in the center of the record like " Be Healed, " " Good Intentions " and even the New-Wave inspired " Tiger Teeth " that contain the soul of the record. Perhaps the band isn't  Motown, but their sound certainly expanded on Absence.  I WANNA BE YOUR TV SET. The airy pop tune "Good Intentions" shifts the album from rock to pop, following " Wish " and " Carousel ." By the middle of the album it seems clear that Paper Route is a better pop group than rock band. Paper Route's bassist and keyboardist Chad Howat talked abo

Tyson Motsenbocker  released his second full-length record,  Someday I'll Make It All Up to You ,  on Valentine's Day of 2020. Like with most early 2020 releases, the plan was to release the record and tour  in the spring. That tour started but was quickly canceled due to the beginning of the pandemic. While the anxieties and existential questions raised by the pandemic are not intentional themes, Someday   was definitely a record that could resonate with listeners who feel the world is slipping away from them.  A NEW DAY'S COMING.  Working with producer Tyler Chester , Tyson Motsenbocker involves more production on his  Someday I'll Make It All Up to You than his previous efforts. Chester is a musician known for his production on Switchfoot 's 2019 record  Native Tongues .  While Motsenbocker claims Switchfoot's Jon Foreman as his mentor, and given that both Switchfoot's hometown and Motsenbocker's second home town is San Diego and their prior tours and