NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Muna 's 2017 record About U takes listeners on a rollercoaster of emotion. Unlike their 2019 Saves the World record, About U focuses on the positive and negative of being in love and breaking up. About U doesn't enjoy the near universal acclaim that their follow up has, but album helped to establish the three-piece band of queer musicians on the scene of Alternative dark synth pop. Today the sadness, desperation,  and loneliness of " If U Love Me Now " resonated with the bleak December day. The song explores the theme of mental illness and suicide. The singer explores options before telling someone that that person should "just let [her] leave."  IT'S JUST A HYPOTHESIS I TEST THAT I SHOULD NOT EXIST . A large proportion of the LGBTQ+ community struggle with thoughts of suicide. When singer Katie Gavin sings on this melancholy track, her voice sounds weak and wounded, as if the singer of this song has resigned after her last hope has been dashed. The f

What do you do after you record one of the best-selling albums of all time? Following the massive success of their 1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd struggled in the studio with their follow up. Music executives pressured them to have another hit album. The band couldn't get along during these sessions. This theme of the music industry's pressure can be heard on the tracks "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar." However, it was as the band was enjoying the peak of their success, their lyrical themes turned to their friend and former band leader, Syd Barrett, whose mental health had led to his departure in 1968. Pink Floyd had gone from a top-5 charting psychedelic pop group to an experimental rock group whose music became too obscure for radio. But following Dark Side , the band an era of critical acclaim and millions of albums sales. And Wish You Were Here lamented the loss of a friend who couldn't share in the band's success.  YOU

In 2014, I wasn't listening for what was next in Alternative music. Rock music in the early '10s was disappointing me with all of the Imagine Dragons and Coldplay knock offs. When my friend, fellow music blogger Stephen Barry told me I should check out Bastille , I reluctantly did, but I didn't really listen to them. I just listened to them in passing. My music tastes at that time were: rock should be rock (i.e. Linkin Park and Anberlin ), not trying to disguise itself behind big, bright production. I don't think that way anymore. Bastille became a hit in America because of today's song. After reaching #2 on the UK pop charts, the song became a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and it topped the Alternative Songs chart. While I would love to bring you another Christmas song, today we take a break from Christmas. BUT IF YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES..."Pompeii" is a strange pop song. It literally describes the conversation between two people about to be killed in the

A little over a month after their self-titled album was released, Deas Vail released a Christmas EP, titled For Shepherds & Kings.  The EP contains four Christmas classic hymns, performed in a way that is true to Deas Vail's sound. Of the four Christmas songs included, I was least familiar with "Coventry Carol." I had heard it by other artists and it was on some of the Christmas CDs I grew up with, but it wasn't immediately identifiable. It wasn't in the Seventh-day Adventist hymnal like "O Come O Come Immanuel" or "What Child Is This?" and it hadn't been recorded by enough artists to make it recognizable. HEROD, THE KING IS RAGING. "Coventry Carol" wasn't a standard Christmas Carol until 1940. From November 14 to 15, the Germans reigned terror upon city, and during the blitz Coventry cathedral was destroyed (pictured to the left). But on Christmas day, the BBC broadcasted a message from Coventry. Ending the broadcast, si

It's important during the creative process to get feedback and look at your work from every possible angle. Jim Adkins reportedly hates his band name, Jimmy Eat World , especially because of the band's acronym, J-E- you get the point. Today's song was released in 1950 and was inspired by the sound of the Salvation Army Santa Clauses ringing their tinkling bells. But when songwriter Ray Evans brought his work home, his wife said, "Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?" And just like that, the song changed to " Silver Bells " and it wasn't the first Christmas song about pee. We'd have to wait for that, apparently. Google if you dare. CITY SIDEWALKS, BUSY SIDEWALKS. First recorded by William Frawley and popularized in the film The Lemon Drop Kid   sung by Bob Hope and Marylin Maxwell, "Silver Bells," like most Christmas standards has so many recordings, it's hard to choose a favorite. The song was recorded by

In 2010 Rolling Stone named Darlene Love's 1963 song "(Christmas) Baby, Please Come Home" as the number 1 Christmas rock song ever recorded. Born Darlene Wright in 1941, and renamed Darlene Love by producer Phil Spector, Darlene began her musical career as the lead vocalist for the girl group the Blossoms. Besides her career with the Blossoms and her solo career, Love sang lead on two Crystals songs and back up for many notable artists including Sam Cooke, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Sonny and Cher, and Tom Jones. Love also acted on Broadway and appeared in the  Lethal Weapon films.  Love performed "(Christmas) Baby, Please Come Home" every episode before Christmas on David Letterman from 1986-2014, except for 2007 during the writers' strike.  PRETTY LIGHTS ON THE TREE. "Baby, Please Come Home" has been covered by many artists including Mariah Carey, Michael Bublè , Death Cab for Cutie, Jars of Clay, among others. One of the most famous covers

Paper Route signed to Universal Motown before releasing their debut LP, Absence , following their Are We All Forgotten EP. Only the title track of the EP appeared on Absence, as the band stepped further away from their Americana roots and more into the realm of retro-synth pop. Bassist/keyboardist  Chad Howat recorded the album. The band played multiple instruments, recorded in an old mansion near Nashville. I remember reading something about how the album was intend to be rerecorded but the band and the label preferred the originals, but I can't find an article about that. Absence was the debut of Paper Route as a band, complete with a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and a ton of synthesizers. Paper Route, though, would become a revolving door of drummers and guitarists. Only singer and multi-instrumentalist JT Daly and bassist/keyboardist Chad Howat would stay for the entire duration of the band's career. I WISH YOU WOULD LISTEN, TO GET THROUGH IT . Paper Route's early wo