Be The Cowboy
★★★★☆
the vocals on Me and My Husband are so clean and lovely. the chord progression on the keys are playful. it’s actually an upbeat love song about a husband, rather odd but let’s see what’s ahead. Remember My Name is rough and aggressive. the progressions are again creative and surprising. it takes you on a road but then takes a hard left turn. a plea for remembrance, a fear of being forgotten, wrapped in a strangely catchy, almost danceable package.
Just how many starts will I need to hang around me
To finally get somewhere I can be all done
Somewhere like heaven
the tracks have been so short so far (less than 3 minutes). Lonesome Love is less than two! it’s a gorgeous, yearning song about a love that is desired but seemingly unattainable. a very sad song that contains a beautiful melancholy. I really wished A Pearl was longer, it has a richer production with a more elaborate arrangement.
It’s just that I fell in love with a war
Nobody told me it ended
And it left a pearl in my head
And I roll it around every night
Just to watch it glow
Old Friend sounds very lofi. it’s relatable and intimate. her vocals soar and descend very smoothly. it’s a confession, a surrender, a bittersweet admission of dependence.
I haven’t told anyone
Just like we promised
Have you?
Every time I drive through the city where you’re from
I squeeze a little
Why Didn’t You Stop Me is pretty straightforward. it has a more resolute composition. it’s a slow burn of regret and self-awareness.
I know that I ended it, but
Why won’t you chase after me?
Geyser flies. it sounds ethereal. it has a shimmering, almost dreamlike production. the instrumentation builds from a quiet intro to a powerful climax. the repetitions create a feeling of inevitability and a loss of control, it sounds manic.
Two Slow Dancers, finally something above three minutes. it quickly became my favorite. this is a gorgeous, melancholic waltz and fits the imagery of the two people clinging to each other, dancing in a high school gymnasium.
It would be a hundred times easier
If we were young again
But as it is
And it is
We’re just two slow dancers, last ones out
To think that we could stay the same
But we’re two slow dancers, last ones out
Blue Light is another hazy, ethereal one, full of echoing vocals. it has a sense of disorientation. Washing Machine Heart is a desperate and self-deprecating: “Why not me? Why not me?”. comparing her heart to a washing machine, both constantly churning, spinning, and dirty. the tracks end too quickly, before I get to write anything about them!
A Horse Named Cold Air is filled with evocative imagery. a lake, a horse, a storm. it’s very minimal and the chords are pretty dissonant, giving the listener a feeling of unease, having “circled the same old sin”. the lyrics are very symbolic but I feel like, based on the preceding tracks’ trajectory, it’s “reaching out”, once again. asking for intimacy even at the cost of belittling yourself. Pink In The Night is a masterpiece. a glimmer of optimism.
I hear my heart breaking tonight
Do you hear it too?
the lyrics are touching, despite being very short. cherry-picked phrasing all over.
And I know I’ve kissed you before but
I didn’t do it right
Can I try again, try again, try again?
Nobody sounds like a typical pop song, with strokes on the keyboard and a 4/4 danc-y beat.
And I know no one will save me
I just need someone to kiss
Give me one good honest kiss
And I’ll be alright
I like the key change in the middle (like always!) it ends in a creative unusual way too. the lyrics are straightforward, they have a dystopian landscape for me.
Come Into The Water is hypnotic. the atmosphere is desperate, seductive and unsettling. once again dealing with themes of submission and surrender.
I didn’t know I had a dream
I didn’t know until I saw you
So would you tell me if you want me?
‘Cause I can’t move until you show me
the tracks are too short, only one longer than three minutes. the lyrics are in the spotlight here for me. absolute magic. the first track doesn’t fit the overall them of the album so it felt weird. the instrumentations sound like typical alternative rock sounds. sometimes borrowing some sounds from pop like in Nobody, or rock in Remember My Name. it’s about loneliness, desire, guilt, and what’s unbelievable in it is her delivering all these in such simple, honest and straightforward vocabulary. it’s brutally honest, independent, yet vulnerable and human. the chord progressions sometimes take a turn that to my ears sound like some sort of pattern, but it’s so sudden that I didn’t see it coming every time. arrangements are mostly “sweet” but sometimes chaotic and abrupt. fragile hope is the thematic center. it’s not an easy listen, it requires attention, it asks you to listen to it and pay attention to the words, and to feel what she felt writing and making them.