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- January 23, 2022
Check out our featured picks of the week!
“Superman,” by Simon Oskar: This song is introduced with a calming composition of acoustic guitar, plucked skillfully, the vocals then pour in. As the track progresses, other instrumentals join along to further compliment the piece as the artist showcases their story with poetic lyrics and beautifully emotive vocals.
“Catch Me,” by Mary Moore: Folk and indie pop artist currently based in Nashville powers the music world with her empowering vocals and storytelling lyricism. She has been captivating live stages and connecting with people from all over with her unique blend of genres and inspirational messages. This single in particular not only offers comfort but the freedom to flourish in the messy and the darkness.
“Catch Me” is my favorite song I have written – it was one of those lonely afternoons when I first moved to Nashville and I sat down, felt like I was struck by lightning, and wrote the whole thing in 15 minutes. I’ve had the pleasure of touring this song a long while – and it’s the song people walk up to me after the show, saying that it felt like I was singing to their inner monologue. It took me a while to bring this song to the studio because it felt so precious to me. When Mitch Furr (Credit: Keith Urban, Wild Hearts) and I decided to start working together, we decided to give this song a crack together – and I’m so happy we did!! I love the warm, melancholy, driving soundscape that we built together and makes the song feel alive in a totally fresh way.
~ Mary Moore
“Years Away,” by Robert Leslie: This indie folk artist is best known for performing on the streets across Europe, North Africa, and New York City. He left home at a young age to make himself known as a traveling street performer and traveled all over the world and turned heads with his alluring voice and soaring melodies. Written as a product of the 2020 lockdowns, this single faces his past selves with a sense of wistfulness for what was. Adding a further sense of yearning, Tony Garnier and Jake Sinclair add a wurlitzer and mellotron to the mix, with Perry Margouleff’s production finishing it in some older soul tones.
“Caught Beneath The Water,” by Høvding: A collaboration between seventeen year old artist Nika Jane and her father, Geoff Duncan; this project is inspired by the dark Nordic-inspired cinematic songs that channel a sense of longing as it embraces its own chilling sense of drama and delves into the world of dark myths and legends. Nika’s immersive rhythms pull you into the world of her creation. Lush soundscapes compliment her vocals that send the listener into the cold world of the forests and trees, and you can almost feel the pour of rain and the storm tearing at your being from within.
With “Caught Beneath The Water,” we wanted something that felt hopeless, and foreboding, and we wanted to feel like calamity and doom was all around. It needed to feel cold and elemental. “Wind on the water, Blood in the well” is the opening line and we wanted it to set the scene like something very dark was unfolding. And even though it’s a dark and serious song, with this heavy undertone, we actually had so much fun writing it and trying to make it as spooky as possible. It was actually hilarious, Nika was all huddled up under her blanket, channeling a character in her mind called ‘Hildegard’ who has this croaky voice, which left us in fits of laughter while we were trying to make this dark song. Such a good time! We loved how it turned out.
~ Geoff
Whenever I’m writing a HØVDING song like “Caught Beneath The Water” I picture a mythical scene and I let myself go there in my head. It’s always dark but I love it. It feels comforting to me and I always find a story in there. There’s nothing like that feeling in the real world. I find it fun to dive into the dark and mysterious. In movies growing up I never liked the princes or princesses, I always loved the villains – they were so much more fun.
~ Nika
“Drunk on Sadness,” by Cera Gibson: Based in Salt Lake City, this artist began her career early; while she was in high school. Mixing blues with infectious beats, her works are both contemporary and emotionally-evoking. After enduring a series of traumatic events in 2019, including the flooding of her home and the loss of a five-year-long relationship, her work shifted into an even more passionate edge and renewed momentum.
This song is about the point in a breakup where you’re so exhausted that all you can do is feel your feelings and move on. I wrote it after my house flooded and my relationship of 5 years ended. I’d lost almost everything I owned and lived in a hotel for a month. When the dust finally settled, I found that I couldn’t avoid my feelings anymore. I just had to feel them.
~ Cera Gibson
“Burning Out,” by The Y Axes: California indie pop/rock band play out a unique blend of dreamy synth-glossed pop and anthemic rock with a femme-fronted energy and nostalgia-inducing sound. Named a Top 10 Bay Area Artist in 2019, they openly contrast the elements of playful joy and existential dread.
“Burning Out” is about that emotional limbo of when you’ve been dating or hooking up with somebody for a second but haven’t defined the relationship. I definitely overthink these kinds of things and in the lyrics I’m trying to set aside thinking and live in the moment, afraid of catching feelings and an emotional fallout that feels inevitable. I wrote the lyrics in 2019 when I wasn’t actually seeing anyone, but started seeing someone a little after, and had that “oh no” moment that I was going to set myself up for that emotional trap. Since then, I’ve fortunately gotten a little more comfortable with myself and voicing my expectations, and I’ve gotten a little better about manifesting better situations than the one in this song.
What was your favorite track this week? Let us know in the comments!
