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- February 21, 2022
Featured Music of the Week: Storytelling Folk and Rock
Check out our featured picks for the week!
“I Don’t Believe in Loss,” by Lucas Laufen: Showcasing a new chapter in their music journey, this artist has had a classically influenced background, with a multi-instrumental string of skills under his belt. After the last two years of writing on the roads of Australia, this artist traveled to New Zealand to wrap his experience into a full album. Touching on themes of loss, the nine track album seeks out the beauty in between the struggle and showcases a fully emotional arrangement.
This song in particular is no exception to the emotionally-rich storytelling in the lyrics and in every element of the artist’s talents. It is Lucas Laufen’s inevitable question of morality put into song. Dealing with unprepared loss from personal experience forced him to confront the topic of life, which left him confused and scared. Radiating both positive and melancholic emotions shows the Australian musician sharing his emotions.
It was a strange coincidence to have people I’m close to all going through the same emotions at the same time and I think it was the shared experience of it all that pulled me back into a positive state of mind. We all just started putting one foot in front of the other and living again, resolved to the fact that some answers wouldn’t come… And although I’m still questioning this whole topic, I feel more at peace with it after moving through this period with people I love.
~ Lucas Laufen
“I Give You The Morning,” by Buffalo Rose, Tom Paxton: A beautiful, chill-inducing collaboration by six-piece folk/Americana band, Buffalo Rose, and GRAMMY-winning artist Tom Paxton, we are pulled in to a classic love story.
Buffalo Rose is a wildly charismatic six-piece modern folk/Americana band from Pittsburgh that will change your entire perspective on acoustic music. They take the singer-songwriter tradition to a new level by crafting original songs which are emotive, meticulously arranged, and inspired by a world of idiosyncratic influences that never let a dull or predictable moment creep in.
Tom Paxton has proven to be one of the most durable of the singer/songwriters to emerge from the Greenwich Village folk revival scene of the early ’60s. Creating music that shook the world, he joins with Buffalo Rose to combine what we know about acoustic and folk with their own unique spin, this collaboration combines multiple genres together to create a contemporary masterpiece, without losing sight of the roots of each genre they gain their inspiration from.
“This Could Have Been My Summer,” by Angelina Beroe: Written, produced, and arranged fully by her two hands, this artist showcases her talents as a fully independent artist throughout her every action. This single in particular is a beautiful reflection of her artistic directions leaned toward a unique blend of melancholy, the dark and mysterious, and heavenly vocals with otherworldly arrangements of cinematic orchestral elements.
While touching on themes of loneliness and corruption of the innocence, this song, too, focuses on the isolation that was wrought upon the world; where the subject and the listener dwell and dream away their loneliness in a world of wandering and imagination. Paired with a dreamy self-directed music video, this track is relevant just as it is dark and heavy.
“Symbol Cure,” by Mikayla McVey: This artist, hailed from Virginia, now raised in the Northern Californian-hills, creates music filled with an ambient sense of her own magic from her own hands. A spiritually anthemic track toward her debut album, this song builds on a simple bossa-inspired beat and rhythm and builds into an atmospheric piece of space and otherworldly dream. In concept, it is a call across the thin veil…it asks someone on the other side for a sign or symbol that we can translate for our own comfort or reassurance, however terrifying it might be to truly receive a sign like that. It’s about feeling your heartbeat and remembering you’re alive.
“A.V,” by Chaz Kiss: Formerly known as ameliarose, this artist continues to make waves with her unique blends of heavenly vocals, powerful poetry, and haunting melodies. With an avante-garde nature, violins (performed by Rebecca Moore) sing harmonies of their own to add to the haunting nature of the track as a whole. Swirling drums and haunting melodies combine to express the artist’s emotions through her struggle with mental health, and how it impacts those around her.
The track gets its name from the last line in the bridge, ‘your words, your hands, your tongue – like weapons used to conduct my mind like a symphony of bleeding melodies and arrhythmic violins‘. From the start, the eerie violin hooks you in to the experience wrapped around mental health and emotionally evocative vocals that continue to build and pull you in.
“Do It All Again,” by Castells: This Kent-based indie-rock quartet shares songs full of character and unforgettable melodies. Meeting while they were in school together, the band consists of frontman Connor Crooks, Robert Castelino (Guitar), Matt Chittenden (Bass) and Marc Smith (Drums). And since their beginnings in 2018, they have begun to build a loyal fanbase in their string of sold out shows.
Following a string of releases throughout last year, this single showcases the band’s next chapter in their music journey. Written alongside Luna Bay’s Connor O’Mara, this track is characterized by euphoric choruses and bittersweet versus, it finds the four-piece reaching for the stars, creating a rousing sound that wouldn’t be out of place soaring in arenas country-wide.
“Fairytale Embrace,” by Remi Goode: Trained in classical guitar, this choral singer turned alternative folk-pop with an inspiration of the 80s contemporary folk world leading the way. Remi embraces the diversity of her influences and asserts her originality by writing with honesty and introspection. She leans into the contradictions between unedited emotion and constant rationalization, walking the line between classical complexity and humble folk tunes.
This track focuses on the simple introspections between the real and imaginary. With a lilting voice and haunting falsetto, her classically trained edge ties the entire piece together with a practiced ease.
What was your favorite track? Let us know in the comments!
