By Joe Johnson (Civilian / Jingleheimer-schmidt) – Email
Print Edition: April 8, 2015
Host of Everything Indie on CIVL Radio, and The Cascade’s business dude, Joe Johnson had an eclectic mix this past week. Here are five tracks from the show that are either lyrically heavy or emotionally packed.
Hawksley Workman
“Merry Christmas (I Love You)”
I don’t care if it’s April. Merry Christmas, I love you all, and this is a beautiful song. Workman has always had a penchant for being eclectic and experimental, ranging from the high tempo to this reflective, lyrically driven track. It’s hard to find more truth than “but who the hell reads history? / Apparently not men.”
Neko Case
“Where Did I Leave That Fire”
Case’s 2013 release, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, bore the deep markings of depression. Over a full minute of this track is reserved to haunting instrumental sounds, followed by Case expressing a desire to be anybody but herself, questioning what happened to any internal drive.
Alvvays
“Party Police”
This incredibly smooth track comes from one of the fresher bands to come out last year. Tearing it up with lo-fi surf pop, this song’s lyrics and vocals by Molly Rankin are soothing to the ear as she sings about the uncertainty of direction with a new love.
The Gaslight Anthem
“Angry Johnny and the Radio”
There’s no denying that the Gaslight Anthem have always been about both emotionally and lyrically driven songs. This one is no different. It begins in typical slower fashion, building to Brian Fallon’s driving mix of punk and heartland rock as he powers through reminiscence of adventures that aren’t fully explained.
