Let me tell you why this song belongs to one of the few perfect songs out there. It has to do with three components: Melody, emotion and arrangement.
The first one is simple: The melody of the song, so wonderfully melancholic, yet so simple. Singer Jenn Wasner basically just sings up and down the scale, of course sometimes skipping a halftone or so. It brings you back to childhood memories, where the simplicity of songs makes them stick in your head and never leave. But the melancholy of it keeps you in the present, making it timeless.
The second builds up on the first. When you’ve connected with the melody, you can focus on the lyrics which mirror the tender sadness of the melody perfectly. Clearly, Wasner is singing about something very dear to her. As she is very open about dealing with her depressions and her anxiety, it feels like she’s processing recurring nightmares - be it real or dreamt, who knows.
The arrangement, though, is what makes the song so special. It starts with the folksy, picked guitar lick, soon joined by the soft crooning of Wasner. Soon we get organs, we get tambourines, we get this awesome country-esque guitar-riff right after the second verse that launches the rock part of the song, including a galloping bass-drum, shredding guitars and fuzzy noises from out of space. Wasner continues to moan in the background, her voice transcending to one of the instruments in the background.
Of course, this is my opinion. You may disagree on what makes a song good or bad. Just do me a favor - listen.
You can learn more about Wye Oak here:
About the curator - Julia Maehner
Julia knows two main passions: Music and writing. From an early age she has been making music after a fashion. When she was 13, she sat herself down and decided: “I will be a music journalist. Because I love music and writing.” After a brief intermezzo in New York City working for the music boutique agency Girlie Action as a digital marketer, she moved back to Germany. This experience helped her build her know-how for her marketing client, the IT company .objective Software. She still writes for several German music magazines and is working on launching her own blog, amps on ears.
Find out more about Julia and her projects:
- juliamaehner.com
- ampsonears.com (coming soon!)
- objective.de
