On this edition of LITM Rock Picks, tracks take on vulnerability with aching, dark edges. Moods fuelled by frustration and sadness. Featuring artists like Oliver Jordan, Fragile Creatures, Eric Shroeder and more!
1. Oliver Jordan - Death Rodeo
‘Death Rodeo’ by Oliver Jordan is a dark, loud track that feels fueled by thinly veiled frustration. It’s guitars and percussion move quick, loud and dark while the lyrics loop on two lines that perfectly communicate that lonely, pooling sense of deep-seated anger.
“...You gotta get off my ass…you wanna fight the best…death rodeo…”. Loud, shadowy melodies define the song’s edge, while the vocal delivery conveys the long-suffering frustration that seems layered into the narrative of the tale. Loud and dark, bold and engaging, the song seems to transport its listener to a sound-space belting in dynamic catharsis.
Listen here:
2. Fragile Creatures - Play Both Sides
‘Play Both Sides’ by Fragile Creatures is a vulnerable song that urges its subject to see the depth held in different perspectives. It urges discernment and calculated understanding, while the narrator delivers the lines like words of caution almost.
“...All of your life you’ve been played by both sides…can’t you see? Which way it’s blowing?...”. The melodies are sentimental, almost soft but insistent. Its soundscape is bright with an emotional charge that feels like pull, almost as though the narrator seeks to show the subject where their seeming stubbornness might take them down the line.
Listen here:
3. Ken Woods and The Old Blue Gang - Ride The Rails
‘Ride The Rails’ by Ken Woods and The Old Blue Gang takes on the pace of a fast-moving train to tell a dark tale of displacement. Its soundscape and melodies take on the ambient rhythms of a train pulling on track, as the lyrics attempt to chase away those who worked to make them.
The tone is rough and hard, while adding fuel to the fire of thinly veiled anger and injustice. “...Ride the rails you made, travel the tracks you laid…If you’re still here in the morning, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t stayed…”. It highlights infuriating injustice and unfair treatment.
Listen here:
4. Cleo Handler - compare & contrast
‘compare & contrast’ by Cleo Handler is a sharp-edged track steeped in vulnerability, full and whole. Its lyrics locate the narrator’s heartache within a bubble of clarity, where the heartbreak they have experienced is seen and engaged with.
“...I just think about you when I’m sad…”, the narrator admits with a sense of liberating, vulnerable dejection. This while the melodies take on a straight-forward rhythm, only moving onward to highlight the narrator’s vulnerability and acceptance. “...I think you think that you tried…”. The song engages with its hurt and pain, using its soundscape’s droning melodies to highlight this mood. This making the song immersive and engaging.
Listen here:
5. Eric Shroeder - High and Low
‘High and Low’ by Eric Shroeder is a bright track, with a rolling swing laced with engaging clarity. It seems to engage with its clarity with its heartache with a sense of open warmth and brightness. It counters its bitterness with this bright, familiar rhythm.
“...I never meant to hurt you…”. But, “...the loneliness is peaceful…”. The narrator heals and copes with their “...lonesome feelings, deep as deep can go…”. The song’s groovy melodies feel healing and wholesome in the wake of the lyrics’ many revelations. The song’s immersive melodies and straight-forward line delivery hold in them space for acceptance with a pinch of growth.
Listen here:
Follow the playlist for all new artist updates!
If you would like to submit your music for playlist or review consideration, please submit here