On this edition of LITM Singer-Songwriter Picks, guitars and strings mingle to create songs that move down towards melancholy. Each song holds in them melodies that feel chill-inducing and movingly familiar. Features artists Brooke Moriber, E.W. Harris, Dee Armstrong and more!
1. Brooke Moriber - What If I Do
‘What If I Do’ by Brooke Moriber takes on melancholy strings while telling the story of an empowered narrator, who is starting to choose themselves. The melodies bolster this sense of encouragement, almost as though it’s trying to push the narrator to see their worth.
The song feels like an empowered fight song, with hints of sadness and moving grief.
“...You said no one would ever love you more than I do?
What if I do?....”.
The lyrics feel like a reclamation, mixed with emotions that feel like the salty tears that sparked this revelation. This was realised by the end.
Listen here:
2. Kalyn Beasley - Goodbye BYU
‘Goodbye BYU’ by Kalyn Beasley builds on quick-paced guitar melodies that feel like they’re rolling on the move. The singer’s vocal delivery feels matter-of-fact, settled in a way that exudes a sureness. The narrator knows what they’re doing and seems to be using this song to pay tribute and reassure.
Each verse of the song feels like a little letter, addressing the people they love and the places that mean the most. There’s this sense of peace that comes with allowing yourself to move on and change. Something that the song seems to encapsulate almost perfectly.
Finding life and love.
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3. Yvonne Lyon, Boo Hewerdine - The Things You Find In Books
‘The Things You Find In Books’ by Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine uses its piano, guitar and string melodies to pull on visceral melancholy that feels like autumn. It captures the beauty in the unfinished, and in those moments when the listener finds themselves as far away from their worries as possible.
Its melancholy melodies feel like an ode to escapism, allowing themselves to pull downwards. While its lyrics evoke the sensations of an “...unfinished love letter…”. Or, “...A ticket for the metro that someone couldn’t let go…”.
Melodies on the down-swing, using memories and thoughts to make facing change easier.
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4. E.W. Harris - The Nail Beside The Door
‘The Nail Beside The Door’ by E.W. Harris pluck through cascading guitar melodies that feel almost expansive but injected with melancholy. Its lyrics tell a story that feels like it’s dealing with heartbreak in the face of loneliness.
The emotion on the track feels like a cascade, with lines that attempt to process the heartache of love that simply leaves. There’s this sense of loneliness where the narrator finds themselves, alone in the vortex of memory where “...the picture decay’s a little more each time…”.
We move through these feelings and emotions with the narrator, where cascading emotions meet incomplete memory.
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5. Dee Armstrong - The Bearna Waltz
‘The Bearna Waltz’ by Dee Armstrong is a fiddle instrumental that pulls us into the throws of melancholy and emotion with the swelling ebb of a three-beat measure. Here, guitars and strings intermingle to form a braid of melancholy and a fleeting sadness.
Its melodies fall in step, moving on and building in intensity while the fiddle melodies hold in them the weight of ephemeral longing. This creates a bittersweet cascade that feels as though it skews downwards, holding a delicate balance between letting go and moving forward.
It’s almost as though the song wants to leap, even in the face of overwhelming melancholy.
Listen here:
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