New songs for May 30th, 2023

 It's a day after Monday, but since Monday was a holiday, I'm doing the new music today. Here it is:


"Let the Sun Come In" by The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde is now one year past being a septuagenarian, and she's STILL rockin' it! The Pretenders' latest song, "Let the Sun Come In," is not a crunchy hard rocker in the vein of something like "Middle of the Road" or "Tattooed Love Boys," but it does hearken back to some of the first mid-tempo half-rocker/half-ballad songs they had such as "Kid" and "Talk of the Town." Close your eyes and you probably won't notice too much a difference between this song and what they did a little over 40 years ago. The song's theme of liberation is also something that stands the test of time. The Pretenders aren't really singing here about issues relevant to the 21st century in this song, but they don't have to. Their output is timeless, and it really shows here!

"NYE" by Local Natives: No, this isn't about Bill NYE the Science Guy, but you probably knew that! It's an abbreviation here for "New Year's Eve." Though the phrase "New Year's Eve" is mentioned in the song, I'm not sure if it's actually about the titular holiday...or if it's about anything at all, for that matter. Seems like a "word salad" song upon first glance, but that probably won't matter to longtime fans of Local Natives who might notice here that the group are going back to the quirky pseudo-psychedelic indie-rock sound they started with in the early 2010's, as opposed to the more ethereal style of folk-rock/indie-pop they employed later on in their material. It's a closer sonic relative to songs like "Airplanes" and "Wide Eyes" than it is to something like "When Am I Gonna Lose You?"

"Running Away" by Thee Sacred Souls: Early '70s soul is Thee Sacred Souls' go-to sound, but there are many ways to slice a single genre. Where "Love is the Way" was a sincere, heartfelt ballad, their latest song, "Running Away," is a more upbeat and slinky tune, but both songs are clearly trying to emulate the last years of the golden age of R & B. The riffs are more punctuated, the saxes are more frantic, and the drumbeats are faster in "Running Away," and the song's minor key even contrasts with the major key of "Love is the Way," but "Running Away"'s faster pace also makes it more fun and danceable than Thee Sacred Souls' previous single was. Midway through, "Running Away" gets more spacious and slower, but the song quickly picks back up in a little over 30 seconds. 

"Say Yes to Heaven" by Lana Del Rey: It's tricky to find a Lana Del Rey song where guitar is the central instrument, but in "Say Yes to Heaven," guitar takes center stage, and not in a rockin' way either. LDR makes the guitar a thing of beauty on "Say Yes to Heaven." The song is Lana's urgent plea to get someone to fall in love with her. Guitar is rarely used as a "beautiful" instrument anymore, perhaps even less so when it comes to electric guitar, but Lana proves the naysayers wrong here by seducing her listeners into a sensual slumberland with little more than an electric guitar.