Break from Blog Hiatus Part 2 - November 20th, 2024 - more recent songs

 As promised, here is part 2 of my latest music blog! My absence happened because I felt like I needed to take care of myself mentally and emotionally, but I feel like I've healed enough now to start doing music blogs again! So here are four more new songs for the week for you to enjoy!!


"After the First Kiss" by Faye Webster:  There aren't a lot of lyrics in this one, but there doesn't need to be for a song with such simple sentiment! The title says it all! Faye Webster's breakthrough adult alt radio hit, "After the First Kiss," is a romantic song, as the title implies. What makes this a unique love song is two things. First of all, it has a sound that is equal parts folk-rock, lounge music, and string orchestra, so you won't be forgetting it anytime soon! Second of all, the song is both by a woman and to a woman! With so many love songs being either from a girl to a guy or from a guy to a girl, it's refreshing to see someone come out about who they love and why they love them!

"People Watching" by Sam Fender:  Is it just me, or does Sam Fender's latest song sound a lot like something by The War on Drugs?! Well, there's a good reason for this! The WOD's Adam Granduciel is the one who produced this song! The influence of such dynamic, emotional rock legends like Bruce Springsteen and U2 is evident in a lot of Sam Fender's material already, so it's only fitting that he chose to collaborate with Granduciel, who also wears his Springsteen and U2 influences on his sleeves! Thus far, though, no Sam Fender song I've known uses synthesizers as prominently as this one does, so it provides a unique flavor to his material. The lyrics take on the more poignant qualities of those performers. "People Watching" is about the now deceased Annie Orwin, a close friend of Sam's whom he viewed as his mentor. Tearful, truthful tribute to a wonderful woman!

"Too Easy" by Brigitte Calls Me Baby:  Brigitte Calls Me Baby might just be the most successful new alt/indie band of 2024! This is the fourth single of theirs within a single year, and I'd never heard of them before (very) late last year! They've so far taken on Strokes-y new wave-y rockers ("Impressively Average"), Roy-Orbison-gone-alt rock ballads ("Eddie My Love"), and goth-rock/post-punk ("We Were Never Alive"). "Too Easy" goes slightly in the goth/post-punk direction as well, but with more of a sensitive, ballad-y slant than "We Were Never Alive" did. It sounds like an '80s synthpop ballad to such an extent that it can be a little hard to make out where the guitars are, but they're definitely there, as they have been in ever BCMB song so far! 

"X-Ray Eyes" by LCD Soundsystem:  What's this?! Could it be?! Do I FINALLY have a song starting with the letter X in my almost 15 years of blogging?! Yes, I do!! I'm making music blog history just by reviewing this song! X is a pretty daring letter to start a song with!! Does it sound as daring as it seems?! Well, yes, it does! It has a very sparse, somewhat spooky sound that is still somewhat accessible to rock/pop fans. The titular phrase doesn't eXactly conjure up friendly imagery, does it?! LCD Soundsystem's lead singer seems to be saying that he knows what his "X"-partner (get it?) has been up to. The song's claustrophobic, synth-y sound isn't the most comforting, but I'm still eXtra eXcited to finally have a song that starts with X!