New songs for Groundhog Day 2026

 It's Groundhog Day...again. And it's the day for me to review some new releases! Here goes:


"Against the Dying of the Light" by Jose Gonzalez:  Ever since I heard Jose's quiet but powerful "Heartbeats" almost 20 years ago, I've always loved his material! He goes right in line with Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, and Iron & Wine as a musician who relies primarily on alternate tunings and acoustic guitar. It's been nearly a decade since he last released something, but it was worth the wait! Jose's advice in this solemn song is almost Zen-like, with such lyrical gems as "accept who you have become," "embrace who we could be," "disconnect from every algorithm," and "kill the codes that feed the hate." Some of this advice is timeless, but other parts mentioning things like algorithms and codes seem more like lyrics for today's generation than they would have been for millennials and Gen Z-ers who were out when Jose debuted. And he dispenses all this advice in less than two and a half minutes? Incredible!


"Cowboy Dreams" by Boy Golden (featuring Cat Clyde):  The title of this song might evoke country music imagery, but there's something both warm and witty about this track that makes it have more in common with indie-folk. The lyrics are also quirky indie-folk, with almost every B rhyme of its ABAB rhyme scheme either rhyming with "it" or at least having the short I sound. It's not until the final four lines that this pattern gets averted: "If I were a playing card/I'd be your queen/You'd be the ace of hearts/In all my cowboy dreams." This is also the only part of this chorus-less song where the title is spoken (and after that, the phrase "in all my cowboy dreams" is repeated a few times). The guitar riffs that punctuate the song are simultaneously dreamy and psychedelic, a bit like a My Morning Jacket type of song. 

"Dead End" by Snail Mail:  This song has a bit more of a buoyant folk-pop/rock flavor than their more catchy but defiant breakthrough single, "Valentine," but Snail Mail have not lost their bite with their latest tune, "Dead End." It's just more breezy musically. I mean, the third and fourth lines alone are "Guess we got our own sh*t to do/But these days I don't recognize you." Seems like the kind of lines that can't decide whether the song is a "diss track" or one where the lead singer is so fed up with romance that she's given up on it. Come to think of it, Lindsey Jordan might not even be talking about a lover here since she uses the phrase "old friend" to describe the subject of her song. The title of the song refers more to a physical dead end ("Hours we spent parked at the dead end") than a metaphorical one, but Lindsey may be using this imagery to express how disappointed she feels with the person she's singing about. 

"Heavy Foot" by Mon Rovia:  Though we didn't start with a Black artist for Black History Month, one does get to be included in this entry! For starters, Mon Rovia got his stage name because of the capital of his home country, Liberia, in Africa (his real name is Janjay Lowe). His breakthrough song is a mournful folk-rock tune called "Heavy Foot." Though the song is only two and half minutes long and has light, almost airy instrumentation, the lyrics of the song are (fitting to its title) heavy. Each verse of the song starts with the phrase, "Do you (verb) the (nouns) in the (noun)?" Through the four times in the song Mon Rovia uses this phrase, he describes violence, homelessness, racism, and finally, the consequences of political unrest, gently yet persuasively challenging each topic he discusses. 

"Opening Night" by Arctic Monkeys:  Perhaps the most heavily anticipated song of the week is this one from Arctic Monkeys. The group has come a long way from the scrappy post-punk influenced sound they started with. "Opening Night" seems to almost have an arpeggiated folk-rock-y sound to it and is in a minor key, too, although some garage-y, post-punk-y influences occasionally shine through in it. There is a reason this song sounds sadder than most Arctic Monkeys tunes. "Opening Night" addresses issues like how "awareness" campaigns are not always what they advertise themselves to be. Furthermore, the song seems to serve as a vehicle for both the sadness and frustration Alex Turner feels about how protesting against something doesn't always mean that whatever is protested against is over. For instance, there are still children suffering in wars. Promising change and bringing it about are two different things, and this song is a heavy reminder of that.

"Ready to Let You Down" by Joseph:  The normally folk-rock-y Joseph get more of a danceable yet still "indie" makeover in their latest song, "Ready to Let You Down." One user in the YouTube comments section for the song's video even summed the song up as "therapy you can dance to," and I'd say that's a good description of this song! One of the three women in Joseph (or perhaps all three) seem to feel trapped in their relationship(s) in this song. The subject of the song expects her to be "smiling and pretty" when she really doesn't want to feel that way, and thus comes the title of the song and an explanation for it. She is "ready to let" this person "down" to tell them that women are not always supposed to be sweet and happy all the time. We are all human, after all, and this means we're prone to having different emotional facets. How Joseph are able to deliver such a downer message in such a fun song is something I have yet to know, but it makes its point pretty well!

"Starlight" by Cannons:  Cannons blazed into the 2020's with the dance-y synth grooves and slinky guitar lines of "Fire for You," probably one of the biggest hits of the decade so far! The funky "Loving You" came out a few years later and proved that Cannons still had hits up their sleeve. Halfway into the 2020's, Cannons give us "Starlight," another surefire hit that replicates the Cannons formula of club-ready grooves and textured guitar lines that wouldn't be out of place coming from Andy Summers. Though the song may have a sunny title and catchy beats, "Starlight" does not have the seductive lyrics that "Fire for You" and "Loving You" did. Instead, Cannons make themselves more vulnerable with lyrics like "Wait, I've built a wall I cannot get around," and "Numb from all the pain, I'm sinking further down." The titular "Starlight" in the chorus is what Michelle Joy wants the subject of her song to be. In other words, she wants someone (or something) to guide her through the dark times. Don't we all!

"Streets of Minneapolis" by Bruce Springsteen:  I take back what I said about Arctic Monkeys' song being the most heavily anticipated. THIS is the most heavily anticipated song of the week! The Boss still has fire in his belly even after over a half-century of performing and recording! This is one of Bruce's more soft, folk-rock-y songs, but the message is by no means a soft one! He even refers to the US' current leader, rather derisively, as "King Trump" (in the first verse, no less)! The song as a whole is one that centers around Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, and specifically about people who sadly lost their lives as a result of it. The song's fourth and final verse might be the most powerful of all! It contains lines like, "If your skin is black or brown, my friend, you can be questioned and deported on sight," which could easily have been a line from one of Bob Dylan's most venomous protest songs! Six chants of "ICE out" comprise the song's outro. The Boss might have quiet instrumentation on this song, but make no mistake. You can still hear the anger in his voice and lyrics in this song, and rightfully so!

"The Great Divide" by Noah Kahan:  It took me a while to warm up to Noah Kahan, but by the time I heard the country-with-a-rock-edge sound of "Dial Drunk" and the solemn alt-folk-rock of "Northern Attitude," I became a fan. His latest song, "The Great Divide," might just be his best one yet! It moves away from his roots-y, country-ish sound and more towards a jangly indie-pop/rock sound, somewhat similar to musicians like Sam Fender. In addition to Kahan's sound, one thing that might make him big among alt-rock fans is how dark and sometimes in-your-face his lyrics are, and it really shows up in "The Great Divide"! Even in the first verse, there are lines about cigarette burns, "looking out" for police people, and lines like "But we ain't friends, we're just morons/Who broke skin in the same spot." Already, Noah is weaving a dark tale, but the darkness only piles on as the song continues. "I'm high enough to still care if I die" and "You said f**k off, and I said nothing for a while" are among the lines that follow this one. It kind of sounds like Noah is mad at someone! Whether that's a (former) friend or an ex-lover is left to interpretation here. The chorus of the song, lyrically, is like someone grabbing you by the throat after you've said or done something wrong!! "I hope you settle down, I hope you marry rich/I hope you're scared of only ordinary sh*t/Like murderers and ghosts and cancer on your skin/And not your soul and what he might do with it" are the words of the chorus. Ouch!! That is NOT what I'd want to hear from someone, but I suppose sometimes, people need to hear the truth about what a bunch of jerks they can be. This song is NOT for the faint of heart! It's awkward for someone like me to type swear words, and I've already typed two. One is used again in another part of the song ("And I'm finally aware of how sh*tty and unfair/It was to stare ahead like everything was fine.") It's rare that indie-folk-rock gets so...angry!! But I suppose maybe it has to on certain occasions. Everyone feels angry sometimes, after all.