New songs for April 6th 2026

 here they are:


"A Perfect Storm" by Jose Gonzalez:  "A Perfect Storm" IS a perfect storm - a perfect storm of melancholia, intensity, and calm in a single song! And it doesn't take that many instruments to do it either! In typical Jose style, acoustic guitar is the dominant instrument in this song, but he uses it in such a powerful way that I can't help but be drawn in. Jose's storm, lyrically, is a force of nature in more ways than one! The song is an eerily self-aware meditation and lament on how we are to blame for being the victims of our own impending doom. Phrases like "race against time" and "gambling with our common fate" indicate how Jose realizes that the human race has put itself in imminent danger. At least we get a good song out of it!

"Back in Love" Suki Waterhouse:  One of the most insanely catchy songs of summer 2024 was Suki Waterhouse's indie-pop anthem, "Supersad"! Though her next single, "Back in Love," shares its D major key in common with "Supersad," there are a few things that make the two songs different from one another. First, "Back in Love" uses more synth and less guitar than "Supersad" did, and "Back in Love" is also a more mellow and less energetic song than that one was. Why the change in mood? "Back in Love," despite its optimistic title, seems like more of a yearning than an actual state that Suki is in. Many lines in the opening verse ("whole life hanging by a thread," "eyes closed, sitting in silence," "shoot the apple off my head") seem almost like phrases of caution to the listener. "Back to jazz on the radio," "back to the beaches," and "back in love again" are all states that Suki wants to be in, not where she is! I feel like she's echoing how a lot of us feel these days, though.

"Be With You" by Muse:  "Be With You" is a Muse song that is as ethereal as it is techno-y. It's also another song that yearns to be in an ideal state while fully acknowledging how bleak things really are. Some of the phrases Matt Bellamy sings during the song's two verses ("It seems my light's been swallowed up," "I rage against the dying of the light," "I won't bow to the universe/I can break its curse") almost sound apocalyptic, but during the chorus of the song, he mentions how he just wants to "be with" the person he's singing about during all this chaos. The song also goes through three different transitional points, starting as an organ-driven elegy, then going more techno/synth-y, and ultimately ending up as a Queen-ish song propelled by Bellamy's epic guitar playing!

"Buried Treasure" by Peter Frampton (featuring Benmont Tench):  I forgot Peter Frampton did in fact have associations with people who were not arena rockers! I frequently lump him in with people like Boston, Journey, Styx, and maybe a few Bad Company songs, so I was not expecting to review a song of his in the 16 years I've had this blog, but here I am doing exactly that! Tom Petty's Heartbreakers were definitely a rock group, but I wouldn't call them "arena rock." They're a bit too roots-y and jangly for me to call them that. "Buried Treasure" is a song were Benmont Tench pays tribute to his late friend and bandmate, Tom Petty, who had a program on Sirius XM called "Tom Petty's Buried Treasure," where Petty would showcase obscure rock songs for avid classic rock fans who wanted more than just the same old songs being spun. It's a song that sounds straight out of a 1975 or '76 rock record where Frampton and Tench literally thank Petty for the "Buried Treasure" that he provided! Hard to believe Petty has been gone for almost a decade now, but at least others are keeping his flame alive! 

"Carry On" by Jungle:  Another deviation of genre here, I'm used to Jungle as a high-energy indie-dance group, but this song almost sounds folk-rock-y! Jungle are a band with three lead singers, and "Carry On" marks the first time I've heard Lydia Kitto leading the vocals on the group, and it's also the first time I've heard them focus more on acoustic guitar than on synth or bass. The harmonies in this song are absolutely beautiful and that F sharp major guitar playing is so light and breezy! There's also a reason this song sounds as subdued as it does. It's actually a breakup song, with Lydia trying to acknowledge how she should just "carry on" now that her relationship is over, but she clearly finds it hard to do so. 

"Rein Me In" by Sam Fender (featuring Olivia Dean):  One of the more bittersweet Sam Fender songs, "Rein Me In" comes off like a more melancholy, folk-rock-y version of The Beach Boys' "California Girls" (and a much longer one, too!) Lyrically, it certainly isn't the marine West Coast paradise Brian Wilson imagined, and is instead one that is defined by both heartbreak and self-sabotage. When Sam and Olivia both sing "please don't rein me in" in the chorus of the song, what they mean is that they don't want to be controlled in relationships. They don't want to be lured in by the promise of love. In a true current-day generation turn of events, the very act of intimacy itself is one that the two are scared to even try! (Clearly a far cry from "I dig a French bikini on Hawaiian island dolls...") Although Brian is no longer with us, this seems like the kind of song he probably would have identified with more than "California Girls."