Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 here they are: "Ankles" by Lucy Dacus:  Lucy Dacus has tried her hand at all sorts of areas of indie, ranging from indie-pop to indie-folk to some power pop, but I've never heard her attempt the "chamber pop" sound until now, and she's good at it! There are orchestral instruments in this song such as cello and what sounds like a harpsichord that can't be easily found in her other material, which makes it stand out from her other stuff. Equally remarkable is her video for the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcW_-uxy6dQ) which takes place at a museum (with Lucy as the painting) and stars another LGTBQ Lucy, Lucy Liu, as the curator. Anything to help out diverse communities during a time when the world just doesn't seem as open-minded as it used to be! "Bovine Excision" by Samia:  For a song with such a weird title, Samia's "Bovine Excision" has a surprisingly chill indie-folk sound (with gradual electro-pop elements added...

Yesterday was Juneteenth, so I decided to do my blog today instead of yesterday. Here are this week's songs: "Body" by Briston Maroney: Indie-folk-rocker Briston Maroney has added a bit more of a techno-pop influence to his music and blended it with acoustic guitar music in order to make his latest song, "Body," appeal to a wider audience than his previous material. The song, essentially, is a rumination on how life doesn't last forever, so we should make the most of it while we still can. Amidst slightly psychedelic flourishes midway through, "Body" is a breezy song overall that can really make you think about life! "Devotion" by Arlo Parks: Arlo Parks' take on neo-soul has been an interesting one. "Softly" involved a trip-hop influence, and her latest song, "Devotion," does as well, but "Softly" wasn't a very guitar-heavy song. "Devotion" actually is one, believe it or not. The guitars sta...

 here they are: "Amnesia" by M83: Techno-influenced indie-pop group, M83, has been responsible for one major hit so far in the ever-expanding alt-rock pantheon, and that song is "Midnight City," which starts off with a rather eerie synth before morphing into a catchy pop song. "Midnight City" was a bit too synth-y for me to get into at the time it came out, which was a little over a decade ago, but with "Amnesia," I feel a bit more ready to dive into M83's music. It is mostly synth-dominated, like "Midnight City" was, but "Amnesia" has a bit more guitar backing it up, earning the song more than a few comparisons so far to groups like New Order. "Amnesia"'s shimmery guitar line does bear more than a passing resemblance to Bernard Sumner's guitar work. The song's ability to switch between a standard-sounding C major song and its more exotic descent into E flat major during the chorus parts is another no...