Spencer Griffin's New Music Mondays

 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, ...

 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 ou...