Every Word Is Nonsense

Kelly Lee Owens “Dreamstate”

There’s not a lot of lyrics to “Dreamstate” beyond variations on the phrases “feel the dreamstate” and “dream to live,” but Kelly Lee Owens gets a lot out of those words. It’s in the repetition, the re-arranging of the words, and how she seems to surf the waves of her synth grooves and keyboard washes. Most of all it’s in her vocal phrasing – mostly softly spoken with a sense of wonderment, or a little bit bolder, like she’s the spokesperson for a high-end product with some woo dogma attached to it. It’s all very calm until the end, when the music reaches a climax and she starts shouting with some passion. I love how at the end of the song, when it feels like you’re about to wake up, feeling the dreamstate becomes incredibly urgent and important as opposed to just a suggestion.

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Weak Signal “Chill”

Weak Signal triangulate a lot of top shelf influences – just in this song, you get a little Ramones, a little Jesus and Mary Chain, and the answer to “what if Calvin Johnson fronted Yo La Tengo?” But they have a very clear personality and point of view, a lot of which comes down to Mike Bones’ dry wit and droll vocal style. (“Everything is cool, everything is chill,” sung with maximum deadpan delivery.) They err on the side of minimalism, but not in the way that can seem like the best choice for amateurish players. It’s more in the way a good editor will push you towards consolidating ideas, streamlining structures, and chopping out anything that isn’t strictly necessary. The writing is high craft, the performance is totally…chill.

Buy it from Bandcamp.