If It's Too Loud...

Artist : Alyssa Gengos Album : Mechanical Sweetness Quick Thoughts : I did not know of Alyssa Gengos before this week, and I am wholly impressed. There are so many good and interesting songs here, and the top-notch songwriting is just off the beaten path enough to be more compelling than most. She previously released music under the name Kyrthia, so I'll be looking back for that sooner rather than later, but for now, enjoy this. Songs of Note : "Gothenburg English," "Me and My Reflection," "Mechanical Sweetness" Artist : Carson McHone Album : Still Life Quick Thoughts : Carson McHone provides my rootsy favorite of the week, with some tightly wound songs that lean heavily on the country side without stepping fully into the boot. It makes for a listen that is familiar but also its own thing, and there's something to be said about that. If you're into the rootsier side of things, check this one out. Songs of Note : "Hawks Don't...

Photo by Sam Setzer Alyssa Gengos is another of the alt-pop artists that I've been really digging lately. Her latest single, "In the Real World," has this light and upbeat feel to it. It's a fun song, which is what pop music should be. Unlike most pop music, "In the Real World" is a fairly sparse and stripped down song that basically defines what is great about bedroom pop. Gengos sounds like a back to basics version of Lily Allen on this song, and who doesn't want something like that? Even if you're a fellow hater of anything that contains the word "pop," you're still going to love this song. Alyssa Gengos says of her new single: "After moving back in with my mother in Los Angeles during lockdown, I found myself retreating into the depths of my own mind, sifting through memories of adolescence and young adulthood and dreaming about what the future may hold. While there was some comfort in fantasy, I realized I was losing touch wit...

Photo by Morgan Hamilton "Cheerleader of the Universe" is a perfect example of bedroom pop. Alyssa Gengos has crafted a dreamy pop song that is going to be easily loved by people who hate pop. It has a wonderfully spacey feel. It's not quite psychedelic, but it's well on its way to psychedelia. This has that intensely personal feel of 90's bedroom recordings but with much better production. Its sparsity only odds to the personal feel. It's more like listening to a friend's private demos, if your friend was incredibly talented at both music and producing. In a press release, Alyssa Gengos says of the new song: “'Cheerleader of the Universe' is sort of surreal; it’s a bunch of associated phrases that form a comforting lullaby. I think of the Cheerleader as the fairy godmother inside my own head. My grandma was a cheerleader, and so was my mother, and I became one in high school as well. I never really wanted to do that as a kid – I just kinda fell in...

Photo by Morgan Hamilton Alyssa Gengos' latest single may be considered bedroom pop, but it's on the more rocking side of that spectrum. "Gothenburg English" has some breathtaking melodies along with the catchiness of pure pop, but it also has some of the fuzziest guitars possible in the genre. While it does have that ultra-intimate and personal vibe with bedroom pop, it's produced wonderfully smoothly. This might be what the last couple of Taylor Swift albums could have sounded like if she had discovered Pavement instead of The National and Bleachers. It has a great dichotomy of the mainstream and the underground playing together happily that makes "Gothenburg English" familiar and unique. Alyssa Gengos says of her new song: "I began writing 'Gothenburg English' in my head while walking around the titular city near the end of my Scandinavian sojourn. Six months prior, I’d left a long term partner behind in New York City, hoping the relation...