Liner Notes (February 27th, 2021)

comic books

Hello weekend readers.

This week’s newsletter has early thoughts on Julien Baker’s new album, thoughts on various articles I read last week and enjoyed, and other random musings about music, entertainment, and life that have been running around in my head the past week. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Review: Sydney Sprague – Maybe I Will See You at the End of the World

Sydney Sprague - Maybe I Will See You at the End of the World

Time is a tricky thing. It spins effortless wonders to convince us that things only flow in one direction — that our formative experiences lie sleeping in youthful days, branded upon our beating hearts like the aging wrinkles of our skin. And sure, there’s a strong case for it when you consider that most things along the way can’t be undone, because time knows better than that. But for every irreversible consequence, at some point we’re sure to round the bend and revisit the old feelings that once felt, for better or worse, completely inescapable. By will or by weakness, by physics or by fate. Because when it comes down to it, time is really just a big, flat fucking circle. When we long to be seen, we’re often faced with our own reflections. When we crave growth, we’re reminded of where we’ve come from. On Maybe I Will See You at the End of the World, Sydney Sprague finds herself caught amidst this phenomenon, crafting a series of introspective pop rock singalongs to make new waves in the struggle to navigate the ones she’s spent her life stirring up.

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Hanalei – “Steep Ravine” (Song Premiere)

Hanalei

Hanalei will be releasing his fourth LP Black Snow on March 12th via AF Records. While AF is known as a punk label, Hanalei is of decidedly different stock – if you like the folkier side of The Weakerthans or Kevin Devine you’ve got an idea of what to expect from Hanalei. This is never better exemplified than on “Steep Ravine,” the seventh track from Black Snow that we’re premiering today.

Brian had this to say about the song:

[It] draws parallels between the loss of love and the loss of the environment. A female narrator residing in the barren and nearly lifeless western fringes of Marin County, CA is crippled by grief and nostalgia. Memories of rain, redwoods, owls, and a deceased lover paint the monochromatic landscape in every shade of gone.

Stream it below.

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