Album 9, Skylar Spence: Prom King
One of the joys of doing this exercise is that I have opened myself up to a lot of musical possibilities I might never have discovered otherwise. My basic philosophy is if someone mentions music I am not familiar with, I check out the year in which it happened and if I have an opening, I snag it (or something else by the same artist in an empty year.) This can be suggestions from friends, twitter follows, or even family. Which leads to this week. My son approached me a few weeks ago and said, "Do you want to hear what I have been listening to lately?" Um, "YES!" And so he played me the music of Skylar Spencer and I said thanks, I now have 2015 covered.
Skylar Spence
Prom King
2015
Skylar Spence seems to have started his career as an artist named "Saint Pepsi" which one imagines he was forced to abandon after a "cease and desist" letter or two from some megacorp. Rebranding as Skylar Spence he released an album called Prom King. At least I believe all this to be true. My son could probably give you more details. Or not. I have no idea if the kids today care about the details one would normally learn through liner notes.
And frankly, it doesn't matter. We are here to discuss music, not musicians. At least this week. When my son first introduced me to the music of Skylar Spence I was smitten (No, not the Smittens, who I should also probably review.) My son described his music using a bunch of words I had never heard before so I cheated and looked him up on Wikipedia. His genres are listed as nu-disco and vaporwave. ?!?! I am definitely getting too old for the future. But, musically, I do dig whatever it is that Skylar Spence is throwing down.
Can't You See is the first track and sets the tone well. It's a fun, airy track with an infectious beat. Lyrically, let's face it. We aren't getting Chaucer here. But sometimes you just need a good pop song and Skylar Spence delivers. I do love the self-awareness though: "I was working/Tried my hardest/Slowed some music down/and called myself an artist." I do appreciate people that don't take themselves or their music too seriously.
The album features a number of instrumental tracks mixed among the more traditional pop tunes. It would be a good album to have an impromptu dance party too. And if Skylar Spence wasn't heavily steeped in the music of the 80s, I would be flabbergasted. Throughout this album I found myself hearing little riffs and notes that reminded me of other artists I love. The guitar riff in "I Can't Be Your Superman" starting at the 17 second mark could be from a track off an early Roxy Music album, "Fall Harder" has guitar chords that I swear come directly from Prefab Sprout (Do you hear it too?), and then there is the track I am most enamored with "Affairs" (Oddly, a topic for one of my favorite Prefab Sprout songs too, the sadly unreleased "The End of The Affair". If there was any doubt about Skylar Spence's love of the 80s, this video will dispense that notion instantly. And the music. *chef's kiss* The lovely "La la las", the layers of vocals, the synths, the slow strummed guitar chords (is their a musical term for that?). Sure, you have to put up with modern, processed vocals but who cares? This is a lovely little song full of nostalgia and longing and love.
We tried, to get ourselves together
We built a fire, but we just couldn't handle the flames
Spent the night in search of somethings better
We cried, but that's no way to handle affairs
Not sure why a song about a subject I have no personal knowledge about would affect me but music and life are weird and, yeah, that's all my feels, thanks.
Skylar Spence seems to have started his career as an artist named "Saint Pepsi" which one imagines he was forced to abandon after a "cease and desist" letter or two from some megacorp. Rebranding as Skylar Spence he released an album called Prom King. At least I believe all this to be true. My son could probably give you more details. Or not. I have no idea if the kids today care about the details one would normally learn through liner notes.
And frankly, it doesn't matter. We are here to discuss music, not musicians. At least this week. When my son first introduced me to the music of Skylar Spence I was smitten (No, not the Smittens, who I should also probably review.) My son described his music using a bunch of words I had never heard before so I cheated and looked him up on Wikipedia. His genres are listed as nu-disco and vaporwave. ?!?! I am definitely getting too old for the future. But, musically, I do dig whatever it is that Skylar Spence is throwing down.
Can't You See is the first track and sets the tone well. It's a fun, airy track with an infectious beat. Lyrically, let's face it. We aren't getting Chaucer here. But sometimes you just need a good pop song and Skylar Spence delivers. I do love the self-awareness though: "I was working/Tried my hardest/Slowed some music down/and called myself an artist." I do appreciate people that don't take themselves or their music too seriously.
The album features a number of instrumental tracks mixed among the more traditional pop tunes. It would be a good album to have an impromptu dance party too. And if Skylar Spence wasn't heavily steeped in the music of the 80s, I would be flabbergasted. Throughout this album I found myself hearing little riffs and notes that reminded me of other artists I love. The guitar riff in "I Can't Be Your Superman" starting at the 17 second mark could be from a track off an early Roxy Music album, "Fall Harder" has guitar chords that I swear come directly from Prefab Sprout (Do you hear it too?), and then there is the track I am most enamored with "Affairs" (Oddly, a topic for one of my favorite Prefab Sprout songs too, the sadly unreleased "The End of The Affair". If there was any doubt about Skylar Spence's love of the 80s, this video will dispense that notion instantly. And the music. *chef's kiss* The lovely "La la las", the layers of vocals, the synths, the slow strummed guitar chords (is their a musical term for that?). Sure, you have to put up with modern, processed vocals but who cares? This is a lovely little song full of nostalgia and longing and love.
We tried, to get ourselves together
We built a fire, but we just couldn't handle the flames
Spent the night in search of somethings better
We cried, but that's no way to handle affairs
Not sure why a song about a subject I have no personal knowledge about would affect me but music and life are weird and, yeah, that's all my feels, thanks.
Comments
Post a Comment