“Bottled Up Inside” by Harrison Storm – A Song Feature

 

     The song offers a skip-a-generation reflection on father-son relationships. “Bottled Up Inside” serves as a first-person release of affection for his father, after having kept those feelings contained for too long. The guilt is compounded by the realization that his father never heard such an expression of love from his own father either (the narrator’s grandfather).
 
     The first verse in the song from Harrison Storm is reflective and the instrumentation is appropriate. Then, the second verse sets up the declaration of feelings, and a kickdrum drives a quickened heartbeat rhythm that intensifies the emotion. Harrison says about “Bottled Up Inside:
  “I’ve always found expressing my emotions so much easier in song. Of course, it’s just me there writing it. But over my life , I have struggled to have the conversations I need, with the people that matter. I wrote this song about the love that exists between a father and son. The quiet spaces that can feel like valleys and to moments where we need each other most. Sometimes it can feel like a dam about to burst and taking a tiny step forward can feel like climbing a mountain. we’re all just doing our best and this song speaks to the power we all have within us to make change.”
 
     “Bottled Up Inside” is from the album “Empty Garden,” which was released in October 2025 via Nettwerk Music Group. The Bandcamp link to the album is included below the Soundcloud stream in this post. Harrison Storm is based in Melbourne, Australia.
 
     “Bottled Up Inside” by Harrison Storm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harrisonstormmusic
Website: https://www.harrisonstorm.com/
Bandcamp: https://harrisonstorm.bandcamp.com/album/empty-garden

Lyrics of “Bottled Up Inside” by Harrison Storm
Every time I think about you

I swear it almost brings me to tears

And every possibility that never unfolded

Makes me want to turn back the years


 
Cause all the things that I never said

Like your father did to you way back when

I waited for all these years just bottled up inside

I wanted to say the all the things that he never vocalized


 
I love you, I love you, yes I do
I love you, I love you, yes I do

 
And I know you wanted to teach me all the things you knew

Like how to use the tools in the way you always wanted me to

But I had to go my own way and do my own things

I had to play this goddamn guitar and let my body sing


 
And I know you said you're proud of the things I've done

That means a lot to me, your only son

Cause I love you Dad and I hope you know that

And I hope you won't forget it

And I know that you couldn’t get what you needed
From your old man


 
Before you’re gone I’ll say it again

Can we release the feelings we’ve always had?


 
I love you, I love you, yes I do

“Golden Fever” by Rome Is Not a Town – A Song Feature

     After hitting “Play,” the listener has only 23 seconds to wonder where “Golden Fever” is heading. Those opening moments are a sonic mirage—pulsing waves that swell and thicken until being consumed by a steadily progressing tsunami. Then the drums break through, commanding attention and clearing away any uncertainty about the song from Rome Is Not a Town. The percussion energetically drives the song, while a brooding lower-frequency guitar generates a sense of urgency. When the vocals arrive, they contribute a restless anxiety.
 
     If you are already aware of Rome Is Not a Town, it’s time to reboot your understanding of the band. Their Spotify bio still describes them as “noisy Indie Rockers with an alarming and fuzzy sound.” However, “Golden Fever” is the first single from the forthcoming album “Echoes of Love,” which promises to show a shift in the band’s sound. The album’s press release explains:
  “The first single, ‘Golden Fever,’ opens this new chapter. Measured and more grounded than their earlier work, it leans towards storytelling rather than confrontation, while still carrying the weight that has always been central to their sound. The raw energy has found a new form: more contemplative, less abrasive, but equally uncompromising.”
 
     The change may not amount to a full “reinvention,” but the shift is unmistakable. Although the genre comparison might not be fair, “Golden Fever” recalls the sound of London-based Savages with Jehnny Beth on vocals — a band we still miss. Our favorite section arrives at 3:34, when tribal drums momentarily underlie the lead vocals as they contemplatively repeat “Out of my mind,” before the track surges back to its signature intensity and builds toward the multilayered vocals at 4:23.
 
      Rome Is Not a Town are based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The members are Kajsa Poidnak (vocals, guitar), Susanna Brandin (guitar), Emma Wättring (bass), and Anna Lund (drums).
 
     “Golden Fever” by Rome Is Not a Town

     The single is available for downloads at Bandcamp

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/romeisnotatown
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romeisnotatown

“Chinese Restaurant” by Radio Free Alice – A Song Feature

     The crisp, clear, and clean upper-frequency guitar that opens “Chinese Restaurant” functions as the initial announcement that the song is one that deservingly demands the listener’s attention. The guitar’s gleaming characteristics remind us of “Chasing Sleep” by The Good Williams Fringe (starting at the 1:42 mark – CLICK HERE for the song), but with a subtle nod to the cinematic shimmer of the guitar intro of David Bowie’s “China Girl. The three guitars don’t share melodies, but they’re bound by a tonal DNA - crisp, bright, and precise.

 

    Radio Free Alice were originally formed in Sydney in 2020, but are now based in Melbourne. The members are Noah Learmonth (vocals, guitar), Jules Paradiso (guitar), Michael Phillips (bass, saxophone), and Lochie Dowd (drums).

 

       In explaining the inspiration of “Chinese Restaurant,” Noah Learmonth said:

  “The idea for Chinese Restaurant came while touring the UK, surrounded by this overwhelming sense of living in the past. Every venue had a punny name nodding to some bygone legend, places like ‘EBGBS’ (a riff on CBGB) or ‘The Stoned Rose.’ Driving around the UK in this tour van felt like wandering through the aftermath of a house party that was definitely over, but no one seemed capable of moving on from.”

 

      “Chinese Restaurant” by Radio Free Alice

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radiofreealiceband

Lyrics of “Chinese Restaurant” by Radio Free Alice

I've been watching the tv screen
And I've been getting all huffed and puffed
About the things that they say to me
And then the things that they do to us
 
You know the Birmingham 666
But they never did it, did they?
It was the man in the suit and tie
That was the bomber with hell to pay
Oh oh oh oh
 
Marry me in a Chinese restaurant
White light, sulphate
Couldn't keep me up
These old men
Yeah they know we can kick ‘em out
Or I could kick him in the mouth and say
Do dootle do do
 
I used to think that the past meant nothing
Because it's always been out of style
But now I see it's the future that's forgotten
Traded in for a greater past
 
But if you give it to me
A gallery of dead Rockstars
From 1984
The necrophiliac-ac alter
Pray to Glastonbury me
 
And now it's all gone u-u-under
They made the rockumentary
About the smashing of ancient taboos
They thought would set them free
 
Marry me in a Chinese restaurant
White light, sulphate
Couldn't keep me up
These old men
Yeah they know we can kick ‘em out
Or I could kick him in the mouth and say
Do dootle do do
 
Marry me in a Chinese restaurant
White light, sulphate
Couldn't keep me up
These old men
Yeah ya know we can kick ‘em out
Or I could kick him in the mouth and say
Do dootle do do
 
 
I used to think about
I used to think about
I used to think about
Do dootle do do
 
Marry me in a Chinese restaurant
White light, sulphate
Couldn't keep me up
These old men
Yeah ya know we can kick 'em out
Yeah ya know we can kick 'em out