“What’s Left” by The Same Sky

 

     The Same Sky imposingly describe “What’s Left” as a breakup song filtered through Shoegaze textures and Greek mythology, since the lyrics were inspired by reading “The Odyssey.” Of course, thoughts weigh heavy in the aftermath of a breakup. Amid the emotional debris is the concern posed by The Same Sky’s “What’s Left”: with the change in the relationship, how do you move forward? The song concludes with resolve – “I will try my best.”
 
      The Montreal band approaches the breakup topic without turning the song into the usual lament or finger-pointing. They characterize “What’s Left” as "a fuzzy shoegaze track,” but the influences are varied. At 1:56, a guitar enters with a sound that is simultaneously melodically engaging and somewhat unsettling, capturing the emotional confusion of a breakup. About a half-minute later (2:38), the track from The Same Sky emerges into a chugging guitar sound that is independent from, yet reminiscent of, the hit “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups.
 
     The vocal delivery reinforces that feeling. Rather than overselling the song’s emotional premise, it exposes the uncertainty of the relationship and its possible remains. That restraint is important because “What’s Left” works best when it feels less like a declaration and more like an internal conversation
 
     The members of The Same Sky are Joseph Simon (guitar, vocals), Rory Cogley (bass), Hazel Dreslinski (drums, backing vocals), and Susil Sharma (guitar). “What’s Left” is one of seven tracks from their album “Haunting in the Mountains” which was released earlier this year. The album is available for streaming and purchase at the Bandcamp site https://sameskyband.bandcamp.com/album/haunting-in-the-mountains, as well as other platforms.
 
     “What’s Left” by The Same Sky

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sameskyband/
Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/sameskyband

Lyrics of “What’s Left” by The Same Sky
Hey, this is my… song
Hey, of love to you… now
 
Your face was red, your eyes were brown
Something waking up inside you
My throat is hurt, my voice is done
The water oceans give me is salty
I'll give you what's left
Of my voice
 
Wherever we’ll decide to go
Let's keep this wisdom in our hearts
The water fills the deserts’ needs
As soon the past dissolves like this…
 
I'll follow you, wherever you go, oh maybe
Whatever's right, whatever's wrong,
What do I know?
 
I will try my best
I will follow you
I
I will try my best

“Dissolving Dream” by Great Hare

 

     The track from Great Hare arrives with a pulsing two-note synthesizer hook, à la "Lisztomania," but soon charts its own course when shimmering guitar turns the sonic focus in a more enchanting direction. That intro of “Dissolving Dream” leads to a soft-spoken delivery of the first verse about day-to-day repetitiveness. Later, the vocals are more assertive and anguished during the chorus.
 
      The vocals provide “Dissolving Dream” with its emotional center. But the true magic emerges from the interplay in its instrumentation. That’s particularly true after the 4:30 mark, when commanding percussion is layered with guitars that remain in flux, shifting between textures and tones, rather than settling for a single pattern.
 
     Great Hare is an Indie Rock quartet from Gothenburg, Sweden. The members are Kalle Mogren (vocals, guitar), Lars Olausson (drums), Anders Holmström (guitar), and Berne Randulv (bass, keyboards). Their bio explains that in 2010, the four musician friends reconnected and turned an old loft into a recording studio. Great Hare is “named after nocturnal encounters with wild hares outside the studio. The band turns up at nights, looking for melodies that want to be turned into songs. There's no plan, they just keep going and sometimes find songs worth keeping along the way. The good ones arrive like waves hitting a beach or memories that they can’t quite place. Fusing new discoveries and old post-punk influences, the songs have been featured on BBC 6, Amazing Radio and music blogs from around the world.”
 
     “Dissolving Dream” by Great Hare

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greathare
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greathare
Bandcamp: https://greathare.bandcamp.com/

“You Can't Kill My Love” by Possumwulf

 

     Because “You Can’t Kill My Love” draws on elements from diverse genres, Possumwulf’s track lends itself well to compare-and-contrast discussions. The beginning features alien-invasion Electronica sitting atop down-to-earth, energizing percussion and an acoustic guitar that occupies the space between Outlaw and Red Dirt Indie. Soon, the vocals enter with charismatic conviction, adding a compelling presence to the arrangement.
 
     It’s relatively easy to distinguish the individual contributions during the first minute of “You Can’t Kill My Love.” The same cannot be said about the final minute, when the mixing allocates equal emphasis to the vocals and the combination of Rock and orchestral instrumentation. Female backing vocals significantly enhance the sense of anguish. In explaining the song, Possumwulf said:
  “Orchestral crank-wave inspired red dirt indie expressing defiance in the face of autocratization. Hints of Mary in the Junkyard’s intricate arrangements & Cusk’s menacing folk instrumentation. Recorded in the remote Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas. Ethereal strings and acoustic guitar give way to a wall of fuzz and skronking horns.”
 
     Possumwulf is based in Little Rock, Arkansas. The sound is identified as: “Crank-wave-inspired indie, kicking at the fences of pop, post-rock, & sundry Americana while maintaining a distinctly Southern POV. Fuzz pedals. Death cults. Steel guitars. Hillbilly doom pop for the collapse.”
 
     “You Can't Kill My Love” by Possumwulf

Website: https://beacons.ai/possumwulf
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/possumwulf/
Bandcamp: https://possumwulf.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics of “You Can't Kill My Love” by Possumwulf
You can rend my flesh
Powder my bones
Crush my body
Beneath that cold and ancient stone
 
Open up
That old book of law
Recount my sins
To the angels above
 
But you can't kill my love
 
They can salt the earth
They can burn the homes
They can black the sky
Until the smoke chokes out my lungs
 
Rule the land
With a cruel and vulgar tooth
Bind the hands and
Pluck out the eyes of the youth
 
But I still know the truth
 
We can all cut loose
Anytime we choose
But my aching hands will not release
The tattered line that tethers me to you
 
A crossed out page
Tossed away
Makes no difference now
You've had your say
 
When you walk out past the wire
Take that heart from off your sleeve
The boys out in the fog
Are not easily deceived
Lilting spectres in the gas
All greed and lust and bone
Everybody's got a story, honey
The weight is ours alone
 
Cut the cables and push the stone
Cut the cables and push the stone
Cut the cables and push the stone
Cut the cables and push the stone