The Best Songs Ever

Welcome! I've recently started a project where I send out five songs each week to subscribers of a TinyLetter named "Best Songs Ever." I've always enjoyed sharing music with others, and always wanted to branch into writing and storytelling.

If you're not so much into the reading portion of this project, I'll list my picks each week at the top for you to find, as well as add them to Best Songs Ever playlist that will accompany these letters.

Before we dig into the music this week, let's do some bookeeping. There are two main reasons I'm here:

• I've been looking for a way to practice my writing
• I enjoy sharing music with my friends

I cannot guarantee any of the following:

• I will only discuss new releases
• Bands I choose will get repetitive

I am only here to share the music I enjoy and the reasons why I enjoy it, but I hope you find something you like along the way. Thanks for being here and supporting me in this!

Now, this week's music:

• Local Natives - "Heavy Feet"
• Lucy Dacus - "Timefighter"
• Peach Pit - "Private Presley"
• Phoebe Bridgers - "I Know the End"
• Camp Cope - "West Side Story"

One quality that impacts whether or not I enjoy a song are its lyrics, and another way I've been practicing writing recently is by taking notes of ones that stand out to me. By writing the words down, I get to see them out of the context of the music and develop my own interpretation of them. I chose this week's songs from lines I've written in my notebook. Most of these bands and artists are some of my favorites of all time, so the longer we are here together, the more of their music you are likely to see.

Let me dig in a little bit more into each of these for you, and which lines stand out.

Local Natives - "Heavy Feet"

I've been listening to the Local Natives since their first album Gorilla Manor came out in 2010. I would lay in the grass on summer days with my neighbor, Rebecca, and listen to the harmonies and guitar blend in with the hot buzz of August. I'd consider this my first step in developing my own taste in music (outside of the Top 40 and whatever my brothers were listening to). Even as a teenager, I remember their lyrics standing out to me.

"Heavy Feet" is a contender for one of my favorite songs of all time. It comes off of the band's sophomore release Hummingbird, which was written as many of the band members were dealing with loss (similar to Arcade Fire's Funeral). While on the slower side, "Heavy Feet" has a constant drum beat that makes me want to run off and start a new life. The words that stand out to me from this song are:

Maybe I know better than

to read more

than what's there

Lucy Dacus - "Timefighter"

Lucy Dacus is a witchy Taurus from Richmond, Virginia who I really wish I could be friends with. Her voice is rich and soulful, blending well with either acoustic songs or lots of electric guitar. A slow-burner, Timefighter builds up to some heavy drums and guitar that really gets the heart pumping. The first time I heard this I turned to the rest of the car and asked "who gave her the right to go so hard?"

I really like her thoughts and personification of time here:

And I fought time

It won in a landslide

I'm just as good as anybody

I'm just as bad as anybody

Peach Pit - "Private Presley"

Peach Pit is a band you’ll definitely see a lot of here. I discovered them about a year ago and haven’t been able to get enough of them. “Private Presley” is a dreamy and smooth song with lots of imagery:

Cried oh Private Presley, she swayed like the trees

The lead singer Neil Smith’s voice is smooth and strong, and I think he uses it well here to fit the image this song creates in your mind.

Phoebe Bridgers - "I Know The End"

I have a lot to say about Phoebe Bridgers, but she will also be around quite a bit, so I’ll keep this brief. I cannot get enough of “I Know The End,” the final track from the sophomore release Punisher, which was released in June. I listen to this song as three different parts: an airy, gentle beginning, followed by a series of short, disjointed lines describing mundane scenes and some truth-telling, and ending with a stadium-rock sized jam.

The drums in the second part grab my attention from the start and keeps my heartbeat in check with it. I find all of the lyrics here to be beautiful and poetic and worthy of expansion into their own stories, such as:

Everyone’s convinced it’s a government drone

Or an alien spaceship

Either way, we’re not alone

Oh, and when those trumpets come in? Almost makes me want to cry.

Camp Cope - "West Side Story"

Camp Cope is an all-female rock band out of Melbourne that makes music that makes you feel teenage angst at the injustices of the world today. “West Side Story” is similar to “I Know the End” as it also contains snippets of seemingly-mundane scenes from the band’s life. This one comes in two parts – the first sad and retrospective, the second loud and angry.

The song ends with the realization:

Don’t wanna see you for a couple of years

But yours is a funeral I’d fly to from anywhere

I found this song around the same time my job with Parks & Rec came to an end. I went on a trip that allowed me to cross paths with lots of friends from different parts of my life, some I hadn’t talked to for several years. Each interaction, however, reminded me that the bond you create with people can last despite constant attention. I think that’s why this lyric stands out to me.

Thanks again for being here with me! Hopefully next week's letter won't be as long, but as I said at the start, I'm not making any promises.