Sound
Samples is a SOTO feature meant to provide some insight on
what inspired and/or influenced an artist's latest release.
Today's entry comes from Matt Hines of
The Eastern Sea. Their new full
length is titled
Plague, and is currently available.
The band is also set to play KGSR's
Blues On The Green this Wednesday.
If you're not in Austin, there are some other tour dates
lined up, and those can be seen
here.
Good pop music should lead, much like a skilled dancer
leads, with a gentle force that makes new steps seem
familiar. My favorite pop always retains this unique
leadership quality, even if it has to divert from the rest
of the genre’s typical characteristics in the process. In my
role as a practitioner of pop composition, I struggle with
questions of responsibility when it comes to leading the
listener: Why should the listener trust me? How much force
is too much? Is it morally justified to lead anyone toward
anything? While I may never truly have an answer to these
questions, I often compromise with myself by insisting that
The Eastern Sea has become a balance of familiar and
foreign, a mixture ease and difficulty.
On our new record, Plague, my focus in writing and
arranging was to ease the listener into a headspace in which
the songs could function comfortably. In other words,
listening to the album in its entirety should feel painless,
even despite the frequently changing narrative path, the
jarring number of transitions, and the general density of
content. In my opinion, since we are also a relatively
unknown band, we have no choice but to take a strong lead,
giving our partner (the general listening public) a reason
to even say yes when we ask them to dance.
Here’s a mix of songs that I believe effectively
demonstrates the steps I’ve learned over the past few years.
:Earlimart
- The Hidden Track:
:Sufjan
Stevens - No Man's Land:
:Bat
For Lashes - Daniel:
:The
National - Apartment Story:
:The
Appleseed Cast - Fishing The Sky:
:Foals
- Total Life Forever:
:Bill
Callahan - Eid Ma Clack Shaw:
:Scott
Walker - Rosemary:
:White
Denim - Tony Fatti:
:Broken
Social Scene - Cause Equals Time:
:Doves
- Kingdom Of Rust:
:Bee
Gees - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart:
:MGMT
- Song For Dan Treacy:
:Jens
Lekman - A Postcard To Nina:
:Beach
House - Used To Be:
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
related pages, including the blog's archives, is licensed by
John Laird under a
Creative Commons License.
