Song of the Week - Nemo - The Code

 

This week’s Song of the Week is a Eurovision song contest entry.

Originally the plan (last Friday) was to feature Olly Alexander’s Dizzy, my home (UK) entry as Song of the Week. The signs all looked good. Olly has plenty of experience at performing, the song was co-written and co-produced by Danny L Harle (who co-wrote Bunny Is A Rider with Caroline Polachek and Houdini by Dua Lipa) and the initial clip of the track posted on Instagram sounded suitably hooky.

However, whilst the song bounces along giddily enough, it doesn’t have any real climax moment – something that seems almost essential to win Eurovision these days. It’s enjoyable enough, but I’m not 100% behind it.

Enter then the Swiss entry, also released in the last seven days. The Code is really quite something. You want climaxes? This one does multiple orgasms. Fast.

Imagine Bohemian Rhapsody given a jungle remix with extra rapping and a personal lyric about a true journey to find the artist’s (Nemo) non-binary identity in life. I love the fact that the song is clearly personal and not one that takes vague big picture concepts about love and peace to try and gain universal Eurovision acceptance. 

At first you’ll probably think the track is bonkers, then it gets under your skin and before you know it you’ll be declaring it a Eurovision styled masterpiece.

There’s already some tough competition for Eurovision (Italy’s song is very good, Croatia’s is bound to be a fan favourite (and in places sounds like the KLF - always a good thing), The Netherlands have a mad happy hardcore moment in their track that no doubt will have Eurovision fans going crazy and you can never discount Sweden who nearly always deliver and Finland’s fireworks / no pants production is hilarious, but I’m putting Nemo and Switzerland up there as a colourfully magnificent outside bet. And even if it flops / doesn't qualify through the semis, at least it won Breaking More Waves Song of the Week.

Nemo - The Code

Song of the Week - Ren Harvieu - Black Wig

 

If on a weekly basis like me, you scroll through all the big weekly playlists on Spotify, it’s pretty likely you’ll find a lot of songs that sound boringly similar. Pop music has always been that way of course, it’s why we can described music as having an ‘80’s sound’ or ‘60’s sound’. Pop = a popular sound, so if it's popular humans will want to make more of it.

However, it’s always nice to stumble across something that is refreshingly inventive and adventurous. Which is exactly what the new song Black Wig from Ren Harvieu is. Remember Ren? She first featured on this blog in 2011 and in a Ones to Watch 2012 post. Her debut album reached number 5 in the charts in May 2012. 

These days she leads a lower key musical existence but that doesn’t mean that her new tune is anything less than wonderful. On Black Wig there’s a string quartet, a harpsichord, a musical saw and a colourful video directed by Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers who Ren has a long-term musical relationship with.

Listen, enjoy and take some satisfaction in the knowledge that there are still people out there creating their own unique musical worlds. You won't see or hear anything else like Black Wig this week.

You can find the song on the Breaking More Waves New Music Weekly Playlist (here)

Ren Harvieu - Black Wig

Ren Harvieu · Black Wig

Song of the Week - Dua Lipa - Training Season

Here we are again with another Song of the Week and once again it featured on the Breaking More Waves New Music Weekly Playlist last week (here).

Of course Dua Lipa needs no introduction. She’s already a huge popstar. Well, she’s five foot eight inches which technically isn’t that huge, but is still a lot bigger than Kylie Minogue. 

And no doubt, unless you have been hiding under a rock, you have already heard this one. 

Therefore, you already know that Training Season is: 1. A bop 2. Hooky as hell (rather than hotter than hell which is so 2016.) It’s one of those songs that your postman will be whistling and football fans will take the chorus and make new words up to it whilst bouncing up and down on the stands. My only disappointment? I really wanted all the lads in the video to suddenly break out into a very camp Riverdance style flashmob choreographed routine halfway through the tune, but alas it never happened. Maybe there will be an ‘alternate version’ video for that.

The bottom line is, Training Season = A good pop song. A definite top 2 single in the UK surely? (I would say number 1, but there's the Texas Hold 'Em factor to consider.)

Dua Lipa - Training Season

Song of the Week - Beth Gibbons - Floating On A Moment

 

This week’s song of the week is an absolute no brainer of a choice.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Portishead, particularly their first 2 albums and the Roseland NYC Live recording. The band also played one of my most memorable and magical shows ever; Glastonbury Festival 1998. Together with my then 3 months pregnant partner we had already endured biblical storms and a crushingly dull set from Cornershop on the Jazz World Stage, now known as West Holts. Cold, tired and miserable we were about to give up and go back to our tent (which at this point had a small stream running through the middle of it) but held on for Portishead. The band were late on stage, having got stuck in the mud themselves, but once they started the dark clouds really did show they had a silver lining. Words such as haunting, mesmerising, and beautiful didn’t do the performance justice. With lightning striking down from the heavens behind the stage we shivered both with the cold and emotional goosebumps; it was worth every moment. It’s a moment in time that both of us, 26 years on, still remember with huge affection. A moment that made life worth living and sharing with someone.

Which brings us to Beth Gibbons new single. The lead vocalist of Portishead returns after a lengthy hiatus with another song to captivate our hearts. Taken from forthcoming album Lives Outgrown released via Domino, Floating On A Moment is perhaps half-surprising in that Beth Gibbons still sounds, after all this time, exactly like Beth Gibbons. Her croon is unmistakeable and once again her sorrowful but magnetic voice sends shivers down the spine.

Beth, just like all of us is getting older. There’s a realisation that our bodies are only finite and ultimately there is nothing we can do to stop our inevitable ending as she hints at death in this song: “Without control, I’m heading toward a boundary, that divides us, reminds us, travelling, on a voyage where the living, they have never been, have never seen.”

Despite the subject of the song, Floating On A Moment breathes life into our existence. Guaranteed to make even the most hardened of adult weep. Enjoy life whilst you've got it. Yes, there are many horrible things going on in the world, but wherever you can try to appreciate the good stuff. Like this.

Beth Gibbons - Floating On A Moment