IndieTunes

The Lumineers - S/T

If there’s one band that is the face of the “millennial burger joint” meme, as well as how ridiculously corny that early 2010s indie-pop / folk-pop got, it’s The Lumineers. I remember being a big fan back in the day, but I haven’t kept up with them in a long time, let alone listened to them. The Lumineers blew up with the song “Ho Hey,” and I’ll be damned if that song isn’t the epitome of how corny folk-pop got in that era. Hell, it became known as the “stomp clap hey” sound, because that song “pioneered” that sound, so to speak. In retrospect, it’s easy to see why people hated these bands, but I was there when the ancient text was being written. I was a fan of these bands, and it was truly something special. Maybe not special for people that hated them, but special for people that wanted to be apart of something.

The Lumineers have fallen off in recent years, but their debut is a great slice of indie folk-pop. I found a copy of it online recently, and I was compelled to check it out, because I’ve already been listening to some stuff in that vein. I got some albums from Band Of Horses, The Shins, Vampire Weekend, and a bunch more stuff, so I figured this album wouldn’t hurt as well. I haven’t heard it in about a decade, but I remember still enjoying it, albeit for different reasons, and I’d say I feel that way about listening to it a handful of times after picking it up. It’s a pretty fun, catchy, and whimsical indie-folk-pop album that has some good hooks, lyrical nuggets, and a good sound. Now it’s not perfect, and it does have a dated sound, but I still really like it.

Chvrches - Every Open Eye

Over the last handful of years, there are a lot of bands and artists that I’ve really come around to, especially when I didn’t always like them. One of those bands is the Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches, and I remember not being a fan of their debut album, 2013’s The Bones Of What You Believe. I don’t know why, but I need to go back to that album, just to see if it’s held up. Their sophomore album, 2015’s Every Open Eye, is the one that got me into them. Sadly, though, I haven’t kept up with them since. They dropped two more albums, one in 2018 and one in 2021, but I haven’t heard either one of them. I remember going back to Every Open Eye a couple years after it came out, and it really grew on me (even though I liked it a lot), so I was excited when I found a copy at Half Price Books a couple weeks back. I was even more excited when I saw it was a special edition, so there were a few bonus songs.

I haven’t heard the album in a very long time, so I was curious and excited to check it out, but I’m happy to say that the album is pretty dang good, albeit not perfect. I love the band’s brand of synth-pop, especially because it sounds like it’s straight out of the 1980s. Lauren Mayberry is a pretty good vocalist, even if her voice is a bit nasally, but I’ve grown on it over the years. Their sound is pretty straightforward, too, but they’re great with hooks. Well, for the most part, anyway, because this album has one major glaring issue — the album is too repetitive. The standard edition is 43 minutes, but the bonus tracks make it 56, and that’s just way too long. A lot of the songs sound the same, but there are a couple of songs that don’t do much for me, especially when it’s due to one of the other members singing lead on a few songs.

PJ Harvey in NYC, 1995

Photographed by Michael Lavine.

PJ Harvey has spent more than three decades refusing to become predictable. Emerging in the early 1990s with a raw, ferocious guitar sound and a voice that could shift from wounded whisper to elemental howl, she quickly became one of the defining artists of alternative rock. Albums like Dry, Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, and Let England Shake show her extraordinary range: blues, punk, art rock, folk, poetry, political lament, theatrical character study. She is admired for the severity of her artistic discipline, her willingness to reinvent her sound and persona, and the way she writes from inside desire, violence, femininity, landscape, war, faith, and exile without softening any of it. She has the rare aura of a true auteur: every record feels like a world with its own weather, costume, language, and mythology.

Picture a man Seen like a speck out from the shore Swimming out beyond the breakers like he's done his life before He feels the coming of a squall will drag him out a greater length But knows his strength And tries to gather it

And he swims on Turning back to shore again Above the outer atmosphere of a world he's never seen And looking down to his new home, he feels the rising of a wave And knows at once he will not weather it

Like that man I looked down into the depths when I met you I couldn't measure it

Any time I've struggled on Against the course Out on my own Every time I'd burn through the world, I'd see That the world, it burns through me But when I'd let go My struggling form My willing soul Every time I'd flow through the world, I'd see That the world, it flows through me That the world, it flows through me

Picture a grave Picture six feet freshly dug The sharp temporary walls at the long-term cliff edge of the world Light and air find some new deepness there and usher down the sky Where one stands by and tries make sense of it

But try measure loss Measure the silence of a house The unheard footsteps at the doorway The unemployment of the mouth The waking up, having forgotten And remembering again the full extent of what forever is

With each grave I think of loss And I can only think of you And I couldn't measure it

Words that describe words

Ananym – A type of anagram, formed by reversing letters of another word. For example, an “emirp” is a prime number that results in a different prime number when its digits are reversed. 

Antiphrasis – The humorous or ironic use of a word or phrase in a way that’s contrary to its normal meaning. For example, naming a Chihuahua Goliath or calling a bald man Curly. 

Antonomasia — The substitution of a personal name for a common noun to describe a member of a group. Examples include calling an office worker “Dilbert” or a traitor a “Benedict Arnold.” 

Backronym — A backward acronym, constructed by taking an existing word and creating a new phrase using the letters in the word. For example, the rating system used to assess newborns—the Apgar score—was devised and named after Virginia Apgar. Ten years later, the backronym APGAR was introduced as a mnemonic aid: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration. 

Charactonym — A name of a fictional character that suggests the personality traits of that character. Charles Dickens was a master at creating charactonyms. My favorite is Mr. M’Choakumchild, the unpleasant schoolmaster from Hard Times. 

Contranym — A word with two opposite meanings. For example, “oversight” can mean an error or mistake or it can mean watchful care. Dysphemism — The substitution of a harsher or offensive term in place of a relatively neutral term. Referring to genetically modified food as “frankenfood” is an example of a dyphemism. 

Malapropism — The humorous misuse of a word by confusing it with a similar-sounding word. William Shakespeare used malapropisms frequently. From The Merchant of Venice, “Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons.” (Should be apprehended and suspicious.) 

Metaplasm — A change in a word created by adding, omitting, inverting, or transposing its letters, syllables, or sounds. Examples include “rithmetic” for arithmetic, “libary” for library, and “nucular” for nuclear. 

Pangram — A sentence that contains all the letters of the alphabet. We all know, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” But how about: “Pack my box with the five dozen liquor jugs,” or, “The five boxing wizards jump quickly”? 

Pleonasm — The use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning, either as a fault of style or for emphasis. Examples include “free gift,” “advance planning,” “please RSVP.” 

Syllepsis — A figure of speech in which one word is applied in two different senses. My favorite example of syllepsis comes from The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. “Piano, n. A parlor utensil for subduing the impenitent visitor. It is operated by depressing the keys of the machine and the spirits of the audience.” 

By Laura Hale Brockway, the author of the writing and editing blog impertinentremarks.com

couldn’t tell if you were crying or laughing, they both sound the same.