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I see it everywhere

Just yesterday, indie pop artist, Malcolm Todd released his new single, I Saw Your Face, discussing the experience of losing a connection, losing a relationship. Malcolm Todd captures the feeling of encountering an old piece of oneself, and the feeling of uncertainty that follows.

Malcolm Todd is a solo singer-songwriter, producing musical projects with influence from artists such as Dominic Fike, Rex Orange County, and Steve Lacy, in order to cultivate his specific sound. With the considerable traction gained on TikTok, Malcolm Todd released his first album Sweet Boy in 2024, featuring sixteen songs, followed by a second, self-titled album released in 2025. We’re on track for a 2026 album release, teased with his new single, I Saw Your Face.

The lyrics of I Saw Your Face help portray the difficulties of navigating daily life when struggling to navigate a breakup. Seeing this lost connection wherever one finds themselves, forcing the acknowledgement of the given situation.

It’s hard to understand 

It’s harder to let go

:To solve the puzzle is to erase the memory of the former union.

I’m missing all my plans

But you wouldn’t know

:The unfamiliarity of living separately from one another.

I saw your face while I was out, I turned around and looked away

I didn't know what I would say, I'd fumble all over my words

:The aftermath, the lost interconnectedness, the words that are now hard to find.

If I could wish for anything

It would all come back around

:The ignorant wish for reconciliation.

Malcom Todd's lyrics rely on simple, relatable storytelling. By writing a song that empathizes with the brokenhearted, Malcolm Todd invites his audience to connect through this shared experience.

The music video that accompanies this new song explores this shared experience in a visual sense, with a variety of individuals expressing broken emotions that were previously blocked off. The video follows Malcolm Todd chopping into an oversized onion. Although the onion is often associated with tears or the expression of sadness, the layers of an onion symbolize transformation or development.

A beautifully fictional band

God Help the Girl is an indie rock band with a single self-titled album, released in 2009. The album features fourteen songs that tell stories through melody and often polyphony dynamics. The lyrics to the album feel truthful, open, allowing us a glimpse into the mind of the artist, with little interpretation needed. The instruments are layered to make a unique, soft texture, creating a peaceful feeling.

In songs like Act of the Apostle, Come Monday Night, or If You Could Speak, the lyrics don’t work alone. Each line falls into the next in order to tell a story, to build this world the singer lives in. To break apart the lyrics would be breaking apart the narrative, isolating the connected thoughts.

Nobody’s going to know

I’m in the senior ward

Or

I put on my headphones

And I tune out

I am devout

The way these lines from Act of the Apostle are structured is intentional. We’re being given a sense of her inner thoughts, her determination. Why is the framework of these songs so consistent with following a specific story line?

God Help the Girl is actually a subproject of Belle & Sebastian, a film directed by lead vocalist, Stuart Murdoch. With all music being written by Murdoch, God Help the Girl can be described as being essentially a fictional version of Belle & Sebastian, consisting of the same members and similar musical style. 

God Help the Girl (2014) follows Eve, a young woman navigating challenges of mental illness, that being depression and anorexia nervosa. Through her summer experiences, she copes with the use of music, forming a band with her two friends. The story of God Help the Girl wasn’t plot driven, rather it was built around the songs, using them as a tool to develop the themes of the film.

The film poetically captures the young adult experience of growing into ourselves as we navigate the world. For Murdoch to tell this story not only through film, but also his music, we can appreciate the beauty and the execution of his vision.

The Fur Coats - a Band That Deserves to be Heard.

The psychedelic pop music of The Fur Coats comes from a sextet of Portland, OR musicians, many of whom are current or former members of separate projects.

Desperate, their first EP released in 2015, features five songs that work together to build a specific vibe, a specific listening experience that almost goes past ordinary limits, transcending you.

Fourth song off the EP, Don't Worry, is a slow building song with repeating lyrics that discuss the anxiety surrounding time, love, and even death. Don't Worry captures feelings of self-awareness and reflection.

"Don't get so worried about time | Don't get so worried you'll be fine"

"Don't get so worried about love | It's nothing to be worried of"

"Don't get so worried about death | You'll worry till there's nothing left"

"Don't get so worried about your heart | You'll worry till it falls apart"

The lyrics follow a specific framework to build the structure of the song, following a repeating but slightly varying pattern. The composition of the lyrics and backing instrumentals is what cultivates the bizarre and psychedelic mood, aided by the music video that displays a cultish image.

Video produced, edited, and directed by Costa Gountanis.

Following the release of Desperate, the band continued producing music for their 2018 release of Mirror Gazing, a second five-song EP, available on streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music.

Mirror Gazing was broken up into three parts, We Live, Real Love, and In the Garden, before being published as a compilation, emphasizing how they work both together and as stand-alone pieces. By doing this, the band adds a sense of separation between the songs.

In terms of recent Fur Coats music, Horses was released for a PDX Pop Now! compilation in 2024, and in 2025 the band was featured on a Red Fox Compilation song, titled "Sometime's It's Hard To Talk".

Art is inherently political, music especially.

The alternative band The Strokes, most known for their revival of NYC rock in the early 2000s, has just announced a new album after six years. Reality Awaits, teasing Going Shopping. What makes this song so good, and why aren’t people understanding it? 

Going Shopping has received widespread criticism for its different composition and style that diverts from their usual sound. Through the use of auto tune and lyrics seeming almost half-thought-out, the song has been disregarded as a subproject of The Voidz.

Before we dive into the lyrics of going shopping, we can shift our attention to the overall album rollout. Reality Awaits was announced April 6th, featuring the album cover and one released song which they debuted at the bill graham civic auditorium in San Francisco, CA.

The new album's cover image itself has been criticized for feeling out of place among their discography, many fans believing it to be an AI generated image. Opposingly, the cowboy is an image from Richard Prince’s series of untitled, rephotographed images, where he reframes or recontextualizes advertisements, specifically from Marlboro cigarettes. Beginning in the early 50’s, the “Marlboro man” was used in these cigarette campaigns in order to shift their demographics. The cowboy is used to represent masculinity, or the ideal man, used here in support of consumerism. Prince takes these advertisements, removing any text or ties to the company, reframing the cowboy, and shifting the narrative to a new perspective.

Prince is considered a controversial photographer for his practices of utilizing the work of other artists, but he wasn’t the first to do this. Artists like andy warhol have also famously applied currently existing art to their work, so why is Prince criticized?

Earlier this month, The Strokes performed at Coachella, playing the mainstage and opening for Justin Bieber. Weekend one, I saw a negative perception of their stage presence online, many people viewing Julian Casablancas as rude or unappreciative, under the assumption the band is upset having to open for Justin Bieber and his crowd. I think The Strokes used this as an opportunity to spread a message to a larger audience. Julian Casablancas can be seen sporting the amazon prime logo as “crime”, calling out mandatory draft. The audience cheers this statement, taking it as a joke rather than the truth. Lastly, we can see Fab’s drumhead displaying Palestinian and Ukrainian flag colors, which is something I personally missed while watching.

Weekend 2, the strokes closed with Oblivius, to my knowledge, this song hasn’t been played live in 10 years which makes this message so much stronger. While Julian sings “what side are you standing on”, the stage visualizers display various world leaders that were removed for challenging American interest. Mohammad Mossadegh Prime Minister of Iran, Patrice Lumumba Prime Minister of Congo, Juan Torres President of Bolivia, and Martin Luther King jr. all overthrown by the CIA, by the US. Before listing more world leaders that were overthrown or suspectedly assassinated by the CIA, images of colonization, Fredrick Douglas, slavery, integration, and the Black Lives Matter movement take the screen. Followed by Omar Torrijos President of Panama, Jacob Arbenz President of Guatemala, Salvador Allende President of Chile, and Jaime Rondos President of Ecuador. The set ends by calling out the 30 destroyed universities in Iran and showing the audience the destruction of the last university in Gaza.

Now after understanding their current message, we can dive into the lyrics of The Strokes’ Going Shopping

Like a tiger they will chase you down - They are the media, the critics, the public in general.

The worse reality gets, the less you wanna hear about it - Calls out our ignorance. Can also be calling out ignorance to this song, considering people are taking the lyrics at face value.

Solidarity can be difficult when you got cool stuff to lose - Calls out privilege, calls out the people with platforms that choose security in their place over standing with the people against current issues.

I wanna be a 7-foot zombie, the pay is low but I gotta do somethin' - Zombies are used to represent dead ideas, dead policies, while the second half addresses our system.

We've been expanding on our greatness - At face value, you believe this is in reference to the band after announcing a new album and tour. This is calling out the "Make America Great Again" campaign, the republican party.

I wanna be a 7-foot starfish - The starfish has been used as a political metaphor for leaderless, decentralized organizations, such as the Boston Tea party. Protest groups without one specific leader. Obama has used the starfish metaphor to explain the importance of individualism within public service.

Above the law a political puppet - Describes the leaders of our world as propaganda funded puppets, that are displayed as being in charge. These public figures are expected to be “all knowing" or "all powerful”, but are instead used to portray a specific image, used as puppets for political gain.

The election is a puppet show with financial giants in control. Our “leaders” aren’t the ones with the power. 

Art is political. Music is political.