“It’s like Shania Twain with unresolved trama”
– fromjason.xyz on what used to be twitter.
Before I begin, or maybe to begin with let me just get this out there, ‘Four Lights’ is a fucking ear worm and if you don’t dig it I can’t help you. You’re dead inside. A husk. A dried out husk. Damn your eyes.
I love me some alt pop, indie rock and this EP drips with both.Enough pop to drag you in. Enough rock to get your heart pumping and just enough punk snarl to make sure you stand back a few feet.
You see the thing is that it’s a bit of a Trojan horse. Four tracks of real banger tunes that make you head your nod, they all feel political. And without sounding like an early 50s white male doing an ‘ackhtually’*, isn’t that what being a woman is anyway?
Each track is story led, the lyrics have that poetic narrative that I love, enough words to get the message across, not too many that the singer is trying to catch their breath. Oh And by the way, what a singer. Blimey charlie. The tone, the intonation, the fucking delivery is godhead. No hyperbole. You can’t teach that kind of confidence.
The way Ellie Maybe sings her lines is impeccable.If you’re going to write songs this good you have to pray for the right voice and man is it ever. Having a voice this good and songs this catchy means you need the rest of the band to do it’s job and it does.The drums have that punky tribal tom feel. Not flashy but correct.No missed opportunity, just on it.
Guitars when they appear out of the mix are snappy and relevant and the bass just pins everything down. But,but that violin. I mean yeah without it everything still holds up but with it? With it it takes it somewhere higher. And as with everything else it isn’t overly showy.
“Four lights” – is the stand out track. It hits emotionally, the pulse of it. It creates shivers.The arrangement, the pacing, the delivery. It is a perfect pop song with enough melancholy to put it up there as one of my favourite tracks of thelats 20 years. And I’m not fucking about. It gets under my skin every time hear it and goddamn it it burrows into my brain for days. Daaayyys.
And then there’s a thing, I opened with a quote from twitter. It brings up Shania Twain, and when you listen is you hear itand it makes sense but it doesn’t. I mean this actually knocks Shania into cocked hat but still there is a resonance here. Maybe more like Shania Slain or even Shania Mark Twain whatever. Listen to Four Lights and just enjoy the shit out of that track and then comeback for the rest. Or don’t and miss out fuckers.
*l’ll let others judge me on that.
Like all forms of storytelling, music can be more than it appears at first glance, leading the listener to reexamine their initial impressions. This is what happened to me with this EP by The Cancellations. I first heard it towards the end of last years summer and very much enjoyed the rich Rock vibes, the expressive vocals and the tight, full arrangement. Listening to it again, however, one element stands out to me the most: the sense of counter-culture. The first track “Smile” talks about a person being told to appear happier than they are, but instead they push against it by recounting their past violent actions. This song, in my interpretation, deals with the frustration people, especially women, feel when they are told they “should smile more”, to be taken serious as a part of society by playing their expected role.
“We’re All Gonna Die” seems to be about removing oneself from larger society and finding joy in it’s inevitable collapse. “Four Lights” is about being pressured into believing a lie, but holding firm to the observable truth; a very direct reference to the Star Trek TNG episode “Chain of Command”. The final song “Control Me” deals with the feeling of being isolated within society; of not fitting in, yet being pushed into conformity. To me the lyrics and the general songwriting are what makes this a great and relatable piece, but it also scores points on a more technical front. The mix is clear and crisp, every vocal and vocal layer is easily understood and the instruments sound fantastic. It is a perfect sound for this kind of music, feeling familiar, approachable and overall directing the audiences attention to the good stuff.
Overall this is a great EP. It has integrity, it’s subversive and is pushing all the right buttons for a fan of the more fun but rebellious attitude of Rock music.
My favorite track on the album is the almost-title track, an aggressive anthem of defiance, which is something the world needs a lot of right now.
The Nirvana Fallacy (or, Mania and Her Sophomore Slump) – Saint Louie
- Smile, We’re All Gonna Die by The Cancellations
- Void by Vanessa Funke
- Rides Out by Hot Donkey #FeatureFriday
- #Feature Friday – Trauma Stew by Cynful Ukes
- Quartered: Songs of Palimpsest by S. J. Tucker
- Shapeshifer by Oblee #FeatureFriday
- Rayguns of Love by The Striped Bananas
- Mean Bone by Buzzard
- Aldona’s Daughter by Stunt Lover
- #FeatureFriday -Bandcamp Friday Issue
- #FeatureFriday – 1991 by Maisie Marra
- “Muay Thai Bag” by Foxcall
- A Place To Go When You Need To Hide by Rose Alaimo
- #FeatureFriday – And the Bones by Dr. Organ
- #FeatureFriday WIENER DEMEANOR by Cheer Captain
- #FeatureFriday – Effusion by Sweet Freeze
- Beginings Revisted by Jim France
- Recording in Progress by Aaron Smith
- Believer, a.k.a. The Last Shall Be the First
- Scrapyard Boyz: Ultra Despair Duo – Grizzly, Slogan