Welcome to the May 2022 edition of Emerging Talents’ Tracks Round-Up, where each month I pick three songs from three different artists and briefly review them!
All artists were selected and contacted on Musosoup. The bios were kindly provided by the artists themselves.
If you’re an artist and would like to know how to submit your track/EP/album/music video on Musosoup, check my referral link right here.
“Head In The Ground” – Elektric Animals
Starting as a fairly chill, indie rock song with catchy percussions and seductive vocals by the lead singer, Elektric Animals’ “Head In The Ground” is a simple track that will make you waive your head from left to right and right to left at the very least.
The singer’s vocals soon become more distorted as we continue into the song, whose lyrics don’t feature defined characters but rather he’s and she’s and they’s, according to the situation.
“Now he’s calling all the suicide lines,” we hear in the pre-chorus. “‘Cause everyone he loves they never have any time.” It’s obvious that we’re talking about suicide and perhaps the situations that might lead to this painful decision, but we don’t know who this concerns in particular. Everything is blurred and distorted, just like the instrumentals and the singer’s voice.
No indie rocks song would be complete without an easy-to-sing chorus that almost feels like a stadium anthem:
You never stay up
You prefer to stay down
Feet in the clouds
You keep your head in the ground.
Are they hinting at depression and the impossibility to seek help? Maybe. Just like the single “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster The People, Elektric Animals presented a light-sounding song with very heavy lyrics that contrast with the production.
Instagram: @elektricanimals
“Wrong from Right” – Emma Campbell
Catchy percussions, expressive vocals and a clear storyline are all nicely packed in this single by Toronto-born Emma Campbell. Though the production is essentially acoustic-driven–at times relaxing–it’s the artist’s voice that brings the lyrics to life.
“Your time is up” is the opening line of the song, following the percussive nature of the guitar. Campbell then continues singing, “and I finally see you for who you really are,” telling us about the aftermath of a failed relationship full of red flags that the speaker continuously ignored.
She keeps accusing her partner in the chorus, where she very beautifully harmonizes the melodies that smoothly lead us into the second verse. Campbell knows how to harmonize the right bits to highlight key lines, not only in the chorus. The result is a catchy track with a relatable angry message underneath it.
Instagram: @emmxcampbell
“The Cry For Help” – Craig Vill
“Let us pray.”
As someone who was raised catholic, I can’t help but draw connections between this opening line and the formulas priests use at church during service.
Starting with an innocent chuckle, this lyric-heavy, piano-driven song by Craig Vill almost reads like a prayer–as if the artist is picturing himself on the altar speaking to us all in front of god, which would also explain the “amen” at the end.
Like many other rap and hip-hop songs, the Philly-born MC is telling us his story, alternating between the periods of hard work that led to glory and the darker moments like when he “almost died in quarantine.”
He raps:
Maybe I am not myself
Maybe this a cry for help
Y’all discredit my everything while loving everybody else.
Who among us has never felt discredited and left behind? These are very human feelings that everyone–even those who’ve never been in places as dark as Craig has–can relate to. His delivery is very genuine and sincere, and although the piano base is extremely simple, it’s never boring to the listener.
Will Craig Vill’s cry for help be listened to by the masses? No one can know.
Instagram: @craigvill
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