Three Songs Pt. 11

Here are three more good songs

Hi - I hope this finds you incredibly well, laying on a beach chair as the sun shines in your eyes and overwhelms your view. It’s summer.

I felt called to write after reading this beautiful article about Ben Kweller and his new album, written by Jayson Greene at Vulture. The article is the perfect explanation for why I am so passionate about music journalism: great writers possess the ability to shed new light on a song, an album, or an artist that stays with the listener and can help shape their view on the music itself.

When I first listened to Ben’s new album, I was not fully aware of the meaning behind much of it. After reading the article, I am combing through each song, each lyric, each instrumental decision over and over thinking about what it all means, both to him and to me.

It reminds me of the importance of pairing the right journalist with an artist; these two could relate to each other in the most painful of ways, and I think that connection is what differentiated the story itself from so many others we read.

Here are some of my thoughts on his new album Cover The Mirrors, along with two other songs I’ve been listening to:

1. Oh Dorian (Ben Kweller ft. MJ Lenderman) | Apple Music

What at first sounds like a lighthearted tune about missing a close friend, Oh Dorian is a tribute to Kweller’s late son Dorian, who passed in 2023 at the age of 16. It is so simple, so moving—the type of relationship they must have had bursts from the seams of this song. In the article, Ben shares that Dorian had written eight full-length albums with his friend under the name B.H.22; and even more under a solo project titled Zev. I spent the day listening through many of these songs, and want to recommend you check out Your car and How I Am.

From Cover The Mirrors, I also recommend Going Insane and Trapped, which was written by Dorian prior to his passing.

2. Fish (Angie McMahon) | Apple Music

Oh what a very beautiful, very important song to me. I only listen to this when I can handle it, and I could handle it today. This woman’s voice will haunt your dreams, your brain will itch for it be played one more time. There is no lyricist who articulates a painful feeling quite like her:

I sometimes felt stronger with someone at home
Who was sending me all this desire
But I started to feel like a fish in the ocean
Who knows that it's caught on a wire

3. Reelin (Ray Bull) | Apple Music

I’ve shared Ray Bull on here before, I really love this duo’s whole discography, but recently I’ve circled back to this one song in particular. This would go very well in a movie scene where the lead is driving away from the love of their life for the last time, rearview mirror reflection shot, etc. Maybe they are smoking a cigarette and throw it out the window before they start crying (as the chorus comes in)? They have to pull over! The visuals cuts to black! There is no resolve!! I don’t know.

I do apologize for the rather depressing series of songs… I didn’t realize until I was finished writing that the energy we’ve created here in the studio today is rather dark!

Have a bright week,

Lydia

P.S. All the songs I’ve written about exist on this Spotify playlist