Music in Film and for Real

Movies about music are often biographies because that is the easiest to pull off. People know the musician and the songs; if they like them, they may watch the movie. Those films can be enjoyable because learning more about the life of a star who you admire is inspiring. The stories, however, are rarely fascinating.

Take Bohemian Rhapsody, for example. The movie was successful because Queen is such a beloved band. Reliving iconic moments, like the Live Aid concert, warmed our hearts. On the other hand, following four talented musicians rush from success to success is better suited for a documentary than a gripping narrative feature. Even the conflicts - excess, drugs, and hubris felt overdramatized.

Most musicians are not blessed with a fast trajectory to superstardom as Queen. There is much more hardship, difficult decisions, and self-doubt in the life of many artists . Exactly that stuff good stories can be made of, but movies about fictional musicians are rare.

Two years ago, Apple TV+ tried it with “Little Voice,” a show about the struggles of an indie musician in New York. But it did not work very well. Even though the actual songs were written by acclaimed singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles, it was hard to take the protagonist for real. Maybe this is the main problem with fictional musicians: the songs put into their mouths are ultimately not their own.

So our hopes were not high when we watched the Netflix feature “Purple Heart,” a marriage of convenience romance between a musician and a soldier. Surprisingly, Sophia Carson’s portrayal of a struggling indie musician felt authentic – even though she has a stellar musical career in real life – but this is called acting. Writing the music herself may have done the trick, as well as a good insight into how the business works for someone who cannot let go of writing music.

However, the reason why we watched “Purple Heart” in the first place was Band Member #4, played by indie musician Celeste Tauchar aka talker. It is always fun to see a friend in a major production, and while this performance may not launch an acting career, we’re sure she had a lot of fun with it.

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Song Picks of the Day

Listen to all our daily song picks on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.

Anastave – Medicine

The new song “Medicine” by Berlin-based singer, songwriter, and producer Anastave excels with a restrained, intricate production. The beat evolves and takes on its own life, always leaving you wanting more. “Lyrical electronic music,” Anastave calls her approach to songwriting, and she only gives a loose hint about the song:

“Everyone has a medicine – something they use to fill up the cracks in their lives and to hide the flaws. This song is about whatever that medicine is to you.

Read our Q&A with Anastave and listen to “Medicine,” our Song Pick of the Day, below:

your hands – floating

Johannes Brandstrup is a musician from Viborg, Denmark, who makes elegant and irresistibly catchy pop under the moniker your hands. His new single “floating” rides a gentle, shimmering wave of carefreeness and curiosity. Asked about “floating,” Johannes says:

This song is made out of waves of sudden, intuitive decisions. I hope it’ll create the feeling of riding your bicycle on a sunny day with absolutely no plans but to follow the road, wherever it may take you and your spinning wheels. ‘Floating’ is the shape of carefree happiness – a surrender to a life of ease.

While such a blissful approach to life might sound naive when taken isolated, it certainly helps to receive a reminder to sometimes “just let go” and enjoy life a little; embracing the small pleasures like the warm sun on your skin after a row of grey days or a really good cup of coffee. This song marks your hands’ debut single, and it’ll be exciting to hear what the Danish independent artist will come up with next. We’re definitely in for another ride of good vibes!

Listen to “floating,” our Song Pick of the Day:

Connect with your hands here.

Dance Lessons – Wet Batteries

Dance Lessons is the trio of Ann, Tom, and Nat from London. Their new song, “Wet Batteries,” is an energetic firework of sound that undoubtedly was a lot of fun to create: A bubbling bass line, a saxophone, layers of synths, and Ann’s voice are thrown together and make you want to get up and celebrate. As a reference, the exuberant dance pop of the 90s duo Moloko comes to mind.

Listen to our Song Pick of the Day, “Wet Batteries,” below:

AJAY – Swindlers

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist AJAY found time between touring with alternative R&B artist Orion Sun and performing with Omar’s Hat to release his entirely DIY single “Swindlers.” The result is a warm and soulful track with sprinkles of glitter and hope. Asked about “Swindlers,” AJAY says:

The song is self-produced and recorded in my own home. The song was written about my angst towards the music industry and the superficiality of the industry’s gate-keepers and even sometimes the artists.

This sentiment has come up more often recently. Artists who are trying to do their thing independently, meeting great people along the way, but also quite the one or the other sleaze. AJAY is gentle by referring to them -business people and fellow artists alike- as “swindlers,” yet there might be more descriptive synonyms crossing his mind too. They are crossing my mind, and now there’s a song about it too — a rather appealing and beautiful one.

Listen to “Swindlers,” our Song Pick of the Day:

Connect with AJAY here.

Dalloway – How to Keep a Secret

“You taught me how to keep a secret,” sings L.A. musician Mary-Cait Hentz aka dalloway. Because the system is often rigged in favor of the aggressor, and nobody wants to believe the truth anyway. Mary-Cait is not subtle in her tale and wants the song to be “an anthem for anyone who has ever been a victim of sexual violence or harassment.”

Listen to “How to Keep a Secret,” our Song Pick of the Day, below on YouTube or Spotify:

Cate Le Bon – Typical Love

Welsh singer, songwriter, and producer Cate Le Bon released her sixth full-length studio album Pompeii on February 4th, promoting it with an extensive tour through the US and Europe. We decided to be part of the tour kick-off and traveled upstate to see Cate and her fabulous live band putting up a show to remember at Woodstock’s Colony. If you’d like to be in for a treat, check out these tour dates and get yourself a ticket because Cate Le Bon is still touring and might be hitting your town.

To see Cate Le Bon live or not got even made easier thanks to “Typical Love,” a booming, darkly shimmering, and highly mesmerizing new single. The song’s astonishing flow pokes at your heart and fills it with a melody and rhythm inescapably exquisite and hypnotic. It is also slightly unsettling, very subtly – a sign that this is NOT your “typical love” or pop song.

Asked about her newest creation, Cate Le Bon says:

“Typical Love” was a product of a rare jam session with dearest genius friend, Stella Mozgawa. The outline, written on bass along to one of Stella’s infectious grooves, was taken into the Pompeii sessions where I disassembled and reassembled it many times but it always felt like a second cousin to the other tracks so was put aside for a rainy day.

Only a truly gifted artist can make such a statement without sounding pompous because the nine-track Pompeii is grandiose and second cousins are much loved too. “Typical Love” is accompanied by a compelling music video directed by Phil Collins and Stefan Ramírez Pérez, focusing entirely on Cate Le Bon. At one point, she stands there, all glitter and smiles. She calmly pours water into a glass, and the flirtatious smile she throws us is part seduction and part magic.

Scratch that. It’s truly magical because the entire song is!

Watch the video to “Typical Love,” our Song Pick of the Day:

Connect with Cate Le Bon here.

Maeve Steele – Riptide

Riptide” is the shape-shifting opening track from the debut EP “Overland” by Maeve Steele. The Los Angeles-based artist considers the song the guiding light to finding her approach to music: intimate songs that fall into a sweet spot between singer/songwriter and pop.

Maeve says about the EP:

“I’m really excited to share this EP with the world. I think this is the first time that music has really sounded like me. To me, each song is a different emotion that’s been prominent in my life for the last year or so. In putting together this project, I imagined each feeling as a different area in LA, each with their own sound and aesthetic that come together to form this patchwork. ‘Riptide’ is a house in Laurel Canyon, ‘Red Wine Teeth’ is Malibu at dawn, etc.,”

Listen to “Riptide,” our Song Pick of the Day below:

Meet singer and producer Dawn Cadence

Dawn Cadence is the stage name of singer, songwriter, and producer Vanessa Richardson. While the 20-year-old Canadian quotes Kate Bush and Sade as her influences, among others, she does not try to imitate any of them but maps her own path through pop music. You can witness this in her latest EP, Overexposed, whose six tracks cover a wide gamut of Vanessa’s creativity.

We asked Vanessa a few questions about her musical journey. Listen to her EP below and then read on:

Dawn Cadence

When did you start songwriting, and what inspired you to do so?

I started songwriting from a very young age and I mean elementary school young; probably when I was around 10. The songs I constructed were very basic, of course but it always sort of came natural to me. I used to sing about what I saw around me, what I was doing – rambling on about my observations of the world. It was pretty annoying to my friends. The first song I remember writing down on paper was called “Lemonade” (yes, I did it before Beyonce). I think it’s in a time capsule somewhere.

I started to take music more seriously when I joined a couple bands in high school. The lyrics I wrote continued to serve as a form of self-expression. If I had a particularly strong emotion, I would write a song about it. All my journal entries were poems and I enjoyed adding melodies to them. After playing around with production recreationally, I decided to share my first EP’ Dawn Cadence’ and that’s how it all began.

The first song we heard from you was our Song Pick of the Day Spider, maybe the most remarkable song I heard in 2020 with its tight, experimental production. What is the story behind it?

I can’t believe it’s been two years since that release! Spider started as a set of lyrics I wrote after being let down countlessly by someone who I thought had my back. I wanted to expand the range of my sound production-wise. My first EP was primarily lo-fi indie rock which I adored at the time and still do. However, I felt that in order to express the content of the lyrics most effectively, I would need something more attention grabbing, punchy and catchy. I was heavily inspired by Fiona Apple’s ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’ at the time; I really tried to capture that care-free, experimental energy.

Dawn Cadence

The songs on your new EP overexposed range from nostalgic pop like !Warning Signs! to experimental, for example, Slowly (Falling Apart). What would you call your primary musical genre?

I don’t know if I can say I have a primary musical genre. I’ve always found the concept to be extremely limiting. I do think it’s helpful to have categories, especially when one is trying to find artists they like with similar sounds. However, I absolutely love dipping my toes in various styles of music, as you mention. I want my projects to evolve with my taste; and my taste will evolve naturally with my life experiences. I welcome everyone to come along for the journey, if they desire.

How do you approach songwriting? Do you have a favorite instrument to get started?

It really varies. Sometimes I start with the melody, usually by improvising random strings of pitches into my voice memo app. Others have been written on guitar – which I tend to use far more than my keyboard. I will take lyrics from my journal entries here and there and set them to whatever music I have come up with, or the lyrics come to me while I’m in the early stages of the production process. Once I have a general sketch of the song, I go straight into my DAW and develop a backing track using the MIDI sequencer, then record vocals.

After the EP release, what is next for Dawn Cadence?

Hopefully, Dawn Cadence will grow into more than one person and I’ll be playing live with a band in the near future. And maybe some merch? It’s a busy time, but as always I’ll be creating music.

Thank you, Vanessa, for the thoughtful answers. We can’t wait for your next musical creations and hope we can catch a show of yours in the future.