A lot of today's music is lodged so far into escapism, it's hard to tell what's real. Songs don't need to be about walruses or vikings to distract from what's really going on. Lyrics about sour relationships or even a flashy production job can be the same as watching the world through rose-colored glasses.
In real life, you're missing a few strings. In real life, a couple of frets on your guitar are dead. In real life, dogs are bark while you're recording a song.
For me, that's the Good Ones: A trio of Rwandan musicians releasing an album via Dead Oceans on November 9th. The group was stumbled upon by producer Ian Brennan in a search for musicians throughout the country. The whole album--titled Kigali Y' Izahabu--is a back-porch recording, and takes an honest and unfettered listen to what the Good Ones have to offer.
The result is twelve songs that achieve beauty in their tired and weary souls. Sure, there's a language barrier to face when listening to this, but the emotions here are universal. Listen to two tracks from this LP below and let me know what you think.
A lot of today's music is lodged so far into escapism, it's hard to tell what's real. Songs don't need to be about walruses or vikings to distract from what's really going on. Lyrics about sour relationships or even a flashy production job can be the same as watching the world through rose-colored glasses.