Sinead O’Brien – There Are Good Times Coming

Genre: Post-Punk, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock

Similar artists: Joy Division, Lime Garden, Wet Leg, Caroline Polachek

“Now is not the time for subtlety“. That’s what Sinead O’Brien sings in a hushed, almost recited drawl on her new single. This may not sound like an important detail. But, to anyone who has been witnessing pop music’s evolution over recent decades, it is. The Irish singer is looking to produce a song of empowerment, of which there are many floating about. But, few are honest. 

See, with every year that music tightens its grip on pop culture, its purpose becomes murkier. How is it supposed to inspire audiences when it provides little honesty? How are the audience members supposed to feel a kinship with the singers, when pop stars present themselves as unapproachable beings that are wealthier beyond anything you and I can imagine. And, finally, how can these songs mean much a few years from now when they are designed to be consumed and thrown away like a recyclable paper wrapper. 

Sinead O’Brien brings honesty and hopes to the pop single There Are Good Times Coming. The song isn’t so much a pop single as a kind of Buddhist chant of prosperity uttered under Ireland’s cold clime. There isn’t much of a hook here, but that’s the point. The hook is the “it will all be alright speech” that Sinead O’Brien seems to utter from the heart, not their wallet as most pop stars might. 

Dust & Honey – Meet Again

Stoner Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock

Similar artists: Fu Manchu, Dead Weather, Kyuss

Rock music has done a lot for its cause by selling its stars as fearless freedom seekers. It was a good story and, as Groucho might say, likely a true one too. But, it was such a good angle that it was overused by an industry anxious to move its product. And, as time wore on it was the fans that began expressing their first doubts. 

Could rock stars force to work for giants corporations really free? Was the audience, largely made up of Westerns, not just as free as the heroes that they’d grown to worship? All of these questions chipped at the credibility of rock music. 

But, in 2022, the question of freedom, or lack thereof, is an issue that is as pressing as it ever has been. Are rock stars ready to inspire us once more? Some of them are, and the others are already bought and sold. 

Russian rock combo Dust & Honey prizes their freedom as can be heard on Meet Again. The single works on the simple concept of journeys taken with loved ones with the purpose of finding oneself. It’s a noble concept that needs to be helped by music created with similar scope in mind. Dust & Hone’s brand of hard-rock speaks to what remains true about the world. Freedom and guitar music are good, they go together, and they’re becoming extinct. 

The post The ways got worn: Dust & Honey and Sinead O’Brien reviewed appeared first on Alt77.