LIAH: Hello, people of Earth and anyone else across the universe and beyond happening to be surfing our internet wave. Honestly, it's been a crazy past few weeks, and it's only going to get crazier. The first time I tried to review this album I got a migraine and had to wait a solid 24 hours before feeling motivated. Also, school. ALLI: Hey. Not gonna talk much because I just want to get this started. I'm not sure what I should be expecting from this album. Let's go! Everything GoesLIAH: Honestly, this song is so nice and I feel like I've heard it before even though I definitely haven't because I haven't listened to it until, like, just now. I feel so calm right now. Someone bring me an iced tea. A strawberry kiwi Snapple. Ok, technically that's not an iced tea, but um. Yeah. This song makes me feel like a strawberry kiwi Snapple. ALLI: This song gives me a good Fleetwood Mac, late 70s folk vibe. It also is sort of reminiscent of 90s britpop, like Pulp, with it's creative metaphorical lyrics. I liked it, but I felt like it was too short. Someone should make a 5 min-loop of it. Anyway, yeah, it's very calming and not too overwheming. I like this simple sound, with only a few instruments. This has the likes to be a very easy listening album, which is what the world needs. SupermarketLIAH: This song is so calm. Literally this album is just making me feel calm so far. Please put this on some sort of Urban Outfitters master playlist. I have never been this calm in my entire life. I often say I'm floating through space and time, but that's never been said in a good way until now. Do you think they have strawberry kiwi Snapples in whatever haunted supermarket Manuela is in? Also, good fade out at the end. I haven't really heard any fade outs that didn't just sound lazy until this song. I'm usually not a big fan of fade outs because you don't really know where to stop if you're doing a cover or supplying lyrics to a website. Also, does the song just go on forever in silence? Okay, I'll let you guys off now. No more existential crises in this review, please. The fade out in this song is honestly an excellent use of a fade out. ALLI: I can picture the music video to this song, dead end town near the seaside, an alley filled with food markets, it's windy and some of the sand gets into the streets. Lonely. Again, a very 70s vibe, with just a hint of the 60s psychedelic sound. I also liked the sort-of nostalgic element to this song. It made me think of shopping at the small, simple supermarket I used to go to when I was little. The double meaning chorus was also interesting (things you want, things that you need, things that you get..yes, that sounds like it has many meanings to me). FarewellLIAH: Aww, this is so calm. I'm so calm. Nick and Manuela are relationship goals and I can't handle that vocal harmony. By the way, the guitar in this one is great. If I'm not held at gunpoint for saying this, it sounds kind of like Franz Ferdinand. It also kind of sounds like The Shins' stuff on Wincing The Night Away, but that guitar solo and the riff going through the whole song sound especially like Franz Ferdinand. In a good way! ALLI: The first five seconds, I automatically thought "Mac Demarco's guitar thing." Like many of his songs, this is a song for lazy Sundays, lying around, trying to get work done. It's a calm song, but it also is a sad song. I feel like this is the sort of thing you would listen to when you're trying to sort your life out by taking a walk in some overcast weather. Again, WHY IS THIS SONG SO SHORT? I really enjoyed it, but if it was me I would have added a huge guitar solo in the middle there like BWEWWWW BWEEEWW BWEEEW. But I'm not a musician so don't take my advice. VVWLIAH: Alright, cool audio trick. Catch me dabbing to this, maybe? ALLI: This kind of freaked me out, but I agree with Liah. Silent DomeLIAH: This song is calm too. More of that Franz-ish guitar. Hey, don't hold me at gunpoint for making a comparison. And correct me if I'm wrong on this, isn't there a version of this song out there with Nick on vocals? Someone sent it to me a million years ago, like before Twilight Collective even existed. Anyway, I'm not sure if that's some weird alternate universe I ended up in or not, but that doesn't matter. Everything about this song is so calming and chill. Nice piano, too. ALLI: I feel like this would play during a final scene in a finale in some TV Show I would watch. You would listen to this song while watching the sun set through the spaces of buildings in a bustling city. This is a weird comparison, but it reminds me of a slow version of Somewhere Only We Know by Keane. It has the same slow, romantic, finale-of-a-show sound. Very rad! I didn't want this song to end. Cracks In The ConcreteLIAH: As the holder of the 'First Ever Manuela Fan Video' title, I can say this song is absolutely killer. More of that Franz guitar. I guess that's just Nick's thing? I guess we'll have to see if Franz keep their style on their upcoming album. Let's ignore that comment and move on to the instrumentals. Of course, as usual, I love the guitar and how it isn't really a main thing but just adds to the vibe. I've been noticing that with a lot of songs on this album, and it's something I personally really like. ALLI: I know I'm making a lot of comparisons to TV shows, but this album just sounds like one amazing soundtrack to the greatest show ever that hasn't been invented yet. This sounds like it would be the theme song to a show about three friends who are criminals and are constantly being chased by the police in the early 80s. Also, the beats remind me of Metronomy, so nice job. LIAH: Hold on, I had to come back for a sec because of that Metronomy comment. Yeah. I agree with that. The beats definitely remind me of Metronomy. EasyALLI: This is such a Woodstock song, and I don't even know what that means. I just feel like if you were at Woodstock, you would hear a band playing this song. The things that pop into my head during this song is candles and smoke. Like, I could smell scented candles during this song. I think they were Apple Cider scented. The smoke comes when the candles are blown out. So, yeah, candles and Woodstock. What else is there to say about this awesome song? LIAH: The synth thing!! And the guitar!! Pretty sure they couldn't do that at Woodstock, Alli. Maybe some sort of early Glastonbury? Anyway, this song is so sweet and pure and calm. I don't even know what to say anymore. I agree with the candle thing Alli said. I also do this thing where I like... Imagine really strong guitar riffs and solos being played in my head, y'know, like how the person's playing them. That just happened. InvincibleALLI: I like the lo-fi-ness of this song. The guitar reminds me of a lot of things, 70s yacht rock, modern day garage Mac Demarco-like rock, and again, Pulp. They don't call it yacht rock for nothing, because when I listen to this song I feel like I'm on a (non-, because I'm barely 16) Booze Cruise. LIAH: Again, so pure and calm!! This is a song for falling asleep on a boat. Really specific feeling, but hey. I've experienced. This is... SO GOOD. Whoa. The effects on the guitar are so chill and calm. Oh wait, it's getting intense, what's going on?? A lot. But in a good way. Manuela's vocals are so nice!!!! Everything about this song makes me feel calm. March Against ItALLI: OHHHHH That saxophone is just amazing. It makes me feel like I'm dining in a fancy hotel when SUDDENLY, THE WAITERS DROPPED THEIR PLATES AND START DANCING WITH THE PIANO PLAYER! Everyone starts clapping along, and some couples even start dancing. This is such a good song to jam out to when you're feeling fancy and rich. LIAH: Whoa, this is snazzy. I'm here for it. This is the intro song to like... A really intense crime show. The production on this album has been absolutely killer so far, and this song further proves it. Have me at gunpoint for this, but I can totally see this album being a mirror album to Maximo Park's Risk To Exist. There's just something about it. Anyway, back to the song. This is a flash mob in a fancy restaurant, as Alli said. This is the Gaston scene from my school's production of Beauty And The Beast if it was more modern and set in a fancy place instead of a hunting lodge (hunting sucks!!) Cool instrumental track!!! Had serious vibes going on. White HotelALLI: After 9 songs filled with memories, love, and melancholy, this song is kind of a rude awakening for me. All she talks about is how tired she is about this relationship the song is about, and it makes me upset. I can feel the unrest in the quick drum beats and her passive voice. It makes me want to find the couple she's singing about and find a way for them to both love each other again. LIAH: I like this!! It's really good and calm again, and Manuela's vocals are once again killer. I agree with Alli on everything about this song, and I have to add that flute(?) solo is killer. Desolation AngelsALLI: There aren't a lot of harmonies on this album, and I have to admit, the one in this song made the album come together. You just listened to Manuela's whole journey and now it's nearly coming to an end, so they've come together to say goodbye. The vocals on this song are so pretty, and I can't get over them. Another sunset song. And also, for crying by the sunset. LIAH: I really like the vibes in this song, again. This album has sort of like... A beachy vibe for me, almost. That vocal harmony there gave me a flashback to that one week in July when I forced Alli to listen to Box Codax when I was in Florida. But yeah. It's quite a beachy song, which I didn't expect at all. Actually, the whole album feels pretty beachy to me, and I'm guessing Alli feels the same based on her comments. Invincible Dub ALLI: This is just a remix of Invincible. It's still really good. It's very space-like. LIAH: Intergalactic, planetary, Beastie Boys reference, Beastie Boys reference. Final ThoughtsALLI: I have to admit, I was a little hesitan-okay, a LOT hesitant to listen to this album, only because I had too much work to do and I just didn't have the time to review a whole album, as you can see from my own page. I'm glad I finally got around to, though. This album completely destroyed any thoughts I had about Maneula's sound beforehand and the whole experience was like 40 minutes in the 70s. I give it 13/13 Cracks in the Concrete.
LIAH: Although some sort of universe force was trying to stop me from reviewing this album, I did it and it was so. Good. This album is just about everything I hyped it up to be, and more. This whole album tells a story, and it's a good one for sure. I also really liked the fact that it was never really set who exactly Manuela was singing about in a lot of these songs. It gave the album an ambiguous sort of feeling. It also had really unexpected beachy vibes, which I loved. I give Manuela's self-titled debut album 14/14 Strawberry Kiwi Snapples, because that's a rating scale I just invented and although it has nothing to do with the album itself, the feeling this album gave me felt quite like a strawberry kiwi Snapple. Refreshing and original. That's all for this article! If there's anything we missed that you would like to add, or if there's anything you agree with, leave a comment. See you guys later!
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Hello, readers of Twilight Collective and friends on other planets catching our internet signal. In this article, we're going to discuss The Seamonsters' debut single, Lost and Found.
LIAH: This song is amazing. Like, totally freakin' amazing. It kind of reminds me of all the girl-groups from the 80s. I think you can feel when a band's about to blow up across the internet and radio waves, and that's exactly how I feel about The Seamonsters. Like, really. They'll be hitting the indie charts as your new favorite summer bop band. The Seamonsters and Magic City Hippies. I'm calling it. ALLI: Ok, I'm sitting, I cracked my knuckles, and I have my really large water bottle right next to me. Let me get into all of the feelings I've had about this song. I was reading about the artists The Seamonsters have been compared to before I listened, and when it came on, the Wolf Alice comparison clicked like special right angle triangles did in geometry class the other day. Very chill, but some totally fire guitar riffs in the middle. It was a very glittery spring-ish indie single that makes you want to sit on the lawn of the nearest college campus and sip pink lemonade. It made me feel like I was in a dream of some sort, like Passion Pit and Sky Ferreira had a child or something. I can see this band becoming something big. Keep it up ladies! It's quite indisputable that 2016 was a raging dumpster fire of a year, in every department from politics to social media (rip chronological Instagram feeds. you're missed dearly). There's one category that escaped the flames, though, and that's music. Though there were many deaths throughout the year, many amazing albums and songs were released and tours were played and bands were formed. |
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