This weeks iTunes Single of the week comes from LA based indie-folk quintet Milo Greene. With four lead singers who trade instruments throughout their performances and a drummer for stability, these guys are already making waves on the other side of the pond with their debut self-titled album. They’ve already been featured on the soundtrack of Grey’s Anatomy and this weeks free song was featured on US sitcom Suburgatory (available to watch on Ch4 in the UK).
There’s little information about these guys on their website and the little we did find was through other sources, they do however have an active Youtube channel and blog section on their website.
Despite the title this song has anything but a 50s vibe to it. The lyrics are simplistic, yet they really reach inside you. If you’re in the process of getting over someone please bare in mind that this song might make you start crying all over again. Having listened to this song a few times now, I can understand exactly why it suits a TV sitcom soundtrack.So to the song! It begins in quite a subdued manner, with just rim shots and a simplistic guitar motif, but with enough reverb and other effects to create a thick almost claustrophobic atmosphere. This builds up quickly with the addition of the bass drum and some lovely ooo-ing from our four singers, they know their stuff. This is cut through with some high [itch rhythmic guitar.
The texture of the song and even the pitch drops to a low driving tempo for the verse, allowing the lyrics to come to the fore. There’s a beautiful, silky mix of male and female vocals here, with the female being prominent but the male vocals just sitting underneath.
This continues through the bridge and the later ending of the song. The male vocals give weight to the female vocals and they mix together some beautiful harmonies on the ‘It takes me away’ line, that honestly made me feel a bit tingly.
Dotted in between these lyrical sections there are some lovely oohs and harmonies that take us back to that close, thick texture and almost give us the feeling of being enveloped in the sound.
Near the end of the song the ‘I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I..’ section gives a punchy contrast to the other lyrical passages. It’s much louder and with everyone singing at the same pitch, it almost sounds like an angry response to being shunned by that person you’v just invested all your time in. It’s really saying fine I’ll give up to, but I fought and you’re being lazy and now I’m angry (just my interpretation… I sound like a bitter ex! Oops!)
All in all this is a great, well rounded song and I really want to get hold of the rest of the album now. I can imagine this would have featured on the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack back in the day. This is definitely a single to grab hold of whilst even if you miss the free period and pay the 99p for it afterwards.
-TWSH
Download 1957 and pre-order Milo Greene.
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