Turned to Stone

The Blue Herons

“Turned to Stone”

(self-released)

Every so often songs come into our lives that stand out from the rest.  There are many reasons for this: like it has to withstand repeated listens and be catchy, and/or it has to speak to us as individuals in a way that begs for those repeated listens.  For me, right now, that song is “Turned to Stone” by the bi-continental duo The Blue Herons.  At 2024 years’ end, I sang their praises via a breakdown of their singles compilation Go On (see review here).  And here they are picking up with a recent single that is as good as they’ve ever done, which is an incredibly high bar.

Andy Jossi’s music never ceases to astound!  He is a master of layering immaculately performed instrumentation together both in dreamy, languid, and broad paint strokes, and effervescent detailed touches that nearly always climax in satisfying dramatic crescendos.  “Turned to Stone” is the latter here and it absolutely impeccably sets an emotional foundation for Gretchen DeVault’s yearning vocals.  They’ve both so captured such a tight bond in this song, it’s difficult to believe that this was put together remotely. 

On the surface this song can be taken quite literally.  A heavy hearted plea for the seasons to change and hoping for the darkness of winter to transition to the longer, warmer, and sunnier days of Spring and Summer.  Personally DeVault’s words have hit me hard.  I am currently in a period of an intense health struggle, where I’ve been taking a chemo drug to prevent tumor growth, and the side effects of that drug are preventing me from being able to live a purposeful and enjoyable existence.  The chorus goes:

“Long days are gone

From the horizon now

The winds grow so strong

They could blow it all away” 

First of all, when hearing this song, I dare you not to get this refrain stuck in your head in the best possible way.  DeVault’s voice soars and arrests hearts with her brilliant performance.  For me, these words present the dilemma I’ve been wrestling with.  The long days could be gone if I give them up in order to feel stronger, while those strong winds could blow away the three years of hard work I’ve put in on the drug, which has indeed stopped the rampant tumor growth that was occurring in my head.  This song has helped me address this quandary and face the hard reality of my situation.  Wow!  I get chills every time I hear it, which is as often as possible!

On a macro scale, I also feel like this song is a perfect distillation of our times now in a post-Covid (or post-fll in the blank here) world.  We are all a few years out of the intense lockdown, but I’m not sure that many of us have really recovered.  It seems like there are many scars left that have not yet healed, even if unacknowledged or recognized.  Perhaps I’m paranoid, but it feels like there’s a lot more mistrust in our society that is not only between individuals and institutions (government, corporations, media, etc.), and more troubling between us as individuals (neighbors, friends, family).  These are things that have always existed, yet it seems now like they are conflicts that our unplanned isolation has driven an insurmountable wedge into our lives.  Our “heavy hearts have turned to stone.”  I believe that this song is a plea as well as a wish or an instruction for us to get over all of this shit and let optimism and cooperation back into our lives.

If only this song could be heard by a lot more people. However one interprets it for themselves, it is an incredible four-plus minute song worth more than notice and acclaim.  This is a truly affecting piece of art that I feel privileged to listen to.  I hope to see you all waiting “for the sun to rise again.”

(https://theblueherons1.bandcamp.com/track/turned-to-stone)

 

 

the blue herons "turned to stone"

 

 

immediately and without hesitation

 

rocket rules

immediately and without hesitation

(self-released)

One of the joys I get from music is that I never know what might come along and sweep me off my feet.  Sometimes it’s a long time favorite releasing new music that rivals their previous best going back decades, yet sometimes those don’t always pan out.  Sometimes it’s an artist that never clicked with me suddenly becoming a new obsession.  Most often, it’s a new artist that comes along and re-ignites the ole’ pilot light.  Melbourne’s two piece, rocket rules, have released their second EP, only six months after their debut self-titled EP, and they have me typing up a bunch of nonsensical words urging a non-existent audience to check out this music!

“add up all the chances” opens these three songs and immediately whooshes in with the effervescence of Spain’s Linda Guilala with the catchy pop tunes of Sacramento’s Soft Science.  It’s seriously addictive.  I cannot stop repeating “add up” every time I listen.  It’s that unholy merging of chiming guitars and keyboards that heavy hands its way to the front of the song giving it a rushing momentum that breathes new life into these old lungs.  The sing-along words too hit in the right place.  “Everything has changed but feels the same” feels especially poignant as this song reminds us that our time is limited and to make the most of it and to protect our sanity.   The chorus asks us “Will you know, the day you break?”  Good question right?  The likelihood seems like ‘no,’ because we’re broken, which may be the point.  Stay vigilant!

That electric thrust of sound energy pulsates through the heavy “the weight.”  In this case it provides the song with a certain gravitas and drama, foreshadowing dark clouds brewing on the horizon.  But you know what?  That dominating sound never fails to catch my attention.  The song could last forever and it would never get old.  The thumping slow beat of “draynor village” provides a reflective mix of conflicting emotions.  The crashing cymbals during the chorus are perfectly placed as the narration debates their level of trust in this situation. It’s surprisingly brief close to a great short player.

It’s difficult to believe these songs are ‘bedroom’ recordings, because this EP sounds live and alive in every way.  Rach and Bax have definitely stepped up their musical game from their solid debut. 

(https://rocketrules.bandcamp.com/album/immediately-and-without-hesitation)

rocket rules "add up all the chances"

And Finally . . . In This Space and Time

 

Sophie and Me

And Finally . . . In This Space and Time

(Self – Released digital)

Wowza!  This three song single kicked off 2025 in spectacular fashion and it’s a soothing balm in the face of 2025 otherwise starting off like a tragic nightmare.  These songs have created a melancholy orchestral drama to help guide us through these rough times. 

I became aware of Sophie and Me late last summer via a four song B-side collection named Who Cares B-Sides, which is so great that it amazed me that these dream poppers would share them almost as an afterthought.  These are fully developed excellent songs.  They’ve released a few more singles since, and the quality remains high.  They are quickly becoming a favorite!  This newest release, the digital single on Bandcamp And finally…In This Space and Time, is described as forgotten unfinished tracks.  However these three songs are all epic emotional vistas.   

The nearly seven minute “We Are One (Part I & II)” opens this with an incredibly dramatic journey that takes us through lows and highs of a relationship as the music swells and builds into buzzing guitars and crashing drums, while a comforting keyboard hook soothes us back into a quiet reflective finale, where Sophie Brightman’s sweet voice finds solacby assessing the situation through a lens of being in the moment, and realizing that those highs and lows all can balance out.  It’s a remarkable journey and a brilliant timeless song.

“Change the World” is the pop song of these three with its piano led breaks between choruses.  It’s a hopeful and positive message and a fun listen.

Lastly, “When I Go Back” is another quiet drama whose instrumental buildup (with keyboards that remind of Pink Floyd’s keyboardist Richard Wright on Dark Side of the Moon) pays off with a meandering beat and a restless reflection of the inherent conflicts with returning to a former home.  Javier Manriquedelara’s instrumentation is a revelation, as everything is in its right place.

When I purchased this, I did so unheard.  The quality of the previous release earned them that, so when I first listened, I was floored by its excellence.  The emotional depth of the songs here is achingly beautiful.  Once you hear them, you’ll know what I mean.  My silly words do not do these songs any justice.  This has to be listened to. 

(https://sophieandme.bandcamp.com/album/and-finally-in-this-space-and-time)

Sophie and Me "We Are One (Parts I & II"

This Wreckage Top 10 Most Listened to Releases

Unlike those words that I have heard from so many people over the years: "they don't make music like they used to," I find the opposite is true.  Yes, technically music making has evolved over the years.  Increased access to equipment, recording, and ways to find an audience has changed drastically.  The spirit hasn't though.  There is incredible music being made all around us all of the time.  More than ever.  It's difficult to keep up!  My problem as an older person who has yet to fully adjust to the idea that music doesn't have to be physically possessed is that I get overwhelmed.  I am fully aware that I have missed a lot of great music this year, because I get overwhelmed by it.  There's too much!  I do not make enough time available to hear more music.  I cannot afford it.  I can't keep up!  These selections are ten of many releases I enjoyed this year.  I share them only hoping to present my thoughts in a vague way to show appreciation to these great artists and inspire an individual to look into these artists further.  There's always been good music and likely always will be.  Happy New Year!!

Write ups can be accessed via the band/album names below

 1.

The Cure Songs of a Lost World

2.

Attic Ocean Retriever

3.

Torrey Torrey

4.

Humdrum Every Heaven

5.

The Blue Herons Go On

6.

Agent blå Stab!

7.

SPECTRES Presence

8.

The Black Watch the morning papers have given us the vapours

9. 

Mammoth Penguins Here

10.

J. Robbins Basilisk

 

Songs of a Lost World

 

The Cure

Songs of a Lost World

(Fiction/Capitol)

My introduction to The Cure was around 40 years ago with their jaunty single “The Lovecats.”  I absolutely cannot describe how big that song was in helping determine my musical journey as a teenager.  Never had I heard a song so exuberant.  There was unbelievable feeling inside those three and a half minutes in such a silly little pop song.  There was a distinct noticeable passion, a sense of free experimentation, and an uncanny tunefulness that captured my heart.  I couldn’t stop listening to it.  This led me to seek out more and I learned how different they were before that song.  That passion was always there no matter if we’re talking about their earliest spiky garage punk, or their mysterious sparse post-punk, or the bleak, unrelenting darkness of Pornography, to the synth-pop of that time I first heard them.  The Cure paved their own varied path and even in their lesser moments (in my opinion) have always been intriguing and worth notice.  Their long and storied discography is varied, exciting and refreshing. 

Here we are with a new album, Songs from a Lost World, sixteen years after 2008’s 4:13 Dream.  To be honest, I haven’t been very engaged with their output since 1992’s Wish and even that one took me awhile to fully appreciate.  I think a big part of it is that I had changed my tastes away from those early teenage years – not that I didn’t listen to the hell out of their post Disintegration releases, because I still felt Robert Smith’s path and how he has never phoned in a record.  He has staunchly continued to be wildly creative, varied, unceasingly heartfelt, and authentic..  

When Songs of a Lost World finally showed up, after years of leaks, and live performances of some of these new songs, I was excited like I was as a kid anticipating the release date of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me in 1987 as a 16 year old – snagging a random ride to the nearest town that might have a record store that would offer a copy.  On the actual release date of Lost World on November 1^st, before I ventured out to the local record shop, I was surprised at the immediate social media nitpicking of the record.  Everyone’s opinions are welcome and at least as valid as mine, yet I wonder why so many were so immediately critical.  Why listen to it once and complain about the long intros before Robert Smith’s vocals come in.  Have they actually ever listened to The Cure?!  It’s been a staple for years!! Having said that, my early critique is that the mix is too compressed and in your face.  I think I’d prefer for the sound to be more dynamic, allowing the brilliant arrangements to rise and fall, though through endless repeated listens it has started to expand for me and reveal more subtleties. 

Robert Smith had a huge influence on not just my musical tastes, but also introducing me to an unhealthy fear of aging.  As a 14 year old, I would listen to The Head on the Door’s timeless ode to growing old “Sinking” like an old man fearing his oncoming and inevitable death.  The day I turned 22, I told a 15 year old kid I occasionally worked with that I was “over the hill.”  Now, close to 40 years later, this album has connected in a similar way, as a realistic sense of mortality has crept into my life.  Smith’s lyrics on this album are as incisive as he’s ever been.  There’s a laser like focus of someone obsessed with finding a way to navigate the fear of death as decay sets in.  This has hit home for me, in a similar way the Cure first began guiding me through my formative tears.  Every song feels both tragic, yet redemptive and exciting.  So many of those ancient Cure songs helped a lot of us along with relatable songs, while offering a lot of amazing tunes and commiseration.  Words that can be comforting and help us not feel so alone. 

“Alone,” the first song and single is a sad lament about the finality of death.  It is so heartbreakingly relatable, yet woven inside a catchy meditative tune that repeats the line “where did it go” refrain with a genuine worry.  The orchestrations of the aging love ballad “Nothing Lasts Forever” makes me think of a senior prom slow dance only aimed at a roomful of people who no longer feel safe going out after dark.  Meanwhile, “A Fragile Thing” sounds a lot like one of those great album tracks that may not attract attention initially but eventually becomes the favorite over time that the Cure are so adept at creating.

“War Song” comes on incredibly heavy the way “The Kiss” did with Smith’s distinctive wailing unsettled guitar easily describing the conflict long before the bitter lyrics hit.  “Drone: No Drone” is an in your face grinder that flows with a groovy classic Simon Gallup bassline and a great Smith vocal chorus that lands somewhere between “Hot Hot Hot!!!” and “Burn.”  

Overall, Songs of a Lost World, reminds me of Disintegration (1989).  Back then, many of us thought that that album was going to be the Cure’s final album, but this feels like the perfect follow up.  “I Can Never Say Goodbye” hints at “Prayers for Rain,” while referencing the orchestration and the less resigned side of “And Nothing is Forever.”  The penultimate song “All I Ever Am” begins with a warbled keyboard hook before pounding into an urgent refection of past mistakes and regrets.  Would anything have mattered?  The closing “Endsong” is an epic in every way, but the long opening builds and builds much the way “Closedown” did in 1989, as it leads into a truly sad lament about losing everything.  All the work we do in life.  All of the goals, the dreams, the successes, all lead to “Nothing” in the end.  Perhaps it’s just me, but in “Endsong,”Smith sounds less hurt than the opening “Alone.” It’s as if he has guided us toward more acceptance along the way through these eight numbers.  It’s an incredibly intense song that pulls no punches.  It may sound strange, but such a direct sad song is inspiring to me.  The sadness is truly felt, in the way that The Cure have always delivered the gamut of emotions in such a genuine way.  The directness and harsh reality of the words, help in addressing my own feelings regarding death, amongst many other realities. 

Welcome back to The Cure!  This album is excellent in so many ways.  Songs of a Lost World is exactly the balm I needed in these strange, uncertain, and confusing times.  As I continue to read various complaints about this album, I can’t help but wonder if a fairly new band put out an album of this quality, how many would be drooling over it as the landmark great release of our time?  Personally, I hope that this is an album I will hungrily listen to for a long time to come.  Leave it to the Cure who initially inspired a passion in me for seeking out truly honest music that confronts a lot of those emotions many of us fear to come along and chisel away the hardened coating that has grown around my heart through a lot of experience.

(https://www.thecure.com/)

The Cure "Alone"

Go On

 

The Blue Herons

Go On

(Subjangle)

This is the debut album from The Blue Herons, but it doesn’t seem like it.  The songs on Go On have all appeared as digital singles over the past few years.  The project originally started out as a vehicle for master instrumentalist, Andy Jossi, to showcase his love of jangle guitar pop.  Jossi originally started recording and releasing instrumental songs before reaching out to various vocalists to help him “complete” them.  I put “complete” in quotes, because Jossi’s wonderfully detailed music is incredibly dramatic and absolutely great without the addition of vocals.  During that weird year of 2020, The Blue Herons released the single “In the Skies,” with Gretchen DeVault seamlessly adding lyrics and vocals.  If you’ve bothered to read these silly music missives I occasionally write, you may recognize DeVault’s name. These two have teamed up for ten more fantastic singles since.  I became a supporter of Gretchen’s music going back to when I first heard the 2004 song “I Wanna Know” by her band The Icicles – an incredibly refreshing pop song that evokes the fun teenage love songs by 60s girl groups.  Subsequently, DeVault has explored different sounds through other outlets such as the melancholic dream pop of Voluptuous Panic, and the pristine indie pop of The Francine Odysseys, as well as adding her fantastic vocals to the fun Hero No Hero project before settling in as a full-time collaborator with Andy Jossi and The Blue Herons.

In this new era of digital singles and artist’s having more direct contact with their followers, first albums like this are likely to become the norm.  In the past, a ‘best of’ or singles collection might come out after an artist has reached a certain level of tenure and/or popularity, but this debut album is already a singles collection and it plays like one.  Every single song is incredibly addictive and beg for excited repeated listens.  Jossi’s other fairly well known project, The Churchhill Garden, with Whimsical vocalist Krissy Vanderwoude, finds him creating incredible extended dreamy vistas that build and build in intensity and volume like the Kitchens of Distinction used to do with regularity.  The Blue Herons, on the other hand, have a more straight forward sound that, while still dreamy, has more in common with the more upbeat songs by the 80s line up of The Church with the added strength of Gretchen’s spectacular vocal melodies.

I want to highlight particular songs, but it’s difficult because all of these songs have been favorites as they’ve been released over the past four years.  I think “Talking to Ghosts,” however, is the cream of an especially bountiful crop.  Jossi channels a Johnny Marr-esque arrangement and the dynamic orchestral chorus is absolutely stunning, as are DeVault’s vocals.  Of course, there is also the more driving and urgent “Autumn Leaves,” whose life affirming chorus is downright invigorating and motivational.  Surprisingly, The Blue Herons took on a cover of Joy Division’s all-timer “Disorder.”  At a glance, this might seem an odd choice, or a mismatch, but I can assure you, as a massive Joy Division fan, I find this to be the best cover I’ve heard.  Gone are the harsh shards of sounds atop the dark echoing rumbles of the original, but added is a different kind of urgency and warmth.  The approach is different, yet the end result is similar in that as a listener you’ve been taken on an epic adventure.  Plus I absolutely love the buzzing close and wish that it didn’t fade out.

Though most of these songs were released as singles prior to the album, there is added value in checking this out, because here the songs have been worked on – enhanced, plus there is a great alternate version of the yearning “Echoes in the Dust.”  If you have not checked The Blue Herons out previously, this is not only the perfect place to start, I would say it’s mandatory.

(https://theblueherons1.bandcamp.com/album/go-on)

the blue herons "talking to ghosts"

Stab!

 

Stab!

(VÅRØ/Kanine)

Sweden’s Agent blå blend a unique brand of post-punk.  Their sound reminds me of those early 80s pioneering post-punk artists in spirit, yet with their own take.  It’s a difficult sound to pin down, but I sure love trying as I’ve been playing their third LP, Stab!, a ton since its release back in April – nearly five full years after their second full length back in 2019.  Emelie Alatalo’s versatile and mysterious vocals are once again rich and endlessly intriguing – landing somewhere between Isabel Monteiro (Drugstore) and the legendary Siouxsie Sioux and I have been trying to come up with a way to describe this album in order to find a way to express my enthusiasm and do it any kind of justice. 

 

From the brief opening self-titled instrumental that merges into the beautifully meandering “Ebb and Flow,” one thing is clear the band has been honing their craft.  The rhythm section has retained their special connection by coming up with tension building push and pull arrangements that definitely ebb and flow, but now there’s a lot of stellar piano melodies guiding these songs in a similar way as the early Tears for Fears albums. 

 

Normally I am allergic to using very specific genre categorizations of bands, because of artists like this.  They are conjuring up something that feels different to me.  Unique.  “The Fascination of Self-Sabotage” lifts off with soaring guitars like an early 80s UK post-punk band, while “Mind Mapping” gives off a Goth vibe with its vague lyrics alluding to some kind of separation and its resulting consequences.  Whatever the case, it’s my favorite on an album that continues to impress and grow on me.

 

 So much to love here.  The propulsive drive and whirlee keyboard sound of “Discount” acts as a straight-forward tune with a very ghostly atmosphere, while “Whatever You Want” might be their poppiest song to date as it tries to work out intimate communication details over a buoyant beat.

 

As I imagined, I’m failing to do a workable job at conveying the power of this album.  It is all too brief, it’s well crafted, and dare I say underrated?  These are the kind of songs that have always fed my soul.  The kind of songs that guide one through rainy days that exacerbate troubling times, yet offer understanding.  The words are supportive and the music comforting by way of that understanding.  Instead of continuing to ramble on aimlessly, I will be direct.  I highly recommend Stab! Allow it a chance to work its magic.

 

(https://agentblasweden.bandcamp.com/album/stab)

Agent bla "Discount"