Songs of the Week: EIGHTY NINETY, Paola Bennet, & Ina Rose

Welcome to Songs of the Week, a running series with new selections.

EIGHTY NINETY – “Face Like a Sunset”

Ephemeral moments pepper existence. They’re like holding water in your hands; no matter how hard you try, water always escapes. With their new song “Face Like a Sunset,” indie-pop duo EIGHTY NINETY capture the beauty of those singular moments in time when you fall in love and time seems to both speed up and stop in its tracks. “The only one who can stop my heart…” Abner James sings, breathlessly. The wind barely escapes his lungs, as his eyes grow wider, taking in the view. His lover sitting across from him returns the glance. In its purest form, love is the closest we get to holding time in our very hands.

Paola Bennet – “Stuck”

Have you ever hated yourself for liking someone? That’s the root of Paola Bennet‘s fuzzy-headed new song “Stuck.” Guitars crash and scratch in the mix, allowing Bennet’s feathered vocal to float up and away from the earth. “Everything changes…” she sings in faint whispers. Feeling her emotions throb in her throat, she vows that she doesn’t want any of it. “I’m listening to that song you sent me / But it’s the wrong season for it / Now I choke on every word / Did you plan on how this one hurts / In my chest, a cemetery / Wearing black since February” she heaves. Her words crumble like dried-out and hollow rose petals, crunching beneath her feet. Sometimes, the pain of loving stings just as much as heartache.

Ina Rose – “Look Down on Me”

Her dreams stretch out ahead of her. There are endless possibilities, but strewn alongside the highway are detractors claiming she’ll never amount to anything or that her dreams are too frivolous to pursue. But her head remains lodged in the clouds. With “Look Down on Me,” Ina Rose offers up a sliver of hope, glistening and warm. “I’ll prove you wrong / You’ll see,” she sings. Full of twang and grit, her voice is not one of bitterness or malice. It’s joyous and infectious, as though the thorns in her side are not even there. It’s easy to let others’ opinions worm into your brain, but Rose reminds us that dreams are what being alive is for. There’s no other way to really live.

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