Taste Test, Edition #6: Aire Atlantica, A Different Thread & more

Welcome to Taste Test, a review wrangling of SubmitHub-only gemstones.

“Five Night Stand” by Aire Atlantica, featuring Kyan Palmer

The sun’s rays peek in between the shades and fall across entangled bodies and sheets. You think the high is wearing off too fast, but the synthetic drip of “Five Night Stand” reinvigorates the buzz, tearing through your chest like a bolt of lightning and letting the warmth of another come back in stormy waves across the mattress. Kyan Palmer’s voice medicates your skin in the aftermath of such a stolen embrace, and you don’t ever want to give it up, not his voice or that heartbeat beating next to yours.

“On a Whim” by A Different Thread

If we’re lucky enough, we’ll take a few risks in this life. It’s the only way we can fully know we are alive, that we’ve got blood coursing in our veins. The sands in the hour glass will spin and fall out of our view, sometimes at what feels like a brisk, speed-of-light pace, regardless. Folk duo Robert Jackson and Alicia Best choose to risk it all for the chance to feel the wind on their faces, the ground crunching underneath their feet, the rain misting across their skin. “On a Whim” opens their just-released new record with a breathy traveller’s tune, as they stand at a crossroads to make that spontaneous decision to throw it all to the winds of uncertainty. From the production’s use of horns blowing in the background to the sweet aroma of whistling to the guitar’s almost somber wails, the song quenches our basic human need to live life on the edge, fulfilling a destiny we didn’t know we had at birth.

“Be Somebody” by Phil Good

No one knows what they’re doing. Society dictates we should have our lives figured out by the time we hit the big 3-0. But life happens and hurtles obstacle after obstacle at our heads like bricks. We might get a fractured skull in the process, and that throat-strangling fear may never completely go away, but we learn to cope. Alt-pop upstart Phil Good plays on his own sense of dread as a mid-20 millennial, whose sleepless nights are ravaging through his bones. “Can’t help but compare,” he sings, tapping into what we are all really feeling. He doesn’t shy away from confronting the reality that haunts behind his eyelids. The synths seem to mirror his angst, shape-shifting mirages slipping in and out of focus, as his lamentations leave a ringing sensation in the ear canal.

“Silent Movies” by Carter Vail

There’s a kind of energy only bred and born on the open road. The gravel scatters across the blacktop as the burning rubber speeds off into the distance. Americana bluesman Carter Vail engages with highway on “Silent Movies,” which rumbles with the spinning scratches of electric guitar, seemingly embodying that feeling of freedom as the wind kisses his check bones, and his voice is both resigned and prideful. “I ain’t never gonna talk again,” he admits when the production falls away into tiny dust particles. It’s not that he regrets leaving his previous world behind, it’s just that it so damn hard to move on. But it’s ultimately a reset on both normalcy and being.

“All Night” by Closed Doors

The smell of champagne lingers on their lips. Closed Doors slink down a back hallway up to their hotel room, hiding away for a moment of pure bliss. That’s where “All Night” comes in, once swiftly dancing across the sheets, then swimming in the moonlight’s silvery pool. The vocal distortion and dirty dive-bar drop serves as only to ratchet up the song’s seductive charm, a lustful foray that you won’t soon forget, even if it’s simply unraveling in their imaginations. “I’ve been waiting for a miracle,” the duo struggles to accept a relationship’s burning out and that irresistible urge laying in wait.

“Without You” by Ray Volpe, featuring Devin & Lydia

The synths twist like knives. The breakup tore him down, shattering his heart into a million pieces, and despite the bittersweet nature of the departure, it’s a kind of tragedy from which he may never recover. Aided by Ray Volpe’s deliciously explosive production, often feeling frantic and emotionally-exhausting, Devin and Lydia exchange lyrics and vantage points. “I could not do this without you,” Devin howls, his voice bending into the whirlwind of disastrously thick, cloying beats. Lydia replies, “I just have to do this without you.” It’s two sides to one coin, and the listener comes to an even richer understanding of their pain.

“Turn Up” by Greedy Genyus, featuring Kiyah Kiyah

The whole club is bumpin’. The drinks flow rather generously; the disco ball spins harder and faster with shards of light hitting on eyeballs and bodies; and the buzz runs high. “Shorty don’t even know how to act in here,” the hook bursts and ricochets in soft lines, wafting between the canned echoes. Greedy Genyus keeps things light and breezy, allowing the funky grooves to soak and splash onto a backdrop of full-throttle club music. “Turn Up” reaches even more potent levels with Kiyah Kiyah’s brazen lyrics, furthering the night’s unapologetically rowdy festivities well into the morning hours. It’s the kind of party that begins and ends with last call. And we ain’t complaining.

“Spin as One” by Mia and Jonah

Folk duo Mia & Jonah weave a silky web with “Spin as One,” a backyard hoedown dedicated to their long-standing collaboration (going on 15 years), as well as their adoration for one another in holy matrimony. The title song to their brand new record, the lilting, banjo-anchored mid-tempo possesses a truly awe-inspiring power, and as they gaze into each other eyes, wrapping their arms tighter together, the listener is drawn into their world, if even for a fleeting moment. You come to learn how such a love has bestowed them both with the strength and tough-as-nails exterior to weather every kind of storm in their lives. It’s a sight to behold.

“I Shall Be Released” by Porch Light Apothecary

Faith is a journey, and for some, it takes quite a long time to come to terms with their own flaws, to then be able to forgive yourself and seek that “holy light,” as Porch Light Apothecary frontman Brent Jordan unpacks. He seeks to find his own relief within the pages of a wrinkled up Bible or the sunrise’s healing medicine, and that’s just the start, as the opening track, to the band’s new album Weight of the Heart, across which they further explore such existential and transcendent matters. Jordan’s voice is cracked, and that only heightens the sense of urgency otherwise illustrated through tickling piano chords and the guitar’s lonesome licks.

“Picture Perfect” by Hildur

In 2018, there is still a very toxic stigma attached to mental health. Social media doesn’t help, as it breeds envy and comparisons of “superficial names and places” and “plastic poses on vacation,” Icelandic powerhouse Hildur observes. Her faint vocal stands in wonderful contrast to the pummeling of percussion contained inside “Picture Perfect,” a heavenly synth-pop track that aims to destroy what society deems as appropriate. Those archaic standards are no match to the gallons of gasoline Hildur pours over the ever-growing fire. She then lights the match, and the splendid blaze consumes everything in its wake. It’s a necessary cleansing of hate-mongering and victim-blaming, and in the end, we’ll all be better for it.

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