Hello again and welcome to the final Record Room issue of the 2021-2022 school year! Before I get too sentimental, I will say that I plan on continuing this column next year, so if you’ve become as attached to it as I have, you’re in luck! Speaking of those who have been following the series this year, I want to give you a tremendous “thank you” for sticking with it. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into this year’s final article.
For this issue, I decided to do something that I honestly am surprised I hadn’t done sooner: reviewing playlists. The idea must be credited to junior Chayse Shamleffer, who got me out of my writer’s block that I just so happened to be experiencing during Latin class (apologies to Ms. Lamb for our combined unproductivity). Per Chayse’s suggestion, I got to work finding two willing participants to suggest a playlist that I could review. Through my search, I selected playlists from Chayse, of course, as well as a selection from junior Faith Potter. As for the process that went behind each playlist review, to deliver something that is truly unbiased, I put each playlist on shuffle to find the first three randomized songs that I would evaluate. Hence, now that the judgment process has been outlined, let us begin with our first compilation.
As Chayse supplied this idea to me in the first place, it only seems right to begin with their playlist. The playlist suggested to me is titled “very lovely morning” and consists of six hours and 16 minutes of music. Shuffling this playlist presented me with our first song, “Beggar’s Song” by Matt Maeson. This song, although I initially thought I wouldn’t like it, surprised me. The artist’s unique voice paired with their fascinating use of lyrical contrast, seen through the inclusion of religious themes in accompaniment of lyrics referencing substance use, created a song that I would absolutely listen to again. Throughout the song, I became comfortable with its chorus as well as the song’s general rhythm. All in all, I would rate “Beggar’s Song” a 6/10.
The next song titled “The Cave – Live” by Mumford & Sons seemed familiar to me, and after extensive research to discover that this song is the band’s second-most popular, I realized that I had, in fact, heard it before. The thing I like most about this song is its use of percussion to keep a steady beat that pairs well with the staccato-like nature of the lyrics. This song’s lengthy crescendo and repetitious lyrics build up to a strong release that is musically powerful, which is especially noticeable in its live performance. Overall, “The Cave – Live” gets a 7/10 rating from me.
The last song from Chayse’s playlist that we’ll be looking at is called “Things Happen” by Dawes. Right off the bat, I enjoyed this song’s use of percussion and guitar. On the surface, the instrumentals give the chorus a relaxed, constant rhythm, however, listening in to the vocals and their meaning gives it a more contemplative sound. This final song received the highest rating from me, earning a 9/10. And with Chayse’s playlist receiving an average rating of 7.33, let’s move on to the next participant, Faith Potter.
While Faith gave me many interestingly-titled playlists to choose from for this article, I decided to go with the one that consisted of a wide variety of genres and moods in hopes that my first three songs would be diverse. This playlist, titled “prozac [*unicorn emoji*]” consists of two hours and 34 minutes of Sufjan Stevens, Mitski, and Phoebe Bridgers, a.k.a. everything you would expect from Faith’s playlist.
Upon shuffling, I was met with the song “Last Words of a Shooting Star – Audiotree Live Version” by Mitski. Way back when, I, myself, used to be an avid Mitski listener until I realized that her music made me think too much about the things that made me sad. However, what I did pick up from my Mitski phase was how incredible she sounds live. Not to sound 40 years past my current age, but I do agree with the sentiment that far too many artists today use autotune and pitch correction devices. For Mitski, though, you can tell in studio recordings of the songs themselves that autotune isn’t relied on, but this fact becomes astonishingly evident when she performs live. Simply because of that, I give this song a 9/10.
As an honest reviewer, I have to say that this next song, written by Sufjan Stevens titled “Fourth of July,” did, in fact, make me cry the first time I listened to it. The simplicity of the instrumentals in combination with the depressing, nihilistic lyrics tore me apart as my desire to stop listening was outweighed by the need to complete the song’s narrative. Overall, this song gets an 8/10. Even though its repetitive finale consisting of the lyrics “We’re all gonna die” made me reconsider…a lot of things, I view this song as nothing short of a beautiful piece of art.
Finally, the last song featured in Faith’s playlist is titled “Moon Song” by Phoebe Bridgers. While a bit biased, I had already heard this song before reviewing the playlist, and I was already a fan of Phoebe Bridgers. If you know my music taste personally, you know that this is not really the type of music I would listen to, but I love this song simply because of its lyrics. They’re sad, they’re relatable, and, much like Mitski, they make you think far too much. Additionally, I have deemed it necessary to take the time to acknowledge my favorite lyric of this song, in which Bridgers says, “But you’re holding me like water in your hands.” The true beauty of this line is that it can be interpreted many different ways by different listeners, so I won’t go into how exactly I perceive it, but I just had to mention it. Before this article turns into a Phoebe Bridgers fan page, I’ll end this article here, giving Faith a 10/10 with this song, and a 9/10 for her playlist overall.
If you enjoyed this article or want to suggest topics for future articles, let me know through email, although I won’t get around to it until September. Thank you, again, for reading and supporting this writing endeavor of mine; I couldn’t have done it without your support. This has been The Record Room, and I’ll see you all next year.
