Tag: rock

YONAKA-Ignorance

When I first listened to Ignorance, I really didn’t like it. I still didn’t like it when I started writing the original version of this review, but as I was sitting there listening to it, critiquing the occasionally cliche lyrics and the lazy, remarkably boring remake I realized that it is, actually, a pretty good song. It rises nicely to a decent crescendo but it does not have a persistent wow factor. The silences in the choruses are very finely created-not too long to be obvious and not too short to be unnoticeable-and a definite highlight. The bridge was adventurous, and the refrains within it are a good touch, but they lack muster because of the tone of voice which Theresa takes on. The echoes in the refrains both of the instruments and Theresa are perfectly crafted. They work amazingly with the song and help make it feel fuller and more polished.


The song describes either a post or during break-up lover, explaining to her former significant other her feelings about her relationship and life in general. The opening verse describes a series of un-lover-like actions, which have bruised her and broken her soul throughout their relationship. The opening line shows how she feels drained of life and energy, as her heart only drips, rather than outpouring blood. It’s a powerful opening metaphor to begin the song, and it sets up the rest perfectly. The big set-up and disappointing punch-line is the core thematic identity of this song. This structure shows how disappointed she is in herself for putting “trust in this”. The last line of the final verse shows how she feels that he hasn’t understood her nature and beliefs despite their relationship. This leads to the first refrain. Theresa repeats “Ignorance is not bliss to me” four times. This is her reason for the break-up: the fact that she felt so hurt and unhappy ignoring all of the pain caused. Ignorance of the bliss-removing-pain doesn’t restore the bliss. The final repeat omits the “to me”, showing her realisation that her disapproval of it is common to all and that she is not just an exception. The second verse describes the dysfunctional nature of their relationship. At the end of the second line, there is a riff, which perfectly sums up their relationship: discordant and wrong, but so good in the context. The second half of the verse describes Theresa’s wish to flee from the painful relationship. This leads to our first chorus. The first line is repeated. The chorus is so amazing because of Theresa’s amazing vocalizing. She sings that she has realized how bad her relationship is and that she now feels like a fool for having put up with it for so long. She feels so stupid, like such a disappointment because she let herself suffer for so long. The third verse seems to be on a different tack. She is describing things that aren’t inherently negative but aren’t good. Considering the elation she should feel at seeing her lover, the empty tone shows how she feels like something is lacking. The religious imagery in the last two lines equates her awakening and realisation to being born again, which shows how strongly she has reversed her ideas. This leads into a repeat of the refrain ad the chorus and then a bridge. The hold on the end of the chorus is great. The bridge is great too. The vocals sound great in their harshness and the layers are so well done and are toned so well together. It is still somewhat lacking though, and I find that maybe it should have been longer or hold more significant lyrics. The lyrics further describe the incompatibility of the pair. It just doesn’t add enough to the song in terms of meaning and I would knock it harder if it didn’t sound so good. The transition between the bridge and the final chorus is amazing. It is the best part of the song by a long way. It kills all the momentum of the song and instantly builds it back up in one single bar, more powerful than before. The stepped riffs are so exciting and invigorating, and there is no better way to lead into the end of your song. The song finishes in a chorus and then an outro, which fizzles out at the end very nicely, still maintaining the shaky echo which is a permanent fixture in the song.

The re-recording is worse. A lot worse. In fact, I think it’s bad. They changed the name and added a bland beat on a kit drum. Theresa sounds better in parts of it, but the bridge is butchered, the silence after the first verse is ruined and it sounds like half a beat is missing on the Spotify version, before the chorus after the bridge. I think that my main problem with it is that the quiet bits of Ignorance are loud in Awake. The occasional rest and silence are powerful and added so much to the song. The opening verse and the transition from the bridge are probably the only good bits, in my opinion. The latter of which is even better than the original somehow. They stretched it out a bit, doubling its length, and they made it heavier by separating some of the notes of the chords a tiny bit. I don’t think that they should have re-recorded it though-at least in the way they did. At least when King No-One did it, they called it as it was-an alternate version-and changed some lyrics. This was just lazy and I’m disappointed. The rest of their new album is so good, it’s such a shame to tarnish it like this. Don’t listen to Awake, listen to Ignorance.

YONAKA Introduction

YONAKA is a British born alt-rock band from Brighton, who started producing singles back in 2016. Their music is somewhat similar to Paramore, in its constantly changing sound and style. The variety in their first EP is amazing and it must be the best debut EP ever. Theresa Jarvis’s voice has such great range and malleability, and this has created their large following of 700,000 listeners on Spotify-leagues ahead of King No-One.

King No-One (Part One)

King No-one is an alt-pop rock band. Like Tuscan Sun, they hail from England. They are more popular than Tuscan Sun though, with 110000 monthly listeners on Spotify and they deserve more. Their music is phenomenal. I’m going to be reviewing their stuff from when they started distributing their music on proper music platforms. They spent a few years using youtube, but I think it’s best we start at their first song on Spotify.

Philosophical

Their first album was called Philosophical. It had two tracks in it, on called “Gold” and the other eponymously named “Philosophical”.

“Philosophical” starts off alternating between some finger clicking and some sub-shaking beats. When their lead singer, Zach Lount, starts singing, he tells the story of a girlfriend who is not putting her all into him. Strongly sibilant lines show us she may be malicious or hurtful, and this fits in with how she is reluctant to come close to him. The antithetical language and imagery continue this as he describes himself as not “looking for a lover”, but also describes her as the one. Furthermore, “moving picture”s are often associated with optical illusions showing how she may be tricking him in some way. Zach feels this and it appears to be keeping him up at night. Despite this, Zach’s love is shown by how he loses track of the world when together and the ecstasy felt when they touch. Then, he describes how she seems to fall for him, and how she has a great turmoil inside of her-“a raging sea”.  There is an additional change in that Zach appears to be in wonder of her speaking, as she “steals the air”. The pre-chorus repeats and the chorus repeats twice. The pre-chorus is changed slightly though to show how Zach is feeling more comfortable with her. However, she has lost the ability to sleep as Zach once did in the first verse. This shows her turmoil and worry. Then there are the final two lines, which describe how they sate each other physically and how their love is now calm and purer.

“Gold” starts with some guitar chords and a light keyboard bassline.  The song’s power comes from the drop of its super heavy hard hitting topline, that is revealed in the chorus. It perfectly compliments the sincerity and heartfelt voices of the whole band as they all muffle each other out in the penultimate chorus.  Unlike philosophical, where the lyrics were intended to create emotion, the emotion comes from how their song. This is not my favourite song of theirs, but the skill and care put into the music really show here!

Halo and Stay Close

Halo and Stay Close were their next two albums and they were more a part of their journey than a part of their music portfolio. That’s not to say that they do not sound great (they really do), but the message is not shown well enough, a problem they struggled with in the first album. They even borrow imagery from their first album (like “raging sea”, “spinning” out of control and the treachery of the lover). Stay Close is a much better album than Halo. The two songs in it are “Stay Close” and “Say My Name”. I love both! The first is a lot more pop, but it really works. Zach really does wonders when he drags out syllables. When the instrumental tracks drop and there’s talking instead of singing, the power shown in the crescendo is incredible. “Say My Name” uses discordant deep riffs to creates the same power. The initial quietness is also a change from “Stay Close”, and both work well, but I do prefer the instant kick. “Halo” is great too, and has some great lyrics like “Taste me, don’t mix with vanilla” in it. I’m not that big a fan of it though. I kind of find it forgettable: the lyrics don’t resonate with me and it lacks the magic of the King No-One sound.

Alcatraz

Oooooh, Alcatraz! Where do I begin? I just love it so. The “shaa” at the start is crisp and perfect. The guitar strumming for the bassline is consistently exceptional. And the lyrics do the sound justice. Zach sings about how he was an idiot not to have approached a girl. The “crime” was so bad, his heart has been locked up in the prison of Alcatraz, and still has five years left on his sentence. It’s a comical stance to take about such a heartfelt matter, but I love it. The way Zach screams “Alcatraaaaaaz” in the chorus in unrivalled in all of music. It’s honestly breath-taking, both physically and emotionally: tried to hold the note as he does and you’ll be panting like a dog at the end of it! Listen to it once, get the lyrics up and scream those words for hours on end (but then come back and read the rest of this….)!

So, what do the words mean? It’s about how he regrets not having approached this girl, and either he is regretting his mistake so much that he cannot even allow himself to love anymore or he has missed his chance with this girl and he won’t be able to be with her and thus his heart is locked away, untouchable. He blames himself but does not understand his punishment of having to wait to recover. He also needs time to heal and be able to go out and love again and the prison is as much for his protection as it is to punish him. However, this fortress guarding his heart is hurting him too. His heart is atrophying and he needs to undo his mistake- a task compared to bringing down the stars. Nevertheless, he still remembers his pains and “scars” from his past failure. The difference is this time he’s willing to open up and show them to his saviour. He also shows that he has learnt from his mistakes and has repented for them. Nostalgia is also mentioned in the chorus, saying how he longs to have not suffered as he has. He has also learnt that a relationship can never be perfect and that a perfect one is a mythical entity, existing only in fairy tales. He has learnt to ignore these people and to not compare himself to them and is now happier in his own skin. He then goes on the say that he has recovered and is now able to manoeuvre around the pitfalls filled with pain the missed chance has dug. All of this is strung together by a powerful voice and a group of some incredible musicians. I cannot imagine it was easy to absolutely perfect the hold on Alcatraz. The breaths after he drives that much power into a single word shows how much strain he is putting on his body to smash it, to get that emotion across. Alcatraz is a work of art! It should be on everyone’s desert island disc list.

Antichrist

So, after such an incredible peak, this small alt-rock band from York disappeared right? No. Very no. They kept it up and kept going. Antichrist was their next song and it again is awesome. On the band’s page, they say:

“This was characterised in the single ‘Antichrist’ which declares that regardless of our colour, gender, sexuality or our financial status; we are all born equal.”

And I can see this. The lyrics are clearly about the openness the writer believes in and wishes the world would accept. He feels that it is wrong to have to use the term “Antichrist” to describe himself and others like him, just because they are sexually open and proud of it. This is the same for “self-confessional” which shows he feels a negative view from society as confessions are linked with sin and wrong-doing. He also shows that he believes what he is doing is right as he describes himself as “a Lazarus boy”, (Lazarus is a Christian term meaning “helped by god”). This is not the first comparison between Zach and deities as he sings “To me, I’m a god”. This adds meaning to the Lazarus line as it shows he has helped others in his self-professed role as a god, but also himself. This shows how he has been excluded because of his often flamboyant and forward nature. Its power is only emphasized by his past struggles with dyslexia. He has, however, come to terms with it and has made it a positive part of him, which he is so proud of that he mentions it in his Instagram bio. Before the final chorus, there are three lines. The first two are identical. In them, he sings about tackling “the heavens”. The heavens are just a continuation of the continuous religious metaphor Zach has been using. It is a metaphor for taking on those who are higher up and dictate the rules for others while being exempt from them. Zach confirmed this in his interview with Louder than War. The last line of the three is the line Zach held. As with Alcatraz, he stretched his voice out for a whole bar to hold “again”. He screams about being able to finally be “born again” into his true self, unhindered by the rules of the wealthier and more powerful.

This song has a powerful, overtly positive message and great sound to go with it. Even if you do not like the message, it is still such a great song to sing along to, with a strong beat and a wonderful melody. Again, go listen to it! If you like the message, the video brings more of the same. It compares the rules, set by those who are watching and not partaking in the activities they set the rules for,  to historical oppressors. While under their gaze, the world is black and white, and lifeless. It’s mechanical, and the filmography sticks to a strict rule of thirds. However, there are brief glimpses of colour where the band releases their energy and can express themselves. the frames of colour always have a person in the centre as well, showing that the band believes that free expression is good for the people and fighting for it is fighting for those people.

Two Islands

“Two Islands” was their next single. It’s a song Zach has said is about having his heart broken, as revealed in a live performance in November of 2018. Zach asked the audience for “some quiet please” and said, “this song is about having my heart broken” (according to genius user Meistroooo). The song starts off quiet, with guitar strumming as the melody and bassline. They sound hypnotic and soothing, instantly revealing the different, more mellow sound, which they were going for. The melody rises and falls in these first few bars. When Zach starts singing, he’s sad and quiet, conveying a really powerful sincerity we haven’t seen before now from him. This is backed up in the video by the extreme use of chiaroscuro. Zach starts off by showing us that his lover used to be very dear to him and that they have since broken up. The second line tells us about all the hopes and dreams she has inspired in him, to reach for the stars. He questions their actions as a couple saying that following past things and carrying out an old way of life is ridiculous. Despite their current distance, he still thinks about her and wants her to think about him again. The pre-chorus describes the valley between them, as they are in two different high places, separated not only by this valley but also by the sea between their “two islands”. The hold on islands is incredible again. They always get it just right! The chorus starts with an imperative to feel him breathe, showing the extent of his desire for her. He wants to spend a night with her under the stars. Violet has a strong link to self-expression and individualism. The violet coloured mist is thus obscuring the stars showing how his desire to kiss who he likes may be getting in the way of a happy monogamous relationship. Then Zach, perhaps rather vainly, mentions how well crafted his music is and how he feels underappreciated for it. I would agree that KNO is underappreciated, but I really cannot get behind him saying it. Verse two describes how he is still stunned at his former lover. He feels happy when he thinks of the two of them together. His “fool’s paradise” is them both being enthralled by each other’s brilliance, but he feels he is lacking in this department. He shows his awe for her, describing her lights as warm, showing that he is by contrast cold. Zach still thinks he feels her image lingering on his skin and on his tongue: he’s elevated when with her. The problem is he knew how it made him feel, not how it felt. He just wants to experience it again and to feel that haunting dream. The chorus sequence repeats and leads into a bridge. It links the chorus to a mutated version of the first verse. It shows how her unchanged stance on their relationship has led him to realise that their relationship was already breaking down. He says that they had it all, so much so that they embodied great land structures. He realised that this strength caused their eventual downfall as they couldn’t maintain the expectations set for each other in the honeymoon period of their love. He admits that it’s over and that they are over. The hold of the last note beyond Zach finishing the note is symbolic of him holding on to their relationship, despite it being over.

“Two Islands” is one of their more emotional songs, more sincere and less obscuringly powerful. It’s another great song from them!

I’m really sorry I had to split this into two parts. I ran out of time and I thought that it would be better to get what I had done out there, than to let it linger. Part Two will be out by Tuesday next week.