Tag: 2020s

Gabriel Kahane | Sit Shiva

Composer/songwriter/pianist/vocalist Gabriel Kahane occupies a very specific part of the musical firmament. His work has ranged from pop-inflected solo voice and piano to orchestral and chamber works. “I’m sort of trying to reconcile the very direct songwriter in me with the guy who’s interested in architecture and formal rigor and harmonic and rhythmic expansiveness or complexity,” (WBUR).

Kahane’s label, Nonesuch, describes his upcoming 2022 release Magnificent Bird: “The album … chronicles the final month of a year spent off the internet … (It) revels in the tension between quiet, domestic concerns, and the roiling chaos of a nation and planet in crisis. ‘Sit Shiva,’ the album’s first single … finds Kahane skirting the rules of his digital hiatus in order to mourn, online, the death of his maternal grandmother; in typical fashion, he mines not just pathos, but humor and grace amidst his family’s grief.  

In October 2020, the final month of his tech sabbatical, Kahane set out to write a song every day. ‘I wanted to create an aural brain scan at the end of this experiment,’ he explains, ‘and to give myself permission to write about small things, rather than trying to distill the enormity of the moment into grand statements. … My internet hiatus grew out of a belief that at root, our digital devices reinforce the fiction that convenience and efficiency have intrinsic value. That has implications with respect to climate crisis, to inequality, to our (in)ability to see ourselves in each other, to build the kinds of coalitions necessary to make a more just world. I wanted to leave it all behind not as a further expression of techno-pessimism, but rather in search of a positive alternative.'”

“Sit Shiva” is named after the Jewish tradition of the early part of mourning after a death of a loved one. In the case of the passing of Kahane’s grandmother, the video suggests an acutely modern version of the ritual. The tune, in C# major overall, is punctuated by a bridge in E major (2:25 – 2:43).

H.E.R. | Hold Us Together

“One of the most acclaimed R&B artists since 2016, the year her first EP found a rapt audience, H.E.R. has been celebrated for vulnerable yet assured love ballads and sharp protest songs alike,” (AllMusic). “The singer/songwriter maximizes the power of her honeyed vocals as a simultaneously poetic and straightforward lyricist, shifts to convincing MC mode on a dime, and is also a guitarist and producer. H.E.R. (2017), I Used to Know Her (2019), and Back of My Mind (2021), her three full-length recordings, have each featured platinum singles, including ‘Focus,’ ‘Could’ve Been,’ and ‘Damage.’ She has won four Grammys, most notably Song of the Year for ‘I Can’t Breathe’ (2020).”

H.E.R.’s track “Hold Us Together” is from the 2020 film Safety, which follows “the story of Ray-Ray McElrathbey, a freshman football player for Clemson University, who secretly raised his younger brother on campus after his home life became too unsteady,” (IMDB).

The gospel-infused ballad modulates up a half step at 3:27 via a hinge that features only the lead vocal as the accompaniment temporarily falls away. Many thanks to Ziyad for yet another of his many submissions!

Billy Porter | Children

Billy Porter is a 1991 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s drama program whose Twitter bio covers plenty of ground: Grammy, Emmy, Tony & Drama Desk winning actor, director, singer, dancer, writer, advocate. From IMDB‘s bio: “Billy Porter built a substantial reputation as a theatrical singer in Broadway productions such as Grease and Smokey Joe’s Cafe. He made his initial impact by placing ‘Love Is On The Way’ on the soundtrack to the film First Wives’ Club in 1996 …” He later won a Tony award in 2013 for his portrayal of Lola in Kinky Boots. His breakout TV role was Pray Tell in Pose, which debuted in 2018 and ran for three seasons. In 2021, he returned to his native Pittsburgh to shoot his feature film directorial debut, What If?

NME reports that Porter’s 2021 single “Children” was “co-written with Grammy-winning songwriter MNEK (Dua Lipa, H.E.R.) and Little Mix member Jade Thirwell. Porter said in a press release that ‘Children’ was ‘inspired by [his] life and everything [he’s] gone through to get here,’ saying that he’d always had an ambition to release music like it, but was dissuaded by the state of the industry and its lack of understanding towards what he wanted to express. ‘Music is my first love. I grew up singing in the church. When I first put out commercial music in 1997, the industry was not ready for all this black boy joy! But luckily the world has caught up.'” The tune starts in C minor and shifts to Db minor at 2:49.

George Harrison | My Sweet Lord

According to the video description on George Harrison’s Vevo channel, in honor of the 50th anniversary of George Harrison’s classic solo album All Things Must Pass, “a suite of new releases including a stunning new mix of the classic album by Grammy Award-winning mixer/engineer Paul Hicks, overseen by executive producer Dhani Harrison,” George’s son.

“…That’s the problem with being a really good songwriter in a band with two great ones,” (American Songwriter). “Since Harrison was only allotted one track per side of a typical Beatles album, his accumulation was substantial as the group disbanded around September of 1969. When he started recording what most consider his first solo project in 1970 … those tunes gushed out of him … The resulting collection is on anyone’s shortlist of finest Beatles solo releases, many placing it near the top.”

After starting in E major, “My Sweet Lord,” considered by many to be the centerpiece of the album, shifts to F# at 2:33. The video, released this month, stars dozens of noted actors, artists, and musicians, including Mark Hamill, Fred Armisen, Jeff Lynne, Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Jon Hamm, Shepard Fairey, Olivia and Dhani Harrison (George’s widow and son), and many others. Many thanks to our contributor Ziyad for this submission!

Lucky Daye | How Much Can a Heart Take (feat. Yebba)

Lucky Daye established a solid career as a songwriter before trying his hand as a performer, writing for the likes of Keith Sweat, Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, and others. “Neither explicitly retro nor overtly commercial, Lucky Daye is a singer/songwriter with a modern, slightly left-of-center approach to R&B with a foundation in classic soul,” (AllMusic).

From Exclaim.ca‘s review of Daye’s 2021 sophomore album, the duets-only Table for Two: “‘How Much Can a Heart Take,’ which features an assist from Arkansan songstress Yebba, is the EP’s crown jewel. It’s a bitter break-up track that plays like whiskey with a honey chaser. The verses are full of fiery attitude but thanks to Yebba’s spotlight-stealing vocals, the song unfolds into something lush and sweet near the chorus. Though the EP is light on ‘I love yous,’ it’s not nearly as depressing as it sounds. The instrumentals are deceptively warm and soulful throughout and Daye’s honeyed voice betrays the biting, sometimes tortured lyrics. It’s that juxtaposition that makes Table for Two so much fun.” 

After a start in C# minor, the wordy but relatively harmonically static verse opens up into a new vista with the chorus, which shifts into a G maj – C maj – A/B progression (G major-ish?) and then back to the original key. The pattern continues from there.

In addition to the live performance video below, don’t miss the original video as well, which features the two vocalists swapping roles while miming each other’s vocals.

Kristin Chenoweth | Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Emmy and Tony-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenowith released her second holiday album, Happiness Is…Christmas, in October. “I hope that they smile, and I hope that they are eating food and opening presents…and I hope they just are happy,” Chenowith said in an interview with The Christophers blog, discussing what she hopes people take away from the album. “And then when they come upon a song like ‘The Stories That You Told,’ I hope they remember somebody that they’ve lost and their smile…There’s been so much to be bummed out about and you have to really look – seek and ye shall find – and you will find happiness. That’s what I want people to find in this album.”

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is the penultimate track on the album, and modulates from G to Ab at 2:54.

Kelly Clarkson | Merry Christmas (To The One I Used To Know)

Kelly Clarkson released her second Christmas album, When Christmas Comes Around…, last October. “My purpose for choosing this lyric as the title of this project was to bring forth a sense of reality to the fact that we are probably in very different places emotionally When Christmas Comes Around…,” Clarkson said, explaining how she settled on the name. “Some of us are consumed with a new love, some of us reminded of loss, some filled with optimism for the coming new year, others elated for some much deserved time away from the chaos our work lives can sometimes bring us. Wherever you are, and whatever you may be experiencing, I wanted everyone to be able to connect to a message on this album. Each year you may even have a new favorite depending on where you are in your life, but while change can be unpredictable there is no better time of year, in my opinion, to breathe hope into one’s life and let possibility wander.”

This song, co-written by Clarkson and album producers Jason Halbert and Aben Eubanks, is the fourth track on the record; it modulates from F up to Gb at 1:20.

Pistol Annies | Make You Blue

Pistol Annies, an American country group made up of singers Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, released their first Christmas album, Hell of a Holiday, earlier this year. “Make You Blue,” a song about being lonely during the holidays, is the sixth track on the record. It modulates from E up a half step to F at 2:06.