CurrentlyProphetic

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Love Me Forever! by Lantern Lights from Lantern Lights
lanternlightsmusic.com
“I was turned onto this band a few weeks ago after having the opportunity to open for them at a coffee shop in St. Louis. While live they perform as a large group, the heart and soul of the band comes from Kari Wasoba and Gareth Schumacher, a married couple who wrote and recorded all the songs themselves. ‘Love Me Forever!’ plays like a toned down, more adorable ‘Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ song, and Kari’s vocal melody is the type that finds its way into your brain, never seeming to leave. Played live, Kari and Gareth’s relationship seems to bleed through the music, and ‘Love Me Forever!’ is one of the most honest, heartfelt songs I’ve heard in a long time.” [Nate – St. Louis, MO]

In My Life by The Beatles from Rubber Soul
thebeatles.com | wikipedia
“I’m realizing more and more as I grow older that ‘In My Life,’ by The Beatles is one of my favorite songs. I would attribute this first and foremost to the song’s simple and relatable lyrics. I think that you could take that song and apply it to any situation, making it timeless and universal. It reaches a place of basic human instinct that a lot of other songs don’t get to.” [Kelsey – Orlando, FL]

 Green Aisles by Real Estate from Days
realestatetheband.com | wikipedia
“I just graduated from college, and the transition into this new freedom has been strange. Everything I thought I knew and every direction that I thought I wanted to go in has changed. I don’t even know who I am anymore really. Being a college student was my identity, but when that ceased, I got a false notion that I was no longer being a productive individual. This song helped show me that this season in my life is not a bad thing. Right now I have no debt or obligations, and I would be a fool to not take advantage of this time to just be, to soul search, to figure out who I am and who I want to be. Even the guitar riff reminds me that it’s okay to chill. I may not be producing grades and degrees right now, but I am learning how to live and that’s probably more important.” [Juan – Anaheim, CA]

From Above by Ben Folds & Nick Hornby from Lonely Avenue
benfolds.com | wikipedia
“This song is the soundtrack to a broken heart: a mournful melody about would-be soul-mates, drifting close but never uniting. Hornby takes a sardonic yet sensitive jab at the whole concept of ‘soul-mates,’ bringing realism to romance. In the bridge Hornby expresses an indebtedness to those unfortunate souls who never quite find their mate. He writes, ‘Maybe that’s how books get written / Maybe that’s why songs get sung / Maybe we owe the unlucky ones.’ And let’s not forget Mr. Folds’ gorgeous-as-ever pianism, taking Hornby’s lyrics and embellishing them beautifully.” [Curator’s Choice]

Live Your Life like a Dream by Pagan’s Mind from Heavenly Ecstasy
pagansmind.com/ | wikipedia
“This song is very cheesy, but it’s also very inspirational. I’m having one of those humbling experiences right now, seeing millions of people who have nothing and will never have anything. It’s one of those things where you can’t comprehend how lucky you are to have the things you have. This song hits home. The chorus says to ‘give a hand to the weak and weary,’ and I wish nothing more than to do that, but I can’t. This song gives me hope that maybe one day I can make a difference and help someone live their life like a dream. And the solo is freaking badass.” [Garrion – Somewhere in the Middle East…]

Truth by Alexander from Alexander
alexanderebert.com | wikipedia
“‘Truth’ is a song about duality. A reggae-hip-hop infusion, the mood of the song balances between being lighthearted and lackadaisical, laying the scene for a commentary on the duality of human experience—the struggle between light and darkness in us all. While I don’t think that ‘hav[ing] faith in ourselves,’ as Alexander croons, is a worthy maxim, I still vibe with his notion of allowing both our darkness and our light to shine, that part of being whole is being vulnerable to others, open and honest about our strengths, as well as our shortcomings.” [Jake – Lebanon, PA]

Haiku by Tally Hall from Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum
tallyhall.com | wikipedia
“What I love about this song is the little embedded trick of the lyrics. Every string of words is a failed attempt at a haiku, being just one syllable off on the last line. I didn’t even notice the trick until my brother pointed it out to me. Gotta love how clever Tally Hall can be.” [Sam – Hillsdale, MI]

I Found a Boy by Adele from 21
adele.tv | wikipedia
“Adele’s voice and her words truly resonate—both familiar and profound. So many times I’ve put on an Adele album while folding laundry or washing dishes, and forty minutes or so later realized that I’m one-hundred percent emotionally invested in the lyrics, singing my heart out, all tasks abandoned. The most interesting part to me (or most embarrassing), is that I’m singing my heart out about experiences of love and loss I’ve never had. I’m three years older than Adele, without even one love I could write a song about myself. And yet, without any proof of experience, my heart inexplicably knows longing and scorn just the same. I like to think it’s because we all really are connected, that our hearts share a communal knowledge we can’t truly understand in our minds. And our drive to create—whatever the medium—is at its core an attempt to make the journey to that deeper space we share.” [Kris – Chicago, IL] 

Blues Run the Game by Jackson C. Frank from Jackson C. Frank
myspace | wikipedia
“I came across the Simon and Garfunkel version of this song recently while listening to XM radio, which sent shivers down my spine. But, while that was a beautiful version, and satisfying in its way, I tracked down the tune’s true origins and realized an even better version: the original. I discovered that the actual author was Jackson C. Frank, a now obscure singer-songwriter who influenced Paul Simon (and lived with him for a time in England). If you care to dig a little, you will discover that what little is known of his life story reads like a litany of pitiable setbacks and tragedies, which makes his folk-blues lament all the more haunting. Outside of context, ‘Blues Run the Game’ stands on its own as a beautifully poignant reminder of heartache and loss, of longing and letting go; but within the context of Frank’s personal life, the song takes on depths of meaning too powerful for tears. And you will not find a more perfect lyric than this: ‘Living is a gamble, baby/Loving’s much the same.’” [Aaron – Auburn, NY]

Secret of the Easy Yoke by Pedro the Lion from It’s Hard to Find a Friend
davidbazon.com | wikipedia
“I hear this song in two parts, cut almost perfectly in half. Up until 3:30 Bazan tells the story of a person who is just not meeting God in the church setting due to hardness of heart, or maybe some less than genuine worship habits from the ‘devoted.’ He does a lot of talking in the first half of the song. The bitching (albeit heartfelt) ensues up until the 3:40 mark, where he says, ‘I still want to trust you.’ At this point the mood of the music shifts to where I believe God begins to speak. Instead of talking as much as the character from the first half, God simply says, ‘Peace. Be still.’ The music builds with a dynamic weight that not many three piece arrangements could easily achieve, much in the way the presence of a speaking God can fill a space in an inexplicable way.” [Travis – St. Louis, MO]

Angelyne by The Jayhawks from Rainy Day Music
jayhawksofficial.com | wikipedia
“This is a wonderful song about a broken relationship. It hearkens back to the old-country sounds that made American music great. The twang grabs me every time. The vocal line is also very passionate. It could even be called a happy break-up song based on its upbeat tempo. Check it out! Perhaps you, too, will catch the alternative-country bug….” [Evan – Munson, OH]