Various Small Flames’

Songs of 2017

Anamon – Kneel Old
Android Automatic – Dark Roads*
Angie McMahon – Slow Mover
Basement Revolver – Johnny Pt. 2
Baxter Roy Long – Paribanou
Bea Troxel – Let Them Know
Big Thief – Mary
Black Belt Eagle Scout – Soft Stud
Bully – Running
Cayetana – Mesa
Charly Bliss – Percolator
Chastity Belt – Different Now
CHUCK – Happy Birthday
The County Liners – Maria
The Courtneys – Tour
Craig Finn – God in Chicago
Crumb – Locket
Crushing – Emery Board
Cut Worms – Like Going Down Sideways
David Bazan – Care
Distant Reader – First Try
Emperor X – God Save Coastal Dorset
Fits – Ice Cream on a Nice Day
German Error Message – 2017*
Gleemer – Soothe Me
Great Grandpa – Favorite Show
Haley Heynderickx – Oom Sha Lala
Hiccup – Teasin’
Horse Culture – Texaco
Illuminati Hotties – ‘(You’re Better) Than Ever’
Japandroids – No Known Drink or Drug
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – If We Were Vampires
Jay Som – The Bus Song
Jeremy Squires – Night Cars
Katie Ellen – Drawing Room
Lizzie No – Monuments
Lomelda – Bam Sha Klam
Mike Pace and the Child Actors – Audits & Surveys
Meursault – The Mill
Mount Eerie – Crow
Nice Legs – Mighty Three
Oceanator – Nowhere Nothing
Ohyeahsumi – Daisy
Old Earth – Pit Dynamics
PASTEL – Stammer
Peter Silberman – New York
Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness
Pope – Talk Me Out of It
Protomartyr – Windsor Hum
Rainwater – Place
Ratboys – Elvis is in the Freezer
Rick Rude – Bald & Fat in Houston, TX
Roadkill Ghost Choir – Classics (Die Young)
Rose Dorn – Dirt
See Through Dresses – Lucy’s Arm
Shannen Moser – A Funeral, A Friend, My Sanity
Sinai Vessel – Died On My Birthday
Slaughter Beach, Dog – Phoenix
SOAR – Fort Funston
Soft Fangs – Jordan // Jackson Elementary
Spartan Jet-Plex – We Believe
Strange Ranger – House Show
Strawberry Runners – Garden Hose
Timid, The Brave – Alice
Us and Only Us – Bored of Black
Vagabon – Cold Apartment
Viewfinder – Instant Moonlight
The Washboard Abs – Veil
Waxahatchee – Never Been Wrong
Wild Pink – Albert Ross
William Ryan Fritch – In Our Blood
The Wooden Sky – Swimming in Strange Waters
Ylayali – Cherry Tomatoes

*Strictly released in 2016, but barely, and we covered it in Jan. 2017.

If you missed it, you can see our Favourite Albums of 2017 list here. Also, the curious can find such lists from previous years here.

The post Favourite Songs of 2017 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Their debut full-length, dark/gold, is the one of the latest releases on the ever-reliable Father/Daughter Records, and has all the ideals and heart that you’d expect from a F/D album.
The quartet swap lyrical duties and add vocals in charming four-part harmonies, creating an album that’s equally adept at tender openness and rocking out. ‘Fort Funston’ has a joyride-style indie pop meets crunchy punk rock vibe, telling the story of a break-up, set against a backdrop of the titular Bay Area nature reserve.

“Bury it in the mollusc and moss
to be forgotten in the rocks
let the waves erase
the Milky Way of shattered bones”

There’s a weary and emotionally fragile vibe on ‘Fatigue’, the narrator frustrated by a lack of reciprocation from a loved one. This theme is continued ’19th Ave’. “Loneliness is my worst addiction” go the lyrics, “But I can’t stop checking my phone, I’m so scared of being alone”. The track is about warily beginning a new relationship, of taking that risk in opening up to someone new. But, despite the apprehension and uncertainty, it ends on a positive note, including the line “I’m learning how to allow happiness.”

‘Old Dogs’ seems to flip the situation on its head, the narrator now the one who isn’t returning calls. It’s a neat twist from previous tracks, and one which reminds us that problems in any given situation is rarely the fault of just one person, that this human interaction business can be complicated.

“I’m sorry I can’t express
the feelings that I suppress
I can’t keep making you guess”

‘Domino’ hits that perfect balance between serious songwriting and subtly joyous pop punk. Set in the aftermath of a sudden death, the song sounds strong and resilient despite the pensive tone, the group chorus a bright and heartening peak. Final track ‘Keeping a Record’ smoulders with a tension that builds to a finale which sees all the band members join in with the lines, “I am keeping a record, you gave me”.

The vocal harmonies and shared songwriting, combined with the personal themes and self-reflection, have a curious effect. Whether by intent or accident, it feels like whatever problems and worries are raised are shared across the band, and by extension all of us. Too often music deals with these issues in a raw and lonely way, but SOAR show that it’s possible to be introspective and offer a sense of community at the same time.

dark/gold is out now on cassette via Father/Daughter Records, in November on vinyl via Salinas Records and as a download from the SOAR Bandcamp page.

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