🎶 Max's Music Mondays with Alex Ivy & Cosette
well well well if it isn't me writing about good songs again....
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays. My ~music discovery newsletter~ where I get too excited about songs I love. I hope you love them too. Your subscriptions go such a long way. Free subscribers help these artists get the audience they deserve, paid subscriptions help keep this thing running and also PAY THE ARTISTS!!! 2/3 of every subscription goes right back to the artists I write about. Please consider supporting independent music and music journalism(?) here today <3
Happy Monday, happy mid-July, I hope your week is off to a great start. We’re fresh off a massive music weekend. A new Remi Wolf album is obviously a landmark moment for this newsletter (for me, to be specific) but I am also loving the Clairo record. It’s so beautiful, so timeless, it’s been soundtracking every drive, every walk, every quiet moment at home. I keep reaching for it and can’t wait to savor it more. I’m sure I’ll be back at the end of the month with a lot to say about both.
Jokes on me for thinking I had a real wrangle on Album of the Year candidates only to find maybe my new top two(?!?) just a couple weeks later. Should’ve known…
Anyways, we’ve got two incredible songs for you this week, really proud and excited to share. I hope you enjoy them, and if you do - please share them with a friend!! The more the merrier, these artists all deserve to be heard by everyone. Special special music.
Alrighty, on to the songs!!
Every song added here!! Please like the playlist if you haven’t already!
Alex Ivy - MJ
I stumbled onto Alex Ivy’s music during my weekly “sit around and click for a few hours and just see what happens” and thank goodness I did. Instantly drawn to their distinct and consistent sound, it’s exciting to see a project so new have a sound that is so well defined. Everything really, visually and sonically. Even the artist-made playlist on their Spotify is a clear image, and honestly reads like a playlist I would’ve made - Dijon, Kacy Hill, Leith Ross, boylife, Charli, and so many other inspirations. Obbbbviously, I was excited. And the music really delivers.
MJ is their third single, second this year. The all-too-rare, six-minute epic. With a runtime this long, the song has patience. Space to play. The intro a slow rise from nothing, this haze buzzing off the ground until a swelling chord finds the confidence to take over. The vocals start after the 40 second mark, in a way that we don’t get much of these days. Not in any hurry, letting the song’s shape start to emerge first.
The lyrics are great, and kick off with a doozy:
I’d kill for a second / To lie down on common ground
We join in the midst, or the aftermath, of some disagreement. And there’s an earnestness in the performance that feels real. A real shaking-my-head in the singing, still can’t believe this is what’s happened type vibe. Inside your miIiIiIind drawn out and gorgeous. The vocals kind of reminds me of Rostam here, that gritty tone gently pouring out. Beyond the lyric, some beeps and bloops begin. Teasing us with how this song might unfold. Ushering in something new.
The band quiets, and Wake me up in a year gets belted out, a definite demand, tired of all of this. Pushing the vocals harder here they really make their point. This bit is so so nice - the beautiful melody, the subtle harmonies, the growling guitar way out in the distance, the reverb and delay on the vocals. The song seems to be billowing out endlessly, only for them to catch the balloon’s string at the very last second and yank it back down to earth. The vocals so intimate and direct as they leave Fred’s over those warm keys. I fucking love this part. Wow, is it good. I hope you’re ok repeated, a powerful punctuation.
The magic of contrast showcased again, the chorus of ooo’s with a soft start, yelling out over the top this line about the bulls, it’s so sick and exciting to find in the middle of this slow swirling song. On the lyric’s repetition, things get so messy, so nasty, so MUCH, only to get cut off without hesitation. Piano chords with a wet guitar dancing above them, mumbling chatter from somewhere talking aimlessly, some sniffles as we continue. Our singer steps out in this falsetto, the synth rising up underneath them, the threat of something about to erupt giving more intensity to such tender vocals. The release brings in drums for the first time, the band now just rocking the hell out. Unpindownable (which is a good word to use), the song transforms yet again with this final lyric repeated over, no longer the focus, instead a perfect piece of the puzzle in this massive dance music moment.
It slows, as each layer gets pealed back, the final 30 seconds a chance to recover and breathe. What a damn tune huh. Excited to see what’s to come for a band like this.
Follow Alex Ivy on Instagram // on Spotify
Cosette - highschool
I found this song back in April and who knows why I didn’t write about it then. But this week I was going back through my “hmm maybe I’ll write about these songs” playlist and this one was undeniable. Leaping out at me from the jump. It’s so much fun and such a thrill - honestly the perfect partner to Alex Ivy’s song above.
It opens with this guitar walking down a few chords. A quote from Moulin Rouge appears first, and while I have never seen and don’t understand what that moment means in its original context, I really do enjoy it here. An impassioned belief in love, how do you say no to that? Cosette replaces him, her voice has such a nice tone, that teeeeeeen stretching out with another layer giving it an even more imperfect/human beauty, I’m really into it. And you might stop me right here and say, “Max you are really back on your bullshit with this one” and I’d say, yes, it does seem that way doesn’t it? But trust, you have no idea the ride we’re about to go on.
Just the next line alone changes everything. A pop in the vocal, a fluttering synth, and a new guitar riff that feels picture perfect for the tone of the song. One tiny moment and a glimpse at all that is possible. This continues into the next line, every word seeming to get manipulated. The song almost breaking down in front of our eyes.
jk it’s not breaking down it’s actually coming alive!!!!! Punchy drums pushing the pace, a bass dropping on top, Cosette still calm as she easily glides across the melody. Funny how her performance remains the same but feels entirely different here. Little bit of wizardry.
The writing is incredible, the early lines give us the picture - falling for a celebrity as impossible as it might be. As song shifts into high gear, Cosette throws us straight into that fantasy, filling out the details of their life together. Starting from ‘how’d you meet’ but quickly turning into the more complicated(?) parts of dating someone you think you already know? Even in the fantasy it’s not that simple. I specifically love the stretch from 0:36-0:45 or so, the phrases bobbing up and down floating into each other, blurring into one big lyric that just won’t end. It’s really a delight and done so well.
The chorus hits quick, but no time to dawdle we gotta catch that uber. Takes us straight to the second verse where things get WILD. It immediately opens at 1:13 and my jaw drops. So many vocal layers twisted and thrown up into different octaves, different keys, building out these gnarly chords that settle into a soft foundation really fast. Shining in a perfect R&B harmony moment as they hold hands, the music matching that feeling. But this song is relentless and nothing lasts forever, so were thrown back into this ever-surprising verse which runs fast right back to the chorus again!
No second wasted, no sound wasted, all of it sick and exciting and a true joy to hear. It’s fun and loud and dancey and slightly sinister(?) but also beautiful. I don’t know, the whole thing is wonderful really. Hope you enjoyed it too.
Follow Cosette on Instagram // on Spotify
Last Week on All The Other Days:
As mentioned, Remi Wolf and Clairo albums are the bulk of what I’ve been listening to this week. But still managed to fall in love with the new Bartees Strange song. Adriana McCassim kicked off her album rollout and I’m so excited about what’s to come (see you at Zebulon on July 16th??). Also been playing the new Merce Lemon song, Backyard Lover, on repeat too.
XOXO see you next week,
Max