Max's Music Mondays with Aria Wood + an exclusive Mei Semones performance
a great tune and a great performance, plz check this out!!!
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. If you do, you can follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :) Your paid subscriptions go towards supporting the artists you read about here too!! That’s right(!!), the artists who made This Weeks Songs are getting paid!! <3
We’re back with our second exclusive post for paid subscribers below! The incredible Mei Semones joins us with two string players at her side. An amazing rendition of of Semones’ Sukikirai. It is the thrill of a lifetime to get to work with these artists directly, and it’s only possible with the support of our paid readers. If you want to be a part of this and continue offering me the opportunity to share these special projects, please consider upgrading your subscription today! If this wasn’t enough already, trust there’s some very exciting projects on the horizon, I hope you’ll be a part of it.
I am fresh off the plane, back from SXSW. A week of SO much music it’s hard to keep track of it all. What an incredible time, hustling from venue to venue alongside good friends and coworkers, eager to make it to the next set. Pulling each other from one person’s favorite band to another’s all day and all night. Magic happening every step of the way. There were so many highlights for me. Getting to see long time favorites like Runnner and Medium Build multiple times. Seeing personal favorites for the first time, shout out MICHELLE, the best band in the world. Finding joy in live performances that kept me coming back - I saw Barrie and her band’s choreo five times…. And of course discovering something new - Vanille, Thee Sacred Souls, Prima Queen, and so much more. A dang hoot and a half. Was so fun to be somewhere new, experience something like this, and start to build community within it - to see the same faces at shows over and over, was a special week.
All the while, I was so excited for this moment too. The Mei Semones performance below is KILLER, and I’ve been itching to write for a minute now. SXSW doesn’t really offer a lot of solitary creative time… So in my most tired and exhausted moment, thank goodness for this week’s song from Aria Wood for putting a pep in my darn step, yeehaw. If you’re interested in more about sxsw, let me know, I’d be happy to share a few more favs, maybe recommend you an artist or two. Reply back to this, or I’ll see u in the comments <3 But for now, let’s ride.
This Week’s Songs
Aria Wood - Nail Art
Just FLYING out of the gate. The synth chords popping in over a simple arpeggio. Faint hums filtered give it a little more shape too. But this thing is moving and it feels so good. Aria Wood’s first appearance, that Yeahhh breaking me out of this dream. Somehow caught in a meditative state after just a few seconds of this intro. It pulls us out, just in time for the first verse.
A verse that manages to push the pace and the energy even more. Wood starts running off thought after thought. This rapping/singing moment that powers through lyric after lyric. It’s fun, brimming with brilliant writing, shared with great delivery. Finding no trouble riding the groove, Wood spits out great lines that bounce between conversational and poetic. Got new clothes now I can’t do shit, honey is simple but so impactful, going on to weave in words like silhouette, shriveled, definition - all just giving this verse some character and texture and excitement even while the form stays consistent. The form, worth talking about too. Taking the intro loop and adding a methodical bass, break beat drums, and some claps to drive home the point. Managing to take the energy up a notch. The urgency doesn’t wear off, and before you know it, we’re soaring into the chorus.
It’s a bit of a magic trick, really. The next section taking an elegant melody, stretching out for the first time on this track, and still making it feel even faster?? I’m not sure how, but that’s the effect it has and it’s an effect I love. The call and response between the singing and chanting works so well, I can’t get enough. It’s so catchy, landing gracefully in golden hour light. The writing again so cool and confident and weird. Opening with I’m a walking work of art closing with technically human but I’m doubtful. Adding the melody is so simple but alters the entire universe of this song and feels monumental to me. Certainly leaving space in its wake as we rip on back to the second verse.
More genius writing perfectly delivered here, weatherproof roof / soft blue must be the first ever time those words have been assembled in quite this way. Wood just masterful in her writing, I am obsessed. Cruising through the minute mark, so much to take in already, we finally get a reprieve from the drums. Half a moment to breathe, even though you know they’re coming back soon enough. This song has too much energy not to. But not quite yet. Dropping back into the chorus with fantastic claps and the softest hi-hat you could imagine. The moment feels more open and more fluid, the claps shifting the groove in a big way. Also the space leaves more of a spotlight on the vocals, getting a closer listen. Hearing not only the lyrics better but that subtle harmony underneath the lead layers. The song full of beautiful mixing, really filling out the sound without ever over doing it. The drums drop back in, a new descending synth like a shooting star. Wood still sprinting by with another verse, the flow ever-evolving, triplets appearing out of nowhere. The moment ends with another perfect lyric - never wanna see him again / but it’s small town vibes so you gotta stay friends. Oof. Cheeky and painful all the same. We shift into the bridge here, synths ditched for keys. Vocal layers stacked and stacked, cresting so beautifully. A simple promise to stay honest, it’s mesmerizing. And it’d be enough to end there, but Wood isn’t ready to be done. Firing off a few more lines, the keys giving it new life, as do those harsh exhales tossed into open beats. A closing moment that captures more of the same - great performance, great production, great little choices everywhere to make this one special. This is her second single of the year, I’m excited to hear what else she’s got cooked up. Energy, writing, vocals, whatever it is, it’s gonna be good.
Follow Aria Wood on IG / Spotify
Next up is our monthly subscriber exclusive!!! A really stunning performance from Mei Semones. She’s gone above and beyond, bringing a couple friends to help deliver one heck of a song.
If Mei is new to you, you can check out my first post about her song, Kodoku, here -
A stunning song that I still swoon for every time it comes on. Her sound is so elegant, pulling Japanese and English verses together over guitars and strings. A singer songwriter with so much heart, an amazing voice, and ability to weave together indie sounds with jazzy influences and some violins to boot. I’m SO excited to get to work with Mei again, this time getting to share an exclusive live performance of Sukikirai with bandmates Noah Leong on the viola, and Claudius Agrippa on the violin. I freaked out when the file came through - it’s such a great tune and great take, the three coming together so well. The Brooklyn-based act is consistently putting out mind-blowing music and I can’t wait to see, to hear, what’s next.
For our free readers - it’s not too late! You can still join us! Supporting work like this and artists like Mei Semones by subscribing now! For just $5/mo you can get access to these monthly exclusive posts and give us another way to pay musicians and help support them in their careers. If the mission resonates, but money is an issue, just reply to this email - I still want you to be a part of this, it’s no big deal! Otherwise, we’ll be back next Monday with another new song and my March recap.
For our paid readers…