Max's Music Mondays with Laraw and Cait Harris
I AM BACK with two gems and delights from Harry, Saya Grey, Beharie, and Boyish
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, follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :)
Yeah ok ok I missed last week but guess what!? That was last week!! This week is memorial day and no better way to celebrate than by finding and writing about two incredible songs from two incredible artists.
I was going to write this whole thing about how Harry’s House had engrossed me so much that there was nothing else I could do but listen to it over and over and then couldn’t bare to write about anything else. But the truth is I was feeling very tired and uninspired last week and I just needed the break. But back at it this week with two truly wonderful songs that I am THRILLED to be sharing.
I hope you enjoy :)
This Week’s Songs
Please please follow along here ^^ for this week’s and every week’s songs. They’re all really good I swear!!! <3 Please like and enjoy and send to someone you like and enjoy!!
Laraw - Scissors
Stoked to be writing this, feeling kind of lucky if I’m honest. I could’ve SWORN I already wrote about Laraw, but my research (looking through my playlist) suggests otherwise!!! So either 1) Laraw is new to you and you’re about to fall in love with this song or 2) you remember me raving about Laraw when they dropped This Is How I Lost My Friends a song I still blast regularly so they aren’t new to you but you’re about to fall in love with this song regardless.
Ok on to the song. There’s something so sharp about Laraw’s voice, not in the like, flat/sharp way but cutting through it all so cleanly, pushing to the absolute edge without applying too much pressure. It’s a simple arrangement over this 90’s guitar feel, but even as the drums and bass join, Laraw is still the star and right in front of it all. The production is so good across the board too - there’s something happening with her voice, the tiniest cuts in and out as phrases begin and end, that who-knows-what-it-is feedback to welcome the drums in, the vocal layers that show up then too. And now, thirty seconds in to the song, I do have to make sure you are sitting down, buckled up, etc. because wow this thing is about to take off.
The chorus is massive and punchy and aggressive and powerful, a less-is-more approach that makes each moment hit so damn hard it’s ridiculous. But I guess so would sticking scissors in my heart!!! It’s grungy and gnarly and fuzzy, but still feels so fresh and bright all the same.
The second verse settles back in as the story continues to unfurl. Laraw reflecting back and seeing how little this really meant even if it felt bigger. Accepting that even if it felt right it wasn’t what she wanted or needed, taking the heartbreak head on. You can feel the blood boiling and it just makes the next chorus that much more powerful. Ok now I am just realizing maybe I thought her vocals were sharp because I was thinking about scissors?? And I am embarrassed I didn’t realize that sooner/try to do that in the first place. But embarrassed as I might be, the chorus absolutely crushes once again. Just so sweet how it lands. And things only get sweeter, as we get a sick instrumental break/guitar solo that 16yo me would’ve lost his mind over, and tbh current day me would too (and definitely is). This song just goes, Laraw is a certified rockstar and I love this song a whole lot.
Follow Laraw on IG / Spotify
Cait Harris - Barcelona
It’s Memorial Day so it’s Summer imo. And this one just feels oh so right. Diving right into the pool - that light percussion with each sound fitting so delightfully, swelling synths bright and bouncy, Cait Harris singing about the sun on her skin. Instantly transporting me poolside and warming me up. But not like dog days of summer this is late afternoon, early evening, breeze in the air Summer and I am in heaven. The whole song swaying back and forth as Harris just rips off incredible moment after incredible moment. That tone??? The way she presses on the word skin, almost squeezing it until the second half of the word comes oozing out. Even her breathes add beauty to the track. That breath after Ocean standing out early in this on. And please don’t miss the easy run off the back of waves. It’s just all so wonderful.
The easiness, the smoothness remains, but we pick up the pace a little after we clear our throats at 25 seconds. Harris takes on an entirely new flow, urgent yet patient(??), moving quick but hey it’s Summer, there’s no rush. The writing is really great - funny, fun, but getting the point across clearly and efficiently. And any Zack Fox reference gets bonus points in my book. It’s an effortless switch, the moment coming so naturally and bringing so much more energy to the song. At 45 seconds, we take a moment, Harris floating in the sun for just a breathe. It brings us to the chorus, that first line hilarious and tender all the same. A smile on her face as she sings, this lover’s proclamation isn’t true but the sentiment is sweet nevertheless. The production continues to shine here. There’s something new now, buried way down there that’s like half ad-lib shout and half puppy barking?? It’s a pop of noise that I didn’t know how bad I needed, its presence pulling the shape of the song with it. And the harmonies!!! Simple but so sick.
A moment of instrumental heat before verse two. True sitting at the resort energy. It just feels so hot and easy. Another killer first line leads us back in, Harris confident and proud as she’s seen, another playful and sexy moment. Right after, at 1:41 she steps back to check in with her audience. Do they understand? Can they even keep up?? The question breaks the pace, and allows us to chill for a bit. Harris back out in front, the band stripped back, a new rendition of the chorus that feels more intimate and personal, more direct, more real. As it goes it picks up steam, before pausing and keeping it honest, “Wait. You’re not enough to react”. It’s a killer line and sets off the rest of track. Layers and layers adding in an avalanche across the outro of this song, stronger and stronger by the moment until these claps and you say’s carry us home. A gem, my goodness.
Follow Cait Harris on IG / Spotify
Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.
(click this ^^ for the other full playlist lol)
Harry Styles - Harry’s House
ahahahahahahahahahaha once again, he’s done it. I am absolutely obsessed with this record from top to bottom. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but every time I hear a new Harry song I’m so taken by it, floored by his ability to make great contemporary and also timeless music. This album is so juicy, different than Fine Line in the best ways. Still Harry being Harry, winking right at us with every maybe-a-little-too-much lyric, pushing each song to its arena-anthem-eruption. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about this one a lot for some time to come, so I won’t get into everything just yet. But start off with my two current/early favs:
Daylight. Utterly unique sounds swirling, a perfect symphony. Drums roll in, Harry too - so smooth, you can hear the smile on his face as he looks back. The first verse is a showcase for his writing, specific without being specific, no names or places needed to get these feelings across. The pre-chorus also perfect - sexy and cheeky and silly and hot. The first chorus itself is calm and gentle, the synths and bass the stars in this moment. But then it explodes, the song instantly getting ten times as big, knocking me out of my chair. It simmers down again, the formula the same, the harmonies now a bigger piece of the puzzle. The explosion hits before the chorus this time around, just enough shock and surprise to make it fresh and keep it hitting hard. Instant fav, instant add to my running playlist, instantly replayed almost every time I listen.
Daydreaming. I mean……….. Timeless party music with gorgeous vocals and an even hotter brass section. It’s wild. This is pulled out of another era, and yet you can see Harry dancing across the stage to this song in 30 years too. And the song is a testament to Harry’s success. Let’s be honest, the lyrics are… plain??? There’s no earth-shattering insights to be learned here, but he gets away with it, because when he does it, he does it. It’s miraculous. If I sang “Stay until the morning / 'Cause, baby, lovin' you’s the real thing” it would fall flat, be a corny line, but when Harry sings it I’m melting into the earth overwhelmed by him and his energy. It’s so fucking wild ahaha I can’t take it.
Saya Grey - EMPATHY 4 BETHANY
Saya Grey keeps winning. The chord progression in the intro is so adventurous, who else is doing anything like this?? Grey’s voice as fascinating and stunning as ever, so breathy, and so much texture. The songwriting matches too:
I wanna run but I've run out of places to run to
We’ve hardly begun and my army is already fighting you
Ok welcome to a sick song I guess!!!! But it’s the chorus that I’m freaking out about the most. Someone twists the angelic filter all the way up before it hits, stretching out to the horizon. Grey’s voice with an entirely different delivery, I can feel the tears building as she sings. It’s a devastating thought, seeing an inevitable future with this new love, sure of it’s eventual destruction and sure it’s going to be Grey who ruins it. Honestly, we’ll get too close, I'll go ghost, you'll have my clothes in hopes you remember
At nearly five minutes long, Grey has blessed us again, a swirling, evolving, and really beautiful song. That comes to a close with a muted trumpet soloing out of nowhere and painting even clearer, the longing and loneliness and fear under the moonlight.
Beharie - When Are We Going
WOwowowowowow this is stunning. Some oohs over guitar and bass, already sunny and warm, the day rising, sunlight peering into the center of the forest where Beharie sits still, his band all the company and support he needs. His voice is so rich, an unbeatable tone. His voice sounds wise and honest, I trust every word spilling out. This Why do I feel like section delivered so well, the subtle and light harmony really doing something special. It blossoms so perfectly into the chorus, the whole band, some bells, some strings, and a few new voices. Awe-inspiring, truly. Each piece just works so well with the last, each sound so meant for its moment. It’s the kind of song I could just sit in and savor for hours on loop. Ugh, it’s a doozy. And when that sax drops with the powerful lalala’s I go truly nuts, flipping over every table in the coffee shop, making the baristas hand over the aux so I can blast this as loud as possible, everyone instantly on their feet clapping and cheering and thanking me for bringing this masterpiece into their lives (all true I stg).
Boyish - My Friend Mica (the ep and the song)
We love Boyish and they love their friends!!! I am amidst a big “anything about friendship will make me cry” moment in my life right now. I miss and love my friends so much all of the time, so anything that hints at the beauty of friendship just destroys me. And this song is no different. Even now, listening for the at least tenth time, I’m tearing up as I read along with the lyrics. It’s so loving, so generous, a well-rounded view of a friend, finding so much to adore in the whole of their friend - the good and the maybe less good. Such human fears sang so plainly and surely, this one is really something. And the rest of the EP absolutely whips too, folks, they rock!!!
Back next week probably!!! Sending my love,
Max