Max's Music Mondays with Nathan Bajar
MMM AFTER DARK WATCH OUT
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays - a ~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 press that subscribe button! That would be meaningful to me!! Very, if I’m honest!!!
Hi haters. That’s right, I’m still here. But actually here isn’t here. Or at least where here usually is. My hollywood ass flew all the way to Portland, can you even believe it?? Anyways, so yeah, I’ve spent the whole day traveling and then working and didn’t have a chance to write this until this very moment (6:51 PST). Could I have written this at any point last week/weekend? Yeah sure probably!! But I didn’t! And that’s ok, right? *all of you nodding and murmuring in agreement* Yes! Thank you, you get it. And that’s why I love each of you individually and also collectively.
Anyways - I’m actually about to leave for dinner too. So I am keeping this short and sweet. The rare ONE SONG MMM. Again, I could’ve taken the week off but this song is so damn good it simply must be shared. Let it rip!!!!
This Week’s Songs
Please please follow along here ^^ for this week’s and every week’s songs. Each song is perfect and that is an objective fact and in no way my biased opinion I promise.
Daydreamer - Nathan Bajar
Talk about lush. My god. Strings like angels from the heavens carry that a gorgeous and tasteful guitar. Its riff twisting to a peak with a little flair, inviting the rest of the band in to join the fun. The moment is full of so many juicy details it’s hard to know where to start. But the clock is ticking so my keys are clicking (omg that is awful wow sorry but no time to stop now). The drums push on with the bass alongside, it’s moving with pace but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. The vocals are amazing, a clear lead with the gentlest layer for some color. The “go!” and “fuck!” yelled over the top give it so much personality too. And the songwriting is a damn joy - “can we just agree on what we’re eating before we start a fight”. It’s a bizarre balance of playfulness and pain that’s delivered perfectly here and throughout. Somewhere along the way, a nasty little drum fill ushered in another guitar, the whole track building slow but sure. That little yelp at 50 seconds (is adorable and) sends us flying into the chorus, the new chord progression matching the drummers’ urgency a little more, the shape of the song changing a little easier. We fall out into an instrumental break. Winds of ooo’s blow from side to side, guitars getting stronger by the minute, chugging on to hold us steady. The second verse absolutely destroys me - another “go!” to kick it off perfectly. Those guitar/bass chords surgical as they cut in, leaving so much space in their wake, brief as those moments are. Songwriting here feeling intimately personal and yet universal (except I hope none of you have experienced this!!) “Skipping all the songs that I love, tryna get me angry / Carelessly we scream in the car, missed another exit”. Again, scoring a 10 from both the playful judge and the painful judge. Gold medal shit. The moment builds so much tension, resolved almost too sweetly across that exit. Let-me-out’s come floating in, seeming sure but light. It’s not until the scream cuts through that you really feel the truth. The calm let-me-outs that follow almost feel like a trick, hiding the emotion until the devilish scream smashes through again. It’s scary and it hurts, but I’m soothed by the stunning instrumental moment it leaves. Slightly dreamy or slightly unreal? Like a mirage in the distance. The final chorus suddenly hits me with more clarity - the sad realization that it is. We get the tiniest little guitar solo that I wish got more shine, but I won’t be greedy, this song has already given me plenty. Love this tune so much <3
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Ok for real, I am late and I gotta run to dinner. Thanks for bearing with me and staying up late :) Back with our regularly scheduled programming on Friday.
XOXO,
Max