Max's Music Mondays with Purser & an exclusive performance from Farrah Hanna!!
Get in here!! There's some magic for ya :)
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 Week’s Songs are getting paid!! <3
Another week of me not being able to wait any longer to share music I love. Weeks like these have me wondering if I should post every week again, simply obsessed with this music and holding a dire need to share it with everyone I know. It feels greedy to sit on gems like this! But then of course, I remember how hard it was to maintain, and how beautiful a ~week off~ can be for me to find more music to get that excited about.
An ever-present tension of feeling like I’m not doing enough and but not wanting to do too much. I have to imagine this is something universal, so if you have tips on how to break free, please let me know. It’s a challenge - feeling like I need to keep the momentum going. I really believe in this idea, this newsletter, whatever you want to call it. As something that can really grow and be consistently impactful for a long time to come. And sure, I could be patient and let it happen, but every day I don’t talk about it, think about it, work on it, publicize it, feels like lost opportunity. Like I haven’t done enough, given it enough, given it the love it deserves. It’s weighs on me. But I know that’s only because I care and truly love it. I hope over time it’ll feel more normal, I’ll feel more confident and patient. But it’s not the world we live in, so I haven’t gotten there yet. In the meantime, there have been a few special moments already. Moments of connection, of shared gratitude, of being seen, that have filled me with so much joy and inspiration. So I guess, the answer is just look for those, create moments for that to happen, and forget the rest?? Idk, easier said than done.
But… Today is a chance to practice just that. A chance to share a song from an artist I am crazy about aaaaaand for our paid subscribers(!!!!) a chance to share a performance that I am moved by from another artist I am over the moon about. The first time we’ve gotten to do that in the new MMM model and folks I’m freaking out about it. So while I continue to think and stew, enjoy them both because they’re both incredible. Never too late to subscribe… $5/mo or $50/yr giving you access to all the exclusive performances (and more!) to come and supporting each week’s artists as I redistribute that money directly to the them :) something to think about….
This Week’s Songs
Purser - Out of Hand
ALRIGHT BUCKLE THE HECK UP AND GET THE DAMN TISSUES READY, PURSER JUST DROPPED A MONUMENTAL SONG AND WE GOTTA TALK ABOUT IT.
First things first, the format. The bravery to make a 6-minute song… To buck the trends of shorter songs, developed from the pressures of a streaming world. To tell a story how it was meant to be told, to savor each moment and give it its due. It’s not an easy feat but one that we all benefit from here. As the reversed guitars suck us in, seamlessly turning around and rolling forward, Purser doesn’t waste any time. Their voice is so special, so warm and full and controlled. Almost oozing out, with a knowing that there’s so much more power behind it. The scene is set and the repetitive guitar really accentuates the feelings left lingering with each line. The never-ending red light, the unstoppable thoughts leaving words unsaid. At 0:34, that simple chord change feels nearly sinister!!! She is right there being stabbed into your chest, that one chord offering so much emotion and context. A simple lyric, a devastating result. Ooof I got chills!!!!
Some eerie ambience settles into the next moment, drums following Purser’s call. The song continuing to roll on. Seeming to stretch and slither, reaching and bending in this groove. The scene shifts at 1:25, this mysterious wave to ride, as Purser asks these deeply loving questions. I am friggin’ gobsmacked by this desire to quell someone’s loneliness like this. Promising such generous love as the song turns back to lightness and warmth. The chord progression able to hold so much emotional power in this song, it’s masterful. As the titular lyric lands, I’m just so satisfied. Our narrator not asking for anything in return, not demanding someone’s love, just quietly asking to see where it could take them. It’s charming and heartfelt.
Another verse kicks off, songwriting continuing to wow me, and Purser taking the chance to push their performance a little further too. She turns on her - is a stellar moment, each of these words getting their own focus and care, each word bending and floating through Purser’s voice. Subtlety and mastery. As we push on towards three minutes, grateful there’s so much more to enjoy, Purser starts to let the emotion out more and more. Starting to really feel the anger in this emotional disconnect. Now’s the moment (about 3:10) where I should probably ask you to hit pause. You’ll wanna sit down for this. In a second, Purser is going to nail a vocal run that can only be described as transcendent. Or maybe also as magical. And also you could probably describe it is “crazy as hell, actually”. I think any of those three would do. But not just a run for the sake of a run, a run embodying the thing trying to get out of them. Their voice looking for a way out. The moment softens, returning back to the car, to asking the friend to let things get Out of Hand. Those words dragging out, being sucked to the core of the earth it feels like, as the scene changes yet again. Harsh and direct and chaotic and passionate as these big reflective questions come up, only to be entirely dissolved back in the present moment, their hand in your pocket. A moment of hope, of possibility. Finally we hear from the other side, learn that this friend was stuck in her own head too, asking about the stoplight seeming to signal similar overwhelming thoughts, and it shifts everything. Once again we get an unbelievable and too-good-for-me-to-really-describe run on smile, before our narrator takes charge. The ‘hoping for this friend to reach out’ now becoming pressure on themselves to make it happen. Knowledge that it’s in their own hands. A bass slides on in, and the song settles with a calm.
Beautiful. Epic. Really something incredible. It’s hard not to write more, to try and capture every moment of beauty here, but I trust this is enough, the song does the real hard work. Just sit back and enjoy it.
Follow Purser on IG / Spotify
An Exclusive Performance from Farrah Hanna
A month ago I wrote about Farrah Hanna and haven’t stopped listening since. Her EP, Dog, is a special project - five beautiful, thoughtful, songs. Each full of delicate and vulnerable writing, full of texture and life in the arrangements.
With the support of paid subscribers, I got the damn honor of reaching out to commission a live performance of my personal favorite track, Crocodile. A song whose opening riff is buried so deep in my brain… and I couldn’t be happier about it.
It’s a special performance, and one I feel so deeply honored to share with you today. A dream come true to support artists financially like this, and to get to share their music with a wider audience.
In this live setting, Hanna is just as strong. The stripped back performance feels that much more personal and vulnerable, and for that I’m grateful. Such an amazing voice, tender and powerful. Ugh, I cannot stop watching this one. I hope you dig it as much as I have.
To watch this, and all future performances (once a month, at least!!) please subscribe and help support more incredible artists. Otherwise, we’ll catch ya next week with more picks xoxo