MMM - Comp Breakdown pt. 2
BANDCAMP FRIDAY. Talking about Farrah Hanna and Annie-Dog
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
BACK WITH MORE COMPILATION STORIES AND GUESS WHAT IT’S BANDCAMP FRIDAY!! All of your purchases today make that much more of a difference, with no fees, the artists and I get all of your support. Please consider listening and purchasing if it’s within your means.
Plus, check the bandcamp page for some newsletter subscription discounts too!!!
Solidarity forever
I think it’s also important to spend a quick moment on Bandcamp itself. After being acquired by Epic Games, and now resold to Songtradr, the people who make the platform what it is deserve better and are fighting for it as we speak. Bandcamp United, who won their union back in May, have continued to fight for better. For themselves and for all of us. Please check out their incredible work and support their demands for the union’s continued recognition.
So crucial to the lives of countless artists, hoping for better days ahead. Alright, on to the songs <3
Farrah Hanna rocks plain and simple. I feel so lucky she was one of the first artists I wrote about in the MMM paid model. I reached out to let her know I was going to send her money for writing about her and I got the most validating, fulfilling response imaginable. It was life changing, and I mean it. Ever since she’s been a huge supporter and dare I say… friend??? I’m such a fan, and I can barely articulate how powerful it’s felt to have her in my corner. To tell the Max’s Music Mondays story would be incomplete without her, so she was a no-brainer addition as I first started asking artists to join this project. I was honored to have her be a part of this compilation, grateful to be even the tiniest part of her ascendency to superstardom.
I could go on and on and on - and know I will with every release to come - so I’ll just talk about this song for now. “The only love song I’ve ever written” Farrah said on IG, and it really is full of love. Recorded on iPhone too, gathering all the room tone and world tone and just full of ambiance adding extra emotion to it all. That warm piano ringing out over a gorgeous guitar. The song swaying slowly. Farrah Hanna’s vocals bring it all together, her melody soaring. As this first scene ends, those subtle harmonies are going wild and I’m ecstatic. That first moment is so loving, so sweet. Another verse lands perfectly after that, following these two as they walk around, Hanna hoping the sparks fly like they always have. A section of oohs that are breathtaking alongside the guitar and piano, a simpleness that leaves room for them all to shine.
We return from the oohs with two It’s a big city verses. The second of which is so damn loving and full of heart I have no choice but to share it here.
It’s a big city
I come here for the view
But if you just ask me
I’d spend all my time staring at you
Will you ask me to?
Willing to sacrifice anything and everything to chase this love, and just hoping they feel the same way. Praying that they do ask. It’s beautiful and haunting even and just so so good, that melody across all my time?? geez. And that last chord is a killer. It closes on another gem of a verse, hearing that this other person might not be ready or able to dive in the same way Hanna is hoping for. Even as an iPhone demo it’s full of such intentional and well-executed details. Like here in this last verse, that I didn’t learn those things in school like it’s being shouted from down the hall, just sneaking in the mix but making a huge impact on the feel of the moment. Ending with the acceptance that she’s always been the fool. So good, what more can I say.
One of my favorite parts of writing this newsletter and curating this playlist is the search. Scouring the internet, searching for hours, following links down ever-expanding rabbit holes until I find the one perfect thing. Soundcloud has always been one of my favorite places to look. Their previous algorithms were like gold to me, dropping freshly released songs on a personalized playlist every day, often full of hits. I was always mystified. It’s been less fruitful lately, but luckily I know how to click and what to click on and boy has it paid off. It’s pretty simple, basically I’m looking for one good song. Then see who liked it, who follows the artist, and follow those paths and that process until I lose all patience or until, like in this case, it leaves me sitting on Annie-Dog’s page pumping both my fists in the air because, folks, this was what we came for.
It’s an exhausting process, and when it leaves you empty handed it’s draining. But on days like that one, where it leaves me full handed (?), it makes it all worth it.
I found this song and just knew it was meant to be. Luckily, Annie-Dog, the Dublin-based artist, took a chance on some random guy DM’ing/emailing her about this, and here we are. With nothing out on Spotify or Apple Music yet, I’m just feeling so grateful to be trusted to release Double Cherry as part of this compilation.
The song itself is amazing. That opening guitar riff, immediately chopped up by the drummer, it’s infectious as it starts to swirl. Synths and sounds drip out over the intro, tucked away deep you have to really listen for them. Sucking you deep into the song from the get go. Annie'-Dog’s vocals slowly waltz over the urgent beat, calming me down. At 1:16, she sings I’ll never change / into the woman you’re waiting for / to love away your pain. A searing truth laid so bare, and it’s not easy to say, the layers of fear doubling and layering on themselves in the wake. It’s moments like this, not scared to take the weird choice, make something wild, that always win me over. It falls into the chorus, and it rocks. There’s an eeriness building, crescendoing through the chorus peaking as it sputters out just past 2:00. Falling into another verse, moving quick with some background vocals buried so deep too, it’s such a beautiful arrangement. From here things get a little more chaotic and loose, the song picking up more and more texture. It dissolves back towards the familiar core of the song, that guitar riff and drums working hand in hand one last time. New artifacts color the edges and linger as the song disappears. Just so exciting to find, such an honor to share. I cannot wait to hear what Annie-Dog is up to next.
See you on Monday for another 2 + some MMM Picks :)
Again - it’s Bandcamp Friday, if you’ve made it this far, please consider purchasing the compilation, helping to support these artists and this newsletter directly.
Max