MMM - Comp Breakdown pt. 4 & Mei Jun
A much delayed Compilation Recap & a STUNNER from Mei Jun
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
Ok this is bizarre I know, but did you hear that I released a compilation?? So proud of this project. Eight of my favorite songs from the year from eight of my favorite artists. Give it a listen if you haven’t already. Let me know what your favorite song is and I’ll send you a custom playlist with some more tunes you might like.
Just as a reminder… you can find discounts on substack subscriptions on the bandcamp page too :) Helps me keep MMM trucking and helps directly support the artists - we’re splitting all the comp earnings nine ways, equally.
We have a crazy MMM Pick this week, but before that, the final two songs from the compilation - now with even more to celebrate, both artists have released recent singles that you need to hear too.
My goodness what a tune. I love lavender, a London-duo that finds ways to tie together so many worlds of music in one. And does it with a warm, loving touch. Their songs are sample-filled, often blurring the lines between what’s live and what’s sampled. The drums are always gorgeous, giving that J Dilla swing, always pulling my body along for every track. And even with the production leading the way, the songs stay full of heart and warmth.
It was such an honor to have them participate in this project too, and I couldn’t have dreamt up a better tune. It carries all the signature lavender sounds, with stronger vocals guiding us across the verse once those snaps cool off. The song builds on the sample so well, a catchy melody stretched out above those drums. The vocal arrangement is sick as hell, the moments of harmonies, of other takes peaking their heads up, that perfect little moment at 1:29 - voices stretching to the bottom of their range, and laughing off the successful attempt. I live for moments like that. A peak behind the curtain. Not taking themselves too seriously but still delivering something so special. The vocals stand center with a sick acoustic guitar strumming alongside this piano melody. I’m leaking from the inside out, the entire thing filled with great lyrics and love.
We ride some quiet vocals backing up the sample, return to a familiar scene, recognizing a lack of emotion around us, begging us all to talk our shit out, and as we do, the song starts to shift. An atmospheric cloud of guitars swirling, while we hear a nasty(good) edit of Kevin Durant from a Feb 2019 press conference. “I just wanna play ball, I wanna go to the gym and go home”, someone just wanting to focus on what he loves, forget the drama, not have to deal with the rest. As you hear KD get fed up, lavender returns underneath a few more lyrics to send us off, with me holding my heart. Shout out the dog in the very last second. To get an NBA x lavender combo?? boy oh boy how did I get so lucky.
Since releasing this comp, lavender’s dropped a new single too. whenineeditmost + evelyn/courtside. If you liked this, I know you’ll love the new songs too, haven’t been able to shake them since they came out. So infectious and sweet.
I was so excited when Quiet Light told me they’d be interested in joining the compilation. QL is truly prolific. Always cooking something up and always pushing their sound and genre into new places. With like 30-some songs out this year, there’s so much to savor.
Waiting, features so much of what I love in Quiet Light’s music. It always feels intimate, whether demo or fully produced song. This guitar + piano + drum combo feels so fresh and yet timeless. Her writing is so good. You go on your last 15 / drinking like you’ve seen a ghost, stringing these phrases with so much imagery together in exciting ways. Stretching that Europe vacation / you’re gonna take, across from one line to the next, it’s intoxicating as the band stays so steady beneath.
A second verse kicks off just past 1:13, her voice backed up by another, this one like it’s coming from a vocoder. Hitting the melody but taking on new shapes and pushing the song into a new place entirely. It’s beautiful and mesmerizing. More voices seems to pile in here, background vocals chanting through different lyrics all together. It all compounds on itself, the song getting hazier and hazier, all of these thoughts and questions folding over themselves, the mind just trying to sort through this. Past two minutes and the layers peel back, letting some of the quieter bits shine through for the first time. A few more piano notes and we ride the drums to the horizon.
Just like, lavender, Quiet Light also dropped a new single since this came out:
Drums shaking all around, clean strummed guitar, a synth solo to open?? The vocals are so sick - we get a ‘normal’ verse to start, that auto-tuned voice layering in just at the end. But such a fun moment starting at 1:22 - half singing, half laughing, the song moving. Laying into that you don’t blow up my phone, anymore lyric really well. At 2:56 we reflect back on a past summer or a future summer, and we hit my fav lyric of the song And you’ll think about having your second Dr. Pepper saying ‘I don’t try’. So good :) geez. Do you feel better / do you just not care? ugh riddled with gems. Some fun from the synth and we’re out of here. Give Quiet Light some listen, there’s so much to enjoy.
Back to our bread and butter - this week’s MMM song is a gem and one I fell in love with IMMEDIATELY. I think you will too.
Mei Jun - Robin
It’s hard to write about a song like this. Not because there’s a lack of beautiful things to point out, to hear, to feel. But because usually, when I hear a song with this much… magnificence(?), everyone already knows about it. But this song deserves so many more ears and I’m glad to get to share it with you all today.
A reverbed, dusty, warm piano gently letting out a couple chords. The repetition makes it feel like your grandma’s record player is skipping on some old record. But here it’s not an inconvenience, it’s a perfect bed for a song like this. Mei Jun doesn’t need much more to get it going, a true banger of an opening lyric there - You pulled me aside and whispered you love me / in front of the crowd and under the lights. A scene set so quickly, the emotions fitting the piano and Mei Jun’s voice so well. The nifty little move, the somehow repeated with a smirk. A perfect encapsulation of that feeling, so much passion and tension and love between two people and bodies and thoughts just seem to happen. Lost in the swirling moment. And I’m lost in this one.
The band coming alive, more guitars, a flute, a saxophone, layers and layers building out these magical waves. It feels so massive and full and alive, and Mei Jun just soars across it all. His vocals perfectly smooth and loving. As the moment ends, a flute carries us out. This fun riff, jumping around above the steady guitar. When we find the verse again, the effects over Mei Jun’s vocals make it feel surreal. This whole song has a fairy tale/ethereal feel, but this is more from-a-dream. The atmosphere building, and it really feels like we’re outside the house late at night, listening to this rain down from the stars. And it must be intentional, the moonlit, starry-eyed lyrics nestle into the groove so well. Then there, at 1:34… good lord. The shooting stars start to fill our view, the sax ripping off some unforgettable runs as the vocals fall aside with the weight of the band. The arena-sized drums going off and a big bass to round it all out. This was my holy shit moment, the moment I knew I’d be here writing about this song as soon as I could. It pushes the limits, fills the song with everything it can handle, totally and completely satisfying.
To give us a chance to relax, the guitar steps up, taking one for the team and setting off on a wet, gnarly solo that feels fun and funky and yet relaxing reprieve from the shooting star climax. As the drums fall out, you get a chance to feel just how much nature lives in this one, the birds, the ambience, it all just feels so good. This one is a gem. One of a handful off of Mei Jun’s new EP, A Darker Indigo. It’s a sick project, combining so many of the sounds and scenes I love into something new and lovely. Can’t wait to listen to it more and more.
Follow Mei Jun on IG / Spotify
Another great week thank you all <3 Please enjoy these songs and tell a friend, I KNOW you have one. Probably more than one if we’re being honest!
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With love,
Max