MMM with Angel Apricot & Jill Ryan
It's Smooch Week in the newsletter (two songs that both mention kissing).
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. Your subscriptions go such a long way. Free subscribers help these artists get the audience they deserve, paid subscriptions help keep this thing running and also PAY THE ARTISTS!!! 2/3 of every subscription goes right back to the artists I write about. Please consider supporting independent music and music journalism(?) here today <3 Got a new font on these - what do you think?
It’s May, it’s Max. Is that anything?
Either way, I’m so happy to be here and be sharing these songs today. I’m loving the recent run of discoveries and this week is no different. Both such daring and beautiful songs.
Anyways, just going to cut to the chase this week - no time for messing about!
Thank you as always for taking the time to read (and more importantly, to listen) every week. If you feel moved, and want to share it with a friend, that continues to be a really important factor for making this thing a little bit bigger week over week. I’d appreciate it so much if you do.
Please follow the playlist if you haven’t already! It’s where I put all these songs, and every follow helps the music that much more. 1 like - 1 dream coming true for me. Thank you <3
Angel Apricot - T4T
I’ve been rocking with Angel Apricot for a couple years now, I think her 2023 release, get 2 u, was the first to cross my path and make me a fan. It’s an unexpected mix of guitars, 808s, and autotuned vocals. Incredibly interesting and unique and had me tuned in. Apricot keeps getting better and better, and has offered something absolutely stunning with T4T.
An urgent start, we get straight to business. The bells, the synth, running through that quick riff, falling into a beautiful scene with the guitar strumming back there. Apricot there from the jump too, painting a picture of those early days of a crush. Where you don’t know if it can/should/might/will become more. I adore you / but I don’t want to come on too strong. That’s stellar. The ways she drags out the ‘I’, enough time to stack on some harmonies and really feel the sense of… almost, despair? When the crush is crushing. Her voice is so sick here. Tone is amazing, and the delivery feels so earnest - you can really feel each emotion.
The verse pushes on, switching up rhythms and melodies, a really great section. We started with so much energy, and that never fades, the band filled with such interesting sounds and a looseness that’s intoxicating. So much humanity even in digital instruments. The bells find new ways to shine as the moment ends, I wish we could stay in this dream forever. But as soon as she asks for that pinch, we’re woken back up with one hell of a band.
Punishing heaviness from guitars push to the edge, the drums are big and loud, the whole band rocking the fuck out. It instantly gives me shades of like sum-41? Such fun.
We slide out of that just as quickly as it appeared. Back to another verse, now feeling so soft and warm out of that last break. This time around there’s this light percussive layer, a filtered drummer, whose pitter-patter manages to add even more momentum. I think it’s needed too, it’d be too easy to laze about here - as we watch the early days of Apricot’s crush materializing. These days feel endless, as the potential for more starts to build. and it’s so hard not to kiss you / so we kiss oh come onnnnn that one really rocked me. They can’t help it, they have to kiss!! So fun, damn.
This new flame asks to take it slow and the song erupts again, but this time it feels different. Nearly the same exact arrangement, though a in this context, it’s less shocking and more exciting. The thrill and joys of this time in a relationship as they do get to know each other and explore this connection. Everything is exciting, and I can feel that in the band. As we hit the final 20 seconds Apricot & Co. break it down and have a little fun before the song ends.
It’s a damn hit if you ask me. Whew, what a ride.
Follow Angel Apricot on Instagram // on Spotify
Jill Ryan - Can I?
I am so excited to share this one too. Geez, I feel so spoiled with good music these days. The first time I heard anything from Jill Ryan was their flute playing on TikTok.
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It’s mesmerizing isn’t it? The texture is so stunning, using a shift in speed to emphasize beautiful sounds in a new way. The more you watch from them, the more you see the same - someone who is not only incredibly talented but also curious and bold in their playing. Exploring, experimenting. It’s so cool to hear.
“Of course!!!” I sighed to myself when I saw they played on the new Miya Folick album. My musical taste in this weird all-connected, ouroboros-in-a-good-way web. Regardless of their many contributions to music I love, I had a blast digging through Ryan’s own catalog.
Can I? was the one that hooked me. It’s both just what you’d expect and also unlike anything you could’ve imagined. Does that make sense? It does in my head - where what I expected was something completely singular, unconventional, and fresh. And it blew my mind.
The intro carries a swooping synth with a guitar tones that could make me cry. Somehow gentle and sharp. Tickling the brain in that perfect way. Ryan gets going as the musicians turn it around for a second pass. And I’m immediately taken by the writing ‘come one ‘come one / sometimes the table and me become one. Brilliant to somehow put that last lyric first and make it make sense as you return to it. The ‘come one landing like Ryan is beckoning everyone to gather, re-contextualizing it as such a personal thing, almost filled with loneliness, is genius. Ok ok we’re only 14 seconds in, I gotta keep moving I know.
Their voice moves so easily up towards this higher, almost falsetto range, and it’s so fun to be along for the ride. Crossing the 30-second mark and racing down from the peak to the valley, sometimes the table and me become one and I melt. An extraordinary performance tbh!
We move into a new scene. The chords are mysterious and almost feel medieval? I don’t know - just creating tension in ways I’m not used to. Their voice plays call and response here, each word offered to match the notes from the guitar. A wave of sound starts to rise, crashing with so much heft at 0:55. And as the band widens the vocals start to build too. All the voices played together like their own instrument. This soft shuffle on the hi-hat and strong snare work wonders here. Amazing choices at every turn, creating a magical song.
Beyond this, we slide into another kissing moment - big day for smooching in the newsletter!! This third section returns to a simpler arrangement, the vocals the star here. They way Ryan repeats and repeats, the writing feels so mesmerizing. Like they’re working through these swirling thoughts, and we just get to ride around as they come and go.
Ryan steps in with some angelic notes, slowing and slowing, and the song ends. Ugh, I love this one, such a joy to get to write about it. You can also hear a crazy cover of Andy Shauf’s “Satan” out now too. Really excited to see what’s to come for Jill Ryan.
Follow Jill Ryan on Instagram // on Spotify
All The Other Days!!
Oh man, I’m really having fun right now. I am obsessed with Lorde’s What Was That ofc. Aminé’s Arc de Triomphe, complete with The Streets sample, has really won me over this week. New Indigo De Souza rocks. New Leith Ross (prod. by Rostam) is so beautiful. And obviously freaking out about new songs from MMM Icons - Mia Lorelei, poolblood, Margaux, and D.A. Crimson. Really just spoiling us.
*Mendel News*
Pre-save Hudson Freeman’s new single, Good Faith. This one is going to blow your mind. Out this Wednesday, May 7th. A pre-save really does wonders, it’d mean so much if you gave it a click!
May 8th (Early Show) at Permanent Records Roadhouse - SEE YOU THIS THURSDAY!!! TRULY CAN’T WAIT. Honored to put together a fun one with Hollis Howard featuring friends of the ‘sletter mer marcum and Farrah Hanna in from NY. Always a privilege to have my pals Farrah and mer in town. Tickets Here
May 20th - Two by Two goes to NY!! - This lineup is soooo crazy, it’s gonna be gorgeous. Farrah Hanna, Molly Frances, hrlum, AG Sully. So many MMM Favs, I really hope to see you there. Tickets here.
Until next time,
Max
shoutout jill ryan