Saying it with music
Local artists share songs that got them through the year
So many songs pulled me through 2020. One leading to the next leading to the next leading to the next until I arrived in 2021. I know the people making those songs had similar experiences so I asked three artists who moved me with music in the past few months to let us in on what got them through the year and ready to crush it in 2021.
Jen D’Angora of The Shang Hi Los on the Strokes
To hear Jen D’Angora sing/ sneer “I had to kick him like a wicked bad habit” on the Shang Hi Los’ debut single, “Sway Little Player,” almost made living through all this worth it. Almost. Hopefully this new year features lots swaying, swinging, swaggering garage rock and power pop from the new outfit featuring D’Angora and members of Watts, Neighborhoods and Eddie Japan.
The singer got her mojo from an old band’s new stuff: “During one of my darker moments of 2020, I heard the melody, perfect drum sound, and catchy hooks in ‘The Adults are Talking’ by the Strokes,” she said. “It left me schoolgirl-excited and singing for days.”
Eva Davenport on KAE
“My favorite new song of 2020 has to be ‘No One’ by KAE,” Davenport said of her fellow local R&B up-andcomer. “From the intro record player click to the first 808 drop, this catchy R&B love song is exactly what I didn’t know I was missing. The song definitely inspires me and I love being inspired by people I know and love.”
Davenport and KAE are two of the city’s most-promising young singers, talents in a genre sometimes lost in a (wonderful) sea of indie rock and hip hop. Listen to “No One” back-to-back with Davenport’s recent single “Trill” for a joke of awesomeness. Both balance modern production, cool clicks and synth pulses, with an energy that evokes ’90s classics. How about a showcase with both singers as soon as the city’s clubs open back up?
The Wolff Sisters on These Wild Plains, the Wilderados and Miriam Makeba
This Massachusetts trio of sisters killed me with the Cape- Cod- party- in- thedunes-via-Appalachian- hootenanny-via-Laurel-Canyonjamthat is “Train in the Valley.” Yes, the song is from 2019, but it casts a long shadow. A shadow that covers everything from Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt’s “Trio” record to the Tedeschi Trucks Band at its rootsy-est.
Each sister recommended a gem that made this time tolerable. Rachael called attention to “The Quitter” by Boston country rockers These Wild Plains — “(it) has so much energy and heart that anytime I felt down in 2020 that song always gave me the jumpstart I needed,” she said. For Rebecca, her go to cut became “Surefire” by the Wilderados — “Whenever I put it on I can’t help it but feel so relaxed and remember that tomorrow is a new day.” While Kat went for a classic from a South African icon: “Sometimes when life gets overwhelming, all you can do is shake it out and start over, and the song ‘Pata Pata’ by Miriam Makeba is so full of light and joy that you can’t not dance or wiggle to it.”