Music Diary, Vol. 86

For the rationale behind this mad effort, the initial post is here. The full series of Music Diary posts are here. The full playlist is above, and also here.

Week of Aug. 25-31, 2025

LYRICS: Prince, "Pop Life"

SONG: The McCartney vibes on this Emmit Rhodes track are so strong it’s uncanny. What saves it from mere mimicry is its specificity (this is Rubber Soul McCartney in nearly every detail) and boundless sincerity; you get the feeling this is just how Emmit would sound, even without the clear influence.

ALBUM: I’m struggling to name the genre(s) of this knockout record by the American/Belgian duo Fievel Is Glauque—dream pop filtered through jazz? prog folk? art rock? It’s not *all* weird, but even their wildest stuff is beautiful; they make every note count.

LYRICS: Bob Seger, "Night Moves"

SONG: This new single by Tristen shows again why I love her: The melody on the lines “on the soft warm bed of the wilderness/living it up on throwaways” leans into appoggiaturas (F, E, D over a C chord) and lands on an FMaj7 chord. And the arrangement really lifts off starting around 1:47.

ALBUM: Funny how one song can flip a switch. For longer than I care to admit, I dismissed The Band as sleepy, standard-issue roots music. Then one day I clocked the gritty, groovy "Chest Fever" and suddenly my ears were open to all the glories of this iconic record.

LYRICS: Fairport Convention, "Farewell Farewell"

SONG: This previously unreleased Patti Smith track, from an upcoming Horses remaster, is a real find: nervy, hooky, headlong. I can’t decide if the lyrics—about being blindsided by memories—are also talking about a drug experience. Either way, Patti is the real high.

ALBUM: This diverting compilation of Beatles tunes arranged in choro style—essentially a kind of sprightly Brazilian chamber music—is a blast, with obvious surface pleasures as well as subtle layers that reward repeat listens.

LYRICS: Bruce Springsteen, "Backstreets"

SONG: This guitar tune by Tárrega always blows me away, and not just because of the dazzling tremolo; the melody and harmonies are so achingly evocative, and the final cadence has an irresistible blue note. The rubato of this Ana Vidović rendition draws out the contrasts beautifully.

ALBUM: As much as I love Rumours, it doesn’t have “Rhiannon” or “Landslide” on it, so I have to give this 1975 disc—the one that rebooted Fleetwood Mac into the supergroup they’re now best known as—the slight edge.

LYRICS: Paul Simon, "Wristband"

SONG: A few things I love about this early Tom Waits gem: Its sad-yet-triumphal-sounding chorus is much longer than its verses. And the little piano grace note right before “Stars beginning to fade” (I hear it as C into a D-flat) is a ragtimey flourish that’s missing from the Eagles cover.

ALBUM: A drum I will never stop beating: In addition to the lovely quasi-waltzes he's best known for, well played on this Pascal Rogé disc, Erik Satie was Dada before his time—i.e., a madcap romp like "Embryon desséchés" or the deadpan "Sonatine bureaucratique."

LYRICS: Elvis Costello, "Starting to Come to Me"

SONG: This lush Gershwin lullaby was written as an exercise in 1919 (he was studying European classical music with Edward Killenyi), but its circumspect simplicity and warmth give it a valedictory air—if you’d told me this was one of the last pieces he composed, I’d believe you.

ALBUM: Spent the morning with this beautiful record from Jen Cloher, which sounds a bit like PJ Harvey crossed with Aimee Mann doing a gloriously witchy folk record about indigeneity and queerness. Māori turns out to be a natural language for post-punk.

LYRICS: Lisa Mitchell, "I Believe in Kindness"

SONG: This pristine Charles Ives setting of words by John Greenleaf Whittier rocks gently between 2 unstable, faintly eerie chords, saving moments of gratifying, hymn-like consonance for the crucial lines “interpreted by love” and “the beauty of thy peace.” Perfect.

ALBUM: Tom Jones’s rich, rocky baritone is a surprisingly natural fit for the sweet spirituals and stark blues on this brilliant 2010 record. Faves: a rousing take on Jessie Mae Hemphill’s “Lord Help,” a homespun “Did Trouble Me,” a head-banging “Burning Hell.”