Best Tracks: ribbon in the wind
Genre: Singer Songwriter
Year: 2024

One of the greatest inventions of the modern era would have to be voice memos. Musicians of all skill levels and income statuses have 24/7 access to a microphone, allowing anybody to capture what they truly sound like behind closed doors. We’ve also had superstars like Billie Eilish get their careers on the merits of their authenticity, selling the image of the authentic artist to millions. So if authenticity sells, ALL MUST BUY The Glory of the Spring :D Imagine if all those little untitled voice memos were completed, arranged, and released? Hunter isn’t giving us a polished facade with this album. Down to the hand-drawn cover, this is her creative spirit shown as plainly as possible. Overdubs are used so sparingly, which means they have a massive impact; Lee’s guitar and Bret’s strings add so much life to their respective tracks. The songwriting and performances are all so emotionally potent too, elevated by Hunter’s perfectly-placed dissonant harmonies. You can even hear the oppressive sound of the 4-corner room The Glory of Spring was recorded in, as Hunter laments in the silence of her God. Minimal without being boring, raw without being messy. HUNTER STULL. Really great stuff!!!

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Religions are belief systems that can bring an individual closer to the divine without any understanding of what the divine actually is. It necessarily operates on faith, and because of this, can lead to wildly inaccurate views of reality. In a proper religious journey though, the believer will come to better understand the divine by experiencing it. Overall, religion persists into the modern age because of its usefulness to mankind, the pleasure it brings, and its ease of adoption when compared to more complicated world-views. While I don’t actually believe in God, in comparing religions and finding consistent descriptions of the divine, I must conclude that all thriving religions have an element of truth to them. The most interesting question to ask about any religious belief is then: “How is this meaningfully true?”

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Best Tracks: Daydreaming, Identikit, True Love Waits
Genre: Ambient Rock
Year: 2016

I was just turning 13 when U2 forced Songs of Innocence into my iPod. It was one of the first records I was ever exposed to, along with a copy of Slippery When Wet I bought on iTunes. Even as a 13 year old kid, I exhausted this music pretty quickly. I started to associate the sound of alt rock with this kind of extravagant yet substanceless music. Music that would turn the volume up until you start headbanging to whatever crap lyrics and riffs they threw together. I sifted through all sorts of rock music until I found Pink Floyd. Soon after, I checked out Radiohead, hoping they would be similar. To my horror, I heard the same alt-rock textures I had grown to hate, and pretty quickly passed them off. If you asked me then, I would’ve told you Radiohead was the best alt rock band, but an alt rock band nonetheless.

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