What is Important RIGHT NOW!

Today I am here to tell you two things you need to be aware of in the music world.  These two things are 1) “Shake it Out” by Florence and the Machine and 2) Continued Silence from Imagine Dragons.

1)  “Shake It Out” is an awesome song but I never gave it a chance.  When the whole Florence and the Machine craze was going on, I was only interested in her single.  Anything after “Dog Days Are Over,” I cared nothing about.  I had heard the song “Shake it Out” in places like Barnes and Noble or Starbucks, but that’s it; I have only ever listened to it in passing.  I have never sat down (or stood up for that matter) and just really listened to it.  I did that a few days ago on the subway.  I downloaded the song and totally succumbed to the talked about powers-that-be of Florence and the Machine.

First of all, she uses the word, “ghouls” within the first few lines of the song.  We do not use that enough.  That is a fabulous word that brings to mind something along the lines of the demons in Fantasia.  Recently when I was complaining to my mother about Amtrak and their not-so-adequate employees, I used the phrase “inbred swine” which is not my own invention, but rather I stole it from the film 300.  But it is brilliant—the perfect combination of sophistication, arrogance, pompousness and righteousness.  “Ghouls” has the same affect.

The fact the she expresses her past as a “horse” she is always “dragging around” and that she is now going to “bury that horse in the ground.”  It is excellent how she uses her metaphors.  She also uses a phrase that she is has a “graceless heart” and she is going to “cut it out and then restart.”  Wow, have I been there.  It is a serious song but the chorus keeps it catchy and not as heavy as the lyrics and song topic could make it.  “It is hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off.”  It is true just shake it out.  The music itself is wonderful and so are the lyrics and that voice is pretty otherworldly. 

2) Imagine Dragons is a group that only started releasing music a few years ago.  Their song, “It’s Time” has been released and is playing on the radio currently as a fairly popular hit.  In addition, there has recently been a preview for a film, The Words, staring Jeremy Irons and Bradley Cooper.  In the preview, the song playing is another song off of the same EP, Continued Silence.  The song is “Demons” and it is beautiful.  The chorus goes:

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

Don’t get too close

It’s dark inside

It’s where my demons hide

It’s where my demons hide

There is real emotion, both pain and happiness, that you can hear in their music. It is Mumford and Sons meets Kings of Leon.  Check them out!