What’s in a name? Well, in the case of Micah Lopez, everything. After seeing his previous project swallowed up by the algorithms and search engines that now run rampant across the music industry like cold-hearted Terminators, trampling over crushed musical aspirations in a sonic-science fiction nightmare, he realised that the project name was key, and he would only begin to rebuild his musical house once he had found the right one. Hollow Star is that name. “Capital” is the latest single.
And if names are important to him, evidently so are riffs. Here he runs a simple but effective, energetic, and infectious riff-groove-spiral through the heart of the song, sometimes building up the sonical weight, other times letting it work its magic unadorned. Either way, it is hooky as hell, and that is all that ever really matters.
This is the second single from his debut EP, Listen, planned for early next year, and, when taken with “Seconds,” which preceded it, it is clear that it will be a collection of songs worth waiting for, as all the best things in life are.
Lopez has stated that he uses the likes of Robert Smith and Johnny Marr as writing benchmarks, not because he thinks he will ever match their lofty heights, but because he reasons that life is short, so why not aim for the (rock and roll) stars.
That quest to push himself as a songwriter is certainly paying off.
