It might be easier to list the musical elements that Milk Buttons have left out of their soulful and sophisticated single, “Love and War”, but I like a challenge, and it is my job to do so, so let’s have a go.
The first thing that greets you as the song gets underway is a wonderful blend of busy, skittering drums and serene, chiming , and charming, oriental-infused piano melodies, opposites perhaps, but opposites that attract. And then, as the sonic weight builds and the momentum gets going, you realise that it is not through anything as base or basic as volume and velocity which creates the impact, but the careful addition of gentle layers of texture and tone, gossamer additions and subtle sonic shading.
String-like washes ebb and flow, guitars (I think) drift and dart around, harmonies play off each other, jazz ornateness weaves through Americana moods, classical grandeur circles around psyched-out soundscapes and, as much as there is going on here, it all seems to fit perfectly together, no one is stepping on anyone else’s sound, no one is stealing the limelight.
In lesser hands, such a song might be a mess, an overplayed musical hand, a cacophony that detracts from the sum of its parts. But this feels more like a carefully composed song than something that has evolved from hap-hazard jamming, which is how many songs are birthed in the contemporary musical world, though I could be wrong.
I don’t know where you would find such a song as this if you had to hunt it down in a record shop (do we still have those?). It could be filed under anything from neo-jazz to indie-soul to understated rock to new wave to alt-folk. But wherever it resides, you must find it, buy it, and play it…and do so with frequency and repetition.
