As a music community, we are meant to look to the future, write the next chapter, and see where things go next. But sometimes it pays to take influence in the past; after all, things move quickly in the arts, so finding inspiration in the music of the eighties and nineties, as Chapell seems to, can be as refreshing, rewarding and ahead of the curve as designing the future is.
“Suddenly” is the best of both worlds anyway; it reminds me to some degree of the great pop of those eras, but it is also full of contemporary sonics and forward-thinking ideas. But it is that I hear the deft and delicious songwriting skills of the likes of much over-looked bands like The Lilac Time and Microdisney and Lloyd Cole and the Commotions in the music that excites me. Interestingly, not only great bands, but Great British bands…make of that what you will.
Something that also seems to be a trait of earlier indie and pop bands from this side of the Atlantic is the scale of the music, and “Suddenly” does that great thing of making universal and relatable points through small stories and personal philosophies rather than trying to be big and clever. Small and clever, finessed and deftly done works for me every time.
If you’d told me that this song was the long-lost b-side of a late eighties indie outfit based in the UK rather than a contemporary New York songwriter, I wouldn’t have argued in the slightest. Music is a funny old business, don’t you think?
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