Browsing Tag

Pop Rock Ballad

IGOR created a harmonic ode to connection with Alana Diaz in his pop-rock ballad, In This City

The Ukrainian-born, NY-hailing pop-rock chameleonic enigma IGOR closed 2023 with a pop-punk hit that viscerally advocated autonomy. Instead of starting 2024 with a bang, he exhibited the softer side of his talent by unleashing the pop-rock piano ballad, In This City, which sees his evocative range amplified through harmonies shared with Alana Diaz.

Atop the minor piano keys and gentle string crescendos, a panoramic narrative unfolds, inviting you into a world of unfaltering connection. The sense of security depicted in the narrative synchronously painted between IGOR and Diaz as they portray two lonely figures in an inhospitable city is profound enough to deliver consolation to anyone who traverses our imperfectly isolating earth without someone to dispel the disconnection. Woven into the ornately strident release is the affirmation that blood doesn’t always run thicker than water; you can find your family in the soul of whoever is capable of salving the ache of alienation.

In This City was officially released on January 19th; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nancy Dawn Olsen dares to dream in her ballad, I Don’t Want to Wake Up.

I Don't Want To Wake Up by Nancy Dawn Olson

If reality doesn’t quite hold up to the metaphysical bliss that greets you when your head hits the pillow, sink into Nancy Dawn Olsen’s latest single, I Don’t Want to Wake Up which captures the dreamlike state our minds enter when they entertain our ardent desires that fall out of focus come the morning light.

The ballad kicks off to an ethereal and vulnerable start with minor-key minimalist piano chords; as the orchestral swells raise the energy, Olsen matches it with her resoundingly pitch-perfect vocal timbre. I Don’t Want to Wake Up becomes a firestorm of a single that reminds you that love unparalleled, but there are few things as visceral as the absence of it. Lyrically, it may be the opposite of Aerosmith’s Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, but it carries exactly the same fire.

I Don’t Want to Wake Up is now available to stream and download via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jon Fritz pulls back the façade with ‘Love Ain’t What it Seems’.

Washington DC singer-songwriter, Jon Fritz, pulled back love’s façade with his single, Love Ain’t What it Seems’. It strips away the romantic ideation implanted in minds from a young age (thanks, Disney) and gives you a far more realistic account of the role of love in our vast and chaotic world.

Love Ain’t What It Seems resonates on such a deep level it almost makes every love song that made your soul fizz seem superficial with lyrics such as “follow your heart, follow your dreams, take all of your memories and don’t ever think of me because love ain’t what it seems”.

The unforgettable acoustic pop-rock ballad is enough to leave you reaching for the tissues and for your lighter to hold in the air. Which might be pretty hard to do simultaneously.

Love Ain’t What it Seems is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Get Your Pre-Covid Nostalgia Fix with Kelli Brogan’s Optimism-Inspiring single ‘I Miss the Little Things’

Get nostalgic about your pre-Covid life with Melbourne artist Kelli Brogan’s latest soul-arresting Pop Rock single ‘I Miss the Little Things’ which will make 2019 sound as sweet as the Summer of ’69.

Through jangly Indie Pop Rock guitar melodies and energetic synth lines, the soundscape spills euphoria as it progresses in synergy with Kelli Brogan’s consoling vocals which run through all of the things which we took for granted in our past lives.

A track such as I Miss the Little Things could have so easily become an invite into apathy, but Kelli Brogan succeeded in creating a track which will fill you with gratitude for what you had and optimism for what you will have again.

I Miss the Little Things is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast