While FIL BO RIVA is “trying to get control of this love”, I’m trying to get control of my feet, which seem to be tapping and jumping around without any input from me. What’s worse, it’s starting to spread to my hands, which are clapping along with the chorus, and my neck, which is banging along to the thick fuzzy bass. Listen at your own risk – you might want to clear your afternoon plans once “Head Sonata” comes on.
In classic Melis form, “Holding Hands” becomes more complex the more you listen to it and notice its subtleties (the piano oscillations have a nearly subconscious effect, while the electronic influences on the song are hardly noticeable until the end). Melis’ melancholy vocals are complimented perfectly by the all-encompassing backing indie rock band, making the perfect song for drinking tea by the windowsill in perpetual rain.
Building from the intimate style from Melis that we’ve loved in the past, “Sober (Over You)” builds to a grand, hazy climax. Make sure you have a drink (or two) to wave aloft during the final choruses.
Much like the botanical namesake, the latest from Melis is a lovely thing with delicacy that belies an inner strength that comes to the forefront in the final chorus.
“don’t stop now
it’s just a bump in the road with distance to go
so just don’t think about it”
Despite what you might initially think, my feeling is this is a track best enjoyed in the late afternoon on a porch, ice cold drink in hand, a long day’s work completed and nothing on the agenda but to relax and see what the day. True to its improvisationally-focused spoken sample, it’s time to go with the flow, whether that means stretching out in a hammock or hitting the town with friends. But first, I’ll just hit ‘repeat’ one more time…
Somewhere between the clean guitars, the soft vocal harmonies, and tidy drum rhythms, I find this song positively European. And not Berlin or Wales, where Parcels is based. I’m talking French-Riviera, cobblestone streets, hop on your Vespa to track down that stunning handbag designer you saw over your espresso only to watch her board a yacht and sail off into the bay. Quick aside: Why haven’t I been hired as a music video director?
You know that tender, slightly anxious feeling you get when you hear an isolated voice? Perhaps you’ve finally cajoled your friend into playing that song she wrote to an audience of two, all alone in someone’s living room. Melis captures that exposed, vulnerable feeling in a lo-fi love song saved from a dying hard drive.