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Arts
Wednesday, November 11, 2020 — 11
MUSIC REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
‘Clockface’: Costello’s aim is the same
‘Real Life’ is
raw, complex
Though the title track of
Elvis Costello’s latest album
describes him in a battle
against
time,
the
English
songwriter definitely has a
habit for creating timeless
listening
experiences.
In
a career spanning over 40
years, Costello has earned
the reputation of being a
musical chameleon. While in
his earlier years he cemented
himself as a pioneering punk
rock rebel, his more recent
work
is
characterized
by
experimentation in a variety of
styles from jazz to bluegrass.
Regardless
of
the
musical
form he takes on, Costello has
always stayed consistent with
his sharp, witty vocals and off-
beat persona.
Costello’s
latest
album,
Hey
Clockface,
represents
a continuation of his sonic
exploration.
Rather
than
delivering
high
energy,
angsty punk rock tracks, Hey
Clockface
continues
upon
many of the ideas introduced
in Costello’s earlier album,
Look Now. The songs in Hey
Clockface have a much slower
tempo than what is typically
found in Costello’s discography,
allowing the tracks to relish
in their rich instrumentation
and production. If Costello has
been known to deliver some
burning shots of tequila, Hey
Clockface serves the audience
a full glass of fine wine.
Three of Hey Clockface’s
tracks
were
recorded
in
Helsinki, while the rest were
recorded in Paris along with
a full band led by longtime
Costello
collaborator,
Steve
Nieve. The tracks recorded in
Helsinki have an urgent, lo-fi
sound. Costello’s voice sounds
pent up as if he struggles
to
deliver
the
lines.
“No
Flag,” which was recorded in
Helsinki, is full of cynical lyrics
which
match
exceptionally
well with the feel of the song.
In contrast, the songs recorded
in Paris are slower, jazzier and
more subtle. These songs range
from “I Do (Zula’s Song),” a
slow jazz ballad with excellent
woodwind and brass lines to
“The Last Confession of Vivian
Whip,” a sweet, slow piano tune
which tells an interesting story
through Costello’s emblematic
songwriting mastery.
Listening to Costello sing
on much slower tracks allows
the listener to appreciate the
subtle textures of Costello’s
voice. His delivery of the
bluesy political anthem “We
Are All Cowards Now” is raspy
and pleading as the character
laments for a time before
society became soft and vain.
The powerful spoken word on
“Revolution #49” and “Radio
is Everything” demonstrate
Costello’s
impressive
tonal
range and ability to create
interesting moods within his
track lists.
Though the individual tracks
on Hey Clockface demonstrate
Costello’s mastery of the craft
of songwriting, the overall
production of the album is
severely
underwhelming.
There are many thematic and
musical links between the
tracks on this album — such
as the recurring theme of
communication incongruities
within relationships — but
Costello’s album suffers from
a severe lack of cohesion.
The track list ricochets from
lighthearted tunes with sweet
lyrics to more serious songs
interwoven
with
complex
melodramatic
textures.
Though both songs are great
in their own right, “No Flag’s”
punchy, overdriven production
doesn’t sound all too good
on the same side of the richly
produced and indulgent “I Do”.
The result of this mismatch
makes the album feel like a
collection of b-sides left on the
cutting room floor at multiple
points in Costello’s career,
stitched up and packaged for
release.
The
quality
also
varies
jarringly between tracks on the
album. Aside from the obvious
tonal divide between the songs
recorded in Paris and Helsinki,
the difference in production
quality from track to track is
noticeable. In one extreme
example, the vocals on “Radio
is
Everything”
sound
half
baked, almost as if Costello’s
voice was recorded through
a laptop microphone. I even
listened to this track through
multiple
audio
sources
to
make sure the issue wasn’t just
with me and it sounded just
as uncomfortable no matter
what I listened to it on. The
unfortunate result of this lack
of quality control is that the
impact of the more brilliant
moments and beautiful lyrics
is
reduced
by
distracting
production.
Though it’s a bit of a
mess, it’s a beautiful mess
nonetheless.
Hey
Clockface
proves what we already know
about Costello: He’s a master at
creating beautiful songs with
compelling, intricate lyrics.
Though Hey Clockface may
not cut out to stand out among
the many titans of Costello’s
discography, it is certainly an
album worth paying attention
to, especially if you are looking
to learn from a true master.
Daily
Arts
Contributor
Kai Bartol can be reached at
kbartol@umich.edu.
DIGITAL CULTURE NOTEBOOK
On TikTok and Penelope Scott
For as long as the modern music
industry has been around, the
idea of scenes has been critical to
understanding how the artform
evolves. Geographic regions and
even individual cities are often
tied to a certain subgenre, from the
east coast vs. west coast era of hip-
hop to the incredibly influential
Chicago house scene. It’s no
surprise, then, that in the digital
era, new music scenes are popping
up on different websites and apps.
The mid-late 2010s were, after all,
dominated by the lo-fi trap sounds
of “SoundCloud rap.”
Despite SoundCloud’s work in
establishing the internet as a viable
place to develop new innovative
sounds, few people saw TikTok’s
rise to dominance over the music
industry coming. TikTok is a social
media app, primarily aimed at Gen
Z kids, that succeeded Musical.
ly as the number one source for
short videos of people dancing.
It is wildly successful, ranking
alongside giants like Twitter and
Instagram as one of the most
popular social media platforms.
But don’t let TikTok’s surface
appearance as an inconsequential
trend platform, like Vine before
it, trick you. TikTok is much more
than just dancing videos, and
has clearly made an impact in
everything from politics (TikTok
was where thousands of teens
organized to reserve seats at a high
profile Trump rally, contributing
to the embarrassingly low turnout)
to the music industry itself (“Old
Town Road,” one of the biggest
pop songs of all time, started as a
TikTok song).
TikTok is scarily good at
personalizing content for the user.
The almighty algorithm is nearly
mythical in the way it is revered
by users, allowing anyone who
regularly uses the platform to end
up in incredibly specific niche
areas. It is within these many sides
of TikTok that indie musicians can
thrive. It’s hard to overstate how
much one viral TikTok can change
a musician’s career. “Vices,” a
single by Mothica, hit number two
on the iTunes chart off nothing
but TikTok hype, materializing
a music career for Mothica out
of nowhere. Previously obscure
Swedish indie musician Girl In
Red’s lo-fi sapphic love songs
have become so well known in
the LGBTQ+ corner of the app
that “listening to Girl In Red” has
become synonymous with being a
lesbian.
After
seeing
the
influence
TikTok has had over the music
industry, many may ask questions
like “Does TikTok music have a
specific sound, like SoundCloud
before it?”, “What is it like for
those who make it big off of a
minute-long viral video?” and of
course, “How much staying power
do these musicians really have?”
Well, ask no longer, because I
sat down over Zoom with college
student, amateur musician and
overnight success story Penelope
Scott to get her take on the
TikTok effect. Scott gained rapid
popularity on TikTok under the
username @worsethanithot after
her song Born to Run went viral.
This interview has been edited
for clarity and concision.
The Michigan Daily: My first
question for you is: what was your
original motivation to join TikTok?
When did you join it? Did you join
it intending to post music content
on there, or did you just join it as
a social media and end up doing
music later on?
Penelope Scott: I definitely did
not join it expecting to post music.
I joined it mostly to see content. I
thought the jokes were funny and
I wanted to see the memes. And I
also wanted to see what my friends
were doing. And some of them
were on tiktok. So I thought that
was a good thing to be in touch
with … I posted a lot of videos of
my friends, and then I posted a
few of music. And when it started
to become a music account, I took
all the videos of people that maybe
didn’t want to be part of my brand
off of it and kind of transformed
it into that account. But that’s
definitely not how it started.
TMD: So what was your
original motivation to start posting
music related videos? What was
the first thing you posted? Why’d
you post it?
PS: Oh, I think it must have been
some of the homework projects
I was making for my music class
at the time ... I go to a school that
has some music equipment. And
when COVID happened a lot of
the students had to go online. We
had to switch to a free software
that everyone could use. And so we
used LMMS 1.2.1 And it’s like just
the free open source software. I
like it a lot. And I have a lot of other
software that I use to edit audio
that I used to edit my voice. But
all of the beats on the new, like the
backdrops on the new songs are in
LMMS.
TMD: Really?
PS: Yeah. Yeah. So that’s what a
lot of the first ones were because I
was doing homework regularly so
I would turn in like a piece. And
then I would extend that into a
song and put it on the Internet.
TMD: Yeah, I will definitely
get into that when we talk about
the album. So generally, can you
give me an overview, a summary
of how your career has changed or
even come to be if you didn’t really
have one before? Like, how has in
the past ... like you said, you started
during COVID, so in the past
couple months of making music
and putting it on tiktok, how has
your career changed?
PS: I guess it’s just been a
crazy trajectory up of people
knowing about the songs that I
make. And I guess it would have
started — so Sweet Hibiscus Tea,
the video, blew up in late May.
And Born to Run blew up around
the same time. But it travels very
differently online because the
audio got banned. So that’s a lot
more people spreading it without
it being attached to me and finding
out later like where it comes from.
And then sweet hibiscus tea is
pretty straightforward. So from
that point on, it’s just been like
this rapid growth of numbers and
the amount of people that I’m
interacting with. I used to be able
to answer everybody’s comments
and questions and kind of be
very personal with people. And
now it takes a lot longer to get to
the bottom of the DMs. So that’s
definitely a big change. Yeah. It’s
been a pretty steady, very stable
upward trend on Spotify, which I
think is a good sign.
TMD: So to provide some
perspective for people who are
not as familiar with online culture
things, who know the more
traditional music industry ... have
you seen any success with that?
Has anybody, like, tried to reach
out to you for like record deals or
stuff? Have you gotten any more
traditional music career things?
PS: Yeah. So I have had a few
record labels reach out to me.
Not necessarily ... I think, I think
making a deal is more ... That’s a
little in the past at this point. They
kind of just want to trade contact
information and keep you kind of
in their orbit so that if you have a
request, you can make it. And then
you’ll settle on a deal. I haven’t
settled on a deal with a record label
because I use a distributor called
Distro Kid, which works for me.
And they just put all the things that
I make onto Spotify and Apple, and
they do it for about thirty dollars a
year, which is pretty cool.
TMD: So that’s how your
career changed. How has like ...
And obviously, you don’t need to
go near too many personal details
if you don’t want to. How has
your life changed? How has your
personal life been affected by this
sudden growth?
PS: Well, it’s weird because
because it’s so online, my day to
day life isn’t that much different.
I’m still going to school, still
studying politics, still doing all
the normal things I was going to
do. But it is, like, a significant part
of my day, checking social media.
And when I was putting out the
album, that would take hours out
of the day to just kind of set up my
little recording area in the room,
knock out a song, edit it. And it’s
also interesting to have people who
have not seen me or talk to me in a
while realize that they recognized
my voice on one of the songs that
they’ve heard somewhere else and
kind of like circle back and be like,
Hey, are you doing music now?
And I’m like, I am. And it’s weird
that you know that. But thank you.
TMD: So, you’ve obviously
been in the music world or at least
aware of what’s going on in music
for a few years, even if you’ve not
been super successful and active
in making music that whole time.
How do you think the music
industry itself has changed the
past couple years with things like
TikTok and especially recently
with COVID, which you’ll have
more experience with that ...
PS: Well, I definitely think that
it’s a lot more artist friendly and a
lot more user friendly. I think artist
friendly platforms like Bandcamp
are a big deal. The idea that things
are pretty straightforward and
you can kind of just do this on the
side and not have it take up a lot
of your day. And then if it starts
to pick up, then you can choose to
allocate more time. But I also think
that TikTok especially is a really
interesting one, because it kind of
paves the way for other platforms
that might link audio. And like, you
can trace a meme back through a
song. That’s really interesting to
me. I think it has a huge impact
on tying various pieces of art that
relate to one song together. And
that’s pretty cool. It’s definitely
helped me get in touch with people
who are, in the future, going to do
my album art, because someone
does a drawing or something to
your song and then you have the
ability to reach out to them and say,
hey, this is my song, and you drew
a picture to it and I like it. We can
work together. So very connected.
TMD:
That
entire
scene
of TikTok music, of all these
individual songs and sometimes
artists in general just making
huge success. I know there are
some stylistic trends that seem
to be more popular on TikTok.
And it makes me think about a
phenomenon of the mid to late
last decade of SoundCloud and
SoundCloud rap and that scene.
Do you think that would be a fair
comparison between TikTok and
SoundCloud?
KAI BARTOL
For The Daily
CLAIRE ARP
For The Daily
SEJJAD ALKHALBY
Daily Arts Writer
Something no one tells you
about being an adult is that,
at the end of the day, no one is
going to make you do anything.
No one is going to make you
get a job, make you pay your
bills, make you eat healthy or
just generally make you get
your life together — at least
not in the way your parents
made you clean your room
when you were a kid. Sure,
you might have friends and
family who will be genuinely
concerned when something
seems to be going wrong,
but as an adult, you’ll rarely
ever be forced to do anything
about it. It’s ultimately up to
you whether you pay any mind
to other people’s concerns
about you. This, in a word, is
responsibility.
Brandon
Taylor’s
debut
novel “Real Life” explores
the
tension
between
responsibility
and
the
psychological
dysfunction
resulting
from
childhood
trauma. The story is told
from
the
perspective
of
Wallace, a gay Black man
from
Alabama
who
has
recently
begun
his
PhD
program at a predominately
white Midwestern university.
Though
one
may
imagine
plenty of dramatic tension
arising from this situation
alone, it plays a far more subtle
role than anticipated. Broad
social
commentary
takes
a backseat to the minutiae
of
Wallace’s
subjective
experiences.
Rarely
does
Wallace’s race or sexuality
play an explicit role in his
interactions
with
people,
remaining an easily ignorable
shadow for most of the novel,
only
to
periodically
cut
through with a force backed
by the entirety of America’s
injustice against Black and
queer people.
Conflict arises as Wallace
attempts to navigate a number
of delicate social situations.
Challenging situations with
his friends and colleagues
force Wallace to confront
many of his neuroses. One of
these conflicts is with Dana,
a new member of Wallace’s
PhD program who he suspects
sabotaged one of his lab
experiments
in
retaliation
for what she perceived as
Wallace talking down to her;
this culminates in a heated
verbal
argument.
Wallace
is an introverted, conflict-
averse
person,
so
dealing
with this situation causes him
emotional
stress.
Another
one of these tensions, which
looms over the entire story,
is his friends’ reactions to
the recent death of his father.
Taylor suggests that Wallace
has a tumultuous relationship
with his parents, so he doesn’t
go to the funeral or even think
much about the death, which
occurred a few weeks prior
to the events of the novel.
Wallace tells just one of his
friends about it, and only
because he was somewhat
forced to. Hours later, his
entire friend group knows,
but Wallace doesn’t know how
to handle their sympathy. He
doesn’t feel particularly sad
about it, and doesn’t really
know how to feel about it at
all. So when his friends offer
their condolences, expecting
him to be sad, he has trouble
reacting in a way that would
ease their discomfort. He
finds himself managing their
emotions more than being
supported by them.
These are just a few of the
social
challenges
Wallace
faces that prompt him to
confront
his
own
inner
conflicts. Being the focus of a
character-driven novel, these
inner conflicts are Taylor’s
most captivating plot device.
Wallace’s
primary
drive
is to avoid thinking about
the traumatic events in his
past, particularly a sexual
assault
and
the
resultant
poor relationship with his
family.
Wallace
dodges
these memories by focusing
all
his
attention
on
his
graduate work and avoiding
situations where he needs to
open up and feel vulnerable.
Consequently,
Wallace’s
inner monologue fills most
of the space of the book, but
as he is thrust into various
interpersonal conflicts, his
efforts to isolate himself from
others become increasingly
fraught. Despite the lack of
an eventful plot, the book
doesn’t lack drama. Wallace is
a particularly keen observer
of both himself and the people
around him, which makes for
some detailed narration. We
watch him pickup on all sorts
of emotional subtleties while
simultaneously blocking out
negative
emotions
related
to his past trauma. With the
story taking place over just
a weekend, the novel has a
slow pace, but the incredibly
rich
narration
keeps
the
reader engaged throughout.
Readers who skim Wallace’s
long
inner
monologues
will
inevitably
miss
an
important
observation,
a
poignant emotional moment
or a dramatic shift in tone.
There are few lines that feel
superfluous, making the slow
pacing worthwhile.
“Real Life” is a powerful
character
study.
Taylor
perceptively depicts a layered,
complex persona in Wallace.
The story is gut-wrenching
and moving, giving the reader
much to think about as they
watch Wallace grow. “Real
Life” is impressive in its
own right, but even more so
considering that it’s Taylor’s
first novel, making me eager
to see what else he might have
in store.
Daily Arts Writer Sejjad
Alkhalby can be reached at
salkhalb@umich.edu.
RIVERHEAD BOOKS
Read more online at
michigandaily.com
“Real Life”
is a powerful
character
study. Taylor
perceptively
depicts a layered,
complex persona
in Wallace.