5 Overlooked Rock Songs of 2020
Music has been the diamond amid 2020’s rough. Whether in the form of the “quarantine album,'' a phrase that has now been conditioned to seem normal, or multiple album releases a lá Taylor Swift and Adrianne Lenker, there has been no shortage of exceptional musical content this past year.
As music blogs start pouring out their top lists from the last twelve months, familiar names claim the highest rankings while others get left out of the discussion. It isn’t that Phoebe Bridgers or Fiona Apple aren’t deserving of an additional shoutout, but rather 2020 brought so much great music it was all too easy for some to slip under the radar. This mini-list is a brief spotlight on some of those indie-rock musicians whose names have been left out of the conversation.
1. “Crash”-Nilüfer Yanya
In the wake of her 2019 album “Miss Universe”, Nilüfer Yanya released the three-song EP “Feeling Lucky” just as 2020 comes to a close, adding to her repertoire of fully developed, lush rock songs. On “Crash”, Yanya plunges into the song’s intro by singing, “If you ask me one more question/ I’m about to crash,” her voice dropping and wavering as if on the precipice of breakdown. The song repeats a series of choppy statements that serve as affirmations in hopes of self-determination, as Yanya sings the lines with a dual confusion over the workings of the world, and a confidence of her own awareness. “It’s kind of like a prison/ the way there is not much to see,” she sings, “I kind of like the distance/ to keep you away from me,” as the guitars and drums swell with a grittiness in contrast to the lucidity of her voice. Yanya’s ability to infiltrate her rock songs with a concoction of jazz, pop and R&B makes for music that both sounds completely individual but could easily have a place on the radio. Here’s hoping 2021 finds her there.
2. “UNITED GIRLS ROCK’N’ROLL CLUB” - CHAI, Hinds
“UNITED GIRLS ROCK’N’ROLL CLUB'' is the single Madrid-based group Hinds and Japan-based quartet CHAI released as a celebration of their similar sensibilities despite living in different countries. The trilingual track serves as a praise for the role women have played in rock music, singing, “Because we have been fans way longer than in bands/ And now the music has more power in our hands.” The song is a full product of each group, as CHAI’s layered-poppy vocals jump around the recognizable structure of a Hinds track. A sort of utopia is portrayed in the song’s music video, as the girls strum their guitars and frolic around a pre-pandemic Madrid with the freedom to giggle and still be taken seriously. Needless to say, this is one club I’d gladly join.
3. “Flying” -Dehd
The Chicago trio Dehd released their junior full-length album this year called “Freedom of Devotion”, showing a continued development in the depth of their sound. One such example was “Flying,” the last song on the album which describes a relationship that feels like the title, as lead singer Emily Kempf questions, “Am I in heaven or hell?/ I can’t tell.” The song’s momentum builds as Kempf’s perfectly grating post-punk voice unleashes the whirlwind of confliction the speaker is undergoing in the name of love. As Kempf sings the song’s title her voice soars, while guitarist Jason Bella fingerpicks the song's melody in contrast to drummer Eric McGrady’s pounding bass drum. The exhilaration and intensity of love are shown with ease, as the band excels in the fervor of their compositions that leave enough space for interpretation.
4. “Hasta La Vista” -Dream Wife
Dream Wife started as a tongue-in-cheek art school project for the London-based female trio, but after graduation, the band was no longer. Four years into recording music, the group has a live album, an EP, and two full-length albums, the most recent being 2020’s “So When You Gonna…”.The album was recorded with an all-female team, a move the band felt important in order to practice what they preach. “Hasta La Vista” is an example of Dream Wife’s playful punk-rock that is both biting and bubbly, as lead singer Rakel Mjöll’s voice glides and jumps across the fuzzy guitar of Alice Go and bass of Bella Podpadec. The song retells a glamorous approach to a break-up as the chorus, “Saying Hasta la vista baby/ Ciao/ Hasta la vista baby/ Goodbye now,” is delivered with the ease of a movie star rejecting a sorry soul pleading at her feet. The song’s intro sounds like a tribute to “Heart of Glass”, but develops into a revamped version without losing a sense of sexy-cool reminiscent of Debbie Harry. Dream Wife is a band that could easily fit in amid the teasing punk-rock groups of the late seventies, as if taking a 21st century spin on The Slits.
5. “Season of the Goose"- Melkbelly
Melkbelly is a group of mostly siblings bred from the Chicago-DIY scene that has been making music since 2013. In 2020, the band released their second full-length album “PITH”, in the wake of losing a close friend. The result was an album that utilizes the band’s balance of pop and rock to reflect the duality of life-- moments of escape and sunshine, as well as their darker counterpoints. On “Season of the Goose”, Melkbelly dives into an incredibly enjoyable punk-rock groove that propels alongside Miranda Winters’ muffled vocals, creating a track that transcends the simple formula of garage-rock into something even greater.