Monday 27 June 2011

Dear Reader- Replace Why With Funny

The Ratio of good music to bad music now-a-days is a blight and has left some of the most incredible bands I've ever heard in the dark and therefore don't have the popularity they so rightly deserve! I mean, come on. Britney Spears has had a long enough "Reign" in the charts, so let someone with talent have a chance. Bands in South Africa have it much worse, very rarely does a South African band (No matter how original and talented) make it into international charts.I can't think of a single South African band who wrote a Rock Anthem! Many South African bands should get famous, and Dear Reader is definitely one of them!

Now Dear Reader have gotten play on VH1 and MTV Europe, but they still don't have the popularity they so deserve, after all I believe that "Replace Why With Funny" is one of the most incredible albums I have ever heard, South African or otherwise. A masterpiece.

Dear Reader are an indie/folk/pop band with a refreshingly different female vocalist, Cherilyn Macneil whose voice and brilliant songwriting makes them as amazing as they are. You may know them as Harris Tweed. They had to change their name to Dear Reader because the clothing company, Harris Tweed complained.

The album starts out with a simple strummy acoustic song, "The Way of the World" which I assume is about how busy the world has become and that  people should just slow down. Musically, it is rather simple, but I'm not complaining because it really works. The lyrics are brilliant and it's a very happy and very chilled out song. Well, it's a very happy and chilled out album.

The Next song on the album, "Dear Heart" is once again brilliant, simple and has amazing lyrics. Not much can really be said for this song because if I were to describe it, I wouldn't make any sense, so I'll post a link to this song.

Now onto the highlight of this album, Track 3, "Great White Bear" which is about forbidden love. Stunning lyrics and beautiful music to accompany them. It is once again beautifully simple in the way that if they tried to do anything else it wouldn't have been as good. This is probably my favourite song at the moment and when you listen to it, I hope you understand why.
I am the type of person that will absolutely love a song for just one phrase, and while I love this song in it's entirety, my favourite part of Great White Bear is just after the first chorus, there is a single sustained note on a guitar, and this gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it. So beautifully simple. I absolutly love this song and I hope to get you guys to love it as much as I do. And along with this amazing song is a great music video that explains the storyline of the song brilliantly. Check it out too, I'll post a link.

So now moving onto Track 5,"Out Out Out" which starts out with only an acoustic guitar and Cherilyn's beautiful voice. When moving into the chorus they introduce a violin or cello (Not sure which one) which dies away as the song enters it's second verse. And then after the second chorus, starts a beautiful bridge and introduces drums which cut out instantly as the verse starts once again. (Very Cool) This is a beautiful song, as is the whole album.

One of the happiest songs on the album is Track 7, "Never Goes" which can only be described as, very Christmasy! This song puts a new spin on describing our "Rainbow Nation" and that even though we are different, we still have the same heart. My favourite lyric in this song, explains a brilliant view point racial equality, "No I don't listen to Kwaito [South African variation of house music] I wasn't born is Soweto. I don't understand you, but I want to, you know." brilliant lyric in my opinion.

This is a great album and they really deserve your support. I really recommend it to anyone who is hoping to find new music out there. I hope I can get their good name out there with this blog, because they really deserve it. And if they are ever doing a show in Jo'burg, leave a comment and tell me!

Here's the links to Great White Bear and Dear Heart on youtube, check them out!

Thanks alot for all the support I've been getting with my blog so far. Please follow my blog, the follow button is in the top right hand corner, you can't miss it!

Please leave comments telling me what you think of Dear Reader and my page, I'd love your feedback.

And so I'll give you guys another recommendation next week, so until then, Turn Up the Volume and Plug in Your Head.


Xtian Zzyzx

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