Lanterns on the Lake
I decided to start reaching out to bands whose songs I have *moments* with while driving around. I sent the following e-mail to Lanterns on the Lake the other day:
Hello,
My name is Sara Crawford. I stumbled across your album somehow. (I think I just saw it on the Metacritic list of new releases and listened to it on Spotify, and then I purchased it on iTunes). First of all, let me just say I have basically been listening to it obsessively since I discovered it in January.
I love all of the tracks, but "The Buffalo Days," "Until the Colours Run," "You Soon Learn," and "Another Tale from Another English Town" are among my favorites. My absolute favorite song, though, is "Green and Gold." I love the lyrics, I love the somber piano, I love the vocal melody. I love how the emotion is practically dripping onto the notes that are being sung. I love heartbreaking songs, and this is an incredibly emotional song for me.
I really relate to the lyrics on a personal level. This has been my favorite sad song lately. I have been going through a very difficult time recently, and sad music really helps me in times like these. One of the most therapeutic things for me to do is drive around and blast a really emotional song. Over the past few months, "Green and Gold" has been that song for me. I put it on repeat, and when it gets to the "I live along, but I'm still doing the music" line, I almost always tear up. These drives and moments with songs like your's are really important to my emotional process though, and it's the only way I can start to heal. And when I feel all cried out, I let it go to the next song, "You Soon Learn." The guitar that begins that song is brilliant. It's as if you knew some chick would be having an emotional breakdown to "Green and Gold" and really need an uplifting guitar part that said "everything will be okay."
I am also a musician, and I write a lot of sad and mellow songs. I have gotten really discouraged because it has felt like people don't really appreciate my music. When you write music that doesn't exactly inspire strangers to dance around and party at the local dive bar music venues in Atlanta, it can make you feel like that. But the other day, I was driving around having one of these moments to "Green and Gold" and I thought "these people have no idea that someone in Georgia is driving around listening to their song on repeat and having a moment to their song." And then I thought what if somewhere, someone is driving around having a moment to one of my songs and I just don't know? And that thought made me feel a little better.
And I really felt compelled to reach out to you and let you know how your album (but especially that song) has affected me. And how I think sad songs are really important, and the people that write them often don't get much appreciation. But I really, really appreciate "Green and Gold." And I appreciate the entire album!
It looks like you're mainly touring in Europe, but I hope that you make it to the US at some point, and I really hope you play a show in Atlanta. I guarantee you I will be in the audience singing along to your songs.
Thank you for making music.
Sara
Today, I got a response from them. It was a great way to start my day.
Dear Sara,
Thank you for taking the time out to write to us. It means a great deal to receive your email and hear that there are people out there who find something for themselves/of themselves in our music.
We hope to play in Atlanta sometime. We have just returned from our first US tour actually and we had a great time. We played New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington DC. New York was my favourite. We are desperate to go back and play the cities we didn't get to this time around. Hopefully Atlanta will be one of those cities and we can say 'hello' in person.
All the best with your songwriting, even if it doesn't inspire people to sing and dance in mindless fun it will connect with someone somewhere on a different level. Charles Baudelaire once said "I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy".
Keep the faith,
Hazel
Check out their tunes below and go buy their album:
Hello,
My name is Sara Crawford. I stumbled across your album somehow. (I think I just saw it on the Metacritic list of new releases and listened to it on Spotify, and then I purchased it on iTunes). First of all, let me just say I have basically been listening to it obsessively since I discovered it in January.
I love all of the tracks, but "The Buffalo Days," "Until the Colours Run," "You Soon Learn," and "Another Tale from Another English Town" are among my favorites. My absolute favorite song, though, is "Green and Gold." I love the lyrics, I love the somber piano, I love the vocal melody. I love how the emotion is practically dripping onto the notes that are being sung. I love heartbreaking songs, and this is an incredibly emotional song for me.
I really relate to the lyrics on a personal level. This has been my favorite sad song lately. I have been going through a very difficult time recently, and sad music really helps me in times like these. One of the most therapeutic things for me to do is drive around and blast a really emotional song. Over the past few months, "Green and Gold" has been that song for me. I put it on repeat, and when it gets to the "I live along, but I'm still doing the music" line, I almost always tear up. These drives and moments with songs like your's are really important to my emotional process though, and it's the only way I can start to heal. And when I feel all cried out, I let it go to the next song, "You Soon Learn." The guitar that begins that song is brilliant. It's as if you knew some chick would be having an emotional breakdown to "Green and Gold" and really need an uplifting guitar part that said "everything will be okay."
I am also a musician, and I write a lot of sad and mellow songs. I have gotten really discouraged because it has felt like people don't really appreciate my music. When you write music that doesn't exactly inspire strangers to dance around and party at the local dive bar music venues in Atlanta, it can make you feel like that. But the other day, I was driving around having one of these moments to "Green and Gold" and I thought "these people have no idea that someone in Georgia is driving around listening to their song on repeat and having a moment to their song." And then I thought what if somewhere, someone is driving around having a moment to one of my songs and I just don't know? And that thought made me feel a little better.
And I really felt compelled to reach out to you and let you know how your album (but especially that song) has affected me. And how I think sad songs are really important, and the people that write them often don't get much appreciation. But I really, really appreciate "Green and Gold." And I appreciate the entire album!
It looks like you're mainly touring in Europe, but I hope that you make it to the US at some point, and I really hope you play a show in Atlanta. I guarantee you I will be in the audience singing along to your songs.
Thank you for making music.
Sara
Today, I got a response from them. It was a great way to start my day.
Dear Sara,
Thank you for taking the time out to write to us. It means a great deal to receive your email and hear that there are people out there who find something for themselves/of themselves in our music.
We hope to play in Atlanta sometime. We have just returned from our first US tour actually and we had a great time. We played New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington DC. New York was my favourite. We are desperate to go back and play the cities we didn't get to this time around. Hopefully Atlanta will be one of those cities and we can say 'hello' in person.
All the best with your songwriting, even if it doesn't inspire people to sing and dance in mindless fun it will connect with someone somewhere on a different level. Charles Baudelaire once said "I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy".
Keep the faith,
Hazel
Check out their tunes below and go buy their album:
)