Music: Seven Lions "Worlds Apart" EP

Good Afternoon folks!

Today I'd like to talk about an artist I just got into recently, and his newest EP!

I was scrolling through Facebook one day, and while scrolling one of my favorite artists, Kerli, had made a post.  She talked about collaborating with another musician.  I was excited for new music from her, so I decided to look into it, and that's how I found out about Seven Lions.  The project she was talking about was the title track of his new EP, Worlds Apart.

Now I'm still very new to the Electronic Dance Music scene, as Kerli has been the only artist of the genre that I closely followed, just listening to a track or two here and there from other artists.  I had been wary of looking into the genre because of a lot of the music majors at my University.  Some of them at least, have a stuck up attitude and are convinced that electronic music isn't real music.  After listening to this EP over and over again, I can say without a doubt that they are so wrong!

This EP as a whole has an ethereal feel to it, and it transports you to another world inside of your head.  To me, when I listen to it I feel like I'm floating.

Before I go into more detail track by track, here's a little background information on Seven Lions:

The man behind Seven Lions is Jeff Montalvo, a producer, remixer, composer, and DJ from Santa Barbara.  He found the name Seven Lions from a character in the fantasy novel Latro in the Mist by Gene Wolf.  Seven Lions released his debut EP, Polarize, in 2012 and caught the attention of Skrillex.  He signed with Skrillex's record label, OWLSA (owned by Warner) in 2013.  He then released his next EP, Days to Come, on that label.  He released one other single with OWLSA before signing with Casablanca Records (also owned by Warner).  Worlds Apart is his first EP with Casablanca Records.

Now, let's get to the music, shall we?

This is the EP in its entirety from Seven Lions's official YouTube channel, so you can listen as you read.

The first track is called "Don't Leave" featuring pop singer Ellie Goulding.  I do have a few tracks by her already, so it was nice to have a familiar voice to start of the EP with.  The track starts off with something sounding like white noise which escalates into a steady pitch.  Next, you hear a melodic beat that sounds like something I'd imagine you'd hear at a space station.  The music then drops to provide ambiance for Ellie's vocals, then builds into its own melodic line under her.  I think this track has a very interesting give and take with the vocalist, since the EDM tracks I've heard usually go one of two ways:  they either give way to the vocalist, or the vocalist provides the ambiance and fades in and out.  In my experience, it usually goes with the latter of the two, but this track has a good balance of vocals and back track with intertwining melodic lines.

The second track on the EP is the title track, "Worlds Apart" featuring Kerli.  Before I even heard the song I knew I would like it just because it had Kerli on it.  That may be my bias showing, but I love her vocals and her songwriting is superb.  This track has a similar slow build up that "Don't Leave" had, but when Kerli joined in the music there wasn't a huge stop as if to say "here's the vocalist!"  Throughout the entire track, it sounds and feels as if the vocals and back track are one entity moving along with itself.  There is a great sense of movement with this track, almost as if you could see muscles moving with smooth choreography, or like water flowing in a river.  I think this smooth sense of oneness and movement is what makes this track stand out from the rest on the EP.  Truly an amazing track.

The third track, "Nepenthe" is the only track on this EP where Seven Lions is by himself.  This track is the hardcore dance floor track where you can lose yourself in the music and go nuts!  I do like listening to this by myself, but I'd love to hear it in a live setting where it's at its full potential to get people moving.  I can just see all the glow sticks and brightly colored outfits in my head!  Although this is a dance floor track, there is a certain restraint in it.  It still fits in with the rest of the EP in that it has that otherworldly, floating feel, and while you can dance to it, it's not the kind of track that would blow out your speakers, and I can definitely appreciate that.

The fourth track is "Strangers" featuring Myon and Shade 54 & Tove Lo.  Now I've never heard of the featuring artists before, so I'll have to look them up in the future.  This track is the shortest on the EP at three minutes and twenty four seconds, so I have a hunch that this is meant to be a pop single in a way.  Unlike the other tracks, the vocals hit you immediately and continue throughout the track without any long breaks.  I believe this track is meant to highlight the vocals, and the vocalist does have a very strong voice that's pleasant to listen to.  I can definitely imagine myself dancing like crazy to this one, and this is arguably the most upbeat track on the EP.  If you don't know too much about EDM but are a pop music junkie like myself, I think you'll like this track.

The fifth and final track is "Keep it Close" also featuring Kerli.  The way this track starts, it sounds like an electronic music box of some sort with a repeated melody, then it melts into an ethereal vocal with a pulsing line behind it.  Montalvo said that this was his favorite track on the EP since it was less about getting people to dance and more about the songwriting itself.  This song is written in 3/4 time and you can definitely feel that, since it's much different than the other tracks and feels almost like a waltz.  There is use of piano in this track, and it's refreshing to hear a midst all of the electronic sounds.  Kerli's vocals here are more differentiated from the back track than they are on "Worlds Apart," though there is some sort of effect added to them that blurs them a bit, and it sounds like she's melting into something, or sinking down slowly.  Her vocals are in a floaty soprano although because of that melting effect, it feels grounding to listen to.  The song closes with the slow piano and the music box sound again, like it's winding down.  I think it was a brilliant idea to end the EP with this track, as it shows off Seven Lion's experimentation with a new sound, and because it's different than what he's done in the past, it gives the listener a taste of possibly what's to come.

This EP has quickly become one of my favorite albums for the Summer, and the more I listen to it, the more different things I hear each time.  If you're skeptical about getting into the EDM genre, I think this would be a good starting point, and for you seasoned EDM fans, this is a taste of something new within the genre that I think you'll enjoy.  

Do you like Seven Lions?  What do you think of his newest work?

Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading, and see you in my next post!

xoxo

Martha

I'm Divorcing Kpop

Good Evening lovelies!

I apologize for the long absence, but I was off in Germany studying abroad!  It was amazing, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Now unless you've been living under a rock, you already know that EXO's Kris filed suit against SM Entertainment to have his contract be terminated with the company.  Fortunately, since I was in Germany for the past two weeks, I could stay away from the internet and from most of the crazy fan wars that were circulating.

Unfortunately, that left me to obsess in my own head.

And after thinking about this for a good long while, I had to ask myself something.

Is the escape really worth it?

Kpop, specifically EXO, has been my escape for the past year.  Whenever something would go wrong in my life, I'd turn to these pretty, shiny idols to make me feel better and push away the real world.  In doing so, I did something that I told myself I would never do.  I somehow forgot that idols are people too.  And I'm incredibly disappointed in myself for doing so.  These idols work so hard and in such terrible conditions to make their fans happy, and a lot of fans seem to think it's all sunshine and rainbows for them, or they just don't care either way and just want the shiny costumes and catchy music.

I was wary to get into Kpop for that very reason, but somehow when EXO came along, I got sucked in.  The logical part of my brain was screaming about the JYJ lawsuit, and being a conscious consumer, but the part of me that somehow needed an escape was much stronger than logic.  

I had gotten so sucked in that when the news of Kris's lawsuit broke out, it hit me like a bomb.  I actually cried.  And not just getting teary eyed like a Morning Musume graduation, I mean like the ugly cry.  It was bad.

But at the same time, it was the perfect wake up call.  Reading accounts of his poor health and other such things that I will not mention to give him some sort of privacy, set alarm bells going off in my head.

This is wrong.  This whole system--this machine.  That's the thing about Kpop.  It's a machine, and the idols are just cogs to work it so that their companies can profit from it.  After thinking about it and writing my thoughts down repeatedly, it made me sick to my stomach.  These companies take these young, passionate, talented people and turn them into puppets...

Some fans are calling Kris a traitor and other such things, but can you really blame him for leaving?  When you aren't respected as a human being, let alone an artist, something has to be done.  Humans aren't meant to be kept in cages, whether a literal cage with iron bars, or one shaped like an entertainment company.

Then I decided to look beyond Kris and SM.  I remembered articles I had read in the past and brushed off.  B.A.P's constant promotion cycles with no rest, Secret only allowed one meal a day, T-ara members only getting two to three hours of sleep a night, not to mention Hwayoung's ugly departure.  And so much more, too many horror stories to count.

I had let myself become a part of the machine, supporting the grind of its gears, and I couldn't let myself do that anymore.  The night before I left for Germany I deleted every single Kpop song I had off of my iPod.

Every. Single. Song.

Let me tell you, I have a good chunk of space available now...

It's bizarre really, seeing how this one thing took over my life.  Kpop affected how I thought about the world, about music, and about myself.  I was so obsessed and in so deep it was unhealthy.  I've only been away from it for two weeks and I already feel so much better.

I'm not constantly comparing my looks to girl groups, I'm not trying to make art conform to anyone else's standards but my own...it's like I've found my true self again.

Though as I'm writing this, I did add a few groups back on.  Namely JYJ and Block B.  Those two groups have made names for themselves with companies that treat them fairly (as far as we know), and have found a way around the most hideous parts of the Kpop machine.

It's tough though.  I'll find myself looking for a song and realize I deleted it, and the fact that a large majority of my friends still listen to it makes me a little uncomfortable.  I just don't want to talk about it anymore, and whenever I see someone post something about their favorite Kpop idol, I have to scroll past.

After all of the emotional ups and downs, what I have it down to is this:

I will not listen to Kpop music unless it's from a company that treats its artists well.  So far, that comes to JYJ, Block B, U-Kiss (though that may be debatable for some), and any independent musicians that I can find.  The groups that I loved for so long I now have to push away.

It's not like I don't want to support the idols.  I do.  I think they're all talented and wonderful.  I just can't support them because their companies profit off of them.  And the only way things are going to change is if those companies lose money.  That's the only language they know.

But this change can't start with me.  It can't start with international fans.  It has to start in South Korea, with South Korean fans, since those fans are the ones with the power, and the ones paying most of the money.  Unfortunately, those are the fans that are most loyal to the companies.

I have a feeling it will take a great many years before we see any change to the machine, but until then, I'll be hoping that these idols can survive.  That they can be okay, even though their careers are in the hands of greedy businessmen.  

I think about the members of EXO still.  I hear about their injuries from friends, and I hate to know that they let themselves be treated so terribly.

But then I think of Kris.  It's bittersweet, but I know he has a chance for a new beginning.  He has another chance to define himself as an artist, to pave his own path.  I'll be waiting to see what he does, and whatever it is, I'm sure it will be great.

Thank you, Kris.  Thank you for the wake up call that I so desperately needed.  Thank you for standing up for yourself.  

I hope that young Kpop fans who read this will have a few second thoughts before they choose which companies to support.  I hope that this decision I've made with Kpop can transfer to all music, to all companies.

This situation has helped me start on a path to being a conscious consumer, and a better person.  It's time for the idols in shiny costumes to go away, and to be replaced with something real.