Music With Michele – “Five Friends”

Music With Michele – “Five Friends” – Single Review

I’m both getting lazy with filing away the stuff on my desktop and have listened to a whole lot of Music With Michele over the past little while.  I haven’t even put my previous two reviews in the archives where they belong, and good ol’ Microsoft Word doesn’t want to just let me save another file under ‘Music With Michele.’  Will I ever learn?  Will I ever clean up my digital room?  One of these days…

Anyhow.  Here we are again, checking out something new from Music With Michele, the quirky-art/music project that draws from a well that likely never runs dry.  She’s been having some fun testing out the waters to see what she’s capable of in the musical realm, and right on, all the more power to her – that’s a good thing.  Y’all should strive to have some kind of similar desire to flex that creative muscle of yours.  She’s an inspiring character out there in the independent music scene today without a doubt.

So…hmm…according to the timeline, “Fly Dandelion” was the first song written, but not the first song reviewed here at sleepingbagstudios – it was the second one we checked out.  The second song released was actually “Sunflowers,” which we checked out first, but that wasn’t the second song that was actually written – that was this song here, called “Five Friends.”  The third song that was released and reviewed was “Otter Space” and that was just like, what – a week ago or so?  You remember.  Then we’ve got this fourth release called “Five Friends,” which again, was actually the second song written.  Still with me?

Obviously none of that matters, but it is fun to write about.  Those kinds of details matter to the creators of art & music and that’s where the buck tends to stop.  It’s kind of like how sandwiches typically come with two slices of bread on each end…it ain’t what people tend to eat’em for.  It’s the stuff in between that we want, which in this metaphorical case, is the music.  “Five Friends” came out with one of the most bizarre messages I think I’ve witnessed in recent years…like…I’m a liner-notes kind of guy because that’s how I was raised, but this was capital STRange, you feel me?  Michele seemed inclined to make sure that people didn’t think this song was about them, Carly Simon style – but also wanted to express that it wasn’t political either.  Okay?  I listen to and read a whole lot of things, but I wouldn’t have assumed “Five Friends” was about me, and I wouldn’t have thought it was a political statement either – am I taking crazy pills?  It’s weird enough to have our own interpretations about what a song is or isn’t about as listeners, but it might actually be weirder to hear what the creator’s perception of what we might think a song is or isn’t about before we even get an opportunity to make our own assumptions.  True story.  Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

So…look…maybe “Five Friends” somehow does seem political to you, or maybe it doesn’t – I don’t know – I’m not you, I’m only me.  I don’t really know that I’ve listened to a song yet from Music With Michele and truly thought any of them were about one specific thing…and I didn’t plan on starting with “Five Friends” in that regard.  I read the notes that came with the song long after I listened, because I’m in promotions and the last thing someone in promotions ever wants to read is something from someone else promoting something…usually what comes with any song sent my way is a whole bunch of positivity blah-blah-blah, best song ever yadda yadda…and to remain objective it’s almost always best to tune it out.  I can say this with certainty – I like “Five Friends” the best out of what I’ve heard from Music With Michele so far to-date.  Probably not for the lyricism if I’m being entirely honest with ya, though I’ve got no substantial objections to what’s been written.  There are actually very few words when it comes right down to it…if anyone out there is offended somehow because of their own politics, I’d think that was a real stretch.  I suppose you could look at “Five Friends” as about the nature of conversations and whatnot…that’s probably a bit closer to the target from an outsider’s perspective.  We talk about stuff, we say stuff, stuff is heard, stuff is processed by the brain stuff, and that stuff is usually interpreted in an inaccurate way that we didn’t even mean.  Misperception – that’s what we’re talking about here in the context of what you’ll find in the lyricism of “Five Friends” – and you betcha, that can often have a person starting “out with Five Friends and now have two and one is you.”  I prefer honesty to friendship, and feel like I have all the evidence I’ll ever need to prove that these two things cannot possibly co-exist.  And you know what?  Who fucking cares?  Speak your truth, pass or fail, like and smash that subscribe button if you feel so inclined.  It doesn’t matter.

All that being said, one of the raddest advantages of saying very little is that there’s actually more room for interpretation.  One of the most rewarding things people continually tell me about being an artist is that you get to hear all kinds of crazy theories as to what a song is about…and I’m all for that – let’em figure it out on their own and not get it right – that’s more fun, ain’t it?  Or maybe they come up with something seriously genius and you can take credit for it in that Jon Lovitz ‘yeah that’s the ticket’ type of way.  The point is, you never wanna lead people too far in the direction of what a song is or isn’t about, given that every set of listening ears with internalize what they hear and make it about something else altogether no matter what anyway.  The lyrics of “Five Friends” are interesting, just a little on the sparse side.  The music, added in by Michele’s cohort of Davey Munch, is as curiosity-inducing as ever.  This whole Music With Michele project is definitely an odd fit in today’s world no matter how you slice it, but who knows – maybe people out there are looking for something different like this is.  Where I feel like things go the most right in “Five Friends” is how the backing vocals & harmonies come out – that’s some seriously quality work, and it enhances this single to the nth degree.  Michele’s lead is arguably a bit more focused and on-point than what we’ve heard in the past too, which shows there is progress being made here.  Still lots of room to continue to evolve in order to convince those listening ears out there that this project can compete for their time and affection…let’s be real here, these songs being created by Music With Michele are definitely on the loose and lighthearted side of the spectrum – but again, if that sounds like your jam, then right on, tune in and turn it up.  I think when you listen to a track like “Five Friends,” you’ve gotta appreciate that there is about three or four main hooks that most folks would have built a song around – but that also reveals a point of opportunity for Music With Michele if she wants to enhance the accessibility of her music too.  Basically, there’s a reason that verse/chorus/verse exists – I’m not advocating on behalf of it, I’m not saying that’s the way that everyone out there should write a song – but I am saying that any deviation from that can turn a quirky Alt-Indie tune like this into something the masses and their ears end up considering to be more on the progressive side of design, because we roll through part after part without ever revisiting anything – make sense?  So don’t get me wrong – I’m into that, and I’m into this too – but it does complicate the element of accessibility when it comes to how people listen to music, that’s just the nature of the game.  If you’re comfortable with that, cool…but if you’re not, there are tweaks that can certainly be made in identifying which of the hooks you hear resonates the strongest, and calling back to that in a song – I swear I’m not making this stuff up, people really tend to love that.  A defined chorus can make all the difference in the world to a song and how it gets heard…otherwise you tend to get lumped in with art projects and the progressive realm…which ain’t a bad thing, it’s just typically less accessible overall.

Time will tell the story on what Music With Michele wants to do…I think songs like “Five Friends” thrive on her personality, but it’d be rare that someone out there would tell you that personality is the number one thing they tune into their favorite artist’s or band’s music for.  Not unheard of, but more unlikely.  I like where “Five Friends” takes the vibe of Music With Michele, but I acknowledge that I ain’t everybody.  It’s truly up to her if she wants to accept having more niche appeal, or work to expand her potential audience.  It’s up to her if she’s making music FOR Michele, or if she’s looking to make music for the people out there listening.  The debate between art & accessibility continues to rage on and on and on.  Best tune I’ve heard within the catalog of Music With Michele so far though, which is a genuine positive.

Find more music by Music With Michele at Bandcamp here:  https://musicwithmichele.bandcamp.com

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