“Long Night” by With Confidence
All I can say is this song has to be the first on this list even though it came fifth on my shuffle through my playlist. Nothing feels more like home than the sets of two that are gently placed on the piano at the beginning of this song. The definition of a good acoustic pop punk song, the lyrics of Long Night just feel so real. The sour taste of a break up that still lingers with love from one side and the waking up missing someone else and longing that only makes life hard to swallow, it’s all there. The lyrics are so raw, straight forward and vivid that they make this whole vignette for the listener. It makes you want to scream and break glass and sob and sleep. Then the strings kick in and its just the song you have to jump in a car and listen to while rain pours down everywhere. It’s a song of desperation and nightmares and love and the pain of staying awake only to realize that the world isn’t the way you want it anymore. This song is empty bitterness that just echoes with the slamming of the studio door as the final note. It’s definite. It’s painful. It’s music.
“Faces on Film” by Jacob Whitesides
Jacob Whitesides has stray guitars leading the song in, then adding pressing lyrics in a soothing voice with slides and floating melodies. The song is soothing, has range and such depth most would consider difficult for a teenage boy to conceive on an EP before a first album was even in the works. Whitesides proves that wrong instantly as the depth of the instrumental backs up the range of emotion in the lyrics, making it a great song to sleep to. The repetition of the chorus idea of “anywhere but here is home” especially resonates with me, an out of state college student who doesn’t quite know where home is anymore, college or where my family is. But either way, I’m always missing half of home.
“Cherry” by Moose Blood
An underground band, with stellar lyrics and light but moody guitar lines and rough British accented lyrics, Moose Blood cuts to the core with every line. The intense lyrics with lines that reach such as “I’m only 23 and I’ve got myself a family” hits me, as how close to my age that is. This portray of loss and love is so raw and real that beautiful it’s hard to ignore. The simple yet heavy instrumental gives weight to the song that is impossible to ignore. But I just continuously come back to the lyrics and how it’s a straight shot story that means different things to different people depending on what lyric chunks cling to your soul more than others. All in all a song that hurts the soul all while calming it with a feeling of relation and understanding.
“Jesus Christ” by Brand New
Something about the constant pitch bending in the background and the steady beat of this song almost always puts me to sleep. Maybe it’s that I have this idea that this song means sleep already put into my mind, but more importantly it just has these splitting thirds for harmonies and surprising soft vocals for the subject matter in the song. There’s a part where it sounds as if it’s yelling back at you, but it feels desperate, not angry. After that desperation the instrumental kicks back in, a soft nudge back to the complacent place that the song begins from.
“If I’m Lucky” by State Champs
My favorite song, as it has been since my senior year of high school, the lyrics of this song and how it starts and ends on the same lyric will always cut through me. The idea that love is this forbidden thing is also a very strong topic to many many people. The song almost floats with Derek DiScanio pushing lyrics through with a growl almost at specific lyrics, and backing vocals just adding depth. The simplicity of the guitar in the back adds this calming around the campfire vibe to the song that makes you almost want to break down every time you hear it as it has such a personal ring to it. All in all this song is a keeper, not only to sleep to but to just go through life listening to. The end is this wholesome reality that despite not wanting to fall in love, life has other plans. Love is real, love is raw, and love is love.
So go. Listen. Fall in love with something you’ve never heard before. Listen to acoustic songs or angry songs or anything that makes the night easier to handle. Sleep well.