I had a hard time deciding what song I wanted to write about today. Until a million other things dropped today I was thinking about writing about Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”, which is apparently all the rage among the youngs and which I too really like. Among other things that were released today that I considered was something off of Rhye’s new album Home. Rhye creates some of the sexist music out there and this album continues that while adding a Danish orchestra. I heard one of the songs that is orchestra heavy while watching a spectacular sunrise this morning and it was a glorious moment. I also thought about “American Dream” by Willie Jones because in this song he is a Black country artist singing about things that the Nashville country machine wants nothing to do with. The rest of his album is your typical country fare about women and drinking, so while this song is one that country radio won’t touch with a ten foot pole I like to think that at a least a few people out there will like his other songs and listen to the whole album and be exposed to that song.

After that long preamble I finally present to you the song I actually chose. Ultimately I decided to go with Typhoon’s “Empire Builder” because its lyrics perfectly capture my mood right now particularly the ending lines to the song

Everybody’s angry
And everybody’s lonely
Maybe it’s hopeless and maybe
Love is not enough
But let’s not rule out
The possibility

The song is off their surprise album that came out today Sympathetic Magic. The 11 piece band recorded the record through remote and individually socially distant sessions, but it still retains the swelling sound of a large band playing together. Take a listen.