𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿 - this week: Between the Drops - Glenn

Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly - an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙨 - 𝙂𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙣

Charles is none the wiser…

To know or not to know… Is this the question? As our favourite Spanish waiter once said, “I know nutting” (nothing). Sometimes I really do empathise with those people who know very little. But at the same, I sort of envy them. You’ve all heard the phrase “ignorance is bliss”… Well it does seem to be that the happiest, most contented people are often the most unknowledgeable. Probably because of the thoughts of a “great” philosopher. Aristotle once said (can’t remember when exactly), “The more you know, the more you realise you don't know”. Do you feel these “great” philosophers are somewhat over-immortalised…? I mean, I have said and thought similar things without having read their “stupendously brilliant” thoughts. Am I therefore also a great philosopher…? Nope, I’m just a bloke what finks. As are many of you (blokes and lady-persons). I would however alter his words to read “The more you know, the more you are depressed and crushed by doubt and perhaps fear”. Yet these less knowledgeable people skip through life seemingly without a care in the world. Ignorant to everything around them. Pure envy, I tell you! So this question of whether to know or not… It’s a difficult one.

Knowledge is power, so they say. While I don’t know a great deal, I know a bit. And I don’t feel powerful in the slightest. Should I just unlearn it all? Easier said than done. But just imagine it. I learnt that thing once, and it turned out to be completely useless for me to know. Or maybe it serves no purpose other than to bring me down, or confuse me further…? Wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to pluck, prune and edit all the guff we gather over the years? Knowledge can truly be clutterous. Our brains are not ordered, and one cannot (as far as I know) order these tidbits of information. They are just there, floating or scattered. There are no folders, no timelines, no colour-coding. No alphabetising or numbering. Just chaotic clutter. Yet we somehow know where most things are. We can summon some fragment of god-knows-what from god-knows-where, from even the faintest whiff of a room. We just KNOW. But at the same time we know nutting.

Yet still those words of the “great” Aristotle plague my mind. I don’t feel dumb, but I do still feel a bit lost. I mean, what is one to DO with all this knowledge acquired piecemeal through one’s life? Stick it in a weekly column? Well, there’s a thought… The more I know, the more I realise I don’t know. Still those words circle me like little red devils. It makes me think of my journey in mixing music. Let’s go back many a year. Once I had realised that mixing music was what actually made songs sound good (turns out it isn’t automatic magic after all), I started attempting to learn how to do it. I hoped it would be one click of the “make music brilliant” button, and that all I had to do was to find that button. I searched in vain for quite a while, but everything was seemingly more complicated than just pressing a button. I thought them all very stupid for doing all this longwinded work when all that had to be found was that button. Until I eventually realised with a sigh, that there was no such button. And so I looked at an EQ. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I put that aside for the time being. Okay, compression. I apparently needed to do some compressing. But every time I attempted anything, it would simply make the sound flat, dull and quiet. So I ignored that and tried limiting. Ahh! Some noticeable positive difference!! At least, that is what I thought at the time. Turns out I was simply making it louder and destroying the dynamics. Our minds naturally tell us that louder is better. Huh! Cheeky minds. I had to go back to compression. I started to learn that all these little knobs actually did something. But then I realised that one thing inevitably led to another. Every time I learnt something, I uncovered another page of “you can’t do that until you’ve done this”. Nightmare. I just closed the lid and went out for a much needed smoke. Should this feeling ring a bell, don’t hesitate to contact me. I have since found that magic button. It’s red!

Knowledge is a funny old thing. And this week, it is something I lack. Which in turn makes things a lot simpler. Believe me, it does. This week’s pick is something I almost picked last week, but I just didn’t have enough information nor time to research said information. Now that one week has passed, and my research is done, I can uncover everything I know about Glenn. Glenn is from Norway. His full name is Glenn Mathisen. But also Glenn Henriksen. Don’t ask. He has recently released a single called Between the Drops. It is about NOW that I would usually start going into more detail. You know, the ins and outs of this man’s life in music, or his various processes in making said music. Who does what. The struggles involved etc. But I’m afraid to say, that’s it. That’s all the knowledge I possess. Norwegian releases song.

The good news is, the song speaks for itself. What does one really NEED to enjoy a piece of music, other than the music itself? In my eyes, nothing. That is what is so great about art. Well, proper art, anyway. I don’t mean conceptual art (junk) where you see a pile of garbage that looks like a pile of garbage, but once you’re told the “concept”, it all “starts to become clear” and the artist is “instantly a genius”… What rot. This reminds me of all that “genius” philosophy about which I spoke earlier. I’m not putting down ALL great philosophers. I’m simply putting down MOST of them, or moreover, putting down most of what they have said. Ya know: those famous quotes. I get fed up with all this blind praise for having a famous name. I think it’s best to ignore most of it. Ignorance is bliss, after all. Or, find it out for yourself! So: off philosophers. Off conceptual artists. Back on proper artists. Glenn is a proper artist. He’s from Norway! Sorry, that’s all I have. That and the song. Shall we look at the song? That’s probably what the artist would prefer. All artists just want you to enjoy and admire their art. They don’t want to talk about their private life; unless they’re lacking in art, of course. They don’t really want to talk you through the process - unless it’s particularly unusual or amusing, of course. They just want us to take a look and take a listen. Glenn’s longwinded Spotify profile I will not paraphrase. Get ready… “I'm just Glenn! 🤠”. That is all. And yes, complete with smiley cowboy. Do I surmise therefore that he is a cowboy of some sort? Let’s hope so. I’m not getting anywhere. Let’s go musical.

The song is called Between the Drops. And as soon as the song opens, I personally hear droplets. Uncannily like droplets. At first I thought it was strummed chords on an acoustic, with xylophone and glockenspiel accompaniment. But since then, I have realised it is simply ALL guitar. Incredibly percussive harmonics, beautifully and frankly perfectly plucked. I also might be wrong! It could well be percussive melodic instruments as well. You see, I have no knowledge. But there are definitely harmonics in there. Harmonics on guitar are difficult to pull off. This intro is pure suspense and tension. No release. That is, until after a brief pause, when there is… mmmmore suspense and tension. But then FINALLY Glenn opens his voice box with a satisfying underlying major chord. As the song starts to take shape, I am brought back to the 70s with artists like Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, and (strangely) Paul Simon. This is a very beautiful and unusual song that doesn’t do what you think it’s going to do. And yet, it remains comfortable from beginning to end. You all know how much esteem I hold for “the song”. This is ALL song. As acoustic pieces kind of have to be, for there is little else. The Rhodes piano really adds to the authenticity of that familiar sound we know and love. In fact, that could be what I am hearing in the intro. I do like it when things aren’t obvious. I like to be challenged, but I like to feel at ease all the while. This song manages both.

I have relatively little experience in this genre or style of music. It is folky, easy-listening, singer/songwriter, country (but not at all), with bits of alternative and even acoustic rock, in the way that Led Zeppelin does so well (think The Rain Song). Because this is quite new to me, I am not really able to tell you what to expect by referencing various artists. Oh: Carpenters. The Carpenters is what it reminds me of. With a VERY different voice. And The Carpenters did quite well, didn’t they. So it is probably sensible that Glenn naturally makes for this sound. I think what really hit me with Between the Drops, was the immediate original intro, followed by such a smooth flow with the most satisfyingly unusual chord changes. That, and the fact that this song really is all between the drops. The song has no “drop”. No big fat chorus. It is music to ponder to. Music to think by. Pipe-smoking ambience, if you will. It helps the little grey cells, but doesn’t take them over. Well, with me, any and ALL music takes me over. I am not able to think about anything when music is playing. I am instantly immersed and nothing will come between the music and myself. It is the way I was built. I am fascinated by every plink and every plonk of Between the Drops. Even Glenn’s voice, it is so unusual, and not what one might usually expect for whatever music this is. And yet, this makes me listen even closer. Vocally speaking (as is the way with speech), this voice is somewhat reminiscent of the voice of our very own Sano Hill. But only in the upper register. When Glenn goes low, it is like Glenn, and only Glenn. He’s from Norway, don’t you know. Let this song wash over you. You will not drown, but you will be cleansed.

Here’s a final quote from Socrates: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nutting”.

Okay, I will finish with a final FINAL quote from a great philosopher: “Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power”. So who was that? Aristotle? Socrates? Plato? Nope. Clint Eastwood. He went ahead and made my day.

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