On Songs & Albums

A collection of 138 posts

On Songs & Albums

From the archives: a conversation with Don and Karen Peris of The Innocence Mission

Look what I found! An interview with one of my favorite bands that is now (checks notes) almost 25 years old.

On Songs & Albums

Songlights: Rhiannon! Lucinda! Sufjan! Sixpence! Plus, new Jon Batiste, Jeff Tweedy, Sunny War, Robert Plant, Deerhoof, Wet Leg, Russ Taff, and more.

[UPDATE: New from Mike Reid & Joe Henry!] Here's a flight of flavors that have been helping me drink down a difficult week.

On Songs & Albums

Songlights: Join me & Anne for Over the Rhine's 3-day music festival with Amy Helm, Jeffrey Martin, & more. Also: David Byrne laughs. Annahstasia shines. Laura Stevenson returns. Elbow shares extras.

I'll keep updating this post with new music that moves me between June 28 and July 4. So, check back! Share a song that's deeply moving you right now—I'll add a link to it at the end of the post.

On Songs & Albums

Songlights: Urgent Springsteen. Fierce new tracks from Little Simz and Kae Tempest. The return of Wednesday. And a night with Allison Russell.

This week, a lot of new music plays as desperate appeals for conscience, for action, for justice as it seems the last pillars of American democracy are being smashed by hate-driven fascists.

On Songs & Albums

Songlights: More Adrianne Lenker; Sault; Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson; Tomita; and a talk with newcomer Anna Byrde. Plus: Lucius! Suzanne Vega!

Songs for April 27–May 10: Check back for new specials I'm adding to the menu.

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet's Favorite Recordings of 2022: The Top Ten

This year, my countdown of the previous year's best music has been a marathon of four posts: Honorable Mentions, #36 through #21, #20 through #11... and now this one. Here are my ten favorite albums of 2022. Sample tracks from each one and see if any of them speak to you. Then, post notes about your

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2022: #20 – #11

Are you up for a treasure hunt? Here we go with one of the last two parts of my 2022 musical review.

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2022: #36 – #21

You're likely to find some new favorites here in this wildly diverse list of albums and selected tracks from my favorite 2022 recordings.

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2022: Part One — Honorable Mentions

As I'll need some time to prepare my post on my Top 30 Favorite Recordings of 2022, I hope that this substantial feast of "Honorable Mentions" leads you to many hours of new musical discoveries.

Film Reviews

Nothing Compares (2022)

It has taken three decades — 30 years to the month! — for the truth to come into focus. In the early '90s, Sinead O'Connor risked her career to speak truth to power. She was condemned by Christians, by pop culture, by almost everyone. And now we've seen her laments justified, her prophecies coming t

Music Reviews

Arcade Fire's big noise is back, and so are the sermons

Arcade Fire's seven-track tapestry of anxiety, alienation, and disillusionment sounds epic, but it can be a bit disillusioning itself in its obvious sermonizing.

On Songs & Albums

Jon Batiste's "We Are" — a Looking Closer Top 20 of 2021 favorite — wins Album of the Year.

One of my favorite records of 2021 won the Album of the Year award: Jon Batiste's We Are.

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2021: Part Three (#15–#1)

You are arriving at the summit of my 2021 Music Mountain. These are my fifteen favorite albums of 2021

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2021: Part Two (#25–#16)

For those who love year-end lists like this, and those who also love the Insta... I bring you good tidings of great joy! Okay — maybe that's a bit hyperbolic. I bring you some unremarkable tidings that might interest you? Looking Closer now has an Instagram account: @OverstreetReviews. Follow

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2021: Part One (Honorable Mentions and #36–#26)

It has finally begun! On January 20, Looking Closer's look back at favorite recordings of 2021 has begun! Keep watch for Part Two and Part Three, coming soon.

The Weekender

The Weekender: Christmas Edition 2021

This week: Malick's rollercoaster ride through the eons of history. Mia Hansen-Løve's film Bergman Island. All hail U2's The Edge!

On Songs & Albums

Sunday Song: Von Bieker and Knathan Ryan sing their quarantine longings

Knathan Ryan and Dave Von Bieker are two friends whose music pops up in heavy rotation during my morning commutes. Their hopeful spirits inspire me; their artistry is personal, bright, and energetic; and their new songs hit just right in a time of quarantine fatigue.

On Songs & Albums

Sunday Song: Sault return with "Nine" songs of lament, luxuriant pop, and hope

They've done it again. That mysterious collaboration of London artists called Sault, who released a one-two punch of albums in 2020 that became my favorite records of the year — Untitled (Black Is) and Untitled (Rise) — have surprised us with another album in 2021. Nine is shorter, but it&

Podcast

So Much Love: a conversation with Lowland Hum about their reinvention of a Peter Gabriel album

In which I talk with Daniel and Lauren Goans of the band Lowland Hum about how and why they made the most of their pandemic lockdown by re-recording a classic Peter Gabriel album.

On Songs & Albums

Sunday Song: Listening Closer to Jon Batiste and Allison Russell

A new feature at Looking Closer — "Sunday Song" — will feature one or two recent releases that are in frequent rotation during my weekday commute jam session. Here are two of my favorite 2021 songs so far, from Jon Batiste and Allison Russell.

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2020: Part 3 (#20–#1)

[This post is dedicated to the Looking Closer Specialists — especially Laure Hittle, Timothy Grant, and Winston Chow — whose contributions make this website possible.] The word for this year was survive. The Holy Scriptures caution us that with increasing wisdom comes increasing pain, and that to love is to suffer. The

On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2020: Part 2 (#35–#21)

The countdown continues! Having listed my Honorable Mentions, I move on to my list of 35 favorite recordings from 2020. This post counts down #35–#21.

Music Reviews

Loma's "Don't Shy Away" asks us to delve and discover

"...Don’t Shy Away is an invitation. It honors the sacred space of uncertainty, acknowledging lingering darkness while trusting in the possibility that brighter, more brilliant worlds lie within reach." — Allison Hussey, Pitchfork If you've ever walked alongside someone suffering from terminal cancer, and struggled to

Journal

New adventures in hi-fi: Check out the new Looking Closer podcast!

It seems inevitable: a Looking Closer podcast!

Interviews

A Bright Moon Over the Dunes: Memories of Japan Become Music in Eric Gorfain's "Kyo Shu"

Here's my conversation with composer and musician Eric Gorfain, whom you have probably heard many times on albums you love. But wait until you hear his new solo work!