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As soon as I heard the first song, “Only for Tonight” from the second full-length album, “Magic Mirror” from the LA singer-songwriter Pearl Charles it instantly brought me to a magic place, this song is so infectious, sunny, and dreamy, it has a retro sound and vibe which reminds me of Abba, this is an incredible opener to this album. Pearl Charles continues her cool sunny disposition in the second track, “What I Need” she tackles the joy of being in love and don’t want to lose her partner. When I reached the third track, “Imposter” I was already hooked and invested I realized I am already humming and singing the chorus, “I keep looking for myself” while bopping my head. Pearl Charles deep dive into the up and down emotions caused by a broken relationship in the slower tempo tracks like “Don’t Feel Like Myself", "Magic Mirror", and “Take Your Time”. Pearl Charles presented them in a way where I still get an optimistic vibe from these sentimental songs and staying true to her dreamy aesthetics reminiscent of the Carpenters and Fleetwood Mac. While the last two songs: “Sweet Sunshine Wine” and “As Long as You’re Mine” is ending on a higher note and going back to the feeling of being in love again. The strong trait of Pearl Charles in this new LP is her voice, which is complemented very well with her dreamy lyricism and psychedelic instrumentation. This new album is so nostalgic. Every track is such a bop. Many of these tracks are catchy, makes you wanna dance and just let loose. I find this as a great album to bond with your parents. You can hum to the lyrics and dance with them while helping for prepping the dinner or listen to this album as an escape on a lazy weekend afternoon just relaxing and feeling nostalgic. Overall, this album genuinely makes me HAPPY, giving this a personal rating of 4/5 Favorite tracks are Only for Tonight and Sweet Sunshine Wine.

While browsing the Indie Rock category of my Apple Music app, I came across this seven-members experimental rock band from London named Black Country, New Road. And as I listened to their teaser track Athens France, I am impressed with their range of sounds and styles varied in each instrument. I understand why critics love this band at the moment. The band released their debut album For the First Time on February 5. 2021. The opening track is a 5-minute instrumental that is an explosion of sounds that is so festive and intriguing at the same time. It is a great way to introduce their prowess. According to the band, it is an accurate presentation of their sound or their journey as musicians. Followed by their teaser track Athens, France, the opening guitars and beat of this song is reminiscent of Mac De Marco’s "Out of My Head" and "Salad Days" accompanied by the frontman Isaac Wood’s anxiety-driven and subdued vocal delivery tackling insecurities. While Science Fair has a darker mood with sounds like throbbing and grungy matched with Wood’s vocals bleeding desperation goes well with the intense build-up towards the end of the song. The spoken word singing in the track Sunglasses emphasized the emotions from belting “I'm so ignorant now, with all that I’ve learnt” for one minute to screaming "leave Kanye out" the next. According to Wood's Apple Music interview, this song represents any object with defense mechanisms that he recognize in himself that sometimes work and sometimes lead to his most narcissistic false, and ignorant ways of being. While Track X is a melodically beautiful song with tasteful violins and guitar lines, saxophone and keys accompanying Isaac Woods romantic delivery while singing a love story setting a quieter and calmer tone plus angelic background vocals complemented this dreamy vibe. The band showcased their Klezmer roots in the ending track Opus. This song is reminiscent of a Jewish wedding party scene in a movie. It is an explosion of sound, from saxophones, strings, and the frustrated angsty vocals and lyricism have a suspenseful ending to this album. Black Country, New Road’s debut demonstrated their genre-bending style. One moment quiet and soothing like in Athens, France, the next it is dark with throbbing grungy sounds and vocals like bleeding desperation like in Science Fair. And more evident in the 9:50 minute track Sunglasses it is like a rollercoaster of mood. Each song has appealing storytelling with plenty of pop culture references from Phoebe Bridgers’ chorus of Motion Sickness to Kanye West and even Nutri bullet where the listener can paint the emotions the band wants to share. The album has a very personal feel amidst its rock avant-garde instrumentation the band will be making a stamp in the music scene. I am giving this album a rating of 4/5. Favorite Tracks: Track X, Sunglasses, and Opus.

Due to the pandemic, Weezer pushed back the release of their highly anticipated metal homage album Van Weezer later this year and instead prioritized the release of OK Human that can be a reference to OK Computer of Radiohead. It consists of 12 well-written songs that feature a 38-piece orchestra with no computers and most of all with no electric guitar as inspired by Rivers Cuomo’s life during a pandemic. Recently it sparked my interest to listen again to Weezer and check what the band has to offer when Cuomo collaborated with the electronic band The Avalanches in 2020 on their song Running Red Lights I remember listening to Island in the Sun during high school and appreciating the honest and pleasing vocals of Cuomo, little did I know they will be releasing two albums in 2021 with OK Human first and Van Weezer later this year, before the release of OK Human, I listened to the teaser track “All My Favorite Songs” and fell in love with it, this song is so punchy with its lyricism and delivery that is so sensitive set the tone of this album it continues to dissect the day to day existence in Aloo Gobi, tackling mid-life crisis as Cuomo sings "They said that life gets sweet as years go by But mine has lost its flavor like this chai” as soon as it reaches the chorus "Oh Same Old Dull Routines, same aloo gobi" it got me as it is so touching and charming at the same time to the fun song of Grapes of Wrath, where Cuomo is referencing each Audible book he listened to. There are also quirky references throughout the album. From “getting back to his Zoom Interviews” in Playing My Piano to “everyone staring at their screens and everyone moving to the cloud” in the song Screen is a tragic truth of how humans are not genuinely communicating in this modern age of technology. This album also features heartfelt empathic songs like Numbers and Bird With A Broken Wing. The former explores the sadness in how human measures its success and happiness while the latter is Cuomo's way of summing up his journey and telling everyone to do not feel sorry about him since he is okay despite his broken wings is like a juxtaposition to the band's 25-year career. That song is so deep and touching. The theme of sadness continues in Dead Roses until we hear Cuomo being triumphant in a more upbeat track, Here Comes the Rain. The band ultimately wrapped up the album with the hopeful song LaBrea Tar Pits which mirrors our daily struggles and optimism to get out of it. No matter what other people suggest, OK Human is a beautiful pop album, exploring the simple themes of day-to-day existence, isolation, and the impact of technology in our lives in the modern age that is so catchy and relatable. I genuinely enjoyed listening to OK Human. I am giving this a rating of 4/5 Favorite Tracks: Bird With A Broken Wing, All My Favorite Songs, Aloo Gobi, Numbers and Grapes of Wrath.