Vessel - Frankie Cosmos
One of my favorite songs of the last few years, and in truth one of my favorite songs of all-time, is "On the Lips" by Frankie Cosmos. It's a simple, but beautiful, song.
Franke Cosmos
I love the basic guitar, and Greta Kline's almost monotone line delivery, and the lyrics. It does so much…and "On the Lips" does it in a mere 1:49. On Frankie Cosmos' new album Vessel, I often find the song "My Phone" stuck in my head. It's barely 30 seconds long. There are 18 songs on Vessel, and 11 of them are under two minutes. Kline is something of a master of the short song, and I am here to praise the short song.
There are those who love long songs. They get into Bob Dylan's languid, dense story songs. They go wild for massive rock epics. Then there are people who are into prog rock or jazz, where songs can go on forever, and also pretty much always suck. I like some longer songs. There's some great stuff over five minutes long. Maybe even six minutes sometimes! Seven is pushing it! However, I've grown to real appreciate short songs that get in and get out, leaving their mark with only a bit of runtime.
Granted, as a kid who was into punk it's not like I'm new to short songs. So many punk bands were masters of brevity.
Granted, as a kid who was into punk it's not like I'm new to short songs. So many punk bands were masters of brevity. Now, as an adult, I primarily listen to indie rock and indie pop, and it feels like more and more artists in that realm are aiming to air on the side of shortness. And why not? Do you really need a bridge? How many verses do you need? I don't want to get all into the whole "our attention spans are getting shorter" but a song under two minutes can be great and never meander or drag. You can say so much in so little time, especially through the power of music. Hopefully we will keep seeing new albums with 15 songs in a little over 30 minutes.
