Songs You May Have Missed #797

11 Oct 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Secret Garden: “Song from a Secret Garden” (1996)

The Irish/Norwegian duo Secret Garden wrote and performed Norway’s winning entry “Nocturne” at the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest.

But to my ears “Song from a Secret Garden” is their debut album’s highlight. The song has been featured in Korean and Italian drama and sounds like something that could have accentuated the most heart-tugging part of a Studio Ghibli film.

Beautifully orchestrated but with restraint; evoking nostalgia without being cloying. This is simply a gorgeous piece of music.

Songs You May Have Missed #796

09 Oct 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

BØRNS: “Faded Heart” (2018)

From the Michigan native’s second LP Blue Madonna, on which he displays the same glammy, glittery and slightly psychedelic proclivities that made his debut Dopamine smack listeners upside the pleasure centers.

On Blue Madonna BØRNS evokes vintage artists like Elton John, Electric Light Orchestra, T. Rex and the Beatles but also more contemporary synth-pop acts such as MGMT and Tame Impala.

“Faded Heart” is all processed falsetto vocals, driving beat and synth buzz–a powerful neurotransmitter of a pop song indeed.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2020/09/25/songs-you-may-have-missed-669/

Songs You May Have Missed #795

28 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: , ,

Greeicy featuring Mike Bahia: “Amantes” (2017)

Colombian actress/singer Greeicy Yeliana Rendón Ceballos transitioned from TV acting to a career as a singer in 2017. The duet “Amantes” (“Lovers”) was her second single release and first time hitting the charts (#3 in Colombia and #1 in Mexico).

She’d later go on to multi-platinum success and Grammy nominations.

Songs You May Have Missed #794

16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags:

Middle Brother: “Middle Brother” (2011)

Super group? Nah. Middle Brother, the side project comprised of the lead singers of Dawes, Deer Tick, and Delta Spirit (Taylor Goldsmith, John McCauley, and Matthew Vasquez respectively) feels more like a rollicking bit of fun, with no lofty ambitions beyond mutual musical commiseration over female troubles.

“Middle Brother”–the song, the album and indeed the band–present an irreverent brand of alt-country folk with a skewed sense of humor, and it makes this listener wish these guys had followed up one of the best Americana albums of the last decade or two.

Middle Brother bring to mind another similar collective, Tripwires, whose work can be found elsewhere on this blog.

Songs You May Have Missed #793

16 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

The Sallyangie: “Lady Mary” (1969)

The Sallyangie were a British folk duo comprised of a 16-year-old Mike Oldfield and his 21-year-old sister Sally. Their single LP, the gently ethereal Children of the Sun, will be either musical balm or emetic depending on your affinity for fey Lord of the Rings-inspired Renaissance Faire soundtrack music.

Some critics have panned the sound quality, the singing, Mike’s musicianship and the dated, naive fairytale-cum-hippy essence of the music, but its inclusion here tells you what I think of their appraisals. Of course, I’ve read Tolkien’s trilogy five times and attend the Ren Fest yearly…

Of undeniable quality are the arrangements contributed by one David (now Dee) Palmer, whose brilliance graces some of Jethro Tull’s greatest and most complex work.

Mike Oldfield is best known for a tune about as far removed from Children of the Sun as it could possibly be: “Tubular Bells” a.k.a. the theme from The Exorcist.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2021/04/07/songs-you-may-have-missed-688/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2022/07/03/songs-you-may-have-missed-732/

Songs You May Have Missed #792

13 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

The Decemberists: “O Valencia!” (2007)

“Hyper-literate” is an adjective often applied to songwriter Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. And his eclectic influences include British murder ballads, 70’s power-chord prog rock, the Civil War, sea shanties, Japanese folk tales and much more in between.

Meloy definitely favors the “archaic” entries in his well-thumbed thesaurus, giving his ambitious writing a distinct sepia tint beyond the linguistic reach of most writers. But it’s the ability to make all this accessible to the pop music ear that is the true genius of the man.

His hyperliteracy fuses with hyper-catchy pop sensibilities here as Meloy threatens to “burn this whole city down”–in the most appealing pop rock way.

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