By Clara Tsac
Jonathan Rundman’s latest release, Look Up, is a bright piece of indie pop for blue days. With an 80’s big-band music feel, the album draws diverse inspiration from vintage rock, folk music, and Rundman’s own voyeurs into Scandinavia. Throughout the work, there’s an omniscient storytelling quality that brushes each song with an ethereal feel. Perhaps this is because Rundman serves each message with a side of humor. From the darker material like “Painter,” to feel-good songs like “Flying On A Plane,” he avoids the trap of taking himself too seriously, a pitfall of much indie music.
In the vulnerable “Second Shelf Down,” Rundman croons a softly nostalgic lullaby that summarizes times of innocence through describing mementos on a cabinet. It’s this sort of relatability that makes Rundman so touching – he creates chipper pop music singing about the most mundane subjects. It’s somehow moving without being sad. You can’t help but to nod your head along to the catchy hooks; clever lyrics are wrapped in guitar slides and upbeat keyboard synth. As Rundman says in “The Science of Rockets,” “It’s not so terribly complicated.”
https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-rundman/sets/look-up/s-myujQ
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