Andrew Bird on ‘The Pitt,’ Gia Margaret and more of the best new songs

Summary

All Songs Considered: Andrew Bird on ‘The Pitt,’ Gia Margaret, and More of the Best New Songs

Host: Robin Hilton (B)
Co-host/Guest: Dora Levitt (C)
Date: February 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

This week’s All Songs Considered is an exploration into the freshest and most moving music releases, highlighting standout tracks that the hosts “can’t stop listening to.” Robin Hilton and Dora Levitt discuss their favorite new finds—ranging from shoegaze and experimental hip hop, to emotionally resonant singer-songwriters—while weaving in personal anecdotes, thoughtful analysis, and discussions about the power of music in storytelling (including Andrew Bird’s original song for TV hit ‘The Pitt’). The episode has a warm, enthusiastic, and slightly nerdy tone, reflecting the hosts’ deep affection and knowledge for music discovery.

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Key Discussion Points & Song Highlights

1. Dora’s Corner and Shoegaze’s Modern Moment

• [02:13-09:38]
• Robin showers praise on “Dora’s Corner,” a regular feature where Dora curates her top weekly new music picks.
• Dora spotlights LA-based band Draag (pronounced “Drag”), and their new shoegaze-inspired EP Miracle Drug—particularly the track “Finding Fear.”

“I just love… the way that they take sadness and grief and anxiety and loneliness and all these complicated feelings and run them through this filter—these roaring guitars that are crunchy and so loud and thunderous, but at the same time feel like they’re just kinda drifting in the ether in a really, really beautiful way.” — Robin Hilton [07:28]

• Dora notes the expansion of shoegaze into the modern era, citing connections to bands like They’re Gutting a Body of Water, Wisp, and the rise of cathartic, even “screaming” vocals.
• Shoegaze is recognized as having a “moment” in current music, described as both niche and now widely influential.

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2. Mandy, Indiana—Industrial Experimentation and Identity

• [09:50-14:58]
• The hosts shift to Mandy, Indiana and their new album URGH (“Ugh”).
• Focus: the song “Try Saying Honey, Is That You?”
• Mandy, Indiana is a French-German group; the fictional band name and the album’s industrial/electronic sound come under the microscope.

“This reason I love it so much is because it really gets at this feeling of grappling with power and authority that the album as a whole talks a lot about—how it feels to be a young person in this dystopian time that we’re living in.” — Dora Levitt [13:41]

• Dora digs into the lyrical motif of authority and longing, relating the sampled refrain “Is that you?” to familial/parental presence, and mentions the album's use of samples from pop culture (“light as a feather, stiff as a board”).
• Robin comments on the album’s unsettling sonic character.

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3. Andrew Bird's “Need Someone” for ‘The Pitt’—Music as Emotional Storytelling

• [17:09-22:38]
• Robin discusses the medical drama The Pitt and its reputation for unflinching realism.
• The Feb. 12 episode featured an original, deeply poignant song by Andrew Bird, “Need Someone”, commissioned specifically for a moving scene.

“All I know is you need someone in the by and by. Need someone who’s going to cry for you.” — Andrew Bird [19:30]

• Robin and Dora reflect on the song’s themes—mortality, memory, and the hope of being remembered.
• Robin relates being a parent to the yearning captured in Bird’s lyricism; Dora is struck by the combination of singing and gentle whistling.

“If I was on my deathbed, I would love… this would be the song that I would love the doctors to be fighting for my life for me.” — Dora Levitt [21:06]

• The hosts note the difference between writing existing songs for scenes versus the unique challenge of composing for a story’s emotional arc.

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4. On Album Sequencing & Ratboys’ “Open Up”

• [22:47-30:58]
• Dora brings up the importance of song order on albums, suggesting it deserves a whole episode.
• She nominates Ratboys’ “Open Up”—the lead track from their new album Singing to an Empty Chair—as a prime example of a perfect opener.
• Robin and Dora praise the dynamic build, crisp vocals, and the song's fusion of country, rock, and “metal guitars.”

“It just sets the scene for such an emotionally aware and vulnerable album.” — Dora Levitt [29:47]

• Dora explains the themes of vulnerability, therapy, and the challenge of “rehearsing” emotional openness. Robin observes that the “euphoria” in the song is less about accomplishment than the anxious striving to open up.

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5. Gia Margaret’s Gentle Vulnerability on “Everyone Around Me Dancing”

• [31:32-37:44]
• Robin spotlights Gia Margaret (also from Chicago), whose album Singing Again is due in April; he plays “Everyone Around Me Dancing.”
• The hosts note thematic parallels to Ratboys—outsider perspectives, longing for connection, and vulnerability.
• Dora emphasizes Margaret’s ambient style, sparse percussion, vocal layering, and the poetic repetition—all expressing a sort of “dissociation” and brain fog from being on the outside.
• Robin highlights Margaret’s backstory: after losing her voice in 2019, she focused on instrumental works. Now, her music’s vocal presence is more experimental, folded into the ambiance rather than dominant.

“It just really captures this sort of almost a kind of dissociation that you have when you are on the outside of something that you want to be a part of.” — Robin Hilton [35:49]

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6. By Storm’s “Can I Have Youe For Myself”—Nostalgia, Loss, and Broken Sound

• [38:13-44:40]
• Dora’s final pick is the debut from By Storm (formerly Injury Reserve), “Can I Have Youe For Myself,” from My Ghosts Go Ghost.
• Dora’s deep personal connection with Injury Reserve frames her appreciation for By Storm’s explorations of grief, family, and transformation.

“It’s just so improvisational and beautiful… really sets the scene for this album that talks about loss and talks about growing your family and how that plays into the loss that we’ve experienced.” — Dora Levitt [39:41]

• Robin brings a critical observation: the trend of “intentionally blown out” or “broken” sound in modern production, as if recorded through damaged equipment, and sometimes “vocals that are completely lost in the mix.”
• Dora counters by referencing a review about the desire to create music that “can’t be captured and reproduced”—something “bigger than the container” intentionally challenging the listener to find clarity in noise.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [07:28 Robin Hilton]: “The way they take sadness and grief and anxiety and loneliness… and run them through this filter—these roaring guitars that are so crunchy and so loud and thunderous, but at the same time feel like they’re just drifting in the ether in a really, really beautiful way.”
• [13:41 Dora Levitt]: “It really gets at this feeling of grappling with power and authority…how it feels to be a young person in this dystopian time that we’re living in.”
• [21:06 Dora Levitt]: “If I was on my deathbed, I would love…this would be the song I would love the doctors to be fighting for my life for me.”
• [29:47 Dora Levitt]: “It just sets the scene for such an emotionally aware and vulnerable album.”
• [35:49 Robin Hilton]: “It just really captures this sort of…dissociation that you have when you are on the outside of something that you want to be a part of.”
• [41:48 Dora Levitt]: “Being able to parse through the moments that are clear and find the melodies and beautiful moments within…It’s bigger than the container.”

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Timestamps of Major Segments

| Segment | Time | Main Topic / Song | |-----------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------------------| | Dora’s Corner/Shoegaze| 02:13-09:38 | Draag – "Finding Fear" | | Mandy, Indiana | 09:50-14:58 | "Try Saying Honey, Is That You?" | | Andrew Bird on The Pitt| 17:09-22:38 | "Need Someone" | | Album Sequencing | 22:47-30:58 | Ratboys – "Open Up" | | Gia Margaret | 31:32-37:44 | "Everyone Around Me Dancing" | | By Storm | 38:13-44:40 | "Can I Have Youe For Myself" |

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a rich, thoughtful snapshot of contemporary music’s diverse emotional landscape—from cathartic shoegaze to avant hip hop, and indie singer-songwriter introspection. Robin and Dora’s interplay is affectionate and analytical, welcoming listeners to appreciate not just the sound, but the story, context, and feeling behind every song they highlight.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

I have a friend who coined the word. As far as I know, he coined the word antis appointment. One of my all time favorite words, antis appointment. That should be a word.

[C]

That's a good word. Yeah.

[B]

You're listening to All SONGS Considered from NPR Music. We got a lot going on for you this week. Just had a couple of great tiny desks that went up. A really beautiful one from the RB singer Jill Scott. That one just went up. And just before Jill Scott went up, we had one from Sarah McLachlan, a really, really special Sarah McLachlan, tiny desk. I have loved her music for decades. Never in a million years would have thought I'd get to be in the room her when she was performing some of the songs she did. It was just really, really special. Sarah McLachlan, that tiny desk also up for you. NPR Music is also where you will find Alt Latino, that show, that podcast goes out into this feed every Wednesday. And then, of course, at the end of the week, New Music Friday, the best new albums dropping on February 20th. And also NPR Music. You're home to one of my favorite people in the whole world, Dora Levitt.

[C]

Hi, Robin. Glad to know I'm your favorite. And it's on the record.

[B]

If it were up to me, you'd be on every single episode we do. But it's actually been a minute. You were out for a while and you've also been busy with the tiny desk contest that just closed the entries. We're not getting entries. The entry window closed.

[C]

Yeah, the entry window closed. We got 6,000 entries and we watched 6,000 every single one.

[B]

Well, on this episode, we're gonna be talking best new songs of the week, the new tracks that we've got on repeat and can't stop listening to. And I wanna start with something that I already know that you love. And you wanna know how I know that you love it?

[C]

How?

[B]

Dora's Corner.

[C]

Dora's Corner. If you have a better name suggestion, let me know.

[B]

It's a great name, Dora's Corner.

[C]

Yes. So I also work on New Music Friday and I get to listen to so, so many great new albums and we only get to talk about a few on the podcast. So I get to pick my own and pick the ones that are my favorite. I pick probably three each week and you can find them at the bottom of the New Music Friday page.

[B]

So I always just go to that page. The first thing I do is scroll down to the bottom to Dora's Corner. Because you always turn me on to something that I love and this is one of the things that you turned me onto and you didn't even realize that you'd done it. But it's the band Dragon. It's spelled D R A A G. It looks like it'd be pronounced Drawg Drog. Drawg Drog. But it's pronounced Drag. This is a band from la. I'm tempted to call them a shoegaze band because so much of their stuff leans in that direction. But not everything and not always. But they have a new EP out called Miracle Drug that you mentioned in one of your Dora's Corners posts. That is kind of a mouthful.

[C]

It is a mouthful.

[B]

Doris Corners, eh? Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

To me it sounds like a little bit and I really like the name, but it sounds a little bit like the calming corner in a first grade class.

[B]

Oh, well, that's a great way to think of it though. Well, although this isn't. I don't know how calming some of your picks are.

[C]

Definitely not.

[B]

Well, this new EP again is called Miracle Drug from Drag. And the song that I want to play from it is pretty shoegazy. It's called Finding Fear.

[D]

Sam. I'm sam. Sa.

[B]

I know that they're not just shoegaze, but they have got that sound down at least on this track. Finding Fear from the EP Miracle Drug. I just love. This is something I love about shoegaze in general and maybe pretty obvious to other people who love it, but just the way that they take sadness and grief and anxiety and loneliness and all these complicated feelings and run them through this filter. These roaring guitars that are so crunchy and so loud and thunderous, but at the same time feel like they're just kinda drifting in the ether in a really, really beautiful way.

[C]

I love how they're able to just bring out this one idea and just stretch it and take it to the furthest points it can possibly go. And I really like how much I'm hearing stuff like this in new music these days. Anyways, it reminds me of the They're Gutting a Body of Water album that came out. This really shoegaze inspired, but a little bit more electronic too. It's a more modern version of like this shoegaze that I loved for so long.

[B]

Yeah, almost Elements of metal in some of it. Like, I think nothing. The band, nothing. They've got a new record coming up. They do this really well. I know Yule doesn't really like the Shoegaze label, but there are definitely elements of Shoegaze in their music. You mentioned they're gutting a body of water. Great reference point. Also, I think just mustard and Wisp. Wisp for sure. I mean, back when Shoegaze first started coming up, it's been over 30 years ago now, but it was very much a little niche. Right. I mean, and for people who happened to find the My Bloody Valentine record or whatever. Right. It's not like it was blowing up the charts, but we're really having a moment with Shoegaze and I'm there for it completely.

[C]

And I love in even other places on this album, there's more screaming and just like, catharsis. And I love that. I love how much screaming we're seeing. Also, it reminds me of just the screaming in Wednesday.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it's just so great. And I love the direction. It's great.

[B]

So I mentioned they're from la. The band again is Drag D R Aag Drawg Draug from their EP Miracle Drug that just came out at the end of January. Where do you want to go?

[C]

Let's go to Mandy, Indiana, their new album that came out.

[B]

The band Mandy, Indiana. Is Mandy, Indiana a real place? Have you looked it up?

[C]

I think I remember looking it up.

[B]

And it was, no, no, Mandy's totally made up.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, they're French German bands, so they could have just been like this. Sounds like something in Indiana.

[B]

All right, so Mandy, Indiana, what's the album?

[C]

The album is called Ugh, and the song that is my favorite is called Try Saying Honey. Is that you?

[D]

Is that.

[C]

You? Is that you? Is that you? Is that you?

[F]

Is that you? Is that you?

[B]

Man, maybe we should have led with that.

[C]

That was so good. Every time I hear it, I'm like.

[B]

Ugh, I love that song.

[A]

Is that you?

[B]

Is that you?

[D]

Is that you?

[B]

Is that you? Oh, my God. I would listen to this album just by the name alone. Ugh. Or it's spelled U R G H. I read it as ugh, not urgh. Either way. I mean, the sentiment is clear. But wow, it's so good.

[C]

I hear so much DJ Shadow in there in the. Is that you Sample this whole album. I feel like this is a one off from the album because it feels a little bit more toned down than the heavy industrial we hear a little bit of that honestly sounds like a machine gun sound at the end.

[B]

It sounds like a cd. Skipping that sort of.

[C]

Yeah, that repetitive. I feel like that's all over the album. But this song, the reason I love it so much is because it really gets at this feeling of grappling with power and authority that the album as a whole talks a lot about how it feels to be a young person in this time, the dystopian time that we're living in. And that voice, that honey, is that you really feels to me like a parental authority figure. And the lyrics, I don't speak French at all, but I looked them up and it's this trying to be this type of person and reflecting on why you want to be that way, why you felt like you needed to be that way. And that in opposition to this honey is that you really, just really spoke to me. I really loved that. There's this other song on the album where they pull from the crafts, light as a feather, stiff as a board and as a sample. And I really liked that usage, too. It kind of goes back into who you are and how you're able to think about who you are in relationship to the things that we grew up with, because that is such a childhood nursery rhyme type of game where you're thinking about magic as a child.

[B]

Yeah. And also kind of creepy, too, and unsettling. Yeah. So, Mandy Indiana is the band and the album Urgh or Ugh. Ugh. That came out at the top of February.

[A]

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[B]

Do you watch the Pit?

[C]

So I had a feeling you would ask me this.

[B]

Okay, because you've told me you watch a tremendous amount of television.

[C]

So I do watch a tremendous amount of television and the Pit is one that I haven't gotten into for a reason that is surprising to me of that it's so graphic.

[B]

It's pretty graphic.

[C]

And I grew up loving Grey's Anatomy, so I was very surprised to find myself watching the first episode and being like, oh my God, I can't watch any of this.

[B]

It's not Grey's Anatomy or St. Elsewhere or ER or any of the other TV shows that came before it. It is so good. You know, from everything I've read, they'll have doctors and ER doctors and nurses watch it and they all say it's incredibly accurate. Like that's exactly what it's like.

[C]

Yeah, that's what I've heard.

[B]

You can watch it through your fingers. That's what my wife does. Yeah. Because she doesn't like the graphic stuff either, but she loves the stories. Well, on the episode that just aired on February 12, they had a great needle drop and it is a brand new song by Andrew Bird. It's a song that he was asked to write specifically for the episode and it works so well. It is so beautiful. It is a very short, sweet, poignant little song called Needs Someone.

[G]

Can you see him tired and shivering stone fumbling to the day. Can you see his lips a quivering like he's forgotten how to pray? Can you see her way is perilous she's absorbing all the blows who will now take care of us in the hills and valleys, the highs and lows. All I know is you need someone in the by and by. Meet someone is going to cry for you. You need someone in the by. Need Someone who's going to cry for.

[B]

Just a short, beautiful little piece. It's just so moving to me. I think, you know, it's. Well, obviously it's just about what we're left with in our final moments, you know, and we all hope that we're remembered fondly and that there's somebody who will remember you. I always think of my kids and somebody said, well, I probably saw it on a TV show where somebody said one time, you know, that basically if you have kids, like, you're at this point, you're just here to be memories for them. And so I'm always thinking, I hope I'm making good memories. And, yeah, he captures it really well, I think completely.

[C]

The line in the by and by, you need somebody who's gonna cry for you is so beautiful, so heart wrenching. And with the way that he kind of whistles when he sings is just so touching. And honestly, like, if I was on my deathbed, I would love. Like, this would be the song that I would love the doctors to be fighting for my life for me.

[B]

You would like to have Andrew Bird standing over you whistling completely while you're redlining.

[C]

That's the last face I want to see is Andrew Bird.

[B]

I mean, I guess it'd be easy to say that some of this is sort of really on the nose because he's writing to a very specific scene in the show and moment. But I also kind of like it when artists are tasked with this challenge of writing something very specific. It's a story that's being told by somebody else. Right. That they're trying to be true to. And I've done some composing for different TV shows and films, and I actually really love it because it tells me what to do. Like, like, all right, I'm up to this point in the song, but now I don't know what to do. Oh, this story is telling me what to do. So I just, you know, and it ends up creating these really unexpected twists or turns or posts in the song that I wouldn't have come up with on my own otherwise.

[C]

I've never thought about it that way of being tasked to write for a scene instead of just going to an artist and being like, I want to use this.

[B]

Yeah, here's the song you have that we think fits.

[C]

Yeah. That makes me really listen to it in a new way as this accompaniment. I really like that.

[B]

Well, a really beautiful one from a great TV show that you need to find. Find a way to watch Dora.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

From the pit, Andrew Bird, the Song.

[C]

Watch the clean version.

[B]

It's great storytelling, great characters. Andrew Bird needs someone a one off single that he wrote for the February 12 episode of the Pit.

[C]

Do you feel like you pay a lot of attention to song order in an album?

[B]

100%. I mean, the sequencing is important.

[C]

Completely, yeah.

[B]

I have thought that we could do an entire show just on like best opening tracks, best closing tracks.

[C]

I totally agree. And I feel like if you end up doing that episode about the best opening track to an album. Open up by Rat Boys from their new album Singing to an Empty Chair should be the first one you talk about.

[B]

So Open up is the first track on this new record.

[D]

Living Reverse. Go back in time what's it gonna take to open up? What does it take to light? What's it gonna take to open up this time? Bending my back to break the ice Everything's good as advertised Watch as the years pass by so what's it gonna take to open up this time? Stretch out as big as you can I won't say I told you so I won't say what's right so what's it gonna take to open up tonight? Let's pick all the rocks inside our heads it takes a while in your defense But I got lots of time so what's it going to take to open up tonight? Step on the right side of the road the only world you've ever known oh it's okay it's all right what's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up? He won the test Help me everything I want to go and listening Cuz whatever is yours is mine so what's it going to take to open up this time? I look at you with my I want to say a big goodbye I don't wanna fight so what's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up tonight? Night.

[C]

God, that song is so good.

[B]

The build is incredible.

[C]

It's amazing. And the crispness of her voice with those big. That big booming drums, it's just so great. And finally when the build breaks.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And you get that crunchy guitar sound with her crisp voice, it's just. It's so smart and it's so satisfying.

[B]

It's kind of got this honky tonk country sort of thing going on. And then like metal guitars. I mean, it's really, really cool juxtaposition.

[C]

It's really awesome.

[B]

So she Keeps talking about opening up, and there's this thing that she wants to do. I'm wondering what opening up means to you in the context of this song.

[C]

I was reading a little bit about her intentions behind the storytelling here, and she was talking about her framing this as something she learned in therapy, like framing the way that she's talking about opening up, the way that she's talking about being emotionally present as rehearsing conversations before they happen. And that really resonated with me of having to open up but having to prepare first. And the. What's it gonna take to open up? It takes time and it takes effort, and I really thought this sets the scene for such a emotionally aware and vulnerable album. It really just kind of brings you into the reasoning why I really loved it.

[B]

Yeah. I ask because there's this really interesting thing that's happening where if you listen to the song, whatever opening up means to you, it sounds at least like. Like 3/4 of the way through. It sounds like she's gotten there, right?

[C]

Totally.

[B]

There's this sense of euphoria, like, we have arrived. Yes, I've opened up. But at the end of the song, she's still asking the same question, what's it gonna take to open up? So she didn't. And really, that euphoria is not her achieving and reaching whatever it is that she's trying to reach. It's really more of just that anxious sort of rise that you get in yourself when you're struggling to reach something and can't quite get there.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

And then there's a release, and you're like, yeah, well, I guess what's it gonna take for me to open it?

[C]

We're almost at that feeling, but still thinking about it. I like the way that you framed it of, like, it feels like that anxious rise and your heart starts beating faster.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That break is so great. I can't stop listening to this song.

[B]

So this is an album that just came out at the top of February called Singing to an Empty Chair from Rap Boy.

[A]

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[B]

I've got one that I think is actually a good companion piece to the Rat Boys song that you played. It's from Gia Margaret, a singer from Chicago, also a composer, pianist. Well, actually, aren't Rat Boys from Chicago, too? Yeah, Chicago.

[C]

What a place.

[B]

Pretty good music scene they've got going on there.

[C]

That's what I hear.

[B]

Gia Margaret, she has a new album coming out, out in April called Singing, which is also interesting because the Rat Boys is called Singing to an Empty Chair. And Gia Margaret's album is just called Singing Again. It's out in April. But the song I want to play from it is called Everyone Around Me Dancing. And it has some of the same sort of similar themes as the Rap Boys song. And just listen for what she's doing with her voice on this song. You'll hear it immediately when it first comes in.

[F]

Everyone around me stand. But I am in the background Static Closer to the ground the planet Equilibrium. Everyone around me is growing.

[G]

When I.

[F]

Am dirt and bloated I cover the seed to grow it Equilibrium. Everyone around is seen. But I am underneath the ceiling.

[D]

Everything.

[F]

Unsaid It sinks for a little too long. Everyone is so ecstatic well, I am in a bath and that's it. Lucy's next to me Half smiling My little equilibrium. Everyone around me dancing Everyone around me dancing Everyone around me. But I am in the back.

[B]

So many amazing things happening on this song. Of course, her voice, which you hear how I love how it was layered.

[C]

It was so beautiful, so beautiful that that repetition was so poetic. And I love how her vocals faded and that. Was it a saxophone or a trumpet?

[B]

It's like a horn, Some sort of trumpet or horn or flugelhorn or something like that.

[C]

Yeah, something that kind of was pushed to the forefront and it sounded like the focus was there and her vocals were just folded into the percussion that I loved.

[B]

Yeah, little itty bitty bits of percussion. I mean, it's honestly pretty spare. It's sort of this wash of sounds and then little touches of percussion here and there kind of flitting around. But it just really captures this sort of almost a kind of dissociation that you have when you are on the outside of something that you want to be a part of. Does that make sense? Do you know what I'm saying? It's that sort of brain foggy kind of feeling that I feel is similar to the Rat Boy song in that they're both about being on the outside looking in and wishing you had whatever it is that you need to either feel brave enough or to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough or whatever it is you need to navigate the world that you wish you could step into.

[C]

There's so much disconnect in both, and it's about trying to fill that gap. Like you said, like being on the outside and this song. Gia Margaret often describes herself as ambient.

[B]

An ambient artist.

[C]

An ambient artist. And she couldn't sing for a while. Right.

[B]

She lost her voice, like, in 2019 or somewhere around then. And, yeah, wasn't sure that she would get it back and was gonna just. Just try to do more instrumental stuff. But then she healed and did get her voice back. It's very similar to the Patrick Watson story. If you remember, he also lost his voice. And also, like, Gia Margaret has a really gorgeous voice. And then he did get his voice back and was able to put out that album, oh, last year, which was one of my favorite last year.

[C]

You can really see that she's back exploring with what vocals even mean and how to explore vocals in a way, when you've only been making this instrumental, ambient music. And I think that's why the vocals are so interesting and the layering of the vocals are so baked into the overall sound rather than being the focus.

[B]

Yeah, she does it with instruments, too, like that flugel horn, trumpety sound, whatever it is. It sounds like an organic instrument with a sound produced by someone blowing through it. But it also feels a little synthetic and ambient, like it's this wash of sound created with the.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So again, the album from Gia Margaret is called Singing, and that's out April 24th. And that song was everyone around me dancing. But, Dora, I know you got one more that you want to play.

[C]

I do. And I know that this one you weren't convinced by.

[B]

Well, yeah, I'm not a big fan, but I'm not, like, just rejecting it, which is why we were talking the other day about it, and I was like, tell me what it is that you love about it, because maybe that'll help me find an entry point into it.

[C]

And it didn't.

[B]

Well, I like this cut that you're gonna play, and we're gonna go out on it, so we can maybe just get our conversation out of the way real quick. Going into it. But why don't you start?

[C]

Yeah. So my first ever favorite band that I found myself when I was like, this is my favorite band was Injury Reserve.

[B]

Right. Yeah.

[C]

That was the band that made me learn to love music for myself. And so I definitely have a lot of nostalgic ties to injury Reserve. They were a hip hop trio and tragically one of their members Steppa J Gried and the two members Richie and Corey Parker decided to transform their music project and step away from Indri Reserve. That was the three of them and move towards a new project called By Storm. And this is their first album, came out at the end of January called My Ghost Go Ghost and the opening track, Can I have youe For Myself is just so gorgeous and really sets the scene for this album that talks about loss and talks about growing your family and how that plays into the loss that we've experienced and it's just so improvisational and beautiful.

[B]

So I totally agree with all of that and it is really beautiful. I do like another great opening cut. This is my I've listened to the album. This is definitely my favorite one on I think the issue that I have with this and we'll hear it a little bit on this song, not as much as on some of the others, but a little bit is that there's this trend I've noticed toward intentionally blown up recordings. I'm stopping short of saying intentionally bad because I don't think the music is bad but like they, they make the actual recording of it sound intentionally broken. Like you're listening to it through broken speakers or like when they record we call it over modulated like where the it's cranked all the way up so the recording is in the red the entire time. So it just sounds all blown out, right? A little bit of it on this song. I've heard it on a lot of other bands work lately Too Nourished by Time sometimes does that. Another thing that they'll do is like intentionally have vocals that are completely lost in the mix or intentionally bend out of tune and sing out of tune for stretches. And I know there's something going on there and I just haven't figured out what it is and found my entry point to it yet.

[C]

I was reading a review for the Mandy Indiana record actually and I don't remember what review it was, but it was talking about a similar thing of like why people will make their music sound overblown or sound incapable of being like self contained and purposely sound bad. And I really liked that idea of creating something that can't be captured and reproduced in that way. And I think that's why I love that overblown or just over processed and kind of disjointed sound and being able to kind of parse through the moments that are clear and find the melodies and beautiful moments within and, and knowing that this is a sound and this is an idea that is hard to be captured. It's bigger than the container.

[B]

Well, we're going to hear a little bit of it on this one, then we're going to go out on it again. The song from By Storm is called Can I have youe For Myself, the opening cut to My Ghosts Go, Ghost, that came out at the end of January. All right. People always ask, how can I support the show? The best way to do it honestly is with a glowing review. If you enjoy the show, leave us a review on Apple Music or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Dora Levitt, Robin Hilton, thanks so much.

[C]

Thanks for having me. So much fun.

[B]

All right. It's All Songs Considered from NPR Music.

[D]

Can I have it all?

[H]

Things been slow, things been sweet been a US 2 it's finna be 3 when I'm holding you it's finna be we. On the same page going same speed see I'm ready to grow just feeling very greedy you giving all of you I want you all for me.

[D]

For me Can I have you for myself? Can I help you? Can I help you?

[F]

For you?

[H]

Just a little more more similar thing just a little pps you giving all.

[B]

Of you to you.

[H]

I want you all for me. Don't get it twisted baby I'm thankful I guess it hit me all the little things are going to change too Just for a minute can we soak it in and just tangle right in but between us know they growing won't have the same room all of our flicks going to have to change the frame and the frames too and when I chase her young and no I can't rock all these same shoes. See how I make all this shit about me you giving you ain't never once bored or what about me? How can I I don't know how I'm gonna share you. You said you're going and I said where to see I go anywhere for you but I'm a miss it just does too just for a millisecond, just one blink can we just sit all in and let it simmer? Just for me no, it's gonna be a minute. It all feels so soon to save me some just a little, just a.

[D]

Little can I have you?

[E]

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[A]

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