Well, it's been a good month for songs...

...if little else. A handy playlist of January's New Song of the Day picks, and some I missed. Karen O does Carole King. Hannah Cohen. Jeffrey Lewis. Varo.

A quick rewind on a few New Song of the Day posts from when the feature was only on Substack Notes — and for paid subscribers, streaming playlists (in Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music) of all this month’s New Song of the Day picks, plus some other notables I didn’t get a chance to write on.

Enjoy! - Will

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New Song of the Day #17 - Karen O “You’ve Got A Friend” (Carole King cover)

Written in 1971 by King in LA during the Tapestry sessions alongside James Taylor, who was working on Mud Slide Slim… They each recorded “You’ve Got A Friend,” equally beautiful versions; he had the #1 hit, and they both won Grammys for it. A couple-few generations later, Karen O, quintessential NYC rock god, rejigs it on the fly as a love song for Los Angeles, her adopted home base last I checked. Tender and gorgeous as its models, it reminds my of her magnificent “Maps,” also of the fitting footnote that King wrote her song in response to Taylor’s line (I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend…) in the very Californian “Fire and Rain.” All this as certain miserable characters try to score political points off the fires’ tragedy. Here’s hoping for a proper studio version, though it might not better this one.

New Song of the Day #18 - Hannah Cohen “Earthstar”

This shimmering single has echoes of Cocteau Twins and Beach House — albeit more grounded — Cohen’s voice refracting like a sunray through a prism while she reflects on the challenge of truly knowing another person. She’s got an album due late March, with assists from Sufjan Stevens, Clairo, and Cohen’s partner, producer-polymath Sam Evian. A UK contact tipped me on this one. But the Edenic landscape in the video looked familiar; when I read further, turns out she’s based nearby in the Catskill Mountains. Proof it’s always good to pay attention to things in your own backyard. I’ll keep an eye out next time I’m hiking.

New Song of the Day #19 - Jeffrey Lewis “Sometime Life Hits You”

When it comes to music, Lewis is a word guy (he’s also a great cartoonist). His most recent claim to small-f fame has been “The History of the Development of Punk on the Lower East Side, 1950-1975,” a New York City cultural studies lesson in a 12 minute song-lecture illuminated by the fact that he’s one of the great torchbearers of said history. This new single (aka: “Ow, Fuck: That Hurt!”) is the latest example. It’s about hard knocks, and how your smarts won’t necessarily protect you from bad shit. So yeah, NB: NSFW I guess — though maybe you work alone at home, or your colleagues are used to hearing you f-bombing all day anyway.

New Song of the Day #20: Varo ‘Red Robin (feat. Alannah Thornburgh)’

This Dublin-based Irish trad duo — singer/fiddlers Lucie Azconaga from France and Consuelo Nerea Breschi from Italy — was news to me, and proves the adage: it ain’t where ya from, it’s where ya at. They go deep, and what I’ve heard of their new album (due in May) is outstanding, a new-school all-star affair with members of Lankum, Landless, and Lemoncello; Anna Mieke,Junior Brother, Niamh Bury, and John Francis Flynn. This emigration ballad of unknown origin is common in Co. Donegal (according to the BBC Annotated Index), a variant of “Eileen McMahon.” As played here with harpist/composer Alannah Thornburgh, another great talent with a new LP, it’s about the pleasure of sharing what one has, even if it’s not a lot. Timely lessons here, gorgeous stuff.