M. Lockwood Porter - "Sad/Satisfied"
M. Lockwood Porter wears his heart on his sleeve. His 2014 release, 27, offered a brilliant, cerebral narrative on heartbreak and existential crises. However, after two years of touring and reading progressive writers like Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Thomas Piketty, the Yale University English and American-history graduate has returned with a penchant for the political and an unabashed desire to bring activism and themes of social justice back to the forefront of contemporary music. His latest offering, How to Dream Again, was just released Sept. 15 via Black Mesa Records. and is courageous and moving while eloquently capturing the zeitgeist.
One of the record's high points, "Sad/Satisfied," is an optimistic, upbeat, acoustic guitar, piano and harmonica-driven call to rise up against passivity, both politically, and within one's self. The sound channels '70s Dylan, Bright Eyes and The Faces' "Ooh La La," complete with free-spirited instrumentation, whimsical yet deliberate vocal melodies and an undeniably catchy chorus.