Michael Hann

Reminiscent of Roxy Music’s cocktail sound: The Weather Station reviewed

Plus: William Doyle’s fate is one of the sadnesses of the streaming age

A significant talent: Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station performing at Revolution Recording Studios, Toronto 
issue 27 March 2021

One of the unforeseen consequences of the rise of streaming was a change in the very structure of the pop song. Listeners who needed only to click a button to explore an unfathomable amount of music rapidly lost patience. They were less willing to listen to long songs; they were less willing to wait for songs to develop, even over the course of three minutes; they liked songs that sounded the same as other songs they were familiar with. And so, over the past decade or so, pop has adopted a formula: songs now tend to open with a huge hook, then throw more hooks on top of that, and then — because a small cadre of songwriters and producers are viewed as safe hands — they get remade in barely different forms again and again.

Perhaps that explains some of the gratitude with which critics have fallen on Tamara Lindeman, who records as the Weather Station, and William Doyle (who used to record as East India Youth but now works under his own name).

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in