December 19, 2018 – First of all, I have to say my Christmas present to myself is fabulous. I got a new gaming keyboard and gaming mouse,specifically a Corsair K70 LUX keyboard and a Corsair Sabre RGB gaming mouse,an ergonomic mouse-masterpiece with really cute lights. The keyboard has red backlight, and it’s amazing to be able to see the keys, like really see the keys. As someone who spends hours and hours on my computer, this is something I should have done along time ago! So forgive my enthusiasm, but this is the first thing I’ve typed with the new tools, and it feels like a totally different medium, like going from an IBM Selectric to a computer keyboard the first time; the keyboard is smooth, amazing, and makes a really cute sound. It’s modern and quick, but also organic and old-school at the same time. I just want to sit here and type as fast as I can, just to see how fast that is, which trust me is fast, really fast, but I also want to sit and write because it’s so comfortable to type on….Okay, new computer-things-discussion out of the way; on to music.

 A few weeks ago I read an article about Ellie Goulding’s plans to release a new album in 2019,her first since 2015. Lana Del Rey, who can’t sit still for even a month, plans to release a new album too, her first since last year. Pun intended. Ellie had posted snippets on her Twitter account of her playing guitar, so I had really hoped her new album would feature organic, acoustic-based music. Indeed, Ellie said she wanted it that way, a back-to-basics feel. Anticipation built from Ellie taking down her social media, replacing it with an animal print-looking background.Then along came a song. Mind you, it’s not clear if the new Ellie song is going to be on the album, or if it’s just a one-off song, something she does, but I am disappointed. The song is not bad, a radio-type pop-electronica song, of course featuring the now obligatory rapper guest-collaborator, but it is not at all the back-to-basics organic music I had hoped for. And it’s repetitive, too much so.

 I had already written off Lana’s current efforts, simply because this time around she’s collaborating with the pop-producer to all popstars, Jack Antonoff, but I still check on her. I mean Lana is Lana. Recently I saw that she purchased another house in Los Angeles, this one a hill-residence “cabin”that’s super similar to my own house, a little thing, and very old, just like mine. I’m not sure what she’s planning to do; I’m assuming tear it down and build a different house, but I don’t know. That’s the cover photo, in case you’re wondering, and I’ll tie this cabin to her music; just keep reading. Just looking at the cabin, and its setting, made me laugh; it’s just another in along line of things she does that are the same as things I do.  

Both Ellie and Lana have been performing at benefits. Ellie is playing that new song, usually in a stripped down way. Mind you, Ellie’s performances give me some hope that the 2019 Ellie record will be something I will like, the final production of the current song aside. In Lana’s performances at benefits,Lana has been playing two songs, one nine-minute song called Venice Bitch, the other called Mariner’s Apartment Complex. Neither song is that remarkable, and neither is new sounding. To their credit though, the songs sound like Lana, not like Jack Antonoff. Just so you know, Jack Antonoff is one of the key producers behind Taylor Swift’s pop transformation on her previous two albums, 1989, and Reputation. Okay, yes, I liked Taylor Swift’s Antonoff-produced song, Delicate,but there is a sound to him, think heavy on the electronic background. Certainly,Taylor Swift’s acoustic performances of Delicate are more organic than the Antonoff-produced radio version. Or at least that’s my view and why I feared Lana’s collaboration with Antonoff, but Lana has a way of doing her thing, no matter what. I guess that’s why the two early-release songs, Venice Bitch and Mariner’s Apartment Complex, still sound like Lana, you know, the normal-Lana moody and melodic minor key stuff. And then there’s Lana’s house purchase made me wonder about her. I really, really want to know what she’s doing with that house. Then later in the week,following the news about Lana’s cottage purchase, along came another news story.

Honestly, I was searching for something else, Taylor Swift related things, but the news I ran into was even more Lana related. The news:Jack Antonoff’s sister had a benefit, and Taylor Swift performed as a guest,performing Delicate on acoustic guitar. The article then discussed the main attraction: Lana Del Rey,performing with Antonoff. Lana, accompanying by Antonoff on keyboards,performed those same two songs she’s making the benefit rounds with, but she added two new songs. Antonoff traded out his normal keyboard for an acoustic guitar and accompanied Lana on these two new songs. Lana described the new songs as country songs she made with Antonoff for fun. The songs are not exactly country; I think they are more folk, but I, for one, would love to see this as a new direction for Lana, whatever label she wants to put on it. Earlier this year, Lana mentioned she was writing poetry, and I could see this as a format for the poetry. And I really like Lana’s higher register and quicker tempo of these songs.

Who knows if they will be on the new album? If they are,who knows whether Antonoff will leave the same feel? I can see Antonoff taking these new songs and adding EDM undertones, sort of like the radio version of Taylor Swift’s Delicate or even thatnew Ellie Goulding song as compared to the artists’ acoustic versions. But so far, these new Lana songs are a total surprise for me. It’s Lana, again Lana,the unlikely source of material I really wanted, indeed the organic feeling material I thought I’d get this go-around from Ellie Goulding. It’s Lana, again Lana, an unlikely source for yet another version of musical expression I hear in my mind. I know it’s impossible, but I really feel like Lana is reading my mind. Okay,it’s not that, but what is it? Where did these Lana country songs come from? What was their inspiration? Lana for sure,but how? Why?

 I’ve been doing a lot of work on my house lately, the little land and the little cottage talking to me throughout. It does talk, I promise.Perhaps Lana’s influence is from her new cottage talking to her. Make it old-school, these cottages are saying. Keep it real. Or… perhaps Lana has a new Corsair keyboard and mouse set-up. Perhaps the old school, but modern feel of this keyboard is the fuel for this new style of Lana’s. Okay, probably not, but I know, for myself, I’m going to get busy.It’s much nicer to sit at this keyboard. No, I really think it’s the cottage. EDM just doesn’t match the cottage.Whatever happens, whatever it is, Lana’s new songs are a nice inspiration. So is my keyboard/mouse set-up. Perhaps it’s time for some W-poetry. I’ve always liked country. I’ve always liked organic music.And I have cottage. Seems like the makings for something … organic. Perhaps ifLana’s songs really are just for fun, and none of these albums have what I want, I can make it myself. After all, 2019 is a new year.