April Moon, Amy-Jo, & Vic Allen – A Triple Review

Woven into the songs of April Moon, Amy-Jo and Vic Allen are aspects of love that intertwine. Released on the same day, they speak across the generations to form a picture of the dreams, desires and pressures of the everywoman.

---

Starting on a Saskatchewan farm, ‘Uptown Lady Life’ tells the story of a young girl whose aspirations stretch to the simple but symbolic purchase of a fur coat. Inspired by Jaime from April Moon’s grandmother, this neotraditional country tune transports the listener right back to its rural life setting. We find the protagonist struggling to make ends meet, racking up the bills with successive poor harvests. It leads her and her husband with little choice but to sell up – an opportunity perhaps to move to the city for a better life. Needless to say, it doesn’t work out. But even against a backdrop of endless work (both in a factory and at home), the whimsical and upbeat guitar riffs represent her eternal optimism for social advancement. It is a really affectionate portrait that April Moon depict.

By her own admission, Amy-Jo offers a highly-romanticised version of this era in ‘Love Before the Internet’. It isn’t without its nod to economic insecurity but the girl’s “modest pay for part-time work in a village café” is mixed with contentment. Like her last single, ‘Young, In Love, and Broke’, the pressures of daily life can be overcome by the presence of love in a strong relationship. What’s more, this love seems to be enough, in contrast to the prayers of the protagonist in April Moon’s story for something more. Delivered in her typically-intimate and stripped back style, Amy-Jo still paints a colourful picture of pre-internet meet-ups and real-world interactions that were often limited to “the fifteen miles around their town”. Compare this to a plethora of dating apps now connecting us across the globe, and she succeeds in championing the supposed simplicity of a bygone era. The exhaustive exhale on the final word of the song’s bridge only adds to the irony of modern-day technology. Social media, as we’re finding out, is not always positively progressive.

Vic Allen highlights one of the problems of social media in today’s society. ‘Wake Up Pretty’ is a suitably poignant and relatable track which powerfully expresses the dark side of our image-conscious world. She outlines the “flawless” and “airbrushed” figures found whilst scrolling through ourfeeds and, against a backdrop of achingly emotional guitar strings, reveals their devastating impact. Idealism and comparison are the enemies. Low self-esteem and body consciousness their effects. The dream of a fur coat seems almost childlike in this context, even as it speaks back to fashion as a means of social validation. Here, the physical body too is at stake. “Too tall, too thin / we just can’t win”, says Allen, and “it makes me question who I should be”. It captures in all seriousness how unattainable perfection sets a standard that inevitably chips away at our own identity. But for all its brutal truth, the chorus remains hopeful of a day when “I’ll take off my make-up and wake up pretty”.

Featured Images (C) the featured artists