What I am about to say is a complimentary statement: Make Believe Love’s artist profile pic is the members of Weezer but with their heads replaced with those of Disney characters. But “Organic Growth” is the kind of song that reminds me more of The Rentals. It would have just been easier to say that “Organic Growth” is a sweet slice of power pop pie, but seeing as how power pop has different takes upon it from Teenage Fanclub to Superchunk, it helps to split the difference. This song carries a Weezer bluntness, but The Rentals’ ability to make such bluntness sound less “cringey”.
Anyway, “Organic Growth” tackles the frustration of never having your song heard, either because it isn’t “algorithm-friendly” or because it doesn’t have the best marketing. It’s one that is meant to connect to those with similar frustrations, regardless of its level of musical originality. Beginning with a list of both plausible and ridiculous Spotify genres (“Corporate Goth and Christian Ska Punk, Vaporwave and New School Funk/Italian Disco and Chinese Trance”), it ends with a clever barb towards the machine controlling the music industry (“I didn’t come with a marketing plan/now the algorithm has me shadow-banned”).
There are long traditions of artists covering the hunger to be played on the radio and also throwing knives at likely industry plants. But relatively recent is the tradition of writing about craving a breakthrough on streaming services. Make Believe Love delivers this with the kind of buzzy catchiness that would get your average kid playing air guitar, as well as the kind of one-take vocals that pop-punk dreams are built upon. (Think early Rich Creamy Paint.) All of this together should deliver the songs to its rightful audience, but alas, the future decides the victor. “No Pixel Garden or Alt Rock Risin’/I’ll die unknown but at least I’m tryin’”.
Take a listen to “Organic Growth” below.
Written by mynameisblueskye
