S.Lo on July 12th, 2019

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Call it double trouble, with reinforcements. In the tradition of twins making music, Angelenos Adrian and Julian Johnson (on guitar and bass, respectively) have joined forces with singer-songwriter Daniel McDonough in the dream-pop project Still.

Their debut single, “Divinity,” co-produced, engineered and mixed by Kevin Abdella, is jangly and pretty yet understated. McDonough, who works in a record store and is accustomed to more melodically-inclined piano and harp in his solo work, takes the opportunity to have a more constrained approach. “I’m constantly listening to different music, and because I write in a very subconscious way, its hard to say what is influencing me in the moment,” said the singer. “I normally just say my favorite bands, which are the Cure, Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, Nick Cave, Dead Can Dance, Bjork, etc., which probably had the most obvious influence.”

In the stream-of-consciousness verse, the influences are apparent as McDonough dances over the bed of indie prepared by the Johnson twins with a twirl of resignation in watching love slip away, feeling powerless to bring it back to life. With the weight of regret, the words tumble forth, “I would stay if I had the words to say to go back to how things were / Streams of light cascading down from the sky droplets of divinity / Don’t purify in fact they just hurt my eyes show a glimpse of what I should be.” It’s an honest acceptance of failure, and it seems too late to try again as McDonough takes a bigger breath to sing, “But that’s just how it is / I know I never had a chance / I thought I might if I could find a way back to you / But I know… I never had a chance.” It’s a bit defeatist, but some of the best songs do sing the blues and Still achieves it in many hues.

||| Stream: “Divinity”