This album, and the commentary we’re already seeing about it, has got me thinking about how we constantly silo music and label it one thing or another. “It’s pop. No it’s jazz. No, it’s soul”. Why are we so obsessed with separating musical styles and cultures from one another?!

This analogy might be weird but it’s what’s on my mind on a Sunday morning, pre-coffee okay ;)

If I was Music - a person - and I was on my deathbed, this album would be my life flashing before my eyes; the important moments, a flash of those who have inspired me, taught me, nurtured me, loved me. It’s the life of Music neatly packaged by Raye and delivered by a community who know Music - the person - as the complex and beautiful result of evolution, biology, cultural and social influence and life experience that she is.

As people we can’t separate the You today from the You of yesterday, you have just added life experience and evolution but you remain the same person; the same person at work and at home. You’re the same person with your parter as you are with a stranger. Sure, you show different qualities and behave in different ways. But you are still You.

Music is that one person. Music is Pop at the cafe ordering a coffee. It’s Soul in those post-sex hours. It’s Gregorian Chant journalling. It’s a street song from Rio with your best friend. There can be differences in those moments, but they are still one and the same thing; Music.

What I found so powerful about Raye’s latest release is that she reveals Music as A Complete Person. She’s the kind of person you want to hang out with, right?! She’s gives us the kaleidoscope Herself, not just a vacuum sealed slice, acknowledging the ways she has grown, the life lessons and experiences that have led her to the version of herself we meet now.

While there might be some direct quotes in this album (hello Vivaldi’s Winter), this album celebrates musical lineages.

First track, ‘Intro: Girl Under The Grey Cloud’ I was like OH THAT IS BRAHMS! It’s his harmonies probably best heard in the opening chords of his Symphony Number 3: Movement III; one of the most heartbreaking openings ever written. It’s not a direct reference, but we have this track because of what Brahms did. And before him, Beethoven. And before him, Bach. It’s a musical photo album of Grandpa, Great Grandpa and Great Great Grandpa.

‘Beware.. The South London Lover Boy’ is jazzy yes, but that big band instrumentation is an evolution of military music culture; marching bands with snare drums to help soldiers keep in time. The Napoleonic Wars saw the development of the wind band (woodwind and brass) and this combo of instruments began to be used beyond military contexts before we started to associate the Big Band with jazz.

‘Click Clack Symphony’ was to me an INSTANT Pussycat Dolls / A.R. Rahman / Nicole Scherzinger’s Jai Ho! reference. Those great semi-tone ascending vocal lines. What a technique! She combines this with Hans Zimmer’s signature forward churn, a technique that features in pretty much any new Netflix drama opening credits these days.

Raye serves us monologues in the middle of tracks. This approach began in 16th-17th century opera with composers writing recitatives, such as Monteverdi, gave their main characters space to express their inner thoughts, often over a bed of music. Gilbert and Sullivan were later to revive this for a 20th century stage, and we move from Monteverdi to Pirates of Penzance to Raye.

It’s a walking bass blues structure in ‘I Hate The Way I Look Today’ paired with that male barbershop quartet sound that takes us to speakeasies. That sound morphs and all of a sudden we’re in a radio studio in the 1920s… y’know the sound, that kinda sickly sweet melody that’s irritatingly happy. Performers gathered around a single drop down mic, pushing the latest brand of cigarettes. I think of this scene from Annie (1982)!

For ‘Joy (feat. Amma & Absolutely)’ we can look to Black Gospel music. Music that is centred on praise and faith. And then, BAM out of nowhere a VIENNESE WALTZE, GUYS! My head is spinning, I LOVE THIS. In ‘Fin.’ Raye thanks literally EVERY contributor on this album by name, and it’s all on top of a huge orchestral waltz. This is a direct line to the Strauss family. It’s that unmistakable lush ballroom sound that took shape in the 1780s in Europe and evolved to take Europe by storm. But this 3/4 style is actually rooted in Bohemian and Moravian Ländler music traditions that included yodelling practice.

There are so many layers on this album. We haven’t talked structure, or Raye herself and her vocal technique or touched at all on the actual production of this record. We will keep unpacking this as we listen.

There is just one more point I want to make. My pet peeve is that ‘classical music’ is often othered in the broad music industry. It’s become the vacuum-sealed slice that collectively we are always SO SURPRISED to experience outside the concert hall. I remember reading that one commentator said ‘Rosalia’s Berghain is the best thing that’s happened to classical music’ and I almost cried reading that. It pisses me off that classical music is so ‘othered’ that the broader music world only recognises it when a famous vocalist sings with traditional Flamenco and operatic techniques and uses an orchestra rather than a laptop.

The thing is, classical music is always there because it’s part of Music The Complete Person. Bach is in 2020s pop just as 1920s jazz is in Hans Zimmer. We wouldn't have these chord progressions without first developing sacred polyphony, like composers such as Léonin did, a man who wrote music to sound within Notre Dame. And without Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Edith Piaf - artists who revolutionised the way women sang of grief and heartbreak - we wouldn’t be crying our eyes out to Nightingale Lane. These artists are with us all the way through this album.

Artists like Raye and Rosalia remind us that Music as a Complete Person is the most rewarding way we can be with music. She - Music - is kaleidoscopic. She’s evolutionary. She’s you aged 3. She’s you at 27. She’ll be you at 99. A collection of everything that has been and a promise of what will be.

Now, I have the last 30 mins of Dirty Harry to finish, and vacuuming to do, but I am here if you would like to write to me.

m.

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I’m a Sagittarius Sun and Rising. And my Moon is in Leo. A scattering of other signs in there too, but I mostly skew ‘I love attention’ signs. I read about what’s in my stars regularly (shout out to The Cut) and know what it means to be a Sag. I also know that full moons can fuck you up and that when mercury is in retrograde you can just blame everything on that and every woman in your life is like ‘yeh babe that’s right, it’s mercury retrograde’. But that’s about the extent of my star sign knowledge. If you’re like me, you have your people you talk astrology with. And you have people you definitely don’t talk astrology with. My friend recently said to me ‘I find it interesting that you’re smart AND you’re into horoscopes…’. Typical Capricorn.

You know who else was into astrology? Gustav Holst.

I thought I would take you through one of my all time favourite classical music works. It’s a piece called The Planets, and it was inspired not by astronomy… but by astrology.

Gustav Holst was an English trombonist and everyone talks about him being a kind, humble and deeply introspective man. You might picture him from the outside as quite boring. But oh man, he wasn’t. He had a deep inner world, full of musical ideas and a thirst for experimentation. A man who was deeply committed to his music, and with a very interesting breadth of hobbies and interests. Here he is:

Gustav was a music teacher who taught at an all-girls school. At this time in England (just pre-WW1) women weren’t often taken seriously when it came to their hopes of being musicians or composers. But Mr Holst was like no, and dedicated his early career to teaching girls just as the world taught boys, seeing them skilled humans destined for greatness.

So good-ol’ Mr Holst taught music in the day, and at night found time for composing. You might think of him sitting at his desk or piano with pencil and manuscript paper meticulously writing notes on the stave, little cuppa resting on the stool beside him. That would be pretty accurate yes, but ‘composing’ for Holst, was much more than that. He was a man who went down serious rabbit holes of discovery, searching for ideas and inspiration. He was madly into mysticism and ancient texts and read DEEPLY of philosophies that were probably considered really whack at the time! For example, he taught himself Sanskrit (to a fully fluent level!) so he could read and translate these ancient texts himself to use in his music. I mean… MR HOLST, you interesting thing! What a Pandora’s Box of a person you were!

Anyway, so Gustav had written a lot of music by the time he started looking to the stars. None of which had been immensely successful. He didn’t like the limelight much, so he was okay with just chugging along with his writing, exploring otherworldly concepts in his dressing gown. A pragmatic dreamer I guess you could say.

It was 1913 one of Gustav’s friends introduced him to astrology and he fell hard into his new obsession. He poured all of his spare time into discovering everything astrology had to offer. Apparently he even crafted little horoscope predictions for his close friends. He wrote “As a rule I only study things that suggest music to me. […] Recently the character of each planet suggested lots to me and I have been studying astrology fairly closely”. What an understatement. He was obsessed.

In 1914 he started composing a suite of music that he described as “a series of mood pictures”. He shaped the movements around the astrological character of each planet and how the planets are said to influence human psychology. And he got super explorative with these movements, crafting colours with the orchestra that were so new! Not many composers at this point had been able to produce colour like Holst did with this music. Seven movements; Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (soz Leo or a Cancer! Leo, your ruling planet is the Sun, and Cancer your ruling planet is the Moon and neither appear in this suite. And Pluto didn’t exist at the time, which worked out in the long run hey).

He called the suite The Planets. For a man who was into the mystical and unexplained this title has always made me laugh. It is what it says on the tin.

And oh man. It was a HUGE hit. This work really catapulted Holst to composer stardom. But he continued to keep very quiet about the inspiration behind The Planets. I don’t blame him really.

So, shall we listen together?! You will need to put aside about 50 minutes to listen to it all, or just listen your corresponding ruling planet.

If you’ve never heard The Planets before, I’m so excited for you! I wish I could listen to this music again for the first time! Let’s make a cuppa and curl up on the couch together blasting this otherworldly bliss into the deepest parts of our souls. And if you’ve heard them before, maybe this revisit will reveal something new to your beautiful ears.

If you would like to subscribe to our little listening club I would be so honoured. When I started I said I would give it 6-months to write and craft playlists when I had the time. Your subscription would make it possible to keep writing and keep creating.

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Here is your playlist! It includes The Planets plus a few extra Holst tracks for you to explore, including a very beautiful Ave Maria xo

The Planets: A Star Sign Listening Guide

MARS, The Bringer of War
Characteristics: Aggression, leadership and conflict
Ruling planet of: ARIES AND SCORPIO

Scored in 5/4, driving rhythms, big-ass brass, dark, foreboding, freeing and directive. The horn interjections have a way saying ‘trust me’, but the trumpets say ‘there is danger ahead’. There is no doubt that Holst here is channelling authority and confidence. And not skirting around the horror that aggression can lead to. Listen for the clicky sound at the beginning of Mars, this is the string players of the orchestra playing on the wood of their bows rather than with the hair! It’s a kind of bouncing tapping technique that is called Col Legno (with wood). There is something old-school army about Mars I think, with the repetitive marching patterns and snare. It’s a bit stubborn, no? John Williams definitely sought inspiration from Mars for Star Wars!

Scorpio and Aries, use this as your anthem, but be careful; too much sheer determination and aggression will lead you into danger.

VENUS, The Bringer of Peace
Characteristics: Harmony, love and calm
Ruling planet of: TAURUS AND LIBRA

Talk about Holst playing around with colour! This is such a beautiful combination of glockenspiel, flute and celesta. He is a painter of sound. Venus delivers tranquility and space. It’s not rushed in any way. Angelic, even. Solo violin and cello against harp and gentle low brass is just a shmooshy gorgeous space to be in. 1950s Hollywood is absolutely paying attention! This music is like chiffon in the moonlight. Holst declaring himself to the world. Don’t underestimate this trombone-playing music teacher. There is more to him than meets the eye.

I also think that Holst is telling us here not to mess with Venus. She’s delicate and calm, but she is simultaneously strong and directive. Holst demands you stay attentive to her. Taurus and Libra, this is your beauty reflected back at you. You demand to be seen because you know your worth lies beyond your beauty.

MERCURY, The Winged Messenger
Characteristics: Communication, playfulness and quick-mindedness
Ruling planet of: GEMINI AND VIRGO

This is a very playful trio form, where Holst orchestrates as though he’s watching birds flit through the trees or Puck in the forest (hi you Shakespeare nerds). Mercury is the ruling planet of communication, intellect and adaptability. These little flitty, flirty messengers are really delivering between winds and strings! They have important messages for you. Ones that will unlock doors for big and curious ideas. Holst knows how to manage a conversation, and you can hear that conversation unfold in the orchestra so spectacularly! But don’t take your eyes or ears of this number, there are sharp turns everywhere. Oh god how I would love to watch the conductor conduct this movement. Imagine how they would move on the podium, in a state of deep concentration but always, always playful.

Geminis and Virgos keep the world on their toes don’t they! Holst is like, I see you (he himself a Virgo!). He knew how deeply you like to be organised and sorted and yet completely out of the box and cheeky at the same time. Go play.

JUPITER, The Bringer of Jollity
Characteristics: Joy, optimism and heart
Ruling planet of: SAGITTARIUS (and Pisces)

You have truly arrived in life when you’re around a Sagittarius! C’mon. When a Saggie enters a room, you really know it. They are like sunshine in human form.

Holst making sure this planet was the most extroverted his orchestra could be! Big sweeping melodies that are warm and entertaining. It’s optimistic and plentiful. It fills your cup. Right in the middle of this movement the beautiful sweeping melody is introduced. This melody later became a Hymn called I Vow To Thee My Country (which is why you might also find it very familiar), set to words by Sir Cecil Spring Rice. But before Gustav sculpted it into a Hymn, it was called Thaxted, a title that referred to the Essex town of Thaxted where he lived during and following the war. It’s a melody that’s very English and very patriotic. But this is England during the war years when entire cultural worlds were caving in and humans were being sent into battle by the millions. I think what Gustav was crafting here was an antidote to the horrors of war; an anthem of optimism, combining Jupiter as a the bringer of jollity in an astrological sense, but also asking the question, what can humankind could learn from Jupiter in a time of war.

It’s majestic isn’t it. I’m obsessed with Jupiter.

SATURN, The Bringer of Old Age - Gustav’s personal favourite!
Characteristics: Time, fate and wisdom
Ruling planet of: CAPRICORN (and Aquarius)

Holst is not happy chappy here anymore. He has moved from the youthfulness of Jupiter to the sage of Saturn. Saturn is about a life hard lived, but well lived. A life that has spurned wisdom and cautiousness. The basses swirl away this whole movement, creating unease. It’s tense and unnerving, but somehow it’s trustworthy. I sometimes think of Treebeard making his choice to destroy Saruman. It was a wise choice ultimately, but one that had to be thoroughly dissected. Saturn is the movement Gustav himself loved the most; the movement he related to, even though he was a Virgo. I’m sure he knew how Saturn/Capricorn/Aquarius appeared in his star chart.

There is something about this movement I can never put my finger on. The genius of it escapes me. And I think that is why it is genius! Because I am young in comparison to the sage Saturn. I’m not wise yet nor cautious. So this movement moves against my soul in a way that can be uncomfortable. How does it meet your ears?

To me, Capricorns will always tell a staunch truth. They are steady and brave and wise and completely dedicated and committed. They work too hard but the rewards of their work ethic are abundant. The sage of a Capricorn distilled into advice can be hard to hear, but the worth of their wisdom is something that defies expectation. Listen. Be uncomfortable. Grow old with life.

URANUS, The Magician
Characteristics: Cheekiness, eccentricity and surprise
Ruling planet of: AQUARIUS

This movement is truly like being at a circus! Big timpani, fluttery flutes and the bassoons going OFF! It’s really whack. Holst when berserk with this movement, giving Uranus its own chaotic and magic energy. Big step-wise interval leaps make this feel like you’re taking the stairs two at a time, but instead of a normal staircase it’s a windy staircase in a haunted house, with things jumping out at you everywhere. Holst plays really nicely here with rhythms, lulling you into a sense of safety before he, BAM!!!, dongs you on the head with a giant plastic hammer. It’s macabre and fun. Then, just when you think you’re safe, he takes you into a snake pit.

Aquarius, you gorgeous little weirdo! This one is uniquely you.

NEPTUNE, The Mystic
Characteristics: The infinite, spiritualism and the Unknown
Ruling planet of: PISCES

Oh dear God, Neptune is my favourite. I feel like I am defying gravity when I listen to it. Like I’m no longer on Earth; like I’m Charlie floating to the ceiling of the Chocolate Factory after drinking Fizzy Lifting Drink. This is the most ethereal of The Planets. It’s earth-shatteringly beautiful and completely mysterious.

You’ll hear the sound of the celesta, mixed with strumming of the harp, long flute chords layered over a very very very subtle bed of brass. The beat is blurred. There’s tremolo in the strings (which is this technique string players use where the play tiny tiny tiny little strokes very fast so it sounds shimmery). You are floating, unable to touch anything. You are at the complete behest of the space around you.

So we have had an intense 45 minutes or so of music, and then…. the sound of singing. No words, just a hovering note…. Seemingly out of nowhere. WHERE IS IT COMING FROM?! I love this. It blew my little mind when I first saw it live. An all-women choir who are instructed to sing OFFSTAGE!! So what you get is this amazing humming in the distance…. Like looking back on Earth and witnessing mankind from space. The choir is the last thing you hear of the whole suite, fading fading fading into nothing… but a question unanswered. There’s no resolution. THERE’S NO RESOLUTION!! It’s bloody genius. It’s magic in music.

That’s what Holst did with Neptune, he made magic.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. I’m always keen to hear about what you’d like me to write about next and would love to hear from you. x

Here is the perfect little lullaby to listen to while you. This is called Lerato by Abel Selaocoe. It means, love. Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube.

It’s winter in Australia and my little house is in Melbourne, which is very blustery and cold right now. The trees are bare and exposed and the wind whips through the wide grey streets. Melbourne has a beautiful bleakness in winter that’s unexpected and moody. Every year I find myself wanting to move north, away from the cold. I know the answer really lies in getting myself a wood fire to curl up in front of. “One day”, I say.

Inside though, it's nice and cosy, and this space is filled with music that will warm your cockles. So here we are, tucked up on the couch, ready for music to fall on our ears.

I napped successfully for the first time yesterday, but it took a ages for me to get to sleep. As I lay there studying the folds of my doona, I thought about how nice it feels when someone sings you to sleep; sings you a lullaby.

When you imagine someone singing you a lullaby, what kind of singing do you imagine? For me, it’s soft, imperfect, broken. They are humming, whispering sometimes and it’s always serene and maternal. Sometimes they miss a note and they get the words wrong. But it doesn’t matter. You’re cocooned in the texture of their voice, soothed and safe. Before long, you’re drifting off into a beautiful dream state.

It’s so well researched how lullabies help increase the bond between parent/carer and baby; how the association of music and sleep does wonders for kids as they say goodbye to the day, and how familiar voice patterns foster a sense of security and safety in children and babies. We know that. We’ve known it for as long as we have been on this Earth. And now we have the research to back this cross-cultural tradition. And as one of my friends so eloquently said, “you do whatever it fucking takes to put the baby to sleep”.

But why do we stop singing to children when they grow up? I find it so romantic when someone sings to me. Except one time when I was 15 and a boy (he shall remain unnamed) sang James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful at me after I broke up with him. He was crying. I got the ick. There was no going back and it was NOT OKAY.

But how beautiful is it when someone gently sings you to sleep? Why should that just be for babies and kids? I would love to know that someone in your life sings to you in their imperfect way; a person who can create a space for you that is safe and wrap you up with their whispers.

I’ve made you a playlist of some of my favourite lullabies. I’m sure you’ll know some of them, but maybe there’s new tunes in here too. And because lullabies are so intimate, I’ve broken the playlist up with some wordless melodies for your sleepy ears.

From this list I especially love Hushabye Mountain. It’s a beautiful lullaby from Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang and was written by the Shermann Brothers (RIP) in 1968. Disney really know how to write a lullaby scene, don’t they.

And you’ll find music here from 1878 by the last Queen of Hawaii, Queen Lili’Uokalani who wrote Aloha 'Oe. This is a song about two lovers who have said goodbye to each other on a beach. One of the lovers, while walking back to Honolulu, hums a melody that captures the beauty and finality of their farewell. There is a contentment to this melody that makes it a perfect little lullaby.

There’s Elvis for you too (because who wouldn’t want Elvis to lull you to sleep!), and the magical and slightly unbelievable voice of Greta Bradman with the OG Brahms Lullaby. Jacob Collier I think has a very special knack for writing music that is grounded and tranquil, and that is because he is excellent at crafting space between notes. So there's some Jacob for you. Chet Baker gets very close to the microphone here, like his voice lives within your head. And I hope Kothbiro, sung by Kenyan vocalist Ayub Ogada, will become music that speaks to your soul.

The world needs our lullabies right now.

She needs our imperfect and impactful melodies.

I hope someone is singing you to sleep now and then.

x

Playlist: Lullaby Me

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Here’s something to listen to while you read: Liza Minnelli, My Little Corner of the World [Spotify, AppleMusic, YouTube]. It’s such a beautiful version; welcoming, warm, enticing, and a little seductive.

I’m so happy you’re here!

I have a whole brain full of music and stories that I can’t wait to share with you, and I’m bursting with excitement to know about you and the music you love.

So, here we are, right at the very beginning.

I hope you imagine this substack as our home; me, greeting you at the door with an excited little bounce and a big toothy grin. It’s a home that smells like coffee and biscuits that are baking in the oven. It’s cosy, edgy, lived in and a little kooky too, with bits of old and new art on the walls, soft cork underneath your feet and mismatched couches waiting for you to snuggle into.

And there’s music.

Here, any kind of music goes. We can talk about all of it, the artists you’re obsessed with and the sounds you love, but there’s a neat little stack of music that’s brand new to your ears that I can’t wait to play you. Every week brings new flavours and new stories. I can’t promise you’ll always love the music I bring you, but you’ll always be comfy on the couches next to the big speakers.

I don’t know how this substack will evolve, but this is what I hope it can be:

• The coolest little music club

• Content inspired by you; the stories you want to hear, the music you want to explore, the directions you want to take.

• And frankly, I want this to be a sexy and hot way to explore music! I’m not gonna shy away from that ;)

What I promise this substack won’t be:

• annoying, dull, lifeless clutter for your inbox

• filled with chronological biographies that go forever. Urgh, no thanks.

• AI generated or inauthentic. Every word will be me and I’ll always mean what I say.

Each week I will send you new tracks, a themed playlist, a deeper dive into an artist/era/instrument/album, and some general music-y reflections. There’ll be plenty of stories about my life scattered throughout, musings on my 9-5 as a classical radio host, and most definitely the more sordid and scrumptious stories that the radio can’t handle ;)

Write to me. I’d love to know what sounds you adore, the burning questions you have, or just to get to know you that little bit more.

x Megan

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