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Tag: Singer Song Writer

  • I Was Shot Through The Heart by The Male Pattern

    I Was Shot Through The Heart by The Male Pattern

    Artist: The Male Pattern

    Album: I Was Shot Through The Heart

    Release: September 25, 2026; Audio Antihero

    Queens, New York based singer-songwriter, William Schwartz of The Male Pattern serves up a slice of modern day Americana. On paper, this release is everything I look for in an album. It’s satirical, story driven, often times humorous, AND it shines the light on a pattern of behavior often exhibited by some of the most toxic types of men. 

    The opening song “The Television Watcher” introduces the main character of this story, which I will from this point refer to as the ‘hero”— he certainly sees himself as a hero. A man fully content to live his life through the proxy of television. There is really no need for the “hero” to fix his life. He gets all the benefits of a well lived life vicariously through all his favorite television shows; the ups and the downs. Sometimes, rather than being brave enough to stand in the life you’ve made for yourself, it is easier to withdraw. This is a great set up for the type of guy the ‘hero” is– a coward. 

    “I’m a Soldier” has to be the most amusing song on the album. It further establishes the “hero” as a recently divorced dad. He often claims that he could have been a veteran through the song. It reminds me of a specific type of dude bro that likes to talk about how he would have joined the military if it weren’t for this or that flat excuse. He also compares arguing with people online to the Vietnam War. Bargain-box commandos in ill-fitting body armor springs to mind. Absolutely the best way to further distill the type of guy the ‘hero” is. The song ends with a list of menu items which is hilarious especially when given added context from the following track “Voicemail to Corporate”  

    Schwartz really goes out of his way to illustrate to listeners that the problems the “hero”, is having and will have are of his own creation. Let me assure you, the “hero’s” problems are numerous and compound exponentially as he continues through a downward spiral over the course of the album. That spiral eventually culminates in a shoot out with cops. Even as the “hero’s” life flashes before his eyes it becomes explicitly clear that he has learned nothing, excepts no responsibility, and is still very much a d-bag. 

    All in all I found the album to be an exceptional piece of storytelling. I, honestly, would expect nothing less from a seasoned English professor like Schwartz. Where the album falls off for me is in the music itself. It is slow and melodic but lacks any hooks that really grab me. That being said I think the album is worth a look. The story is fantastic and hell, I’m willing to admit that the music might be right up someone else’s alley.

  • If I Let It Quiet by Josaleigh Pollett

    If I Let It Quiet by Josaleigh Pollett

    Artist: Josaleigh Pollett

    Album: If I Let It Quiet

    Release: July 24, 2026; Audio Antihero

    Long distance partnership sounds like an impractical way to write and produce an album but Josaleigh Pollett and Jordan Watko have gotten it down to a science. Split between Salt Lake City, Utah and Osaka, Japan, If I Let It Quiet somehow provides a flowing exploration of gender, multiversal probability, and sleepless nights spent overthinking all wrapped in a cocoon of dreamy nostalgia despite the distance. Really, it’s what every fan of indie pop could ever wish for. I know, because I felt like this album was pulled straight from my frequent teenage bouts of daydreaming out of a rainy window, maladaptive style. 

    It helps, of course, that this is album number four for Josaleigh Pollett, but the evidence of doubt about the unconventional development of the album is there, particularly in the song “Second Guesser”. It’s a song for all the ruminators out there who have lost the person who could pull them out of their anxiety loops. Which, oddly, isn’t as devastating as it sounds. Like I said, the dreamy nostalgia of the music sort of lulls you into a taciturn existence of sorts. 

    The song that really stood out to me upon first listen was ‘Escape Routes’. Part of it was yet again the overthinker’s paradise of it all, but it had a sort of… optimistic element to it? To me, at least, but it is, of course, just a matter of perspective. There’s a sort of exhilaration when it comes to reckless leaping without a safety net. As the song says, “when you take out your escape routes, you must fight,” as if that isn’t the ultimate show of faith in your own abilities to get what you want. 

    In all, there’s a sort of frenetic energy about the album that leaves one jumping from one change to the next, one possibility to another, and the love and hope mainlined through it all. Which, I think, is the real appeal to this album. The hope for more and better. The hope of unburdened expression (gender or creative). Developing love for yourself and your creativity. Hell, even the acceptance and love of an unknowable universe. 

    Maybe that’s just me being a sucker. However, it’s been a while since an album that was so genuinely melancholic at its core invoked such a creative spark in me. What’s the point of all this overthinking and anxiety spirals if nothing changes, right? 

    Without bearing my soul too much here, I think at least one song from If I Let It Quiet would make it onto the playlist if my head was projected onto a movie screen. As for the song, I’ll keep that to myself. I’ve got to retain some element of mystery here.