Miley Cyrus and The Arcs - "Flowers" for The "Only One For Me"
The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach honors Richard Swift on The Arcs new album, while I can't get the new Miley song out of my friggin' head
Every year or so I receive a flashing-lights reminder that when I am able to sit back and let the magic of music set itself upon me, it will teach me all I need to know.
I’m not religious, but the saying “Let go and let God” speaks to me because I just replace God with Music and it all makes perfect sense.
I know you are dying to know how Miley Cyrus and blues/soul supergroup The Arcs go together (okay only 1 or 2 of you are probably that curious), but you’ll have to read on for a bit before it all becomes clear.
Call me a tease, a carrot-dangler or anything else you wish — prolonging the magic is my motto. Me and the band Cake that is.
In my previous post, I told the story of how I broke the middle finger on my right hand. If you missed it, you can catch up here.
A less painful conundrum in the piece was that I needed to find a song to accompany the telling of my digit’al drama — and I succeeded with flying colors when I discovered Richard Swift’s 2016 track, “Broken Finger Blues.”
In the week since then, I’ve spent many hours listening to nothing but Richard Swift music. I immersed myself in his gorgeous and idiosyncratic songwriting. Some of it silly, some of it sweet, some of it murky, all of it heartbreaking. Especially in light of his unexpected death at age 41 in 2018.
I mentioned many of Swift’s musical collaborations in that piece, but one band I unintentionally omitted was The Arcs.
The Arcs is/was an indie-soul super-group that formed in 2015 originally as a solo project for Black Keys’ guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach. He’d wanted to pursue something a bit more full-band than the spare duo sound of the Keys, something that captured his love for old-school soul and R&B. He gathered his friends — Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, and Richard Swift 1— to be his backing band, but the rehearsals ended up more inspired and collaborative than he expected. It became clear to Auerbach that this wasn’t meant to be a solo project but a full-fledged band. Where everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the songwriting and music.
(For a bit more history on the other band members of The Arcs, click the footnote above. Or jump to end of piece.)
The intention for this band was not a one-off vanity project but as an ongoing group meant to have some staying power. Their debut album, Yours, Dreamily, was released in 2015 to critical acclaim and, well, not much else. It didn’t sell or get much airplay, but those that did hear it, were privy to the fact that Dan Auerbach was a more-than-capable classic-soul frontman.
Then, before The Arcs could record a new album, bassist/keyboardist Swift passed away in 2018.
But the band had recorded far more than the thirteen songs that made the final cut of Yours, Dreamily, in addition to a few more tracks made in the intervening years during breaks from Black Keys’ touring.
Auerbach and Michels would spend the good part of 2022 sifting through these recordings, working to compile and produce a new Arcs album to honor their good friend’s passing.
The result is 2023’s Electrophonic Chronic.
Okay. Back to the magic.
A few of you lucky paid subscribers know that I’ve created a 10 song playlist of my favorite Richard Swift songs, based on my week-long immersion into his music. I shared this as both a Spotify and YouTube playlist as an exclusive for paid members.
Want to hear for yourself? Why not be a paid subscriber! Yes, a shameless plug, but one that is charming and oh so worth the 3.25/month! Click the button above and upgrade now!
I mention this here, because literally (and I do mean the proper definition of literally) an hour after I sent that playlist to the readers who really love me (okay I’m being really shameless now), an alert popped up on my computer announcing that a new album from The Arcs was now available to stream.
Mind you, I was aware of The Arcs, but I had no idea that Richard Swift was in the band. And I certainly didn’t know that the album was essentially a tribute to Swift.
Serendipity? Synchronicity? Or musical magic?
Eight days ago I had no idea who Richard Swift was. Now, his sonic ghost is following me wherever I go.
Electrophonic Chronic is so good. Far more soulful and groovy than the first Arcs album. It sounds more throwback, but does not feel like leftover tracks from the first session at all.
My favorite song on the album is the closing track, “Only One For Me.” It’s a haunting waltz that, if I interpret the lyrics correctly, is about a woman who’s lived a hard life (Valley girl, drama queen/Trophy wife at seventeen), but instead of being beaten down and giving up, she comes to realize that maybe, as the song’s title suggests, “I’m the only one for me.”
It’s a song that sticks the landing. And stays with you long after the last note has faded. If its the last we hear from The Arcs, I can think of no better tribute to both this great band and to the great talent and life of Richard Swift.
So, I was going to leave it at that and just honor The Arcs in this piece, but despite my Richard Swift immersion this week, the truth of the matter is that I did have an earworm.
And that earworm was the new Miley Cyrus hit single, “Flowers.”
I’m imagining half of the readers here rolling their eyes at this pick (“Didn’t you just write about Britney Spears? Now Miley Cyrus?”) and the other half making an air fist-bump (“Hell yeah!”).
First of all, if you know anything about me, you know there’s almost no music I won’t write about. There’s almost no music that I don’t like. A lot of current popular music doesn’t resonate with me, but I’ve liked most everything I’ve heard from Miley Cyrus. Not to the point that I’m gonna buy her albums and attend her concerts (not even the naked concert tour she did with Flaming Lips). But I think she’s got an expressive, husky voice and I admire her boldness and no-bullshit attitude. There’s no fitting her into any box.
Also, “Flowers,” her new single, is a perfectly crafted pop song. It hits all the right notes without seeming cookie-cutter or over-produced. It has hints of late ‘70s disco and ‘80s dance anthems. And it’s over in 3 minutes.
Sure, self-empowerment tunes like this are almost passé at this point, but good ones? Not as common as you might think. The chorus in particular is strong, both lyrically and musically.
I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don't understand
I can take myself dancing
And I can hold my own hand
Yeah, I can love me better than you can
One of my favorite songs of all time is Joe Jackson’s “Happy Loving Couples.” That’s essentially an empowerment song in the same vein as “Flowers.” Jackson sings: “'Til the time that I can do my dancing with a partner/Those happy couples ain't no friends of mine.”
I explore this song in great detail in a piece I wrote a few months ago that you can read here:
What I’m getting at is that when Miley sings “I can love me better than you can,” it’s essentially a variation on what the narrator in The Arcs’ “Only One For Me,” says.
I'll put my dreams up on a shelf
I'll have to learn to love myself
Baby, it looks like
I'm the only one for me
A stretch? Maybe. I dunno. I’m just an old pair of shoelaces trying to tie it all together. Hopefully they don’t come loose and I fall flat on my face.
At least not until my finger heals. One injury at a time.
What do you think of Miley Cyrus’ new song “Flowers”? Sure, it’s not on the level of “Only One For Me,” but it’s catchy and not over-produced. And have you listened to the new The Arcs album? What are you waiting for?
And on the theme of magic, do you have any stories of musical serendipity?
Leave your thoughts in the comments, all the cool kids are doing it!
Steve
I know some of you are big music nerds like me so I thought I’d include some history of the other musicians in The Arcs. Monster resumes. Here you go:
From Wikipedia:
Leon Marcus Michels is an American music producer, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records.[1] He is a founding member of soul and funk bands Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band, and Lee Fields & The Expressions, and has played with Charles Bradley as well as Wu-Tang Clan. A frequent collaborator of Dan Auerbach, Michels was a touring member of The Black Keys and co-founded The Arcs. As a producer, Michels has produced records for artists such as Lee Fields, Norah Jones, Chicano Batman, Nicole Wray, and Hanni El Khatib.
Those are some big names there. Not Beyonce big, but Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Lee Fields, and Charles Bradley? All three are/were giants of the Soul and Funk scenes. That’s not to mention legends Wu-Tang Clan who I imagine don’t let just anybody play in their band. And I had no idea he produced Hanni El Khatib’s excellent 2020 album Flight, which was one of my favorites of that year.
Nick Movshon (born 1982) is a bass guitarist, drummer and songwriter best known for his considerable contributions to the New York funk and soul revival. A frequent contributor to the recorded output of Brooklyn-based labels Daptone Records and Truth & Soul, he has spent the past two decades playing with Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and as a member of groups including Antibalas, Menahan Street Band, and El Michels Affair. He is also a founding member of The Arcs and has toured with The Black Keys.
A prolific session musician, he often works with producers Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse; "Valerie," "Back to Black"), Dan Auerbach (Lana Del Rey, Yola), and Leon Michels (Aloe Blacc; "I Need a Dollar"). He can be heard playing on tracks like Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven".[1]
Homer Steinweiss is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expressions, El Michels Affair, and Dan Auerbach's The Arcs, among many others. He leads the Brooklyn folk soul band Holy Hive with Paul Spring.[1] A popular session musician as part of The Dap-Kings and in his own right, he is perhaps best known for his work with Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, with whom he recorded the 2006 album Back to Black.[2]
I had Tidal on random tonight and a song starts playing, it caught my ear and by the end of the track I was like, who was that! It was the Arcs "Keep On Dreaming". The tone on the guitar solo is searing, yet warm to the ears. I had never heard of them and honestly thought it may be a new Alex Turner project. Anyway, I'm thinking, where have I heard of them before and then it hit me. That Earworms guy just wrote about them. So now that I've finished your story, I'm going to listen to the album all the way through. Thanks, Steve.
Thanks for the intro and background on the Arcs-new group to me. I love the backstories and the multitude of musical connections. And that song--the arrangement and the instrumentation create an interesting wistful-but-creepy sensation which I think is very cool. Re. Miley, she does have a good voice but the song didn't stick. But thanks for getting me to listen to something by her!