June 29th, 2022 7:13pm
She Is Of Material Substance
Muna “Solid”
“Solid” has a very ‘80s shoulder pads energy to it, the sort of pop song you might expect to find buried on the second side of a Sheena Easton record. Muna really lean into the aesthetic but stick to a more contemporary type of studio gloss, enough so that a younger listener might not even realize there’s any throwback quality to it at all. The hooks are strong but the lyrics are what make this one – they start by announcing the object of their affection is a woman who refuses to be projected upon, but then spend the rest of the song idealizing her as a superhumanly capable person who’s “using her hands, she’s pulling the levers.” It’s funny but also just really sweet to have this song that’s just like “damn, my girl gets things DONE.”
Buy it from Bandcamp.
6/30/22 4:00 pm
It’s already surreal for me to hear this particular sound come back, but it’s extra surreal that, as you mention, young people probably won’t even get that it’s throwbacky. I guess both are a result of the fact that when people think of that time period, and when people are nostalgic about it, that isn’t usually the music they’re thinking and talking about.
I’m not quite to the point of being a Muna fan, but I definitely like this a lot better than much of the music they seem to be referencing.