Aurorum and The Phi Dept., both artists that have premiered this year or late last, arrive once again with a single together named “Pirate Movies.” If you’ve read my previous reviews on the artists, I thought they both had strong debuts, but “Pirate Movies” might just be the best song released so far.
It should be of little surprise that I value lyricism particularly highly as a reviewer, most of my experience coming from an emo and indie genre and then being an English major certainly plays a role as well. “Pirate Movies” overcomes my main criticism for Aurorum’s previous songs, where the vocals were a little muted, to bring it forward and tell a story here. I can appreciate the themes and images that are conjured to my mind with mentions of stickers on MacBooks and Superbad. In a lot of ways, I feel that for the main audience of WVUA FM, college students, this song will have you reflecting on your time at UA and I bet there’s a special person that the vibe of this song will make you think of.
The production here works well. I appreciate the subtle detail of television static at the very beginning, and though the rhythm itself is relatively simple and repetitive, I think it really works here. The vocals shine through and are calming. A key problem in a lot of heavily produced works is overproduction, the same way that there are over vocalized songs as well. I think here Aurorum and The Phi Dept. really work together and made a strong, almost lo-fi song. I am excited to see a greater range of what these artists put out and I am fond of this direction. Go give it a listen.
Photo Credits from: Aurorum/Birds Can Fly
