{"id":56476,"date":"2017-03-14T12:52:24","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T17:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=56476"},"modified":"2017-03-14T12:52:24","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T17:52:24","slug":"maggie-rogers-now-that-the-light-is-fading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2017\/03\/14\/maggie-rogers-now-that-the-light-is-fading\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie Rogers: Now That the Light is Fading"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There\u2019s a chance that your mother may know, or at least know of, the song \u201cAlaska,\u201d by Maggie Rogers, even if she doesn\u2019t know it. It was heard first by Pharrell Williams in a New York University masterclass, then by millions, driven by video of Pharrell\u2019s reaction to the song first on Reddit, then Facebook and Twitter. In the moment, Rogers looked terrified and tense, looking mostly at the ground, occasionally around the room, and once mustering the courage to look at Pharrell himself, who let out a smile.<\/p>\n

Pharrell was was impressed \u2014 shocked, even. Of \u201cAlaska,\u201d Rogers\u2019 first song that hit iTunes after she signed to a record label, \u201cI have zero notes for that \u2026 It\u2019s because you\u2019re doing your own thing. It\u2019s singular\u2026 and that is such a special quality.\u201d Now, the song, with some minor adjustments, is the second track and the staple of Rogers\u2019 first commercial release, Now That The Light Is Fading<\/em>. The light, bouncy track that layers natural and man-made sounds is worth the reaction from Pharrell and the rest of the collective internet. The harmonies and the mish-mosh of natural and produced sounds stay through the entire EP, but not much else stays the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cColor Song\u201d is a meticulous build up to the album, as Rogers harmonizes above natural sounds, most notably crickets chirping. It\u2019s the least intriguing of the five songs on the EP, and isn\u2019t a great indicator for Rogers\u2019 next few tracks, where the pace is picked up dramatically as the beat is pop-driven.<\/p>\n

The next three tracks, which were all released as singles in the build-up of her first ever commercial release, are a fantastic showing of why Rogers doesn\u2019t have a direct comparison \u2014 why Pharrell was so shocked when he first heard \u201cAlaska.\u201d But after the well-written \u201cAlaska,\u201d Rogers\u2019 writing falls off a bit, as if she has waded further into pop and away from her initial roots in folk. On \u201cOn + Off,\u201d she all but loses the natural, folk-sounding Rogers that starts the EP, with a hypnotic electronic pop riff. There are still beautiful melodies through the track, but it\u2019s a complete distancing of the natural, truly-alternative sound that impressed Pharrell in that NYU classroom.<\/p>\n

This is the budding greatness but also the crux of Maggie Rogers \u2014 being able to do so many interesting things in her music, but not finding herself in one thing. It\u2019s what makes it so hard to find a comparison for her, because so few before have combined the genres of pop, folk and dance like she has. Still, at 22 years old and a recent NYU graduate, she\u2019s developed drastically from her days of singing acoustically on a staircase, guitar in hand, and her talent is only budding. While she has a long way to go in pinning down exactly who she is as an artist, she\u2019s already proven that there are so many things she can be.
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: Sylvan Esso, Lorde, Feist
\nRecommended Tracks: 2 (Alaska), 3 (On + Off), 4 (Dog Years)
\nDo Not Play: 1 (Color Song)
\nWritten by Christian Hardy on 03\/06\/2017 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maggie Rogers’ fame started from an NYU class, now, months later, her first five-song project is a fantastic show of her range of talents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18125,"featured_media":56477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3235,3230,181],"tags":[6436,18,2535],"class_list":["post-56476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-new-music-rotation","category-rock-rotation","tag-maggie-rogers","tag-music","tag-new"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/rsz_1maggie.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}