Hero/Island - Alice Merton Single Review

Album: Hero/Island

Artist: Alice Merton

Genre: #indie #alternative

Sub-Genres: #indiepop #alternativepop

Label: Paper Planes Records International

Non-Airable Tracks: All tracks are airable

Description: Hero/Island is the new single from Alice Merton that was released on September 10th, 2021. The single consists of two songs, "Hero" and "Island". Let's start by looking at "Hero". The lyrics reflect a feeling of frustration with another person, perhaps a significant other. The use of the phrase "I wish" show feelings of wanting something different than the current reality. The song is enhanced with synthesizers in the background and the use of a vocoder amplify's the sound that is so clear on this track. The song is up tempo and the lyrics in the first verse are sung in a choppy manner while the chorus is much smoother which creates a nice contrast to listen to. The chorus is my personal favorite part of the song because I think the lyrics match the instrumentals perfectly. The pace and chorus of this song kind of reminds me of "Carried Away" by Passion Pit. Moving onto "Island", the lyrics of this track show apologetic feelings and suggest that a relationship with a significant other is being held together by a thread. This song is also up tempo and has the sound of synthesizers adding to the instrumentals. The chorus uses non-lexical vocals which I am a huge fan of in the right context and they are used perfectly here. This specific aspect of the song reminds me of a My Morning Jacket song with the non-lexical elements. I highly recommend listening to this single especially in the car where you can blast the volume.

Sounds Like:

1. Florence + The Machine

2. St. Vincent

3. Bachelor

4. Girl in Red

Recommended Tracks:

1. ​Hero

2. Island

Reviewer’s Name: Ellis Laveen

Date of Review: 10/15/21