It’s only fitting that the last issue of Off Your Radar, the newsletter started by Doug Nunnally that I contributed to for a few years, focused on local favorites. Fitting, because there is no bigger booster or believer in their local scene than Doug, whose chronicling of the Richmond, VA music universe - whether through his publication, The Auricular, or the Newlin Music Prize, which he administers - will lay a path to its glories for generations.
So when he sends me something, I listen carefully. While not everything hits, when it does, I feel an urgency to elevate his work and try to expand the audience for what he loves. Tyler Meacham was one of those who didn’t hit at first. When Joel Worford included her debut EP in that last issue of Off Your Radar, I checked it out but quickly determined it wasn’t for me. If I’m being honest, to me it sounded like a talented artist wearing someone else’s clothes.
But I never give up and neither does Doug so I pressed play yet again when he sent me Meacham’s latest single, dream house - and sat open-mouthed as a perfect song unspooled before my ears. With the simplicity and solidity of a hymn (or an Iron & Wine classic) Meacham attempts to parse grief through the lens of real estate and succeeds in making universal her experience of living through what my mom called “the full catastrophe.”
Doug penned a beautiful essay about the song in The Auricular, so I’ll just point you there rather than expel more words onto the internet. Key quote:
In her newest single, “dream house,” Meacham confronts multifaceted sorrow with striking poise, intertwining aspirational loss with devastating bereavement in a way that showcases the very perilous way we compartmentalize grief in our world. It’s a moving piece of music, beautifully layered to showcase the piercing sincerity that hangs on every verse with a familiar ache.
In her Tiny Desk contest entry video, Meacham even improves on the vocal phrasing, as if she gave the song to the world and it handed it back to her with more perspective. To get an idea of how honed Meacham’s craft has become, look no further than the opening words of dream house: simple, plainspoken, every word metrically weighted:
I think I found my dream house
But someone else got to it first
Kinda funny how that works
I look forward to hearing more from Meacham. If her next album is at this level, not only will she have a full wardrobe of her own clothes, but her dream house will contain many mansions.