The Observer is a student-run, daily print & online newspaper serving Notre Dame, Saint Mary's & Holy Cross. Learn about us.
-Ayden Kowalski | Monday, September 5, 2022
This past summer, I embarked on the adventure of creating an album. While artistic work is typically idealized as the realization of an unadulterated vision, I found the creative process to be a balancing act between the impulses of the audience and the various inclinations within the artist. If art imitates life, then the creative process is
Ayden Kowalski | Friday, August 26, 2022
The world of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” is, curiously, often painted with dimmed colors. Yes, when the King of Rock inevitably enters Vegas, there is the expected bombast, but most of this world is gray, such as Elvis’ large concert completing the first two stages of his career, where the show appears smokey and the lights
Ayden Kowalski | Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Singer-songwriter Banks’ work is best when it immerses the listener in her beautiful and aching worlds. Her 2016 album, “The Altar,” set the artist’s magical singing over moody, skeletal soundscapes. Single “F*uck with Myself,” a particularly airy piece from the same album, is both pained and playful, showcasing her standout, ethereal vocals. Her music also
Ayden Kowalski | Tuesday, April 5, 2022
“An epic battle where evil and the will to evolve is what I’m involved in,” our narrator declares over chugging drums and a dirty bass while sublime, liquid keys drip through the right side of the stereo. This moment exemplifies the experience of Denzel Curry’s new album “Melt My Eyez See Your Future,” a confident
Ayden Kowalski | Tuesday, February 22, 2022
The twin theses of “Cyrano” are professed in the opening number, a ballad performed in shadows: our heroine alone and accompanying herself on the piano as admirers emerge from the woodworks of the set. “All they know is what they see,” she laments, a promise of her deconstruction from the town heroine to a human