Agent Palmer

Tim Minchin is many things. In 2013, the University of Western Australia gave Minchin an honorary Doctor of Letters degree for his contribution to the arts recognizing his achievements as a “composer, lyricist, actor, writer, and comedian.”

That’s a lot of things, but all of that is important, so you understand that Minchin’s first serious musical album, 2020’s Apart Together, is brilliant. It’s critical to first understand that it’s not only a long time in coming: it’s unique, bibliographic, and poetic.

So, as you may or may not be aware, I created a “Promise” playlist back in November. In my research to create that playlist and the affiliated post, I encountered enough “Promises” songs to do a follow up.

The songs below are selected from the playlist, but they are not the entire playlist. The same rules apply to the Promises playlist that applied to Promise, only I’m throwing out the singular. This is only songs titled “Promises.” No “My Promises” or “Our Promises.”

In October 2023, the iconic Sydney Opera House had a birthday festival to celebrate the 50 years since it opened its doors to the world.

The Sydney Opera House website, under “Our Story,” explains why this building should be a little more celebrated than most in their short three paragraph history, which is honestly one of the more accurate and succinct art building histories I have ever read.

Promise. It’s quite a word. It can be a declaration that one will or won’t do something. It can be legally binding. It can be a reason to expect something or an expectation of success. It can also be a pledge.

It’s a versatile word, and because of that I decided to see what a variety of artists could make of a promise by creating a playlist.

Odds released Crash the Time Machine this year. And it was my first new-new music from Odds ever, as I’ve only known about the band for a few years thanks to Our Liner Notes host Chris Maier. Up to this point, it’s only been new-to-me music.

The internet describes Odds as “a Canadian power pop alternative rock band based in Vancouver, British Columbia,” and who am I to argue with that?