Musical rebirth

Sampling other artists' music in your own can be a way of honoring the original artist, a way of giving rebirth to forgotten tunes, and a way of adding your own brushstrokes to an existing landscape. Known for being one half of Angus & Julia Stone and his solo act Lady of the Sunshine, Australian indie folk singer Angus Stone now goes by Dope Lemon, and he has taken sampling other artists' music to the extreme. The instrumentals for his song "Home Soon," off of his 2017 EP Hounds Tooth, is actually just the song "Stories" by the 1970s Belgium-based Latin soul group The Chakachas. "Stories" is a whimsical track that is an amalgamation of different styles, incorporating African and Carribean percussion, jazz-focused flute and saxophone interludes, Latin basslines, and surf-rock guitar phrases.

Stone makes excellent use of the natural pauses in the music and interjects with his signature melancholy, droning vocals. The sparing additional of Stone's vague lyrics throughout the track give it a completely different feel from the original instrumental; the juxtaposition of the almost sad vocals against the otherwise cheerful music gives off the vibe of someone with a life that is going well on the surface, but that has some nagging, unshakable problems underneath. Angus Stone, or Dope Lemon, rather, should be applauded, instead of being chastised, for taking an existing work of art and sprinkling his own style on top of it to form something that is new and beautiful.