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Less becomes new: striking acoustic song versions

June 19, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Time to grab a different instrument …

Revamped and newly performed by the original artists or as covers by others, the unplugged, undistorted and stripped back acoustic version can bring new feeling, meaning, audible lyrics and sometimes a sense of a whole new song

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, drone, dub, easy listening, electronica, exotica, experimental, folk, gospel, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, krautrock, lounge, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, psychedelia, punk, reggae, RnB, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional, trip hop Tags songs, playlists, acoustic, Richard Thompson, Graham Nash, Chris Cornell, John Waite, Martin Gore, Depeche Mode, Buzz Osborne, Christopher Cross, Prince, Elliott Smith, Jerry Leiber, Ben Howard, Graham Coxon, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Oneohtrix Point Never, Dweezil Zappa, Tom Petty, Peter Frampton, Joe Bonamassa, Mark Knopfler
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Who are you kidding? It's songs about denial

November 5, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Monkey business: once wise, now denies …

Monkey business: once wise, now denies …

Politics, climate change, racism, health or personal relationships, all this and more can can come under the umbrella of denial, and in song lyrics it’s a potent area for nuance, irony, emotion, and things that bite back

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, denial, climate change, climate change denial, coronavirus, Covid-19, US politics, US presidential election, David Bowie, Bill Watterson, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Evan Esar, racism, Donald Trump, Frank Herbert, C. Northcote Parkinson, history, Charles Tremper, Annie Besant, Al Franken, Will Hurd, Nelson Algren, George RR Martin, John Bunyan, Richard Bach, Mark Twain, Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, Susan Forward, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Marion Ross, Christopher Hitchens, Bill Hicks, Chelsea Manning, Graham Norton, David Geffen, #MeToo movement, Mira Sorvino, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Aquinas, Charles Bradlaugh, Black Lives Matter, Tim Wise, Donald Byrd, Kevin Focke, David Wallace-Wells, Michio Kaku, Naomi Klein, Greta Thunberg
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That sinking feeling: songs about sand

July 9, 2020 Peter Kimpton
Jimi Hendrix sandcastle. It was bound to appear here eventually

Jimi Hendrix sandcastle. It was bound to appear here eventually

This week’s lyrical topic offers a broad, varied landscape of metaphor and colour, of passing time, of instability and mutability, of the solid and the fluid, of the barren and the beautiful. Let’s dig deep for some treasures …

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In African, avant-garde, blues, calypso, classical, comedy, country, dance, disco, dub, electronica, experimental, folk, funk, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, pop, playlists, postpunk, prog, punk, rocksteady, showtime, ska, songs, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags songs, playlists, sand, geology, science, art, books, Film, William Blake, Tom Waits, Octavia Spencer, Talib Kweli, Mozart, Sahara Desert, architecture, Brutalist, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, David McCord, Sir James Hopwood Jeans, Rachel Carson, Henry David Thoreau, Emperor Augustus, Dixie Waters, DW Griffith, Nancy Sinatra, Machiavelli, Robert Black, Raquel Cepeda, Jorge Luis Borges, Frank Herbert, Magnus Larsson, Peter Hammill, Joni Mitchell, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Robert Service, Joaquin Lowe, Elmore Leonard, Herbie Mann, Alain Bremond-Torrent, Oksana Rus, Munia Khan, Lawrence of Arabia, TE Lawrence, Ice Cold In Alex, Planet of the Apes
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What does this mean? Songs about ambiguity

July 11, 2019 Peter Kimpton
Either/or? Reflections on more than one thing at once

Either/or? Reflections on more than one thing at once

Lyrics, people, behaviour, situations, morals, images, and sound, ambiguity is an essential part of all art. This week we delve into all sorts of types, enjoying the balance of nuance and different, oscillating meanings as shown in songs

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Tags songs, playlists, ambiguity, language, Keith Richards, Sigmund Freud, Herman Melville, Carol Joyce Oates, Milan Kundera, Emo Philips, Groucho Marx, William Blake, poetry, William Empson, Thomas Reid, philosophy, politics, science, Alan Clark, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Eyre, Rene Magritte, Felix Mendelssohn, Jean-Michel Jarre, Donovan, Roisin Murphy, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Annie Lennox, David Bowie, Meghan Markle, Nicolas Cage, Stephen Rea, Michael Fassbender, Lionel Shriver, Laura Dern, Milos Forman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Film, Coen Brothers, Joel Coen, Javier Bardem, The Sopranos, Simone De Beauvoir, James Ellroy, Charles Dickens, JB Priestley, Yann Martel, REM
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Just keep on dancing: songs about staying and remaining

July 19, 2018 Peter Kimpton
Last four couples in a 1930s dance marathon

Last four couples in a 1930s dance marathon

We’re not leaving, but showing endurance, fortitude and steadfastness. There’s a whole lot of staying power going on in this week’s topic, from physical to mental strength …

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In blues, classical, comedy, country, dance, electronica, folk, gospel, hip hop, indie, instrumentals, jazz, metal, music, musical hall, musicals, playlists, pop, postpunk, prog, punk, reggae, rock, songs, soul, soundtracks Tags Songs, playlists, staying, remaining, staying power, stamina, Christopher Marlowe, Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys, Dolly Parton, Sly & The Family Stone, Oliver Reed, Brexit, Mick Jones, The Clash, evolution, Sir David Attenborough, biology, history, Film, Stephen Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Neil Peart, John Lee Hooker, Martin Freeman, Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, The New York Dolls, Terry Pratchett, Patrick Swayze, Al Green, The Bee Gees
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Picture this: songs about painters, painting and drawing

June 22, 2017 Peter Kimpton
1) Keith Richards by Ronnie Wood

1) Keith Richards by Ronnie Wood

This week the Bar becomes a special gallery  filled with music stars' work! Peruse the paintings and name their famous creators, and suggest songs inspired by art and artists from any period or genre

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Tags songs, art, painting, John Constable, Dick Dale, Vincent Van Gogh, Brian Eno, Joni Mitchell, Nat Tate, forgery, David Byrne, The Clash, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, Chuck D, Freddie Mercury, Pete Townshend, The Who, Queen, Mobb Deep, Michael Stipe, REM, Keith Richards, Ice Cube, Florence Welch, Florence and the Machine, Kanye West, Captain Beefheart, Jeffrey Lewis, Patti Smith, Robert Hughes, Conor Oberst, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Grimes, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, The Kills, Alison Mosshart, Tony Bennett, Buffy Sainte-Marie, John Williams, Grace Slick, Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead, Pharrell Williams, Frida Kahlo, Nick Cave, Wolfgang Puck, Marilyn Manson, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Jefferson Airplane, Impressionism, pop art, Frederic Chopin, Wassily Kandinsky, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood
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Who can't handle the truth? Songs about propaganda, liars and lying

June 1, 2017 Peter Kimpton
Awkward … your life in their hands. May, Trump and poor old Washington

Awkward … your life in their hands. May, Trump and poor old Washington

Mass campaigns to crowd manipulation, political U-turns to personal deception, suggest songs about the art and artifice of changing facts for dubious or other purposes, but here to make truthful playlists

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Tags songs, music, liars, lying, truth, politics, Propaganda, Donald Trump, Theresa May, Sir David Attenborough, George Washington, John C Macrae, art, history, Robert Capa, photography, The O'Jays, Captain SKA, Alan Clark, Conservatives, Scott Inquiry, Paris Climate Agreement, climate change, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, public relations, spin doctors, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bambi, Alice Walker, Martin Parr, Edward Bernays, Adam Curtis, documentary, Sigmund Freud, psychology, psychotherapy, China, Russia, North Korea, Noam Chomsky, Brian Eno, Facebook, social media, Twitter, Evgeny Morozov, John Berger, Bernie Sanders, Republican Party, Rebecca MacKinnon, Nazi party, Josef Goebbels, second world war, Paul Robeson, Adolf Hitler, Sherlock Holmes, film, Basil Rathbone, Rosie The Riveter, Mrs Miniver, Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator, Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham, Tim Allen, Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, JD Salinger, books, Gunter Grass, Patrick deWitt, Samuel Butler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Jean Cocteau, Janice Dickinson, Kevin Bacon, Ryan Gosling, La La Land, Emma Stone, Luis Suarez, Greg LeMond, cycling, Tour De France, cheating, drugs, Logan Pearsall Smith, Aesop, Arcade Fire, The Dead Kennedys, advertising
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Sing out, act on CLIMATE CHANGE

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CONDEMN RACISM, EMBRACE EQUALITY


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DRINK OF THE WEEK

pint of guinness


SNACK OF THE WEEK

Bacon and egg ice cream (Heston Blumenthal style)


New Albums …

Featured
Book of Churches.jpeg
Mar 19, 2026
Book of Churches: Book of Churches
Mar 19, 2026

New album: Beautiful, tender, melancholic and poetic, a walking-pace acoustic folk and Americana debut solo release by the singer-songwriter Felix Mackenzie-Barrow, co-lead singer with the Nottingham alternative indie band Divorce

Mar 19, 2026
A Pound of Feathers by The Black Crowes.jpeg
Mar 18, 2026
The Black Crowes: A Pound of Feathers
Mar 18, 2026

New album: Following 2024’s resurgent release Happiness Bastards, Atlanta, Georgia brothers Chris and Rich Robinson return with their 10th album in four up-and-down decades, with a belting release packed with Stones/ Keith Richards-style riffs, and a full-blooded, full-throttle classic and catchy rock

Mar 18, 2026
 Paris In The Spring by Alexis Taylor.jpeg
Mar 18, 2026
Alexis Taylor: Paris In The Spring
Mar 18, 2026

New album: The clarity and high range of the distinctive Hot Chip lead singer returns with his seventh solo LP, packed with personal, candid, philosphofical and sometimes melancholy lyrics allided with bright, melodic leftfield electro-pop, a dash of country, elegant disco-house, and Vangelis-inspired soundscapes, and a title echoing a psychological test where things are not as they seem

Mar 18, 2026
Madeleine by Diagonale des Yeux.jpeg
Mar 18, 2026
Diagonale Des Yeux: Madeleine
Mar 18, 2026

New album: Wonderfully weird, wonky, woozy, avant-garde, absurdist oddness by the French duo of Laurène Exposito and Théo Delaunay, with their lo-fi, ramshackle, DIY postpunk and retro-electronica, sharing sung and spoken vocals across French, German, English and Spanish

Mar 18, 2026
Yebba - Jean.jpeg
Mar 18, 2026
Yebba: Jean
Mar 18, 2026

New album: Following 2021’s Dawn, a second LP by the American singer and songwriter from West Memphis, Arkansas, aka Abigail Smith, moves towards an eclectic mix of gentler, more understated pop, folk, gospel, R&B, and soul, is named after her late grandmother, and has candid, personal themes of mourning and spiritual healing

Mar 18, 2026
The Sophs - Goldstar.jpeg
Mar 17, 2026
The Sophs: Goldstar
Mar 17, 2026

New album: A fairytale story of a debut for the Los Angeles six-piece fronted by Ethan Ramon, who cold-emailed demos to Rough Trade Records before even playing a live gig and were signed – that instinctive leap of faith rewarded by this stylish, bold, mercurial, confident, darkly humorous, eclectic debut leaping between rock, indie, pop, hoedown country, delta blues and beyond

Mar 17, 2026
Kim Gordon - Play Me album.jpeg
Mar 13, 2026
Kim Gordon: Play Me
Mar 13, 2026

New album: Following 2024’s The Collective, the former Sonic Youth frontwoman’s fourth solo LP continues her extraordinary experimental, innovative journey, moving to more melodic beats and shorter tracks with a motorik krautrock-style driven coloured by strange sounds, intense emotions and sharply angled, dark, droll social commentary

Mar 13, 2026
ELIZA - The Darkening Green.jpeg
Mar 11, 2026
ELIZA: The Darkening Green
Mar 11, 2026

New album: The London artist Eliza Caird (formerly under the mainstream pop moniker Eliza Doolittle) returns with more of the cool, slow, sensual, gentle, sophisticated experimental soul-funk style evolving from her 2022 album A Sky Without Stars, here with particularly polished, silky, stripped back grooves and vocals

Mar 11, 2026
Irreparable Parables by Andrew Wasylyk.jpeg
Mar 11, 2026
Andrew Wasylyk: Irreparable Parables
Mar 11, 2026

New album: The Scottish multi-instrumentalist and composer returns with a new selection of soothing, meditative mix of experimental classical and jazz, but this time joined with six different singers represented by the birds on the album artwork

Mar 11, 2026
waterbaby - Memory Be A Blade.jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
waterbaby: Memory Be A Blade
Mar 10, 2026

New album: A delicate, experimental, understated soulful chamber pop debut by the pure-voiced Stockholm-born singer-songwriter (aka Kendra Egerbladh) in 25-minute, eight-track release of lo-fi, lyrically semi-improvised numbers about heartbreak and self-renewal in a world of gorgeous musical sensations

Mar 10, 2026
Joshua Idehen - I Know You're Hurting ....jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
Joshua Idehen: I know you're hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try
Mar 10, 2026

New album: With a strikingly long title, a euphoric and honest full debut LP by the British-born Nigerian poet, spoken word artist and musician based in Sweden, working with his musical partner Ludvig Parment’s sonic layers, packed pacy dance and hip-hop grooves, clever sampling, slower reflections, and articulate expressions of positivity through the ups and downs of grief and hope

Mar 10, 2026
Atlanta by Gnarls Barkley.jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
Gnarls Barkley: Atlanta
Mar 10, 2026

New album: Finally, after an 18-year gap since their last collaboration in the heady days of the hit Crazy, with the St Elsewhere and The Odd Couple LPs a third and supposedly final album from fabulous singer CeeLo Green and producer and musician aka Brian Burton with a mix of soaring soul, hip-hop, pop and RnB with songs filled with vivid lyrical memories and strong, emotive melodies

Mar 10, 2026
War Child - Help(2).jpeg
Mar 9, 2026
Various: HELP(2) - War Child Records
Mar 9, 2026

New album: Not only a timely and topical milestone charity record following the first in 1995 to help bring aid and wide variety of support to children in war zones around he world, but an impressive double-LP array of stellar British and international talent and powerful, poignant 23 songs from Arctic Monkeys to Young Fathers

Mar 9, 2026
Bonnie Prince Billy - We Are Together Again.jpeg
Mar 9, 2026
Bonnie “Prince” Billy: We Are Together Again
Mar 9, 2026

New album: Just over a year after 2025’s The Purple Bird, but from parallel recording sessions and familiar co-musicians, the veteran Louisville-Kentucky singer-songwriter Will Oldham returns with another collection of exquisite, intimate, gently defiant lo-fi folk to troubled times, an ode to community with a beautiful array of acoustic instruments and his poignant, insightful lyrics and delivery

Mar 9, 2026

new songs …

Featured
Jorja Smith.jpeg
Mar 20, 2026
Song of the Day: Jorja Smith - Price Of It All
Mar 20, 2026

Song of the Day: Sumptuous, soaring, classic soul/R&B/pop by the British smooth-voiced singer-songwriter from Walsall, West Midlands, in this number from the soundtrack for new TV series, Bait, starring Riz Ahmed, and released on FAMM

Mar 20, 2026
Liza Lo - Birdsong.jpeg
Mar 19, 2026
Song of the Day: Liza Lo - Birdsong
Mar 19, 2026

Song of the Day: Following her acclaimed debut album Familiar, a beautiful, warm, intimate, tender folk number featuring guitar, fiddle and double bass by the Amsterdam-born, London-based producer and singer-songwriter, Liza Lo Hoek, out on Gearbox Records

Mar 19, 2026
Rostam.jpeg
Mar 18, 2026
Song of the Day: Rostam - Like A Spark
Mar 18, 2026

Song of the Day: A beautiful new acoustic folk-pop single with echoes of early 70s Van Morrison by the US musician, producer and former member of Vampire Weekend, heralding his upcoming third solo album American Stories out on 15 May via Matsor Projects

Mar 18, 2026
Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell.jpeg
Mar 17, 2026
Song of the Day: Kacey Musgraves - Dry Spell
Mar 17, 2026

Song of the Day: A catchy, witty, innuendo-filled new number about being and single and lonely, with some stylistic echoes of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, heralding the acclaimed Grammy-winning Texas country singer-songwriter’s upcoming seventh album, Middle of Nowhere, out 1 May on Lost Highway

Mar 17, 2026
Jaakko Eino Kalevi 2.jpg
Mar 16, 2026
Song of the Day: Jaakko Eino Kalevi - Black Diamond
Mar 16, 2026

Song of the Day: A splendidly rousing eight-minute retro-style electro-pop baroque melodrama by the Finnish artist with the deep, rich voice, one that stylistically and in his own fashion, draws a pentagram between Goblin, Rondo Veneziano, Cerrone, Doris Norton and Lindstrom, out on Domino Records

Mar 16, 2026
Hannah Lew album.jpeg
Mar 15, 2026
Song of the Day: Hannah Lew - Sunday
Mar 15, 2026

Song of the Day: An appropriate day to highlight this classy latest single of shimmering 80s-style synth-pop with echoes of OMD, with themes about pain, love and grief from the upcoming debut album by the Richmond, California artist, out on 10 April via Night School Records

Mar 15, 2026
Mei Semones.jpeg
Mar 14, 2026
Song of the Day: Mei Semones - Tooth Fairy (featuring John Roseboro)
Mar 14, 2026

Song of the Day: A charming cross-genre fusion of bossa nova, jazz, folk and chamber pop sung in English and Japanese by the Brooklyn-based American musician with a tale of losing a tooth on the subway and friendship, from the upcoming album Kurage, out 10 April on Bayonet Records

Mar 14, 2026
Robyn - Blow My Mind.jpeg
Mar 13, 2026
Song of the Day: Robyn - Blow My Mind
Mar 13, 2026

Song of the Day: Quirky, sensual electro-pop with a dash of Kraftwerk by the acclaimed Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Robin Miriam Carlsson, in this latest from the upcoming album Sexistential out on 27 March via Konichiwa / Young Records

Mar 13, 2026
Lava La Rue 2 new.jpeg
Mar 12, 2026
Song of the Day: Lava La Rue - Scratches
Mar 12, 2026

Song of the Day: The latest single by the London singer-songwriter is punchy, powerful psychedelic rock number with tearing riffs and lyrics about damage from troubled relationship, abuse and self-harm, from the forthcoming EP Do You Know Everything?, out on BMG

Mar 12, 2026
Alewya - City of Symbols.jpeg
Mar 11, 2026
Song of the Day: Alewya - City of Symbols (featuring eejebee)
Mar 11, 2026

Song of the Day: A stylish fusion of electronica, soul, hip hop and Ethiopian rhythmic influences centring on themes of heritage, family by London singer, songwriter, producer and multidisciplinary artist, with drums from eejebee and guitar from Vraell, heralding from the forthcoming new debut Zero out 22 June via LDN Records / Because Music

Mar 11, 2026
Huarinami - Carried Away.jpeg
Mar 10, 2026
Song of the Day: Huarinami - Carried Away
Mar 10, 2026

Song of the Day: Explosive, stylish, gritty, restless indie-psychedelic punk with angular, angry guitars, driving bass and wonderfully arresting vocals by Pauline Janier (aka Cody Pepper) fronting the French London-based four-piece in this single fuelled by the frustration of big-city life, and heralding their sophomore EP Nothing Happens, due for release on 6 June

Mar 10, 2026
Avalon Emerson - Written Into Changes album.jpeg
Mar 9, 2026
Song of the Day: Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Written into Changes
Mar 9, 2026

Song of the Day: Following the singles Eden and Jupiter and Mars, another stylish, experimental indie synth-pop release by the New York artist with the title track of upcoming second Charm moniker album, out on 20 March via Dead Oceans

Mar 9, 2026

Word of the week

Featured
Snail on a wall.jpeg
Mar 12, 2026
Word of the week: wallfish
Mar 12, 2026

Word of the week: It sounds like the singing finned picture ornament Big Mouth Billy Bass that became popular in the late 1990s, but this is a much older noun, derived in Somerset, England, pertains to the climbing gastropod that can slowly climb up any surface

Mar 12, 2026
Swordfish.jpg
Feb 25, 2026
Word of the week: xiphias
Feb 25, 2026

Word of the week: Get the point? This is the scientific name for the swordfish, in full Xiphias gladius (from the Greek and Latin for sword), that extraordinary sea creature with the long, pointy bill. But what of it in song?

Feb 25, 2026
Korean musicians in 1971.jpeg
Feb 12, 2026
Word of the week: yanggeum
Feb 12, 2026

Word of the week: A form or hammered dulcimer, this traditional Korean instrument, with a flat and trapezoidal shape, has seven sets of four metal strings hit by thin bamboo stick

Feb 12, 2026
Zumbador dorado - mango bumblebee Puerto Rico.jpeg
Jan 22, 2026
Word of the week: zumbador
Jan 22, 2026

Word of the week: A wonderfully evocative noun from the Spanish for word buzz, and meaning both a South American hummingbird, a door buzzer, and symbolic of resurrection of the soul in ancient Mexican culture, while also serving as the logo for a tequila brand

Jan 22, 2026
Hamlet ad - Gregor Fisher.jpg
Jan 8, 2026
Word of the week: aspectabund
Jan 8, 2026

Word of the week: This rare adjective describes a highly expressive face or countenance, where emotions and reactions are readily shown through the eyes or mouth

Jan 8, 2026

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