Going back a good few years I’ve done an end of year playlist/article of my favourite music of the year. This was in the slightly pretentious frame of mind that people would care or want to read about the music I listened to and liked. Odd, I know. But then so is having my own website.
2024 is a bit different. I haven’t written about music very much at all this year and yet Last FM (yes, I do still use it) tells me that I’ve listened to 1412 albums this year. That’s a lot of albums.
Standing head and shoulders above all other music I’ve heard this year is Entity by Neil Cowley Trio. I’ve linked to it from Spotify below but I’d urge you to go and find it wherever and however you listen to music and give your ears a beautiful period of time as a special gift.
Sometimes music is special because of brilliance. Sometimes it is special because of exceptional composition. At other times it is the energy or vibe that comes out of the speakers as you listen which grabs and holds attention. Some bands have the capacity to be playful. Others have a talent for a tone and timbre which is almost majestic in its sombre resonance. Once described as ‘jazz for people who like Radiohead’ – which definitely placed them firmly in my wheelhouse, Neil Cowley Trio were, from the beginning of 2009, my favourite band until they went on hiatus in 2017. They were a special band, with the piano of Neil Cowley seeming to chime perfectly with the rhythm section of Rex Horan and Evan Jenkins whether they were going for a rambunctious cacophony or a or a maudlin sense of melancholy. Cowley’s humour was never far from the surface and through a series of increasingly intricate albums and complimentary art and video projects culminating in Spacebound Apes they stayed at the top of the tree for a prolonged period. And then they went away, and it was very sad (at least for me!).
It got to the point where I had given up hope of ever listening to new music from the guys as a trio. And then, lo! There was news of Entity and great excitement ensued.
When a band comes back from a long layoff, like a footballer recovered from a cruciate ligament injury there are questions: will they still be as quick, as lithe, as powerful as they used to be? Will the heights that might have been open to them in the past now seem distant false hopes in the rear-view mirror of history? On rare occasions, a reuniting after a hiatus brings something better than what came before. But it is all too rare. And so pressing play on Entity brings with it a sense of risk as well as the possibility of ultimately gratifying reward.
Having given the game away with the title of my post you’ll have guessed by now which way it went for me. As Marble fades up and into view there’s an immediate sense that all is well with the world. I don’t know how he does it but Neil has this recognisable tonal and rhythmic quality to his playing that as soon as the percussive, haunting chordal melody sets off the listener familiar with the band’s catalogue knows they are ‘back’. And then Rex comes in with a gorgeous picked bass part beginning in the high register, before Evan’s toms herald the synergy of the band returning to their rightful place at the heart of the British jazz scene. All within the first two minutes of the album.
I have to tell you that even by this stage I knew that Entity and I were going to be good friends. Having been slightly concerned that it would be a kind of uber disappointment the sense of relief was palpable. I was feeling all of this as the marbles skittered along in a series of off-kilter triplets and semi-arpeggios before returning to the kind of chorus-esque harmonious figure Cowley has been writing for decades but which always sound fresh and always sound like him.
Those Claws showcases a haunting atmosphere, ably augmented by the beautiful mix from Ethan Johns. An emotional listen indeed. V&A harks back to the days of Spacebound Apes with echoey synths giving extra room to the depth and resonance of the acoustic trio in the foreground. The playful FatherDaughter gives something of a palette cleanse whilst losing none of the hold of depth and power that the album builds and maintains throughout. Broad reminds of one of my favourite songs of all time in Clumsy Couple from long, long ago, whilst Adam Alphabet sounds like the kind of song which has enough languid drive on record to be something which could be built with real power in the live arena. Similarly with later album highlight Shoop we’re shown that the band have lost nothing of their previous penchant for marrying the pithy with the profound. By the time of closer Entity we’re in the realms of Grace one of the band’s most famed songs of yore, being given the full band treatment.
Having named around three quarters of the songs here it should be clear that this is an album which doesn’t so much have highlights as which holds together as a coherent and beautiful whole. In these days of uncertainty it is a gift of beauty and wonder that the band have given to those who will listen to Entity. Whether the band would like their work to be described as comforting I have no idea, but that’s how I find it as I listen. In this changing world some things do indeed remain the same and one of the things that has remained the same, in spite of the odds and plentiful circumstances mitigating against the prospect is that Neil Cowley Trio remain a vital and delightful act. I have written before about them being, somewhat hyperbolically, the best band in the world. I’m yet to be dissuaded, in spite of knowing full well how subjective and perhaps foolish that claim might be.
Buy the album, devour the album, gift the album (I have), luxuriate in it, tell people about it, go and see the band live. I’ve been of the view for some time that there is something full of grace and mercy in the way music can soothe, salve, challenge, encourage and send people forth in to the lives they live determined to be and do better, kinder and more generously. Perhaps it comes from the place of having a faith and seeing what beautiful art can do to impact and effect people, often regardless of the initial intentions of those who created it, particularly whether God has any heft in their minds, process and creativity. All I’ll say is that this music draws me onwards to something better and greater in a way which other music does not, and for that I am very grateful indeed.
Entity is my album of the year. I hope you love it as much as I do.
We live in times which can feel heavy, almost oppressive. We know, instantaneously and in an ongoing sense, more about what is going on around us, both near at hand and all around the world than any group of people in history ever has. People, us, have always been, throughout history, just as we are now. It’s just that these days we know more about how each of us are, what we do, what we think and why we do and think those things. There’s so much information and data around to process and assimilate, a lot of it pointing to things either getting worse, or the future at the very least being far from certain. It’s a lot. Beauty can seem a distant dream.
There is plenty of good, plenty of hope, plenty of joy, of course. That stuff doesn’t get so much publicity, or to the forefront of minds, or to the point of shaping hearts and lives so often though. As I get older I find it hard to fathom why. Where beauty is found, we can enjoy it, share it and encourage others to find it too. That seems like a good way to live.
Music has so often spoken of something divine to me. Plenty of it that has has by no means had a faith-based or Christian undertone. I say this as someone who themselves is a Christian. Where there is tangible, lasting beauty I find God is never far away. For me at least music draws me to God in a way that most other things do not. I know it doesn’t work that way for everyone. There’s something deeply inspiring about hearing quality music which at one point didn’t exist and then through the spark of creativity of individuals or groups came into being. That’s before skills of arranging, production, engineering, mixing and mastering are added to the pot. Music connects us to something beyond ourselves, for the moments we listen and in the memories we hold having done so. I’m so thankful for it. For many years I wrote reviews for various magazines and websites, as well as this one. As I did a lot of it was to seek to encourage people who had worked incredibly hard and delivered something beautiful in the hope that more would hear. Music reviews can often seem little more than a marketing exercise which serves artist, record label/management company. There is scope to be naive enough to think that writing about a great record or a developing artist is a good thing to do in and of itself in the hope that even one set of ears and one heart are stirred to new love and joy because of hearing a set of songs. I am that naive.
With that in mind, I want to introduce you to Off to the Luna. In late 2023 an email popped into my inbox out of the blue from Matis, Santiago and Simon who make up the band. They were releasing the second single from the project, Suspiro Del Pajero. Would I listen? Their PR write-up noted that they purveyed a cinematic, piano-driven stream of jazz. This is right up my street so I pressed play, not knowing what to quite expect.
When you do, as I hope you will, you’ll encounter an enigmatic, gradually unfurling whirl of beauty as the synergy between the neo-classical piano, keening washes of strings and percussion which seems like a distant ship coming into shore radiate a perfect symmetry. It builds but never explodes, reaching a perfect point of crescendo before falling away at the last. I was hooked on first listen.
The previous single, which makes up the EP’s opening track, is To Explore Or To Lose theWay Although coming to it later, I was again bowled over. Here, the piano is stronger, more dynamic and the song builds from a purposeful start by way of a ricocheting drum part into a wholly satisfying climax as, again, the trio are in perfect synergy with one another. Each note, whether in the pared-down sections or in the beautifully bold climax is perfectly placed. The mix is stunning. It is hard to describe how beautiful this song is.
I’m hooked, there’s beauty teeming throughout these two songs. As I said earlier, for me this is where music points me to a deeper well, something beyond the here and now, the everyday. It might seem grandiose. It probably even seems silly to some who might read this. But that’s the beauty of life and the subjective elements of how music can impact us, the aspects we can view it from, the perspectives different of us can take on the same combination of notes, chords and melodies. When we hear things we can be instantly transported to the first time we did, or the time we last heard something like it, the places we were in, the people who were with us, even the sights and smells of that time. I think we can also similarly look forwards in the dark days of autumn and winter when I first heard these songs to the possibility of a better future. You might disagree, but it does me some good!
After these first two songs I was sold on Off to the Luna. The delight was that the other three tracks on this, their debut EP, add still further to the delights on offer.
Night Fable begins gently before caterwauling through deliciously cinematic sections which are akin to the best Neil Cowley Trio or others like Portico Quartet or Gogo Penguin bring to the table. At just under 8 minutes it is somewhat of an epic. Even this is surpassed by the following Boreal which for the first time includes vocal melodies, which augment piano, picked strings and washes of cymbals, with another drum part which is akin to a pushy drum n bass drive. As with much here, the song builds and builds and builds to a wholly satisfying height. Closing track Shiv’ah feels darker and bolder in tone. Synths and processed drums building to the resolution of a suitably funereal (in the right sense) melodic piano driven conclusion. Melodically and structurally this song moves around much more, never staying in one progression for long, rising and falling in volume, and with real beauty in the bass parts. The song and the EP conclude in an echo-laden and thought-provoking way which in spite of what one assumes the song is about, leaves the listener hoping that far from the end, this is only the beginning for Off to the Luna
I make no claim to be a real writer. I write about music (and other things) at largely random moments when the mood takes me and mostly because something I’ve heard or seen has mattered enough to me that I want other people to know about it. This is what happened here. This EP moved me to the extent that, somewhat rarely for me in these days of a never-ending deluge new music to hear and where music has seemingly succumbed to being something we consume and dispose of rather than returning to again and again over a period of years, I keep returning to it and finding new beauty, new possibility. Having promised the band I would write about it I am sorry it took so long, but I hope that as you hear the record you will have a similar experience to me.
I don’t listen to as much new or nearly new music as I used to. However, when I came to try and put together an annual playlist I found it quite easy to come up with a huge range of music that was released either in 2023 or very recently which had really floated my boat this year. The genres range from heavy rock, via emo, ambient, various shades of jazz, singer-songwriter and folk all the way to a solitary Christian song (or at least a solitary one not written by me. I was a bit cheeky and included one of mine) so if it starts off in the wrong lane for you keep scrolling down and you’re bound to find something which is at least interesting and might even be enthralling.
Even throwing this together quite quickly I am reminded that music is vital and can be really life-giving. I’m also reminded that independent musicians (and the venues they play in and the ecosystems of family and business they develop) should be supported. Culture is important. The arts are important. All the more in times of crisis – real or imagined, political, military, religious or environmental – music can stir the heart and mind to action and hope like almost nothing else. There is more to life than what gets played endlessly on loops in every public place. Seek out beautiful music. I’ve always been convinced that God is at the heart of everything creative that is beautiful. It helps if the creators know that God is why they’re doing something, but even for those who don’t, even for those who would be appalled to consider that God had inspired them (least of all because they think God doesn’t exist) there’s something wonderful about music and creativity which leaves me certain that God has a hand in it somewhere.
Enjoy the playlist. Check out the albums the songs I’ve listed come from. If it is within your compass to do so buy the albums the songs come from as this really helps artists to keep going. Most of all, listen with open ears and hearts and enjoy.
I’ve loved all sorts of music in 2019. I’ve not been able to write about as much of it as I would’ve liked – life is quite different in my world to how it was a few years ago and writing about music has never paid a single bill of mine – but music has given me joy at times this year, comfort at others and often accompanied me in times of stress and pressure. I’ve made quite a long playlist with songs from albums of mine that were particular favourites, but a list longer than 10 albums takes too long to read, so in that vein, here’s my top 10 of the year
Her Name is Calla ‘Animal Choir’
Sadly, this is the final album from the majestic Her Name is Calla. I have no doubt that they’re the best band that most people who claim to like music that falls into lazy categories like Post-Rock, Indie, Alternative and so on have never heard of. They’re truly a great band and this is their best album, a marvellous coda on a fine and, so far, grossly underappreciated career.
Shalosh ‘Onwards and Upwards’
I love me a good piano trio. Shalosh are an exceptional piano trio, particularly if you like your jazz trio’s to have rock leanings too. Which I very much do. So there you go.
Rymden ‘Reflections and Odysseys’
Another jazz trio, this time on the excellent Jazzland Recordings from Scandinavia, this one came as a pleasant surprise to me as I knew nothing about it when I pressed play. Enegetic, playful and muscular. This is high-quality stuff.
Son of Cloud ‘Son of Cloud’
Some albums are quick listens, the kind that you know are good, even excellent, but that don’t stay with you for weeks, months, perhaps even years afterwards. The self-titled album from Son of Cloud isn’t like that. It’s the best singer-songwriter album I heard this year by a million miles. A thing of true beauty and power, with some great songs and a thread of narrative to the album that will stay with you long after you’ve finished listening. More people should know about this album. Many, many more.
Flight Brigade ‘Chased By Wolves’
Indie rock bands who forefront guitars seem to be an endangered species in 2019. I love Flight Brigade because everything about them, their sound and their songs are impeccable and timeless. Their songs stay with you and their show is one of the best you’ll see from a band of any stature in the contemporary scene. Don’t miss them in 2020.
Pedro the Lion ‘Phoenix’
Listen to this, listen to “Quietest Friend” and then come back and tell me that the genius of David Bazan hasn’t grown with the resurrection of his awesome band Pedro the Lion. One of the greatest songwriters of this or any other era, full stop. And when he rocks, it’s extremely satisfying. Oh for a visit to the UK in 2020.
Portico Quartet ‘Memory Streams’
Probably the best live band in the UK right now, this newest record from Portico Quartet is among the most cohesive and potent of their career, even rivalling ‘Isla’ for power and emotion. Some of my favourite moments of this year have been watching them play, too.
Telefon Tel Aviv ‘Dreams Are Not Enough’
I have such a strong connection with the music of TTA. It has been with me through some of the best moments of my life, as well as some of the hardest. To find Josh coming back with the first new album under this name for a very long time this year was a joy tinged with sorrow as to what was lost and a hope that the great music of that past could be matched. I didn’t dream he could surpass the beauty of previuou records, but he pulled it off. A great album.
Hammock ‘Silencia’ and ‘Undercurrents’
Hammock are absolutely at the top of the game as regards ambient music and they only cemented that position and reputation in 2019. Not only did they complete a recent trilogy of albums with the beauty of “Silencia” but they released a monthly series of longer-form pieces named “Undercurrents” throughout the year too. Do seek that one out.
Sugarfoot ‘In the Clearing’
A glorious slice of country rock from Norway to close out the top 10. It will make you smile, no doubts at all.
And to finish things off, here’s the longer playlist:
Have a fantastic Christmas and a great start to 2020.
I’m listening to a cover of ‘Take On Me’ (don’t tell me you don’t know which song I’m talking about) and I feel myself being transported. Music used to make me feel like all the time. Not so much these days. I’m getting old. And now I find that what is doing it for me in my mid-thirties is a ridiculously thunderous drum solo in a jazz trio version of an 80s classic. We do all become our parents eventually after all.
I’ve written often about not having enough time to write about all the music I get sent to review. It piles up in my inbox and around my office, accusingly. And then there’s the music that I find out about the way everyone else does. On this occasion, I discovered Shalosh through a magazine advert. So pre-internet. They looked enigmatic in their photo and the sparse, carefully chosen description drew me in, promising songs which built in intensity (check!) and passion (check!) to a tumultuous conclusion (check! or I might have invented that last one myself).
So off I toddle to my streaming provider of choice (so millennial) and I press play, before picking my jaw off the floor a few minutes later. What a sound. Shalosh are newly-signed to ACT Music and their new record ‘Onwards and Upwards’ is quite simply the best jazz trio album I have heard in many a long year. I’m not going to go on and on and on about it, just implore you to listen to it. And then listen to it again.
I’m late with posting my list of favourite albums of 2018, with a sprinkling of early 2019 tracks too. I find I don’t have time to write long, flowery and descriptive eulogies to why albums are good, so instead I made a Spotify playlist. Do listen to it below and if any of the tracks I picked tickle your earbuds, I’d recommend the albums they come from wholeheartedly.
Now 2019 is in full swing I’ll be doing something similar on an ongoing basis through the year, as I find new things I love, so keep an eye out!
Welcome to another installment of this, an (increasingly, it seems) occasional blog in which I wax lyrical about music and artists that have caused me to wax lyrical recently. Perhaps the (increasingly, it seems) occasional nature of this blog indicates how hectic my life continues to be. As I’ve written more for Drowned in Sound and Clash, I’ve also found myself being sent more and more music, from all over the world. As I can only listen to one album at once – if anyone has mastered a way of giving concentration to more than one at once please let me know – this means that it takes me a lot of time to digest things properly enough to be able to write something passably intelligent about them. For all the bands and PR people who have been waiting for these posts, I can only apologise. I am but one man. You’ll find in this blog quiet music, loud music, slow music and fast music. You’ll find music from at least three continents (unless I am mistaken). Some of it is bound to delight you. Some of it won’t be to your taste. Hopefully, none of it will appall you. Without further ado, let’s get cracking.
Bladed – Halloween in Bagamoyo
Watch the video for the title track to this wonderful album below.
At the start of this year, I received the hugest parcel of records that has ever arrived on my doorstep. My wife was not impressed with me, until she realised that the lovely people at Crispin Glover Records in Trondheim had, in effect, sent me every album they had released in the last three years. There were a lot of records. Crispin Glover is one of the most exciting and yet underappreciated labels in Europe. Releasing records associated with the astonishingly vibrant Trondheim scene, they have a diverse roster but maintain an unstinting devotion to only releasing albums of the highest quality. As a label home for many acts associated with one of my favourite bands, Motorpsycho (including one to follow shortly in this very post, Spidergawd), I was excited to delve in and listen to everything I could. The shining light, however, was not an album emanating from the Motorpsycho stable, but this, the third album from Bladed. Haloween In Bagmoyo is a nuanced and intelligent gem of modern pop-rock. Some commentators have compared it to a lost, female-fronted album by The Birthday Party. For me though, tracks such as ‘Lament of A Lost Young Radical’, with its glorious punch to the gut of a mid-section and its follower ‘A Clean Slate’ call to mind a more lyrical take on the early work of The Boxer Rebellion. That said, each track here is a trip of its own. There may only be 7 contained on this album, but so many ideas, such confident execution. The potent funk of ‘All Quiet From the Lighthouse’ is a real highlight, but to be honest this is transcendent music which defies categorisation. Mere words cannot do it true justice. It is a crime that this album has not been more readily written about and picked up outside Norway. The rest of the world is missing out. Make sure you aren’t one of them. And viva Crispin Glover!
Watch the astonishing live performance of the Lighthouse suite below
Chances are you’ve never heard of Spidergawd. A shockingly small number of people have. This has to change. We’ll see how often I come close to saying similar things in this post, but “III” the (wait for it) third album by Spidergawd has to be, it just HAS TO BE one of the best albums that 2016 has to offer. Have you watched the video above? It’s a live rendition of three track epic that closes the album. It alternates between intricate and yet somehow still straight-ahead hard rock (watch the drumming of Kenneth Kapstad for a masterclass in in the management of live light and shade) and luscious moments of gentle atmospherics. Perhaps at times it’s even a little overblown, but isn’t that the point? Spidergawd is a collective of some of the titans of Norway’s hard rock scene who over the course of three albums have honed to within an inch of perfection the art of kicking back, rocking out, and yet showing at every twist and turn a level of musical mastery which is sadly lacking from the majority of records of this type. In fact, scratch that, there aren’t many records of this type. Spidergawd are out on their own in front of a pack that might chase them but will never catch or overtake them. ‘No Man’s Land’ explodes with a crunching riff that never truly settles and is all the better for it. Odd bars of differing time signatures make tapping, dancing or any other kind of thing along to this song almost impossible. It’s like the music is leading the band and they are obediently following. ‘El Corazon Del Sol’ has just the right amount of cowbell (sometimes less is more) and another smouldering riff. The bass of Bent Saether is monstrous, giving a perfect undercurrent to the roars of Per Borten’s voice and guitar. The chorus hook, “In you I see the heart of the sun:, when it comes, is a moment of intense satisfaction. ‘The Best Kept Secrets’ (an apt song title for such an underappreciated band) gives the foremost exposure of the album to the saxophone of Rolf Martin Snustad. Yes you did read that
‘No Man’s Land’ explodes with a crunching riff that never truly settles and is all the better for it. Odd bars of differing time signatures make tapping, dancing or any other kind of thing along to this song almost impossible. It’s like the music is leading the band and they are obediently following. ‘El Corazon Del Sol’ has just the right amount of cowbell (sometimes less is more) and another smouldering riff. The bass of Bent Saether is monstrous, giving a perfect undercurrent to the roars of Per Borten’s voice and guitar. The chorus hook, “In you I see the heart of the sun:, when it comes, is a moment of intense satisfaction. ‘The Best Kept Secrets’ (an apt song title for such an underappreciated band) gives the foremost exposure of the album to the saxophone of Rolf Martin Snustad. Yes, you did read that. Spidergawd’s secret weapon is his penetrating stabs of glory. Here it punches through with an urgency that feels just right.
I could go on and on and on. But you get the picture. This is glorious album. Anyone who likes rock music should listen to it and should marvel at every aspect of it.
Desert Mountain Tribe – Either That Or The Moon
Watch the video for Runway below
After two albums from Norway, here is one of the best British debut albums of 2016. As Jonty Balls cries “3, 2 1, lift off” at the outset of ‘Feel the Light’, the sense that what follows couldn’t possibly live up to such an introduction nags. However, within a matter of mere seconds, all concerns are rendered invalid as the first of eleven smouldering slices of shock and awe slides into view.
From then on there’s no let-up. Whether it’s the undulating groove of ‘Midnight Sky’ that takes your fancy, or the rock solid, unrestrained passion of ‘Way Down’, or even the scything guitar attack of ‘Heaven and Hell’, there is no doubt that something on this special piece of work certainly well. Throughout, the rhythm section of the brothers Jahn, Philipp and Felix, provide a powerful foundation on which these songs, all of which, it seems were desired to be ‘epic’ can swoop and soar.
At times, as on ‘Runway’, things stray a little too close to 90s Britpop for my taste, and there’s no denying that things are a mite more controlled and ordered than on the bands’ earlier EPs (seek them out) but by the time we get to ‘Interstellar’, any minor quibbles are incinerated. This song is one of the best of the year. If other tracks here are epic, then goodness knows what this one is. It builds and builds to a climax the like of which is rarely seen in these times of safe musical choices in the hope of radio play. I mean, for goodness sake, it lasts over 9 minutes and makes each second count.
I fear my words have not done this album justice. Listen and let it wash over you. You won’t regret it.
Field Studies – Rainmaking EP
Coming across initially as if they will turn out to inherit the same wheel-house (don’t you hate that phrase?) as Paul Epworth-endorsed synth-indie chaps Glass Animals, it is pleasing to report that the scope of the ambition of Field Studies extends far, far more widely. Just take in the glory of ‘Listener; below. All sunny groove and pleasant falsetto one minute, it all breaks down to a fabulously-unhinged instrumental coda just when you expect it to do that exact opposite. Isn’t that just what we want from up and coming rock bands. The element of surprise, the controlled detonation at the moment of greatest potency, this marks Field Studies as a band sure to transcend the humdrum and rise, forthwith, to the upper pantheon of British rock. Seriously, they’re that good. ‘Hushed Up’ is sprawling in its ambition, verging on Boxer Rebellion territory in its atmospherics, but far exceeding anything of the recent output of that band. A sinuous, Spaghetti Western-esque guitar riff underpins the whole thing, but there are so many twists and turns, so much musical ground covered and confidence shown that before the track is even half done I’m hooked. Perhaps the only current artist matching their ambition is Kiran Leonard. That’s nice company to keep. ‘Crook’ takes the aggression up a level, while closer ‘Verbatim’ is an atmospheric journey through swathes of piano and synths.
It cannot be emphasised enough when this EP releases on May 27th, you have to buy it. Bands like Field Studies deserve all the support we can muster. I haven’t written anything about the spine-tingling-inducing vocal tones, or the almost telepathic tightness of the whole ensemble, because there are elements to this EP which you just need to find out for yourself. So, and I cannot stress this strongly enough, make sure you do.
Enemy Planes – Beta Lowdown
Watch the video for ‘We Want Blood’ below’
This record came out of leftfield for me. One of what feels like dozens of albums I get sent on a weekly basis from PR companies who have read reviews I’ve written elsewhere, “Beta Lowdown” grabbed me straight away, even as I was thinking of skating right past it. I’ve already mentioned Glass Animals once in this post, but Enemy Planes have something of that vibe about them. Their sound is positioned somewhere between that pole on the one hand and a more restrained Silversun Pickups on the other. A particular highlight is opener ‘Automatic Catatonic’ which unfurls itself slowly around a wonderful, squelchy distorted bass line and syncopated groove as guitars and synths pop and swirl throughout the mix before the chorus arrives and lifts the whole thing to another level “when you know we’re not supposed to feel like this, and you know you can’t wake me with a kiss, let’s be honest, it’s a dead end” it implores, but this feels nothing like a dead-end. It feels like the gateway to something truly special. And so it proves.
The scattershot ‘Stranger Danger’ is another high point. Another spasmodic-dancing-inducing bass line drives the thing along, as the drums there’s some crystalline pure falsetto to contend with too. The track is unabashedly euphoric, a rare ‘up’ moment on an album of tension. Really though the whole thing fits together so well that to pinpoint individual moments is to miss the crux of what this record is about. It’s a delightful smorgasbord of atmosphere and emotion, best consumed thoughtfully and as a whole.
I gather this record has already found chart success in America. It’s no surprise. Hopefully, it will be well supported here too.
Laura Gibson – Empire Builder
Watch the video for ‘Not Harmless’ below
As album genesis stories go, the one which brought about “Empire Builder” from Laura Gibson takes some beating. She lost almost everything she owned when the building her apartment was in in New York blew up at the end of March last year. This pensive, alternately mournful and sonorous album is the result of the efforts she and an army of friends and collaborators have gone to in the following year not just to piece together the songs she lost, but to place her life back together.
And what a fine document of transition and renewal it is. Featuring members of Death Cab For Cutie, Neko Case, The Decemberists, as well as Alela Diane and the fabulous orchestration of Peter Broderick, this is a layered alt-folk odyssey. Ranging from the skewed, woozy psychadelia of ‘The Cause’, through the twee beauty of ‘Damn Sure’, with its singalong chorus, the cinematic sweep of ‘The Search For Dark Lake’, all the way to closer ‘The Last One’ which builds to a cacophonous climax, threatening to spin right out of control before ending the record on a sumptuously melodic note, this is precise and carefully constructed folk-pop of the highest order.
William Ryan Fritch – New Words For Old Wounds
Listen to ‘Revisionist’ the title track from William’s previous album, below.
I first came across William Ryan Fritch after he was enthusiastically promoted by the editor of Drowned in Sound. This guy’s music, as well as his consistency and his herculean work ethic, are something to behold. Over the last few years, in a series of 11 releases, Fritch has developed his compositional and performance techniques to such an extent that he must now be considered one of the cornerstones, no, one of the titans, of the orchestral pop/classical crossover movement. There are honestly not enough superlatives available in the English language to describe the joyous, giddy wonder of listening to a new WRF release, letting it envelop the senses and reveal the full extent of its symphonic glory. I know this all sounds predictably hyperbolic, but I care not! This is spellbinding stuff, the kind which makes the listener wonder ‘how the hell did they do that?’ and ‘Why does this work? It shouldn’t, but it does’ and finally ‘Why aren’t more writers and composers this fearless and unboundaried in their writing?’
See, this is what William Ryan Fritch does. He takes classical orchestration, the song structures of chamber pop and indie rock, and he twists and turns them into a whole new musical landscape which feels like it should always have existed, but sadly hasn’t. Until now. It might all seem a little much. It might pull a listener from their comfort zone, never to return. It will, whatever, be the most exciting new musical discovery you make this year.
With this new release, Fritch has added extra scope and bombast to his previously taut pieces. The addition of vocalists DM Stith on ‘Awake’ and ‘After’ (a reverb drenched melange of kitchen-sinked 6/8), Power Dove on the the hazy ‘Floats By’ and Ceschi on ‘Hold Tight’ adds a great deal, but it should be said that the best vocals on the record come from Fritch himself, on the thunderous ‘Entirety’. ‘Hold Tight’ has so many competing string melodies as to send the mind happily delirious, while ‘Disregard’ should be the soundtrack to a particularly demented superhero chase scene.
But, seriously, when this one comes out, you need to be all over it.
Ana Ćurčin – Sketches of Belonging
Watch the video for ‘Remain Calm’ below
Some of my favourite albums to write about are those that I knew nothing of whatsoever before they arrived in my inbox. It always feels like something of a risk to click to listen to a new, unknown (to me) artist. What will I find? Will I be disappointed (again), or will something special be waiting for me?
In the case of “Sketches of Belonging”, the new album from Ana Ćurčin, my expectations were gloriously exceeded. This is fabulous folk music from Belgrade. Calling to mind at times Damien Jurado, or even Damien Rice, and at others the beguiling fury of Glen Hansard/The Swell Season, this is a beautiful album, hands down the standout singer-songwriter release of the early part of 2016. Ana has a strong, clear vocal, sometimes redolent of PJ Harvey. She is equally at home in the gentle, confessional mode of ‘Anxiety’, or ‘Unkown’ on the one hand and the more confrontational, stomping ‘Alone’ on the other, by way of the sweetness of ‘Princess’ and the driving ‘Someday’. She handles all these stylistic shifts with aplomb, ably assisted by sensitive and evocative instrumentation throughout. Production by Goran Antović gives the songs space to breathe and flow splendidly, but really the centre of it all is Ana, her voice and her special songs. You might not have heard of or about this album, but you should. I want you to stop what you’re doing and listen to this album, right now. And then buy it.
“Your name fizzes on my tongue”, says the chorus to the debut single from Jealous of the Birds ‘Goji Berry Sunset’. Well, one listen to this fine debut album from Armagh native Naomi Hamilton and it should be the name Jealous of the Birds that is on everyone’s lips. What begins as a seemingly pretty folk record with the aforementioned single, and the title track, takes a grittily rocking turn with ‘Russian Doll’ before the quirkily acoustic ‘Miss Misanthrope’ seems to return things to a kind of normality. Except it doesn’t, because the joy of this album is that there is no such thing as ‘normal’. So ‘Trouble in Bohemia’ is a jangly folk song, by way of a Nirvana-aping chord progression in the chorus and a rocking second half. ‘Tonight I Feel Like Kafka’ is propelled by a synth lead line, ‘Dandelion’ would fit on a Lotte Kestner album, ‘The Zodiac Bar’ has a militaristic rhythmic character and some beautiful close harmony work vocally before it lets go into an outro that would befit the finest of songs by The National.
Do you see, it’s all over the place, but it all works. This is music to sink your teeth into, music to be delighted by.
Nothing – Tired Of Tomorrow
Watch the video for ‘Eaten By Worms’ below (it gets a bit bloody)
Ten tracks of unrelenting, shoegaze-drenched modern rock thunder. That’s what the doctor ordered and is exactly what is delivered by the return of Nothing. 2014’s Guilty of Everything was a surprise hit. A surprise in the sense that no-one saw it coming, but that when it did come its place in the ears and hearts of those who like their rock music intense and melodic was assured. Released on Relapse Records, a label renowned for specialising in punishing metal, it was perhaps a shock to see such a clean sounding band emerge from their stable, but with “Tired Of Tomorrow” Nothing cement their status as a thoroughly important band.
‘Fever Queen’ and ‘The Dead Are Dumb’ open things up in noted Nothing territory. The grooves are slow and steady, the guitars are enormous, and the choruses are huge. Signs of artistic development really begin to emerge on the driving ‘Vertigo Flowers’ and ‘ACD (Abcessive Compulsive Disorder)’, tracks which take in myriad shifts in dynamic and tempo and seemed primed and ready for radio takeover. Elsewhere, ‘Eaten By Worms’ features some beautiful chromatic shifts and is probably the album’s most distorted song (that’s a difficult one to call!) whereas the song which follows it, ‘Everyone is Happy’ is, wait for it, something of an acoustic ballad. Who knew Nothing had the will to produce such a track? And yet, like everything else they touch, it turns to gold.
This is far from a subtle album, but if you’ve been wishing for something akin to the furthering of the recent grunge revival, you cannot let this album pass you by when it’s released later this month.
Heron Oblivion – Heron Oblivion
Listen to ‘Oriar’ below
Last year, I greatly enjoyed reviewing Meg Baird’s solo album, “Don’t Weigh Down the Light”. It was a fine piece of work, spectral folk songs paired with a soothing lilting vocal. What could be better? Well, it turns out that seven tracks allying that same glorious vocal with two members of riff-meisters Comets On Fire could at least run it close. That’s what we get from Heron Oblivion on this album, which in a post full of contenders for the crown of my album of the year so far, finds itself nevertheless right at the top of the pile. Everything about this record just works. ‘Beneath Fields’ rolls along before letting go of all inhibitions at just the right moment. You will have already heard ‘Oriar’, which explodes into action on a sea of furious guitar before taking on something of a mystical vibe through the verses. The sense of satisfaction when the riff returns, periodically throughout the track, is intense. ‘Sudden Lament’ is more of a straightforward, driving rock song, like the sort of thing Dawes would come up with if they got into more fights. And then comes ‘Rama’. Ah, ‘Rama’. 10.30 of a loping drum groove, over which all manner of quiet, loud, louder instrumentation is given full license to extend and express itself. The effect is marvel-inducing. If ever there was a song to truly give an impression of what a band wants to be about and known for, this is the one. ‘Faro’ wins the title for the album’s best riff, a squall of furious feedback which only gets more consuming as the song progresses. ‘Seventeen Landscapes’ has a deliciously funky bass riff at its heart which returns periodically like a faithful friend, whilst closer ‘Your Hollows’ takes things to their logical conclusion, a seriously deranged collection of riffs vying for the attention.
This is a great record. Don’t miss it.
Monomyth – Exo
Watch this amazing band playing live at The Paradiso, Amsterdam, back in March, below
Last summer I watched Monomyth with my wife, some friends, and approximately 4 other people, in The Craufurd Arms, the best small venue in the Midlands. You should watch the video above. It will make you happy to be alive. I promise you.
As will their new album, “Exo”. Any album which begins, like this one does, with a track which tops fourteen and a half minutes without outstaying its welcome has to be on to something. ‘Uncharted’ is comfortably rolling through its eleventh minute before hitting peak head-nodding temperature for the first time. The sense of anticipation as this point is reached is palpable, and when it comes the feeling it evokes is almost indescribable. Very few bands have the power and control to crescendo and diminuendo in the way that Monomyth do. The groove is always the key, but somehow, there are enough hooks throughout each of their noodling workouts to make this more than mere prog music. This is the creation of an atmosphere, a kind of altered state, which enables the listener to both rock out and transcend their surroundings. A truly rare gift.
Elsewhere, “Exo” does not disappoint. ‘Surface Crawler’ is a faster-paced workout than many would be used to from Monomyth, the crystal-clear mix bringing out every element of this pristine track. ‘ET Oasis’ builds to a climax worthy of the gone, much-lamented but not forgotten Pure Reason Revolution and includes some tasty Hammond Organ work. Synth pads and leads dominate the majority of ‘LHC’, whilst closer ‘Moebius Trip’ begins in a seething fury before the track, and the album, disappears to nothing on a bed of twinkling pads. This is, no doubt, Monomyth’s finest recorded hour. Do not miss them as and when they pass through your city this year.
Mugstar – Magnetic Seasons
Watch the video for ‘Flemish Weave’ below
Another psych-infused album. Another intense listen. Two songs comfortably cresting the wave of a quarter of an hour. Can my ears take it? As we edge towards the end of this marathon post (still with me?) we’re saving (almost) the most epic record until last. Mugstar are from Liverpool, have been around since 2003, and have committed their most intensive set of sonic explorations to tape here. This album is such a full-on listen it seems silly to try and analyse it, so I won’t, not properly at least. Suffice to say, everything you could possibly want from an instrumental, free-thinking, free-wheeling, psych-influenced rock band can be found herein. Everything. I checked.
‘Unearth’ is a monster of ups and downs, a solid rhythmic foundation leaving room for guitar attacks of various kinds. ‘Time Machine’ punishes with its propulsive main figure. ‘Remember The Breathing’ provides a kind of light relief, however maintaining the sense that things could kick off at any moment. The second half of the album emphasises melody over volume, as a succession of mid-tempo pieces showcase the full extent of the band’s compositional capabilities. And then we reach closer ‘Ascension Island’. All seventeen minutes and twenty six seconds of it. A lot happens during this song (as you might expect). It is the perfect way for a band like Mugstar, on a label like Rock Action, to close an album and, at the same time, to formally announce their arrival as a powerhouse of the UK rock scene.
Motorpsycho – Here Be Monsters Vol. 2
Watch the video for ‘Spin, Spin, Spin’ (not actually on this album but from the same sessions) below
For a final piece for this time, I turn, once again, to Motorpsycho. Having seen the band this past Tuesday on their sole UK date of this year, promoting “Here Be Monsters”, an album I loved, and reviewed for Drowned in Sound earlier this year, I was glad to pick up this companion piece, featuring the album’s title track. All power to a band who record a title track for their album and then deem it too long to fit on said record. The track is split into two parts here. Part 1 begins with layers and layers of synth strings before developing into a pleasant mid-tempo instrumental, with occasional vocal interventions. Just before the eleven minute mark, the tempo shifts to a much more strident push, showcasing the control of drummer Kenneth Kapstad to the full. The track closes with washes of guitar from Snah as it fades into the almost incidental music of ‘The Etchings Of The Seed Atom’. This, in turn, gives way to the raucous loss of control that is the first 2.38 of Pt 2. Out of the chaos, the monsters perhaps, however, emerges the order of the song’s extended outro. As the time signature seems to alternate between 5/4 and 6/8, guitar and synth melodies combine to bring beauty out of darkness as the track fades to nothing.
A glorious, quirky companion piece to “Here Be Monsters”, the album, perhaps here the three members of Motorpsycho have produced thier most wildly abandoned and far-reaching work to date. As a band which is always working, creating, on the move, it is fascinating to think just what could emenate from them next.
It’s been a couple of months in the writing (life happened) but, finally, here’s the next installment in my 2016 songwriting odyssey. ‘See in the Dark’ is another pretty serious song, this time about certainty, and the loss of it, and whether or not that’s ok. I wanted to write a song from the place of having lost certainty, resisting the temptation that can sometimes befall songwriters, especially Christians I think, for everything to resolve nice and neatly. It seems to me life isn’t really like that very often.
I’ll do my best to present a jolly, jaunty little summer number next time!
Without further ado, here’s the video. Hope you all enjoy. Thanks for watching.
I’m really pleased today to release the video blog for February’s A Song A Month, ‘Light Has Come’.
Most of you reading this will know that I’m a disabled person. I try not to bang on about it all the time, but being disabled is part of me, it’s not something I can easily avoid, and so instead I try and embrace it, without making a fuss.
Years ago now, I did a Disability Studies Masters by Distance Learning from the University of Leeds. One of the key people on the course, Colin Barnes, challenged me to write songs about my experience of disability. ‘We need more protest songs’, he said. I always fought shy of writing about disability, mostly because I didn’t feel I had the language to write about it well in a song. I haven’t wanted to be a protest songwriter. I’m no Martyn Joseph.
Over the last few years though, perhaps as I get older and some of the idealism of youth wears off, I’ve found myself finding the UK a harder and harder place to live as a disabled person. I personally am a very fortunate man. I have a family, a wife who I love and who loves me. I have a faith which sustains me, and I feel like I’m able to make a contribution to my community, and to society, in a variety of ways. The fact remains though that I am in physical pain of one sort or another all of every day (like a lot of people, a lot of whom have it worse than me) and more than this, mentally and emotionally, I face challenges and hurdles to overcome many times daily, because I use a wheelchair and am disabled. It’s hard to explain or quantify. It’s simply how it is. I hate being disabled. Much as I’m supposed to be well-adjusted to it all, I wish I wasn’t.
But I know full well that my life isn’t as hard as it is for a great many other people, whether they are disabled people, or whether they experience other things in life which marginalise them and make them part of minority groups they never asked to be in. I truly believe that, as people of social conscience, Christian or not, we are called to be prophetic, whether we’re off faith or not. I believe we’re called to stand and hold one another to account for how we treat each other, whether we are ‘successful’, functionally well, impaired, old, young, or anything else. It saddens me to sense a corporate, societal, hardening of heart towards people with disabilities. Perhaps I’m wrong, perhaps I’m entirely mistaken, but that’s my sense.
February’s A Song A Month is a humble offering, inviting us to see that there is a better way to live, a better way to treat one another, to treat ourselves. A Light Has Come.
Thanks once again to Pete Thorn for playing on this song, and his help with the video.
I realise I’ve been negligent in my keeping in touch recently. To be honest I’ve been busy, enjoying life and mostly quite tired when not doing so. Apologies if you’ve been waiting on tenterhooks for me to pronounce on any particular topics. I figure there are enough opinions in the world without me constantly feeling the need to add my own.
I haven’t been writing much recently, but when I have, it’s been for Drowned in Sound. I’ve been reviewing various albums for them, which is a fun diversion. I doubt they’d be too happy with me if I started reproducing pieces here, but my writer’s page for that site is here so you can keep up with the various things that I’ve been putting in my ears recently there.
One of the things that’s happened since I’ve started doing pieces there is that lots of bands, artists and PR people have been emailing me. Mostly they’ve been pitching music to me that I’ve never heard of. This has been quite an aural adventure. I can’t write about everything for Drowned in Sound, due to the fact that they assign their own reviews, and I would struggle to write about everything I get sent because I have a job which I like, and a wife which I like a lot more, and so = lack of time. However, I’ve got in mind to write pieces about some of these bands and artists which are new to me every so often on here. There’s so much good music in the world. The majority of it never gets the attention that it is due. Anything small I can do to help that is worth doing. As a former independent musician myself, I know how hard it is to pour heart and soul into your work and then have it ignored by the world at large.
