Honesty is usually the best policy – especially when it comes to being honest with ourselves. The first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge its existence. Yet we’re constantly obscuring the truth from the world, ourselves included, using that oft told lie: “I’m fine”. When it comes to the storm raging inside our heads, all that pain, stress and worry that we carry, dragging us down like heavy iron chains, our first instinct is always to bury it deep in the hope it goes away. That’s sadly not how it works. A wound left untreated will fester, why should one within our mind be any different? ‘Hurt’ – the raw and haunting new single from singer/songwriter Philippe Nash – is all about accepting the burdens we carry. Even if its something so deep and profound that we’ll carry it for years to come, the only way to ultimately come to terms and make peace with it is to feel what needs to be felt. From the mournful string arrangements and dark grungy flourishes, to the tenderness and vulnerability in Philippe’s crooning vocals that evokes the likes of Thom Yorke and Elliot Smith, the sombre slow burn of ‘Hurt’ is the kind of track that reaches into murky recesses of your mind and drags your demons into the light.
Album Review: Snail Mail – Ricochet
Top Tracks: Emei – Night At The Opera
“Am I cursed?” – hearing that opening line to ‘Night At The Opera’ for the thousandth time this week, I’ve begun to wonder the same thing. Cursed to have Emei’s new single playing on repeat forever more. Kept awake by it’s earworm chorus buzzing around my brain when I’m trying to sleep. Cursed to have the words “The Pain! The Gag! The Drama!” play at random intervals for the rest of my days, like some fabulous Greek chorus narrating the world around me. With the manic flamboyance of a theatre kid let loose with a big budget, Emei carves out her own niche with this latest single. It touches on darker themes of how we thrive on watching other people’s mess and drama, feeding on the chaos, yet all the while throwing euphoric hooks, relentless energy, and grand operatic flourishes your way. This campy slice of maximalist pop – the title track from Emei’s new EP out 12th June – is one of the most wickedly addictive tracks I’ve heard in an age. One paired with a stunning video I might add; full of sass, theatricality, stunning lighting and costuming, and fun, playful choreography. Iconic visuals sealing the deal, ensuring that ‘Night At The Opera’ will forever live rent free in my head. I see the vision Emei, and I support you.
Album Review: Holly Humberstone – Cruel World
Album Review: The Dear Hunter – Sunya
Album Review: Ratboys – Singin’ to an Empty Chair
Album Review: Foy Vance – The Wake
Album Review: Janileigh Cohen – As a Child
Spotlight!: Fieldlily
There’s something so revitalising about the first signs of spring. Seeing the blossoms and daffodils in bloom, new leaves beginning to bud on the trees, the clouds occasionally parting to remind you how uplifting a few warm rays of sun can be. Sometimes a grey, bleak winter can drag on for so long that it feels like it will never end. Yet spring arrives regardless. It always does. Flowers bloom, trees sprout leaves, the sun shines, that is their nature – and you can’t deny nature forever. The same is true of our own nature; no matter how the world may try and supress it, eventually it too will bloom like a beautiful flower. Fieldlily is a project with an air of spring renewal about it. After the book closed on indie folk trio Wildwood Kin, sisters Emillie and Bethany Key took a little while to reflect before starting over as duo. Music is their nature, as intrinsic and inevitable as the spring, and having taken time to process what once was, and what this new chapter means, it’s at last ready to bloom anew. Continue reading
Belwood Music 