A little perspective can make a world of difference. I know from experience that taking a step back from writer’s block, putting a little distance between you and the problem, is often the best way to reignite a creative spark. For me ‘The Valley’ represents the same idea on a larger scale. When a style or scene becomes stagnant, rehashing old ideas like an ouroboros eating its own tail, sometimes it takes an outsider’s perspective to inject fresh ideas. I feel like I’ve been hearing uninspired photocopies of 90s Britpop for half my life, and yet it took until hearing Tennessee band The Kindest People’s take on the sound to truly rekindle my interest. The hallmarks are there, plenty of hints of Supergrass especially, intentional or otherwise, but the band also brings so much of their own energy and enthusiasm to the table. The effervescent arrangement has such depth to it, the rhythm section always having something worthwhile of their own to say even when the breezy riffs are in the spotlight. The earnestness of the vocals, and the fabulous way they’re layered, delivers such a larger-than life feeling. Given some of the best Americana comes from far outside the US, I suppose having one of their own make some of the best Britpop I’ve heard in years is only fair!
Author: James Fenney
Top Tracks: Sleep Walking Animals – Rossignol
I tend to shy away from covering established acts that I’m not familiar with. Context is important, and the time it takes to delve into a band’s back catalogue could be better spent covering up-and-coming talent. I nearly passed on covering this track from Manchester band Sleep Walking Animals for that very reason – everything about it told me this had to be a band several albums into their career. The music video, with its stunning cinematography and imaginative watercolour animation. The faultless precision of its elegant baroque pop, the Bon Iver-esque falsetto backed by an intricate choral arrangement, the climactic soaring guitar solo that could have been plucked straight from The Bends era Radiohead. Even down to the way it integrates snippets of lyrics in Sri Lankan Sinhala. Everything about ‘Rossignol (සිප ගන්නා විට)’ feels like a band at a creative peak that they’ve been working towards for years, yet the story of Sleep Walking Animals is still very much in its infancy. To hear an up-and-coming band so polished, so inventive, so assured in their identity, and at times even surpassing their influences, is a truly thrilling prospect.
Top Tracks: Kohla – Golden
I love a song that practices what it preaches. Listening to ‘Golden’, the sensual new single from Scottish singer/songwriter Kohla, it would be all too easy to wax lyrical about the moments where her gossamer vocals soar. There are points where it feels like you’re listening to the most faultless new voice in modern soul. Yet at its heart ‘Golden’ is a song about self-love, body positivity, and holding the highest standards when it comes to love. A longing to connect with someone who isn’t just enamoured with an idea, with the finely tuned façade we try to present to the world, but who’ll trace a finger across your skin and find every line, pore and imperfection as equally worthy of worship. The arrangement here, as lush and tropical as it feels, is often as soft and subtle as a summer breeze, leaving Kohla’s voice exposed for the world to hear. Moments of almost imperceptible breath, the delicate tenderness of her whispers, or the way she almost seems to hang on to certain words to savour them before letting them leave – these are the moments where the song truly shines. The lover-like intimacy of this track asks you to worship and adore every second of it – and the only answer is yes.
Top Tracks: The Amazing – Streetfighter
If I had to pin down which artist’s music I have listened to the most over the years, Swedish band The Amazing would certainly be in contention. Their music feels like a whole other world in my pocket that I can escape to in a moment’s notice. A vast swirling ocean of sound so expansive and labyrinthine that you can only guess at its depth. You feel like a tiny speck against the backdrop of an imposing force of nature, and yet it also carries a bittersweet cinematic quality that makes you feel like the main character in a movie scene. What a joy it is to have a new track of theirs to listen to on repeat (likely whilst staring wistfully into the middle distance). What’s more, ‘Streetfighter’ feels like the band at their most bright and playful. While past records often felt like the eerie serenity of city streets at night, this latest single feels like walking those same streets until the sun rises. Seeing life and colour slowly return with the dawn, its warbling guitar lines and radiant vocal harmonies like the first birdsong of morning.
Album Review: Phosphene – Transmute
Top Tracks: millhope – Searching
Great art always tells a story, but it doesn’t always spell out the plot for you. Often the most compelling creative works are those that endeavour to ignite a creative spark in others, art that encourages you to let your imagination run wild. I maintain a high bar of excellence in my head when it comes to instrumental music, it needs to be something that plucks a whole other world out of the depths of my subconscious, and I have to say that ‘Searching’ scratches that itch perfectly. This new track from millhope, the moniker of Cologne based artist Thomas Mühlhoff, immediately conjures for me a sense of exploration and wonder. The mix of 80s synth vibes and eerie electronics evokes a retro-futurist sci-fi adventure, where the harshness of the cold empty expanse of the cosmos is kept at bay by the indomitable spark of curiosity and optimism for whatever new discoveries may lie ahead.
Live Review: The National, First Direct Arena Leeds, 23rd Sept 2023
It’s been quite a year for National fans. Little did I know, when grabbing tickets for their latest tour, that 2023 would see Cincinnati’s finest releasing two new albums mere months apart, with the latter of which in particular feeling like a true reignition of the band’s passion and creativity. All that fresh ammunition for their spellbinding live shows, including some tracks that rank alongside the very best in their already bountiful back catalogue. In stark contrast to the last time I saw them, where my hype faded in the wake of a lacklustre record, my excitement and anticipation only grew with every taste of new music offered. If they could blow me away live before, touring an album that I didn’t really connect with, then I knew that this reinvigorated incarnation of the band would reach a new level of excellence. Continue reading
Top Tracks: Jamie Yost – This Is Home
Do you believe in love at first sight? Can one form a truly deep connection that quickly, or is it merely something surface level that has you fooled? For every hopeless romantic that believes whole-heartedly, there’s a world-weary soul who has been burned too many times to dare dream of it. It’s a question that’s been debated for an age, and I’d never presume to have a definitive answer worth offering. However, after hearing ‘This Is Home’, I think I can say with some certainty that I believe in love at first listen. From the very second I heard Jamie Yost’s soulful vocals echoing across an airy expanse of subtle electronics, conjuring something beautiful from a seemingly empty space like a sunbeam catching the dust, I was sold. By the time cinematic percussion and gorgeous spellbinding saxophone have kicked in, recalling the elegance of Bon Iver’s opulent self-titled record, it was already too late – I’d long since already fallen. I guess it’s true what they say; home truly is where the heart is.
Album Review: The National – Laugh Track
Top Tracks: nodisco. – A Long Talk At Taylor’s
Much like albums, songs have a sweet spot that constitutes the perfect run-time. A song that’s too long or too short, straying too far outside that Goldilocks zone, needs to go the extra mile to impress you in order to justify it. The pitfalls of a lengthy song are self explanatory – it needs to have plenty to say, and it needs to deliver it in a way that keeps the audience invested for the duration – but what about a short song? Tracks like that can’t afford to waste a moment, every second is a precious commodity. There’s little room for an arrangement to grow and develop, no time afforded to dawdle at a leisurely pace, only so many chances for a chorus to sink its hooks into you. It has to charge in all guns blazing. ‘A Long Talk At Taylor’s’ is the perfect blueprint. Over just 2 and half minutes it delivers an unrelenting barrage of electrifying hyper-pop positivity. A fleeting flash flood of upbeat energy strong enough to shake loose every last shadow clouding your mind. From its effervescent groove and razor sharp riffs, to its irresistible earworm chorus and its euphoric tale of new love blooming, this joyous adrenaline shot of a track just hits with the unrelenting momentum of a freight train.
Belwood Music 