Author: James Fenney

Leave It Out!: In Defence of ‘Industry Plants’

/ James Fenney
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

The music industry is a bloody mess. From the absurdly broken state of modern charts, to artists’ obscenely miniscule rate of pay for Spotify streams, the modern music industry has a list of glaring issues as long as your arm. But, as human beings are want to do, we can’t help but keep adding new things to the list to complain about. The latest such talking point in music circles being buzzy up-and-coming bands such as Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party being accused of being ‘industry plants’. Though the discourse I’ve seen online has raised some noteworthy points, I think the reductive label these bands have been assigned with ultimately fails to stand up to scrutiny. Continue reading →

Top Tracks: Samantha Lindo – Little Songbird

/ James Fenney

Sometimes great things take time. A mighty oak doesn’t spring up overnight, if anything the lengthy journey it takes to grow only adds to its majesty. In an age of instant gratification, songs like ‘Little Songbird’ which take that message to heart are a rare and precious gift. Taken from rising star Samantha Lindo’s forthcoming album Ancestry, this track is a must listen for fans of Michael Kiwanuka. Its dreamy, soft-spoken intro shifts into expressive bass lines and warm soulful vocals, the arrangement gradually growing in scope and elegance before a stirring climax. A swell of strings gives way to a soaring sax solo, in a crescendo like a bird’s first flight; how I imagine that moment between falling and flying must feel. Every moment of the song seems to rise taller that the one that came before. Inspired by the story of her great uncle’s migration to Canada from Jamaica, it carries that same thread of growth in its message. How all fires start from a single spark. How a whole community may stem from one person showing solidarity, a shift in narrative can start with one story being told, and a wider chorus for change all begins with a single voice calling out.

Top Tracks: Durry – I’m Fine (No Really)

/ James Fenney

The most oft repeated lie is “I’m fine”. Usually it’s said as a quick deflection, having neither the time nor the energy to talk about how you really feel. Sometimes we’re lying to ourselves, hoping that if we say we’re fine often enough we’ll manifest it into becoming true. The new track from stellar sibling duo Durry isn’t either of those. Instead it’s the kind of “I’m fine” that slips out as a reflex – when thinking otherwise, even for a moment, would send a trail of mental dominoes all cascading down. A plaster on an open wound, a chain lock on a bike with missing wheels, a wet floor sign slowly floating away in rising flood water. It’s about as convincing as saying “I didn’t do it” when caught red handed at a crime scene, but it slips out all the same. This cathartic scream-along single is another relatable cut from Durry’s forthcoming debut Suburban Legend, out 8th September. The rollicking, foot-stomping, folk punk energy of ‘I’m Fine (No Really)’ hides the pair’s signature self-aware and self-deprecating lyricism beneath an electrifying and anthemic façade, like someone flashing a smile when they’re screaming behind the eyes.

Top Tracks: Isla – Better

/ James Fenney

“We accept the love we think we deserve” – sadly I think few truer words about love have ever been written. But what I’ve never really considered till now, and what this quote fails to capture, is how what we think we deserve isn’t set in stone. One eureka moment of self-reflection could be all it takes to see yourself in a different light. One instance of someone pushing you too far could be all that’s needed to remove the rose tinted lenses from your eyes, revealing for the first time the pattern of how you’ve been consistently taken for granted. As cathartic as that moment is, when you realise your own self-worth, it’s often accompanied by the thoughts of “why didn’t I realise sooner?”. With her new single ‘Better’, taken from her forthcoming EP Low, New Zealand based singer/songwriter Isla writes for her younger self. An uplifting embrace for her past self, laying a toxic relationship bare and trying to awaken the inner strength that lay dormant. While the past is one thing that is set in stone, ‘Better’ can still be a beacon of self-worth in the present, hopefully providing someone with their own eureka moment to help them towards the love they truly deserve.

Top Tracks: A Days Wait – Indelible (feat. LISA)

/ James Fenney

We like to think we’re rational creatures, basing our thoughts and actions on logic and reason, but we’re driven by instinct more often than we realise. We get a feeling in our gut that we just can’t shake or explain away. No matter how much you tell yourself there’s nothing lurking in the corner of a dark room, some part of you refuses to believe. There’s no real explanation as to why we fall in love with someone, why that one person in particular has our heart, but we feel it in our soul all the same. Sometimes words and reasons just falter in the face of sheer vibes. ‘Indelible’ is a song that operates in that same space. It’s the very blueprint of a carefree summer song, the kind instils both a sense of peace and of endless possibility, and yet words escape me as to what makes it so. Any sentence I string together about its driving rhythm, bright and airy guitar riffs, shimmering melodies and the sweeping dream pop haze of its chorus, somehow feels wholly inadequate. ‘Indelible’ isn’t a song you merely listen to, and certainly not something my words can do justice to; its something you feel.

Interview: Hannah Grace on her new EP Devoted

/ James Fenney

Life is always in motion around us. Just when we think we have things figured out, a new day will bring fresh challenges to knock us back down to square one. The world is endlessly growing and changing, and it expects the same of us in order to keep up. Thankfully there are a few constants in life for us to cling on to, such as how the good will balance out the bad in the end if you give it time. For every heartbreak there’s a new love that blooms, with each ending there’s a chance for a new beginning, and even on the darkest days there’s a silver lining to be found. For instance, there’s no day bleak and dreary enough to dull the warm glow of Belwood favourite Hannah Grace’s soulful honeyed vocals. Her new EP Devoted contains some of her most raw and personal lyricism to date, detailing her own struggle to find a guiding light in the darkness, and yet at every turn her tender voice offers a comfort and familiarity that feels like a safe port in a storm. We were lucky enough to chat with her about this gorgeous new collection of songs and how they came to be. Continue reading →

Top Tracks: The Last Dinner Party – Sinner

/ James Fenney

There are so many different versions of ‘us’ – the version our friends see, the one we save for colleagues, the facade reserved for strangers in the street etc. – that sometimes it’s hard to know which one is the real thing. Sometimes we create a whole new self without meaning to; we open our minds to new ideas, wantonly dive into new experiences with reckless abandon. A sense of freedom is unleashed like Pandora’s Box, and you’re left unable to be the same quiet naive person you once were. An in a band like The Last Dinner Party, with such a finely attuned aesthetic of theatricality, and at the centre of a vortex of hype and acclaim, there’s the added difficulty of figuring out where the charismatic revelry of your goth rock alter ego fits into the bigger picture. Their new single ‘Sinner’, which fittingly explores a more dark, feral and indulgent sound than their stellar debut, reflects on the desire to reconcile all those disparate facets. Longing to have every version of yourself, no matter how different from each other, loved equally as equally important parts of your identity.

Top Tracks: Nieve Ella – Your Room

/ James Fenney

The post-gig blues are a well documented phenomenon at this point. That moment of crashing back to reality after the escapism offered by live music. Yet somehow I’m still riding the high from summer festivals. It’s amazing the power one magical weekend has to lift the weight off your shoulders, unwind the knot that’s been at the pit of your stomach, and help you rediscover a version of yourself that you forgot how to be. But with her new single, Nieve Ella, one of my favourite festival discoveries of the summer, offers a reminder that such a release is an exception to the rule that good things take time. ‘Your Room’, taken from her EP Lifetime Of Wanting out 1st September, acknowledges that the first step to unravelling that emotional knot in your gut is allowing yourself to let go. Being able to walk away from the past, admitting that something wasn’t meant to last or was a mistake from the outset, having faith enough in yourself to turn over a new page. This delightfully dreamy dose of bedroom pop is a reminder that no matter how long it takes to lift the weight that’s been holding you down, the most important step is recognising that it’s there and believing that you deserve better.