Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
Ambient
68%
Author: James Fenney
Album Review: Amber Run – Philophobia
Amber Run – PhilophobiaTop Tracks: Columbia Mills – Strange Game
We humans are creatures of habit. We dislike change. Sometimes even when it is change for the better. ‘Strange Game’, the new single from Irish indie outfit Columbia Mills, knows this all too well. The track explores how addiction can define us and the relationships we form. In choosing to get clean and be a better person you can end up alienating those that loved you for your faults. What follows is a struggle between self-improvement and trying to maintain those bonds forged upon shaky foundations. The music itself also plays into this dichotomy, dealing in the same kind of bittersweet embrace as The National. The bright melodies with a dark undercurrent swirling beneath, and the peculiar balance that leaves you feeling both empty and energized all at once, reminded me particularly of ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’. This first single from their forthcoming album CCTV, due next year, certainly feels like a sign for great things on the horizon.
Album Review: Sturgill Simpson – Sound & Fury
Sturgill Simpson – Sound & FuryTop Tracks: Jordan Mackampa – What Am I
It’s all too easy to feel lost in this day and age, to feel caught in a bleak existence with no visible way forward. Between a dying planet, growing divisions in all corners of society, and the hateful and corrupt holding all the power, there is a lot to be angry about in 2019. As tempting as it may be, the new single from Jordan Mackampa doesn’t succumb to rage, instead advocating the Marvin Gaye school of thought that “war is not the answer, only love can conquer hate”. Venting your ire at a broken system only gets you so far, real progress can only come from having a vision of a better world to work towards. With the comforting embrace of his soulful vocals, Jordan sets out his vision for a bright new dawn, and asks the question “what am I to do now?”. Not as the query of someone lost and aimless, but as someone determined to make a change for the better, one act of love and kindness at a time. ‘What Am I’ is the kind of song that restores your faith in humanity and makes you believe for a while that one person can actually make a difference.
Top Tracks: Woods End – Pickaxe
Great songs are born twice; first when the artist puts the story they wish to tell and the feelings they wish to express to music, and the second time when the song eventually gets released into the world. That is when a song takes on new life in people’s minds. They attach their own feelings to it, form their own stories, make the song their own. Be it the kind of song suited to staring out the window on a rainy day contemplating life, or for striding down the street with head held high feeling like the world can’t touch you, great songs spark the imagination of all who hear them. Wreathed in menace and mystery, ‘Pickaxe’ is the kind of song that could take on a million and one different meanings. For me the ominous atmosphere, equally menacing and melancholy, conjures up images of some grizzled old gunslinger in the wild west; feared by all and sundry, but tired of a life on the run. Where will this glorious piece of gothic Americana lead you? What will you discover?
Album Review: The Lumineers – III
The Lumineers – IIITop Tracks: Alice Ella – Somewhere Else
There is no sensation in the world that compares with the rush of being intimate with the one you love. Of holding them close and being so in love and connected that you are like one spirit. So interwoven in mind and body that you lose your grasp of where they end and you begin, and beyond that connection all else just falls away forgotten. A serene surrender in the face of a force of nature that can just blot out the whole world. It’s the greatest escape a person can experience, and one that indie pop singer/songwriter Alice Ella captures perfectly on her new single ‘Somewhere Else’. It’s a sensation that is equal parts peaceful and overwhelming, and it inhabits the very essence of this track. With crystalline vocals and nuanced electronics perfect for fans of London Grammar, she manages to find the words to describe the feeling better than just about any other songwriter I’ve heard.
Live Review: Hozier, Sheffield City Hall, 20th Sept 2019
What artist most exceeded your expectations when you saw them live for the first time? For me it was Hozier. I saw him live in London just as the hype surrounding ‘Take Me To Church’ was reaching a fever-pitch, after following his meteoric rise right from his first EP. In a sold out show in Shepherd’s Bush there was an electricity in the air which I’ve only experienced a handful of times, the kind that makes just another date on a tour feel like something special and unique. To this day it remains one of my favourite gigs. Several years down the line, and with a new album under his belt, I decided to see if the magic was still there. Continue reading
Top Tracks: Wojtek The Bear – Slow TV
You often hear complaints about songs sounding the same, about acts following trends instead of playing around with new sounds. One complaint that you don’t hear nearly as often, but which is every bit as relevant and pressing, is how the same rule applies to lyrics. There are so many bands out there addressing the same old subjects in much the same way as many others before them. The upside however is that it makes songs like ‘Slow TV’, that catch you off-guard with their outside the box thinking, all the more refreshing. This latest single from Glaswegian quintet Wojtek The Bear takes a creative view of how people can go from being your entire world to being complete strangers. It posits how someone you were once close to could die suddenly and you’d be none the wiser. The band then takes this curious train of thought and injects it with a heaping helping of wry wit and adorns it in light-hearted melodies. With an endearingly macabre video to boot, ‘Slow TV’ is one of the most unique and interesting tracks I’ve heard in 2019.
Belwood Music 