music

Live Review: Mumford & Sons, Sheffield Arena, 5th Dec 2025

/ James Fenney

Sometimes the universe decides to send you a sign, and what else can you do then but follow. A few months back I remarked to a friend how long it had been since I last saw a gig at Sheffield Arena. “All the major tours used to stop in Sheffield; what happened? I’m sick of trekking all the way to Leeds for shows, when Sheffield is right there!“. Lo and behold, later that very same day, Mumford & Sons announced their latest UK tour, and offered up precisely what I’d been asking for. Not one to question such a well timed coincidence, I took it instead as a sign that I was long overdue seeing the Mumford lads live. They feel like such an important cultural pillar of my generation, one of the big bands of our teenage years, the folky soundtrack of a simpler time since passed. Surely there’s no better time of year than the run up to Christmas for reigniting that youthful spark within; just the kind of energy I needed for my final live show of 2025. Continue reading →

Top Tracks: Megan Dixon Hood – Ghostwriter

/ James Fenney

We’re all a little haunted by who we were, and who we thought we’d be. We start out life so naïve and ambitious, head full of dreams, picturing ourselves as the main character in some epic adventure. As time goes by, our stories seldom lead to the glorious highs we envisioned. Life gets in the way, fresh hurdles and challenges get written into the plot, ever more pages appearing between where you are now and the happy ending you’re working towards. We coast through the years, just trying to get by, until our story becomes so unfamiliar that it feels like it was written by someone else entirely. What would our younger selves think of us now, I wonder? Perhaps that’s we get so drawn to tales of great heroes and fantastical worlds – because after too long in the real world, we start to feel like side characters in our own story. ‘Ghostwriter’ finds Megan Dixon Hood trying to reckon with the stranger described in all the ink scrawls laid before her, and where her idea of herself fits within the story so far, before resolving that the ending is still yet to be written. A stunning return to her bewitching gothic folk roots, ‘Ghostwriter’ is a powerful reminder that every new day is a blank page, and a new chance to rewrite your own story.

Top Tracks: Cristina Hart – Little Crimes

/ James Fenney

It’s been said that when you look at someone through rose tinted glasses, all their red flags just look like flags. You can become so besotted with the wrong person that you can no longer see them for who they truly are. You’ll keep getting hurt time and again, yet still believe every insincere apology. Your friends will worry about you, call out the toxicity for what it truly is, and in response you’ll just keep making excuses for the one who hurt you and say “you don’t know them like I do”. Eventually some transgression will be the one that tips the scale and causes their glamour to drop, finally letting you see the way they’re treated you. “I know what you’re like, now that I’m on the other side“. Our favourite pop rock powerhouse Cristina Hart crushes those discarded rosy glasses beneath her boot heels on her fierce new single ‘Little Crimes’. Full of fire and confidence, it’s all about calling someone out for the pain and frustration they’ve put you through, all the time and energy you wasted telling yourself they were right for you, and making a promise to yourself never to welcome them back into your life. I’m loving the edge, energy, and self-assuredness woven into Cristina’s recent singles; keeping the momentum going, and growing the anticipation for what the next era has in store for this rising star.

Top Tracks: Exploring Birdsong – Romanticise

/ James Fenney

I love a good villain song – they were the highlight of practically every Disney film as a kid. Villains in movies always seem to be having a blast; hogging the spotlight, chewing the scenery, performing ridiculously over-the-top acts of wickedness and skulduggery. The kind of villainy we encounter in real life however is nowhere near as charming. Everyday evil is something simple, banal and empty. We rationalise the actions of those that hurt us as something intentionally antagonistic and spiteful, because that makes sense, moreso than the reality that toxicity is often just their broken default setting. ‘Romanticise’, from progressive pop trio Exploring Birdsong, takes the everyday evil of a toxic relationship and dials it up to moustache twirling levels of villainy.

Written from the perspective of the perpetrator, it depicts someone with a well of malice within, who sees the world through red lenses. Someone eager to cause pain (“I opened up your chest, your heart is on a plate, So I filled the wound with salt, and put it on a flame“) and so cartoonishly wicked as to view positivity with derision and distain (“You could romanticise a car wreck at 80, the sky while it’s raining“). A great villain song delves into a darker place while still being a fun ride, and between the twisted lyricism, the gut-punch metal breakdown, and that addictive earworm chorus, Exploring Birdsong absolutely nailed it. ‘Romanticise’ is one of band’s best tracks to date, and I can’t get enough of it.

Top Tracks: Holly Humberstone – Die Happy

/ James Fenney

I’ve heard it said that falling in love is giving someone the power to destroy you and trusting them not to. There’s danger inherent in being so vulnerable with another person, to let so much of your own happiness ride on them. Holly Humberstone’s latest single embraces the danger. ‘Die Happy’ is all about throwing yourself into love, fully and recklessly. Whatever the outcome, the rush is worth it. Holly’s soft heady vocals carry a dreamy quality in the vein of Lana Del Rey, while the wistful synth work imbues the track with the same level of nostalgia and romanticism as a John Hughes movie. The beating heart of it all though is its gorgeous, bittersweet chorus. That earworm refrain of “if we crash and kiss the dash, baby, tragically, To die with you is to die happy” feels like a line lifted straight out of ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’. This kind of airy gothic romance suits Holly down to the ground, and leaves me eager to hear what other delights her next record will have in store.

Top Tracks: Patricia Atzur – Freddy Krooner

/ James Fenney

Things like grief, trauma and heartache have a way of lingering in the back of your mind long after you thought you were over it. A lovely day can be ruined by something innocuous triggering a memory you thought you’d long buried, or a peaceful night can be ruined by your subconscious mind reopening a dark chapter. Barcelona based artist Patricia Atzur perfectly captures the latter, the moment when dreams turn into nightmares, with her ingeniously titled new single ‘Freddy Krooner’. Opening with a gorgeous soft jazz melody that feels like the soundtrack to a romantic summer getaway on a sun-kissed tropical beach, the track takes a dramatic shift halfway through into darker territory. A frantic pace kicks in, urging you on as though some unseen terror is hot on your heels, as the wailing guitar begins to hum with the menace of a swarm of angry hornets, all before collapsing back into the tranquil setting where we first started. What’s more, the music video really adds to the dreamlike feel with its trippy and unnerving Twin Peaks style visuals, able to slip between the dreamy and the nightmarish with ease. On ‘Freddy Krooner’, Patricia Atzur not only hones in on a great concept, but commits to it wholeheartedly on every level, elevating it into something truly fascinating.