We leave pieces of ourselves behind everywhere we go like a trail of breadcrumbs. The memories we make are imprinted on the very walls of our surroundings at the time, and it stands to reason then that the more well-trod locales, the places that keep drawing us back time after time, hold the most prominent echoes of our past. ‘Record Store’, the latest single from Matthew And The Atlas, is a reminder of the enduring strength of memories, and how they remain long after the rock and stone around them has weathered away. The latest cut from forthcoming album This Place We Live, out 13th October, is a tale of returning to places you’ve formed a profound connection with, only to find how they’ve changed or even vanished all together. The cherished real-world tether is gone, but the memories remain; a time capsule of a place, and a version of yourself, that no longer exists. A fittingly haunting reflection on our old haunts, ‘Record Store’ is a wonderfully wistful musing on the disconnect we’ll all eventually feel with the life we once lived.
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Top Tracks: Sophia Alexa – Hall Pass
The more you have, the more that you have to lose – or at least, that’s the pessimistic view our brain takes just when things are finally going our way. When you’ve been on a losing streak for so long you start to view every win with suspicion; when you’ve had your heart broken so many times, you convince yourself that every new love will end the same way. Expect the worst and you’ll either be correct or pleasantly surprised, right? Great in theory, but in practice it’s no way to live your life. ‘Hall Pass’, the new single from singer/songwriter Sophia Alexa, is a bittersweet reflection on self sabotage. How that defence mechanism turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy, wherein a relationship becomes doomed to fail because you were scared to get too close and leave yourself vulnerable. This gorgeous slice of folk pop, awash with harmonies so potent they swell and soar like an entire orchestra, details the feeling of being unwilling to be the one to pull the plug, and instead offering the other person an out and leaving fate in their hands. There’s a blissful undercurrent to the track’s resignation, a strange comfort in knowing how things end, even if in reality it isn’t yet written in stone.
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Top Tracks: Mikhail Laxton – Leaving You With Less
Sometimes a heart can be so broken that the pain bleeds out through the cracks to poison the world around you. That level of grief and betrayal turns the things you once saw through rose tinted lenses into something that now makes you see red. Places that once held happy memories become bitter reminders of what’s been lost. Pain that deep takes a long time to heal, even without constant salt in the wound, so sometimes the best course is to leave in search of a fresh start and never look back. ‘Leaving You With Less’ sees Mikhail Laxton channel that sorrow into something beautiful. Taken from his eponymous debut album, this single is paired wonderfully with a video that captures the despair and anger in a truly cinematic fashion. Mikhail’s vocals reside at the improbable perfect intersect between gritty earthiness, and the warmest, smoothest soul – elevated to even greater heights thanks to the track’s soaring harmonies. The guitar work curves and winds like a country road, and whenever you feel like you’ve heard all it has to offer it just keeps pulling you along. It’s like that urge to keep chasing the horizon as long as you can, just to be sure the past is no longer in your rear view mirror.
Top Tracks: Rosie H Sullivan – Fragments
Home is where the heart is, that’s what they say. But we share our hearts with a lot of people and places over the course of our lives; sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can form a connection to a place that runs far deeper. Sometimes true home is something inseparably entwined with your very soul. No matter how far you roam you still feel a tether binding you, pulling you back. No matter how much you grow, it is the earth that your roots cling to. No matter how much life may try to weather you down, a part of you is forever cut from that same stone. The new single from Scottish singer/songwriter Rosie H Sullivan perfectly captures that sentiment. ‘Fragments’, a loving ode to the Isle of Lewis, relates how home isn’t something you give a piece of yourself to – rather you yourself are always a part of it. That love just radiates in every moment of the track, like her breath is one with the breeze and her heart beats in time with the waves upon the shore. The wistful, elegant arrangement, and Rosie’s dreamy vocals, ensure that this gorgeous single feels just as warm and comforting as a true home should.
Leave It Out!: In Defence of ‘Industry Plants’
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
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)
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.
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