A new year and a new decade now lay at our feet. While it’s been fun to look back on the highlights and successes of 2019, and the growth and progress made across the 2010s, it can be a daunting prospect to now acknowledge the vast unknown future that lies before us. Endings and new beginnings can be difficult, especially for us creatures of habit, and it can be hard to move forward without seeing where the road ahead leads. Thankfully Belwood favourite Flo has the perfect song to reassure and inspire as we head into 2020, offering up another simply spellbinding performance. With its calls of “there’s always something better on the other side”, ‘Between The Lines’ feels like the comforting hand on your shoulder that lifts the weight of the world, or the words of encouragement that we long to hear but are too scared or proud to ask for. The dreamy arrangement, the reassuring and hopeful message, and Flo’s ever gorgeous vocals are the perfect guiding light to lead us into the year ahead.
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Top Ten Songs of 2019
This year’s list of songs didn’t turn out how I envisioned it even just a few short weeks ago. There were plenty of tracks off the top of my head that I thought would be certain to make an appearance, but when it came down to putting pen to paper and narrowing the list down they ended up not making the cut. Just goes to show how many amazing tracks we’ve been treated to in 2019. Continue reading
Top Ten EPs of 2019
Every year when list season comes around it’s always the EP list that proves to be the most difficult. It’s a hotly contested category, with plenty of worthy releases in contention for a place in the top ten, and 2019 was no exception. After much deliberation however, we have our winners! Continue reading
Top Ten Videos of 2019
Our list season continues with one more foray into visuals before we get on to… y’know, the actual music. While 2019 has not really been a year for big spectacles, there have been plenty of great videos to tug at your heartstrings and make you think, to pour over and analyse, and some to just put a great big smile on your face. Here are the ten videos that made the biggest impression in the past twelve months. Continue reading
Top Ten Album Covers of 2019
Merry Listmas one and all! It’s the end of the year, a time to look back on all that the past twelve months had to offer. For us, that means reflecting on the music that most defined our 2019. Before we get into the sounds of the year however, we want to take a moment to appreciate the sights. There have been some stunning album covers this year, from the simple and understated to the wild and imaginative, so here are our favourites. Continue reading
Top Tracks: LUVRS – Lady
This is the time of year when everyone is winding down for the holidays. This is especially true when it comes to the music industry. Most folks have already shared their highlights of the year, and so releasing new music in December is a bit of a kiss of death unless you pull out all the stops and deliver something to rouse people from their advent autopilot. ‘Lady’ is just the track to not only make you sit up and pay attention, but also dispel your winter blues with its irresistible feel-good energy. With a fiercely funky groove, stacks of electronic flourishes, more than enough psychedelic splashes of wah pedal to constitute a rigorous ankle workout, and one of the best guitar solos of the year, Brooklyn duo LUVRS have really thrown everything they’ve got at their debut single. A real gem to end 2019 on a high.
Top Tracks: Lindsay Kay – Clean & Fair
I often find myself turning away from new music for being too simple. Songs that could do so much more; add some more instruments into the equation, add a bit more variation into the arrangement, and just generally make a more engaging listening experience by being more ambitious. That said, when simple songs work, they really work. They’re the kind of songs that take your breath away and make the world stand still. Songs like ‘Clean & Fair’, composed solely of elegant piano and crystalline vocals, fall upon your ears like whispered words of comfort from someone you hold dear. This latest graceful single from Lindsay Kay is a shining example of “less is more”. The accompanying video only further adds to the feeling of serenity and reflection, not only in the gorgeous natural splendour it touches upon, but also in how in finds beauty in the mundane and everyday. Songs like this seem too pure and rare for this world, which is all the more reason to cherish them.
Top Tracks: Louderman – The Western Shore
For many of us a fresh start means forgetting. It means sweeping the past under the rug, clearing it from your mind, and turning your focus instead to the path ahead. Sometimes this works, but often the past still finds its way out of the shadows. The more difficult, but far more rewarding course of action would be to face it. What are mistakes for if not for us to learn from and become better people. What is suffering for if not so that we better appreciate the joy in life. With his debut single ‘The Western Shore’, Canadian born artist Louderman takes a moment to accept his failings and scars before looking to the future. The gorgeous strings carry the sorrow of facing up to the darkest parts of ourselves, but also the undercurrent of hope that tells of something brighter waiting on the other side. His poignant lyricism holds a world-weary wisdom yearning to be passed on. All said its the kind of song to quell even the fiercest of tempests that rage within.
Live Review: The National, First Direct Arena Leeds, 8th Dec 2019
It seems odd to think that in a busy year for gigs, this was perhaps the one I was the least excited about leading up to it. I’ve been a big National fan for years now but due to various misfortunes and twists of fate I kept missing out on seeing them live. Then, when I finally get my hands on a ticket, they go ahead and release the deeply disappointing I Am Easy To Find, and in a flash much of my enthusiasm died away. In breaking their winning streak of great albums I felt certain that the quality of their live shows would similarly suffer. I grabbed a spot front and centre at Leeds arena hoping to be proven wrong. Continue reading
Top Tracks: Proper Youth – Off My Mind
A great writer once said that we fall in love much the same way as we fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. It’s a sensation that feels all too familiar when listening to the debut single from dreamy Americana outfit Proper Youth. The wistful opening reminiscent of Springsteen’s ‘I’m On Fire’ is the first spark that leads you to believe you’ve found something special. The bright harmonies and the warm embrace of synths and steel guitar feel so welcoming and familiar, like meeting someone new who you can talk to like you’ve known them your whole life. When the sax solo drops you’ve hit the point of no return, that rush of dopamine akin to looking into someone’s eyes and seeing everything you could wish for, and by the time the chorus kicks in again you find you’ve fallen deep without even realising it. Though ‘Off My Mind’ deals with trying to shake off those feelings and deny what the heart truly feels, I have no reservations about declaring my love for this song. I haven’t been this impressed by a debut single in a long time, and it leaves me hopeful for whatever 2020 has in store.
Belwood Music 