I’m not normally one to believe in fate, but every now and then it sure does feel like the universe is trying to tell you something. It was just the other week that I stumbled upon Nashville based singer/songwriter Hunter Metts, and heard his gorgeous track ‘Weathervane‘ for the first time. The kind of song that stops you in your tracks, I found myself thinking “what I’d give to find a song this wonderful just waiting for me in my inbox”. Lo and behold, Hunter’s latest single ‘Abilene’ was doing just that. Named for a town in Texas, as a nod to where his grandfather was adopted, this airy folk number is a wistful reflection on the kind of love and support so many of us take for granted. To leave such a mark on people’s lives, to have a song as haunting as this dedicated to you, goes to show that no matter your beginnings, love will still find its way to you if you keep an open heart. For everything to lead to a moment as perfect as this, some unseen hand of fate must be at work.
top tracks
Top Tracks: Kelcey Ayer – Ghosts of Neighborhood Dogs
The place we call home says a lot about who we are, and it’s amazing how many inconsequential details go into making a place feel like home. That one creaky floorboard in the hallway, the cupboard door that always sits a little crooked, that pesky squirrel that keeps raiding the bird feeders, the pothole out front that all the locals instinctively know to swerve around. Tiny quirks and oddities that give a place character, the kind you never stop to think about but would find yourself strangely nostalgic for if they were no longer there. In the case of ‘Ghosts of Neighborhood Dogs’, the latest solo single from Kelcey Ayer, it’s the barking of a neighbour’s Doberman that had become so familiar that your swear you can still here it echoing even after he’s gone. Taken from Kelcey’s new EP No Sleep, out 18th July, this new single practices what it preaches by leaving its earworm melody echoing in your mind long after the song fades. Between the superb harmonising with guest vocalist Jordana, the airy arrangement reminiscent of Wild Pink, and a central melody so simple and striking that it feels like you’ve known it all your life, it’s safe to say there’s something about this song that feels like home.
Top Tracks: OK Go – Love
The only band capable of knocking OK Go off the top spot for music video of the year, are OK Go themselves, and that’s exactly what they’ve done with this latest mind-boggling visual feast. Following hot on the tails of ‘A Stone Only Rolls Downhill‘, with its intricate interweaving one takes, comes yet another example of the band’s boundless patience and ingenuity. Following a similarly trippy kaleidoscopic ethos, the video for ‘Love’ (the latest single from their new album And the Adjacent Possible) sees the band capture a mesmerising journey through a robotic hall of mirrors, playing with vibrant colours, psychedelic fractals, and freaky shifts in perspective, all as ever captured in one unbroken take. I’m forever awed and baffled by the sheer logistics of these projects – how does one keep that many mirrors so spotless, never mind programming all the robotic arms. One wrong move and that’s about a thousand years of bad luck! There’s something so joyous and life-affirming about OK Go’s limitless creativity, and all the teamwork and dedication that goes into fully realising all their hare-brained schemes.
Top Tracks: Durry – This Movie Sucks
Maybe it’s because I relate so hard to their lyrics about being a messed up kid growing up to become some dead-end loser just barely getting by, or maybe it’s because I love the band’s wry humour, endearing underdog energy, and uncanny knack for great hooks ( …let’s go with the latter!). Whatever the reason, I’ve had Durry’s debut album Suburban Legend on repeat for months now. After every spin it leaves me craving more, but now my prayers are answered, as our favourite sibling duo are back with their latest angsty anthem ‘This Movie Sucks’. The title track of their forthcoming album, out 27th June, it’s a perfect storm of ennui and nostalgia, combatting discontent for a lacklustre existence by finding joy in the little things and not taking life too seriously. The track’s delightful DIY video is Austin and Taryn at their best, delivering a flurry of low budget Be Kind Rewind style recreations of iconic blockbusters. The pair clearly had a blast bringing all these the parodies to life, and that joy just radiates from every frame. To me that’s Durry in a nutshell – a couple of screw-ups with big ideas, ten bucks, and a whole lot of heart, creating something that makes you smile – and you can be damn sure I’ll be in the front row, with popcorn ready, every time.
Top Tracks: The Swell Season – People We Used To Be
We all live a number of lives during our brief time on this Earth. Different versions of the same person that we ultimately have to say goodbye to in order to grow into someone new. Old shells from a hermit crab, outgrown and left behind. Given enough time, our past selves become like strangers; but who else do we become estranged from in the process? ‘People We Used To Be’ is a song of bittersweet reunion, one that sees The Swell Season – the Oscar winning folk duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová – tenderly rebuilding their partnership after many years spent moving in different directions. It’s a moment of mourning for their past selves, that fittingly wonders on where a relationship stands given the passage of time. How much of a connection formed all that time ago still remains within their current incarnations. Does a partnership need to be forged anew, are the bonds we form yet another part of our past that we need to say goodbye to, or will it be strong enough to persist throughout all change and reinvention. Though the pair’s voices may carry a little more weight, and speak with a little more wisdom, having the two of them together in a video that calls back to their performances in the beloved film Once – seeing that, it feels like not a day has passed.
Top Tracks: Rationale – The Beginning
The foundation this site was built on is the joy of finding something new. Feeling a spark of excitement upon hearing a great song for the first time, like a door opening to a whole new world, and needing to share that sensation far and wide. Yet one of the pillars building off of that ideal draws on an experience just as potent as new discovery – the joy of re-discovering something you loved. When a great artist has been away on hiatus for a while, or their recent work has slipped your radar while you’ve been listening to other things, and suddenly you find yourself listening to them again and reliving all the past highs their music once brought you. Belwood favourite Rationale has had a fairly quiet few years since his self-titled 2017 debut, but ‘The Beginning’ feels like the perfect jumping on point for discovery and rediscovery alike. It’s awakened the place in my heart where my love for tracks like ‘Fuel To The Fire’ and ‘Prodigal Son’ has been lying dormant. Triumphant and bombastic, fusing soaring vocals, an earworm melody, and striking self-directed visuals, ‘The Beginning’ hypes you up to the level where you feel like you could take on the whole world. If this is indeed just the beginning, then consider me fully on board for whatever comes next.
Top Tracks: Eva James – Something New
The first step towards breaking out of a vicious cycle – whether that’s the burden of generational trauma, a string of toxic relationships, or even just our own self-defeating mentality – is being able to recognise it. The second, far more difficult step, is having the strength of will to make a change. These patterns repeat when left to their own devices; it’s only through finding the drive to put in the hard work, and nurturing the notion that you deserve better, that we’re able to turn things around. Combining an undeniable groove with warm and tender harmonies, in way that gives off a mountain of Maggie Rogers vibes, New England native Eva James lays out her own journey to find that confidence and inner strength with her new single ‘Something New’. This melodic musing on self-worth, showcasing her introspective and expressive songwriting style, is a promising taste of what’s to come, with her debut album Earth to Eva set to release later this year.
Top Tracks: Black Country, New Road – Happy Birthday
If there’s one sure fire way to win my heart – and earn a spot on my best videos list – it’s through stop motion animation. I just adore the tactile, tangible nature to it. The sheer amount of effort and dedication that goes into every frame. In an age of instant gratification, there’s something endearing about a craft that has so much time and consideration invested in it. The charmingly spooky video for ‘Happy Birthday’, which weaves a tale of two bird folk trying to escape a pair of hunters, offers a prime example. Intricate, meticulous, outlandish, beautiful, a little dark but otherwise full of heart – sounds like a perfect fit for Black Country, New Road. The track itself, a taster of their forthcoming album Forever Howlong out 4th April, feels like the band properly finding their footing again after the departure of Isaac Wood. Tyler Hyde’s vocals are bright and assured, Lewis Evans’ soaring sax more rousing than ever, all interwoven with an undercurrent of progressive folk that leaves me excited to hear what the rest of BCNR’s new record has in store.
Top Tracks: Kelcey Ayer – Different Planets
Walking a line between affecting ethereal beauty and a strange, eerie atmosphere, ‘Different Planets’ has a fittingly otherworldly feel. This solo outing from Kelcey Ayer, of Local Natives and Jaws of Love fame, fuses lush folk, electronic flourishes and hypnotic harmonies in such a unique and curious way. Penned for his newborn son on a baby blue ukulele gifted to him, the track finds a gorgeous dreamlike quality existing alongside something alien and uncanny – the latter aided by the surreal self-directed video which sees Ayer pursued and tormented by a figure in a wolf mask. The journey from a few notes on a child’s ukulele, to a track this deep and haunting, is a truly impressive feat of imagination and creativity. What’s more, somewhere wrapped up in all this, intentionally or subconsciously, lies a fitting metaphor for fatherhood. The euphoric sense of wonder that comes with welcoming new life into the world, and the unsettling realisation of all the responsibility that this new reality brings.
Top Tracks: Hannah Grace – Try
Sometimes it’s all too easy to get swept up in “what-ifs”. The idea that there could have been a wholly different version of me, leading some richer life, had I not been so paralysed by anxiety. In being too shy to talk to a stranger did I miss out on meeting my new best friend? What remarkable opportunities passed by simply because I didn’t have the confidence to put myself out there? There’s no way to change the past, but the future is still yet to be written. If a better life was that close to your grasp once before, who knows what new changes for the better might be just one small step outside your comfort zone away. ‘Try’, the latest single from Belwood favourite Hannah Grace, is all about breaking out of the grip of fear and doubt one small step at at time. This beautiful ballad is a welcome reminder that for every outcome you fear, there are just as many ways each day can turn out better than you hoped. We can’t banish all our anxiety and insecurities with the wave of a hand, and not every chance we take will pay off, but it’s only through trying that we open ourselves up to new possibilities. Regardless of the outcome, every moment we’re able to silence our self-doubt, overcome our fears, and have a little faith in ourselves, is a triumph worth celebrating.
Belwood Music 