It’s that time of year when many of us are making resolutions and aiming to become better versions of ourselves in the year ahead. Trying to get fit, have a better work/life balance, save money, and just generally get our lives together. It always feels like everyone else already has everything figured out, while you’re out of your depth and struggling to keep up. Still having those moments where you feel like you need an adult’s help, only to realise that you are the adult. It’s just a phase, it’ll pass, one day you’ll have it all figured out… right? The gorgeous new single from Belwood favourite Hannah Grace is the perfect balm for all the anxious thoughts that flow all too naturally this time of year. ‘I Grow Up All Over Again’ is a comforting reminder that you’ve overcome every obstacle on the road that lead to where you are now. Every daunting decision, every challenge you didn’t feel ready for, each period of change and upheaval, you have emerged out of a little older and wiser. Figuring your life out is something that happens day by day, piece by piece, not all at once, and every little victory you achieve along that journey is one worth celebrating.
top tracks
Top Tracks: Gabrielle Aplin – Go Be Free
Christmas is a time of togetherness. A time when we show our appreciation for those we love, a time to look back on all the twists and turns of the past year which led us here, and a chance to slow down, enjoy life in the moment, and simply be. That kind of celebration of connection is captured wonderfully in Gabrielle Aplin’s new track ‘Go Be Free’. Rekindling the bittersweet introspective folk of her English Rain era, this latest track ponders on the circles of life and our place in the natural world around us. “Starlings float upon the air we breathe” has to be one of the most affecting reflections I’ve ever heard on how we’re just one small piece of a far bigger picture. The whole track plays as a gorgeous musing on how the things we lose come back to us in the end, in some form or another. How we make peace with the leaves falling in autumn, as we have faith they’ll return in spring. ‘Go Be Free’ feels like Gabrielle at her absolute best; the most wonderful early Christmas present I could have asked for.
Top Tracks: Bleach Lab – Drown
“You look so pretty when you cry, Makes them wanna break your heart to watch you die inside” – talk about opening lines that hit like a freight train. But as anyone who has had their heartstrings plucked by the band’s magnificent debut album can attest, London dream pop outfit Bleach Lab have an uncanny knack for that sort of thing. Taking the dark empty feeling gnawing at your insides, finding the right words to describe that sensation which walk the line between beautiful and devastating, and ultimately delivering them adorned in effervescent melodies bright enough to banish the gloom. The band’s superb new single ‘Drown’ sees them detail the daunting prospect of trying to break the cycle of a toxic relationship. Clinging on to the person that keeps on hurting you, convincing yourself that the heartache is worth the highs. Scared to take the plunge into a world without them, and deciding that the pain is better than feeling nothing at all. From its driving rhythm section and dreamy haze, to Jenna Kyle’s stunningly bittersweet vocals, ‘Drown’ is yet another triumph from one of the most emotive and assured new bands around.
Top Tracks: Lily Kershaw – Pain & More
I remember watching a video essay about horror soundtracks, and how they often feature the most beautiful music as a way of relieving tension. It remarked that the counter to horror wasn’t music that was bright and joyous, but rather sounds that were calm and peaceful. A brief moment of respite like the eye of a hurricane. In some strange way this song reminds me of that philosophy. The title track of Lily Kershaw’s latest album, ‘Pain & More’ lives in the shadow of heartbreak, full of a wistful yearning for brighter days. Yet the antidote for that pain isn’t a balm of grand overwhelming joy, the days that Lily longs for aren’t the greatest days of her life. Instead the remedy for heartache lies in simple pleasures, the kind often taken for granted. The true best days of our lives are the unremarkable ones we forget about. The song’s lyrics speak of merely having enough fuel in the car and money in the bank to get by, its video a nostalgic reflection on a quaint afternoon at the arcade. The sparse bittersweet arrangement and Lily’s bright Joni Mitchell-esque vocals offering a peaceful oasis, the eye of the storm safe from the horrors of heartache.
Top Tracks: Coda Nova – Symmetry
This latest track from Atlanta based prog metal outfit Coda Nova is a prime example of a song practicing what it preaches. ‘Symmetry’ tells the tale of scientists pushing the boundaries of discovery, and the dangers of letting scientific advancements reach realms that humans aren’t ready to meddle with. Asking whether progress truly progress if it means doing more harm than good. Though its lyrics are left vague and open to interpretation, the track’s philosophy is mirrored in its arrangement. Much as I love the prog space, I’ve seen many a band stumble over their own ambition. Losing musicality in their pursuit of complexity, not realising when they’ve pushed too far beyond the boundaries. Though Coda Nova exhibit plenty of ambition here, between the intricate guitar work, atmospheric breakdown, and seamless shifts between different sections, the band at all times feel grounded. With ‘Symmetry’s soaring vocals, reminiscent of Coheed & Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez, and its earworm lead riffs combining to form a killer chorus, it’s clear that the band knows what works. Returning you to the highlights at precisely the right moment without ever spiralling out too far.
Top Tracks: Julia Logan – Moodswings
As a child, autumn was my favourite time of year. The horizon awash with amber hues, the streets paved with the gold of fallen leaves. Watching those leaves swept up in the swirling wind and imagining them dancing to my own whims and designs. When I grew older, discovering music as I went, the sound I began to most associate with autumn was that of Nick Drake. The intricate meanderings of his acoustic guitar and the bright tenderness of the piano evoking the swirl of leaves, yet with an undercurrent of melancholy that hits harder as you grow older and reckon with autumn being a time of unrelenting change and encroaching endings. I see that same melancholic fall vista conjured in Julia Logan’s ‘Moodswings’; in piano notes as cool as October rain, and folk guitar that weaves like the breeze through increasingly barren branches. Yet true to its name the song shifts in tone, rather than linger in wistfulness. In the sweetness of Julia’s vocals on the endearing chorus, and in the whimsical lilt of synths in the song’s latter half, I hear hints of the playful autumnal magic of my childhood, once forgotten, begin to peek through the cracks.
Top Tracks: Jovin Webb – Bottom of a Bottle
The blues doesn’t concern itself with forging new paths or radical reinvention. “New” is anathema to the blues – and know that I say this with the utmost love and adoration. As a society we nailed the perfect blues sound early on, and from that point on every artist has carried the weight of tradition in their work, like a campfire story that lives on through generations of retelling. To play the blues is to walk down a well worn road, hitting all the familiar stops, and in doing so inviting comparison with all the greats who came before. ‘Bottom of a Bottle’ is proof enough for me that Jovin Webb can walk that road with his head held high. Taken from his debut album Drifter, out 18th October, it’s the perfect example of what makes the sound so enduring. Grounded by a shuffle as sturdy as an old oak, we’re treated to the soulful cries of guitar, the wails and warbles of harmonica, and the gravelly growl of Jovin himself as he seems to tear every last note from the depths of his very being. The blues isn’t about doing something new, it’s about doing the familiar so damn well that it feels like hearing it again for the first time.
Top Tracks: Rose Cousins – I Believe in Love (and it’s very hard)
Have you ever watched any behind the scenes studio footage which shows a songwriter at work piecing a new track together? It’s interesting getting to hear each individual instrument being recorded one by one. Each one a separate piece of a wider puzzle, and the true artistic vision doesn’t reveal itself until all the pieces are assembled and suddenly a song just springs into existence. Except, listening to ‘I Believe in Love (and it’s very hard)’, I don’t get that same impression of jigsaw pieces forming a picture. Hearing this new single from Canadian singer/songwriter Rose Cousins, I keep breaking it down into its constituent elements in my mind, and each piece feels like a work of art in its own right. The intricate expressive nuances of the drum work, the deep rumbling bass tone that you can feel in your gut, the bright and elegant piano playing lending so much presence and refinement, Rose’s heartfelt vocals channelling the golden age of singer/songwriters. Each component tells a beautiful story in of itself. ‘I Believe in Love’ is no jigsaw, it’s a collage taking existing works of art and using them to create a bigger picture.
Top Tracks: Hannah Grace – The Moon
Much of what I have to say about a piece of music depends on when it finds me. A sun-kissed Americana anthem may not feel as potent in the dead of winter, while a break-up ballad may resonate deeper in the wake of heartache. You need the right frame of mind, the right angle of approach, to experience a song at its best. Occasionally however you find songs like ‘The Moon’ which can be approached from a different perspective and suddenly take on a whole new meaning. This latest single from Belwood favourite Hannah Grace is a reassuring love letter to a friend in need; a reminder that you’re there to lean on even when it feels like life is spinning out of control. While it naturally connects with anyone seeking to comfort someone in need, it touches a very different part of your heart when you’re the one that’s struggling. When that anxious voice in the back of your mind insists that your loved ones aren’t as invested in you as you are in them, ‘The Moon’ becomes a soothing balm to quell the self doubt. With Hannah’s most tender and effortless vocals to date, ‘The Moon’ is equally moving whether its words are ones you long to share, or the ones you desperately needed to hear.
Top Tracks: Luvcat – He’s My Man
I adore a good murder ballad. The sinister storytelling, carving out a clear identity for some villainous character, a wicked darkness that feeds the part of your brain that delights in morbid curiosity. It’s a time honoured tradition which nonetheless manages to feel underexplored; all the more reason to champion one of the rare shining examples when it strolls so magnetically into the spotlight. Having already begun to curate a seductively gothic sound with the sublime debut single ‘Matador’, Luvcat play to their strengths beautifully by weaving that same darkness into a bewitching murder ballad. With a soft western twang as rich and heady as a fine red wine backing up Sophie Morgan’s velveteen vocals, ‘He’s My Man’ tells the tale of of an obsessive housewife slowly poisoning her husband to ensure that he stays by her side forever. Whatever captivating concoction Luvcat have poured into this track has left me unable to leave its side also. Combining the fervent fanaticism of Annie Wilkes from Misery, with a beguiling air of twisted romanticism, ‘He’s My Man’ is a sterling sophomore outing for this entrancing ensemble.
Belwood Music 