Absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder, sometimes it provides the step back necessary to see everything in perspective. A chance to finally recognise all the pain and manipulation that you’ve put up with for far too long. An opportunity to put yourself first and realise that you deserve to be treated better. With her new single ‘Thank You For Leaving’, Belwood favourite Cristina Hart delivers a break-up anthem that bounces back brighter than ever from the ashes of heartache. Positively buzzing with Olivia Rodrigo vibes, fusing pop earworms with a hefty helping of edge and venom, Cristina’s new single has all the cathartic satisfaction of being the one left standing tall after a break-up. They say that the best revenge is a life well lived, and this pop-rock powerhouse is living her best life right now. After being handpicked to open for One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson in Zurich, and garnering support from Radio 1’s Future Pop show, this first taste of her forthcoming EP could be your last chance to join the hype train before she becomes a household name.
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Album Review: The Swell Season – Forward
Top Tracks: Emily Popli – Alight
With such an overabundance of new releases all vying for attention, it can be hard to pick out just a few examples to shine a light on for the blog. Often all a track needs to stand out from the crowd is a single wow moment – something that stops you in your tracks and demands your attention. ‘Alight’ delivers on that front in the first few seconds, when that rich, bluesy guitar tone melts your heart as it swirls and intertwines with the subtle strings. That alone was all the wow moment I needed, but this gorgeous duet just keeps piling on more moments that take your breath away. I felt that same rush of endorphins again when I heard Emily Popli’s lush, golden tones ring out. Once more when Matt Giraud’s gritty, soulful voice belted out his verse with the utmost passion and sincerity. All of it culminating in the firework finale that finds their talents combined in a most heavenly harmony. For a song with the opening line “I just want your attention…“, it sure as hell delivers, pulling out all the stops to grab it and never let it go.
Top Tracks: Lucy Kitchen – Red Skies
It’s when we are stuck in one place that we find ourselves yearning to wander, and pondering all the possibilities that await us should we follow where that feeling takes us. It’s this call to adventure that compels us to stay up till the small hours to make the most of a time that is entirely our own, when the rest of the world is sleeping and demanding nothing of us. It’s the call inherent in those long summer nights – all the extra hours of sunlight beckoning you out to make the most of them while they last. It’s the same call that resonated within singer/songwriter Lucy Kitchen as she sat waiting at a set of traffic lights, their red glow mingling with the soft golden hues of sunset, and thought on all the possibilities that an open road and a summer night could lead to. With its charming folk arrangement and soft swells of steel guitar, ‘Red Skies’ positively hums with all the warmth, stillness, and potential of a dusky evening in June. That spark of spontaneity that longs to break away and make memories.
Top Tracks: Perception Delta – Haunt You
To my mind bands get several opportunities to make a “first impression”. For your average listener, it’s usually hearing a band’s debut album for the first time. For those with their finger on the pulse, a bit more music industry minded, it’s often a debut EP that puts an act on the map. Yet before all that comes an altogether more personal first step – a debut single. It’s always so interesting to see an act try to distil their identity, sound and ambitions as best they can into a single song before taking that all important first step into the spotlight. How do you sum up who you are in just a few short minutes, where do you even start? For a prime example of a debut single done right look no further than Indian progressive metal outfit Perception Delta. ‘Haunt You’ leads you on a journey through face melting riffs, gut punch grunge bass lines, and clear soaring vocals. Exploring brooding gothic atmospheres reminiscent of Opeth, intricate shifts and drum fills to rival Dream Theater, and as many mighty riffs as they can muster, all while Antara Arvind’s emotionally charged vocals offer their own unique stamp on the sound. If every step that follows is as assured as their first, Perception Delta could be the prog scene’s next big thing.
Top Tracks: Marni – Bee Stings
So much of our music taste as we grow older is build upon the foundations laid by the music of our youth. Though we may still occasionally sample things that are new and outside our comfort zone, for the most part we don’t tend to stray too far from what we already know and love. ‘Bee Stings’, the latest single from LA band Marni, feels like the mean average of every song I obsessed over as a teenager. The first taster of the band’s new EP due later this year, its slacker rock vibes adorned with a sprinkling of impassioned emo are a textbook example of a musical vision being fully and exquisitely realised. The way its brooding shoegaze soundscapes give way to the ferocious roar of garage rock distortion, like a crocodile lunging out of the eddying murk of a river’s edge. In another life this beauty would have had pride of place in every last angsty teenage playlist I ever made. Better late than never I suppose.
Spotlight!: Kelcey Ayer
There is no greater gift and honour than being a part of welcoming new life into the world, and there’s no more profound duty and responsibility than helping to nurture that new life. A moment like that is a clear before and after dividing line in the time you spend on this Earth. It’s a perspective shift; no longer the main character in your own story, but a vital supporting role for a new star. It’s a pact that you pledge your heart and soul to, sacrificing your own time, energy and wellbeing for a greater cause. In a way it’s a new start, a new life of its own. You and your child facing this strange scary world together, learning and growing in tandem. This journey into fatherhood has been a reinvention in more ways than one for Kelcey Ayer, formerly of Local Natives and Jaws of Love. Capturing all the joy, stress and uncertainty that comes with becoming a parent, penning songs under his own name for the first time, for his new solo EP – the aptly named No Sleep. Continue reading
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