There are songs out there to express every conceivable emotion. Songs about a new love that makes you feel like you could fly, songs venting ire at a broken system that make you want to take to the streets, songs about feeling broken and alone for when you just want to curl up in bed and escape reality. Whatever emotion that makes you want to cry out to the world, there’s a song to cry out with you. But what about the times when a cathartic release is beyond reach? The times when you have to hold back the fire inside and put on a brave face, when you have to force a smile to hide the tempest in your mind threatening to tear you apart. That’s where singer/songwriter Ryan McMullan comes in with his new single ‘Rebellion’, taken from his forthcoming debut album due next year. This poignant dose of pop not only deals with all the pent-up frustration, but does so with a mastery of infectious hooks and earworm melodies to rival the likes of Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes. It’s a brilliant release from a real breakout star in the making.
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Album Review: Foy Vance – To Memphis
Foy Vance – To MemphisSpotlight!: Fidelity Freak
More new music gets released in this day and age than at any other point in history. While in decades gone by the key to getting noticed was to latch on to a trend and ride the wave of popularity, these days you’re often far more likely to simply get lost in the crowd. Why carry on down the same road as everyone else when you can take the path less travelled and lead your listener to something different. While Fidelity Freak don’t venture deep into the wilderness, you can find them operating at an unfamiliar crossroads between otherwise familiar styles. At the nexus of dancefloor ready funk, the warm glow of classic soul, and light and airy indie melodies, you’ll find their eponymous debut EP. The resulting blend of positive vibes is a refreshing twist on the modern indie sound.
‘Illusion’ starts proceedings in fine form with an irrepressibly infectious groove that channels the likes of Chic, before flowing into a dreamy chorus. ‘Losing My Mind’ takes the band’s dreamy side a step further, dealing in the kind of sun-drenched soulful glow that makes you want to just lie back and forget about the world. That is, before ‘Nightmare’ drops you back in at the deep end. This funky firebrand of a number takes a scathing look at the state of modern politics and wraps the band’s ire in an engaging and accessible package. Closing track, and EP highlight, ‘I’m Gone’ shines in spite of it stripping away a lot of the soulful sheen found elsewhere on the record. With its simple yet striking chorus and the beautiful slow-building breakdown, it shows that even without their fresh fusion of styles they still have what it takes to stand out from the crowd.
Fans of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paolo Nutini, Mac DeMarco and Local Natives should check out Fidelity Freak’s eponymous debut EP.
Album Review: Tool – Fear Inoculum
Tool – Fear InoculumTop Tracks: Joe Hicks – Swim
“Journey to the coast in your mind, down by the waves“. These days the kind of escapism offered by ‘Swim’ is needed more and more. When the world is at its most bleak and absurd, you can spend a few minutes walking in Joe Hicks’ shoes: along a quiet coastline bathed in the golden light of morning, hand in hand with the one you love. They say the best writers explore all the senses. Not just the sights and sounds, but the sensations against your skin and the emotions bubbling away beneath it. Joe does an exemplary job of capturing the dizzying rush of thoughts and feelings in such a scene. Are those goosebumps from the clawing cold water or from the touch of her skin against yours. Is that rising warm glow as you walk upon the shore down to the first rays of the summer sun or the sight of her smile. Are you feeling weightless because of the rise and fall of the waves, or because love has given you wings. The perfect marriage of gold standard lyricism and transcendent score, Joe Hicks’ latest single is a rare and splendid gift.
Top Tracks: B.Knox – Corners
Though ‘Corners’ is only the second single from Canadian singer/songwriter B.Knox, it speaks with the kind of wisdom and maturity you’d expect from a world weary artist who has spend half a lifetime on the road. He offers his own take on the sensation of life passing by like sand slipping through your fingers. A gritty rumination on the unrelenting passage of time; on all the missed opportunities it leaves buried in the bottom of the hourglass. Reflecting on all the turns not taken when marching onward down a road that seemingly leads nowhere. Though it deals with heavy subject matter, ‘Corners’ merely dabbles in darkness and never fully succumbs to it. There’s an underlying hope shining through the cracks, at its most luminous in the track’s instrumental centrepiece with its old world piano and defiant guitar squalls. A hope that the listener will heed the warning, seize the day, and perhaps chart a course down a road without regrets.
Album Review: Moron Police – A Boat on the Sea
Moron Police – A Boat on the SeaAlbum Review: Jeremy Ivey – The Dream And The Dreamer
Jeremy Ivey – The Dream And The DreamerTop Tracks: North America – My Baby’s No One’s Girl
Love can be the source of both the greatest joy and the greatest pain a person can feel. And sometimes, when looking back after a relationship has fallen apart, it’s hard to tell where one ends and another begins. ‘My Baby’s No One’s Girl’ explores that grey area in between. The new single from East London quintet North America looks back on the intimate moments from a past relationship, and describes how dwelling on them can come with a feeling of fondness and warmth or with a bitter sting. Equal parts introspective and incendiary, the soft summery swell gradually builds toward a soaring and cathartic guitar solo in one of the best climaxes to a song I’ve heard all year. This standout single warns how one of the greatest tragedies in life is letting love slip through your fingers. But coming in just behind on that list is how much of a tragedy it would be to let a song like this pass you by unheard.
Top Tracks: Toria Wooff – Collision Course
When done right, music can offer you a kind of escapism that is unlike anything else. Perhaps more than any other medium it allows you to simply close your eyes and feel transported to a detailed vignette conjured up by the artist. Singer/songwriter Toria Wooff is wonderfully adept at taking her listeners on just such a journey. The dark cinematic Americana of ‘Collision Course’, taken from her latest EP Badlands, immediately incites an image of the wild west. Of sweeping desert vistas, of dusty canyons scarring the landscape, of an endless horizon where jagged ochre mountains claw at an azure sky. The mere act of pressing play feels as though Toria has rocked up on a rickety horse-drawn wagon to lead you down a well-worn trail on an adventure of her own design. ‘Collision Course’ is a whole other world just waiting for your next visit, provided you ever wish to leave it in the first place.
Belwood Music 