spotlight

Spotlight!: Kelcey Ayer

/ James Fenney

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 →

Spotlight!: EEVAH

/ James Fenney

The hardest challenges we face in life are those which catch us off-guard. Moments of profound loss and grief, instances of dizzying panic and confusion. The greatest of these will all arrive without warning, without any opportunity to prepare or brace yourself for the painful road ahead. Often left too dazed and dumbstruck to really react, all we can do is feel it. All of it. I Didn’t See It Coming, the new EP from Halifax trio EEVAH, lives and breathes in the aftermath of the unexpected, and instils every bit of that feeling into its bittersweet melodies. Nicole Hope Smith’s vocals capturing both that numb, hollow emptiness, and the soft quiver of a voice barely holding back a raging tempest. All while Richard McNamara’s hazy dream pop guitar swirls and billows like an ink blot in water, and Fay Clayton’s steady drum beats pulse like blood pumping through your ears. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: Fiona-Lee

/ James Fenney

Navigating that transitional period from your teenage years into adulthood comes with a lot of upheaval and uncertainty. There’s a million and one stupid mistakes we’d love to take back, painful encounters we long to forget, inner voices we’d love to silence, and moments where we felt completely lost and out of our depth. All this metamorphosis comes at a time in our lives when our emotions burn at their brightest. Loving deeper, grieving harder, our anxiety at its most paralyzing; all of it swirling around at once. With it being such a pivotal time in shaping who we are as people, emotions which are felt this fiercely deserve to be expressed with the same level of passion. All across her debut EP, Yorkshire singer/songwriter Fiona-Lee finds strength in vulnerability. The candour of her lyricism confronting insecurities out in the open to rob them of their power, her voice resonating with meaning across moments of tenderness, ferocity and everything inbetween. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: The Bedside Morale

/ James Fenney

Still life is always in motion. Every photo is but a single frame in the movie that is our lives. Time is always marching on; cracks form, dust gathers, and slowly but surely we get a little older and wiser. Even the most unremarkable days, the most mundane slices of life, all add up to something in the end. Either we grow accustomed to the life we’re living – learn to live with our pain, look past our doubts, and begin to appreciate the little things we took for granted. Or it all adds up like the straw that broke the camel’s back, forcing us to face facts and make a change when it finally dawns on us that there’s a better way to spend our days. No matter how still, how stuck in a rut, our lives seem, there’s always progress being made. The hands of the clock are still turning even if you can’t always see them moving. With their debut EP Still Life, Bristol quartet The Bedside Morale offer slices of love, pain and self-reflection at various stages along the journey. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: Ålesund

/ James Fenney

The world around us changes with the seasons, and though we may think ourselves above it, we ourselves are changed along with it. Winter is a time for endings, and so naturally we are compelled to reflect on all that came before. As the animals hibernate from the cold we find warmth and comfort nestled up with friends and family. Spring is alive with new beginnings, and instils in us the compulsion to look forward and carve new paths. But it’s the summer heat that forges us into our strongest, boldest selves. It’s the period where we’re most likely to leave the life we know behind in search of adventure. It’s punctuated by dancing at festivals, cheering in sports stadiums, parties that make the most of the long days, memories made in sunsets that seem to last an age. Summer is for living. Sat here on the hottest day of the year thus far, listening to the new EP from Bristol band Ålesund as the last rays of sunshine illuminate the street, I can’t help but feel the band are burning every bit as bright as the summer sun. 

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Spotlight!: Yoshika Colwell

/ James Fenney

As I’ve grown older it’s begun to dawn on me that the key to happiness is learning to find comfort in the life you’re living. No more constant comparisons to the lives those around you are leading, no more lingering too long on regrets & what-ifs, no more holding on to the idea that “one day, things will all be different“. Life isn’t about the big picture, it’s all in the everyday. Most of our time spent on this Earth is ordinary, and all of that time is spent as ourselves. Making peace with who you are, what you truly need, and how you want to spend your days. Accepting the things you can’t change, and being wise enough to recognise the parts you can and should. That’s the way to contentment. There’s A Time, the debut EP from singer/songwriter Yoshika Colwell, provides an idyllic little oasis of said contentment for anyone in search of it. Thanks in no small part to the lightness and grace of her vocals, the warmth and tenderness of her folk arrangements, and the soft naturalistic approach to production that makes you feel like you’re there holding your breath in the corner of the recording studio. Yet beyond all that, contained in these five tracks, are Yoshika’s own musings on making this journey of self-reflection. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: Rosie H Sullivan

/ James Fenney

There’s a myriad of things wrong with the state of the music industry today, but credit where it’s due, as in a sense music has never been more accessible. A laptop can turn any bedroom, in any quiet little neighbourhood, into a recording studio. A song on the internet could reach and resonate with people in the most forgotten far flung corners of the world. Making music, like all art, is an act of expression. Telling your story and letting your voice be heard. In another time, a voice like Rosie H Sullivan’s might never have been heard outside of a few small rooms in the Outer Hebrides. Her story, her perspective, the artistic lens through which she sees the world, might have been lost to the wider world. Yet we live in a time when the intimacy of those cosy rooms can be shared with the masses, where the isolated islands she calls home can welcome a wealth of new visitors simply by closing their eyes and being swept away by her words. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: Lily Agnes

/ James Fenney

How do you make a great album? Perhaps it involves songs coming together to tell a story, perfectly capturing a mood or theme, maybe doing something fresh and experimental, or simply packing it start to finish with big accessible hits. People have found and forged many alternate paths to make great albums over the years. But EPs are a different story. They are a relatively newer format, often lacking the same attention and prestige, and one which has primarily been used by up-and-coming artists. As such we’re presented with a far narrower path to take towards what makes a great EP. It needs to tell you all you need to know about an artist, and leave you wanting to hear more. A mission statement of their creative ambitions; well-rounded enough to showcase the broadest possible range of their talents, yet restrained enough to leave listeners longing for whatever may come next. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: Ber

/ James Fenney

A big part of what draws me to support up-and-coming artists is the chance to see a work in progress. In a way it feels like reading the first draft of a story and having your future favourite character leap off the page for the first time, or getting a glimpse behind the scenes of a film in production before it hits the big screen and seeing how all the pieces come together. There’s an inherent joy in seeing the spark of an idea begin to take shape and form into something great. As far as music is concerned, hearing those first singles, those explorative early EPs, the build-up to a debut album where an artist finds both their sound and their confidence, is endlessly endearing. Often hearing a record that’s rough around the edges, but has heaps of promise and personality, feels far more rewarding than a fully polished product. A notepad full of scribbles says a lot more about a person than some aloof CV. And I’m Still Thinking About That, the debut EP from Minnesotan singer/songwriter Ber, is the most heart-melting example of this that I’ve heard in a good while. Continue reading →

Spotlight!: Kitty Perrin

/ James Fenney

It feels like far too long since I’ve wholeheartedly promoted a new artist and sung their praises to the world – you know, the whole reason this blog exists in the first place. For whatever reason it’s become harder to find new music that excites me. So much out there just feels too familiar; scores of talented artists drawing from the same inspirations and chasing the same trends only to inevitably arrive at much the same destination. It’s hard for an act to stand out from the crowd, and even harder for me to put a finger on a way for them to do so. After all, it would be too much to reasonably expect every act to continually put out something new and unique, right? But in listening to the debut EP from Kitty Perrin, the answer suddenly reveals itself. Each of us is already unique; we all face our own trials and triumphs, viewed through our own perspective. Every artist has a story, one only they can tell, but it’s only those special few like Kitty Perrin that manage to so resoundingly imprint their identity into their work. Continue reading →