There’s something about ‘Sweetest Love’ that feels like listening to a vinyl record for the very first time. Flicking through an old crate full of them until a particular cover catches your eye. Sliding the record from it’s sleeve with a delicate touch, blowing away a fine coating of dust. Dropping the needle, being absorbed by the analogue hum and crackle, before some warm soulful voice spills out of the speakers like witchcraft. The tactile intimacy of the whole ritual. Hearing a piece of music that may have stirred generations of listeners before you, and yet in that moment it’s just you and the song. Between the soft record-like rustle to the production, the hushed romanticism of Kohla’s gossamer vocals, and the austere elegance of the piano arrangement which plays like a lullaby from a cherished music box, ‘Sweetest Love’ has an enamouring air of timeless beauty to it.
top tracks
Top Tracks: The American Hotel System – Fire
The pen is mightier than the sword. This old adage often gets misinterpreted as just some flowery metaphor, when the truth is far more literal. Words are the most powerful tools mankind has ever created. The right combination strung together could be enough to start or end a war, incite hate or inspire love, change the way others view the world, even echo through the ages long after we’re gone. Most of us might never find the right words to change the world, but such a powerful tool at our disposal can still shape the lives of those around us. It all depends on how you choose to wield them. ‘Fire’ is a reminder of how deep something spoken in anger can cut. How instead of letting our pride, arrogance and frustration light a spark we can’t undo, we can make the conscious decision to use our words to lift up those around us and speak a better world into being. In pairing that heartening message with soaring elegant strings, alongside expressive percussion and anthemic vocals that remind me of Manchester Orchestra, The American Hotel System have said everything right to earn themselves a new fan.
Top Tracks: Amelia Coburn – When The Tide Rolls In
The English language is a marvellous mish-mash of countless tongues and traditions. We’ve inherited words from Romans, Normans, Celts, Saxons, Danes etc., and invented plenty of our own along the way. Kingdoms and empires rise and fall, and yet some part of them still lives in everyday conversation. It’s often said music is a universal language, but there’s a charm to those tracks able to show it as the same kind of diverse and storied mosaic as our mother tongue. ‘When The Tide Rolls In’ is a rich tapestry all its own. There’s a bright airy indie folk vein that weaves its way throughout, soft swells of strings that offer a sweeping cinematic feel, an undercurrent of Celtic romanticism, hypnotic Eastern flourishes bringing a mystical and exotic air, and a heartbeat percussion that echoes something ancient and primal. All that woven together provides a backdrop for Amelia Coburn’s voice, wearing her broad accent proudly and conjuring a wealth of vivid imagery, to stamp her own unique perspective and identity. This first single from her forthcoming debut album Between The Moon and The Milkman, out 8th March, see Amelia speak in a folk music dialect all her own, and I’m left intrigued to hear more.
Top Tracks: The Crane Wives – The Well
There’s more music in the world than ever before; more than we could ever hope to listen to in one lifetime. Most of it will inevitably pass us by. Part of the trade off in always chasing new releases for the blog is that I have less opportunity to look back at everything I missed. For this reason I tend to avoid covering established acts that I’m unfamiliar with as I feel unable to do them justice. Knowing the path a band has taken often feels like necessary context for where they are now. But rules are meant to be broken. I’m a music writer second and a music enjoyer first. There’s no final call for boarding a band’s hype train, you can join the ride at any time. For established fans of indie folk outfit The Crane Wives, I’m sure ‘The Well’ represents a triumphant return as their first new music in 7 years. For me, it’s a peek through the keyhole at a whole new world just waiting to be explored. From its arresting opening lines (“All the words I couldn’t say to you, Fill up the spaces in my chest, Like spare coins poised on the tip of my tongue, I make a wish and hold my breath“) and distinctive harmonies, to the way that its closing guitar solo unwinds, ‘The Well’ has been a stunning discovery to end the year on – don’t let it pass you by.
Top Tracks: Kitty Perrin – Death Metal
We’re all guilty of trying to hide from our own thoughts sometimes. It’s often our first instinct when times are hard. When thoughts we’d rather not deal with keep echoing in our heads, we resort to drowning them out; headphones on, music loud, blocking out the whole world, our own thoughts included. Yet in doing so we risk drowning out the good as well as the bad. The reassuring words of those that love and care for us can be blocked out just as easily. As hard as it is for someone’s kind words to resonate louder than your own dark thoughts, it’s even harder for them to register when they’re having to compete with the metal blaring out your headphones too. The new single from Norwich based singer/songwriter Kitty Perrin captures the frustrating feeling of trying to love someone through the walls they’ve built. What starts as a tender plaintive folk ballad soon builds in scope and intensity, with the overdriven guitar and emphatic percussion of its closing moments feeling like a last ditch attempt to be heard through the noise.
Top Tracks: Dune Moss – Lullaby Please Don’t Lie
Whenever someone says “I don’t believe in fairies” there’s a fairy somewhere that dies; so the story goes. I like to think we’re all born with a bit of the fae inside of us. Adventurous, mischievous, able to see the beauty and wonder in all things, possessing a boundless imagination. Yet as we grow older, the rude awakening of adulthood delights in telling us that there’s no such thing as fairies, and extinguishing every spark of magic that remains. Piece by piece the world is made to feel like a far harsher, smaller place. ‘Lullaby Please Don’t Lie’ plays like the last desperate plea of your inner child, urging you to look beyond your mundane surroundings and see the world as the magical place that some part of your heart still holds it to be. Dune Moss’ haunting and ethereal vocals hold a childlike vulnerability to them, so delicate you hold your breath as to not disturb the moment. But fae are known for their deceptive nature, and by the time the songs builds to a colossal roaring climax, it is already too late, you have already fallen under Dune’s spell.
Top Tracks: The Deep Blue – Somebody’s Daughter
“…only love can conquer hate” is a touching sentiment whose practical application often seems to get lost. After all, there’s so much callous and misguided hate out there, always trying to shout loud enough to be the only voice heard. It feels like it should be every decent person’s duty to shout back in the face of injustice, right? While there’s always a time and a need for that, you don’t build a better world simply by tearing down what’s wrong, you need to fill the void left behind with something better. Offering a compassionate helping hand does more good in the moment than shaking a fist in anger. In order for divisions to disappear people need a reminder that there’s more than unites us than divides. ‘Somebody’s Daughter’ is a refreshing oasis of empathy in the bitter, dehumanising discourse surrounding asylum seekers. Against a backdrop of expressive jazzy percussion and warm soulful harmonies, Manchester quartet The Deep Blue paint a moving portrait of a child in need. Showing that sometimes the greatest act of rebellion is having enough love in your heart to not let stories of real human beings be forgotten as mere statistics.
Top Tracks: Riley Pearce – How Will I Know
One of the most important lessons in growing up is coming to terms with the fact that no one has a clue what they’re doing; it’s a lesson we seem doomed to learn slowly, with many doubts and missteps along the way. We all convince ourselves that we haven’t accomplished as much as our peers. We all have days where it feels like we missed an important lesson one day on “how to be a functional adult” and have been playing catch-up every since. Australian singer/songwriter Riley Pearce details that all too familiar reverse God complex feeling in his lush new single ‘How Will I Know’. It captures the spirit of just barely getting by, treading water day after day praying for solid ground under your feet. The fear of not living up to the person you hoped you’d be, the person you feel those around you deserve. Yet beneath this track’s doubtful reflection we find a breezy arrangement, swimming in comforting melodies, that seems to carry a promise of brighter days ahead – and somehow part of me can’t help but believe it.
Top Tracks: Fieldlily – Sunrise
The sun will rise tomorrow; that’s just the way of things. The dawn doesn’t care if you believe in it or not, it just is. No matter how long and dark the night may seem, the light is creeping ever closer as sure as clockwork. What that new day holds – who knows? So much is uncertain in our lives, but at least we can place our trust in one constant, one source of light and warmth that never strays too far. Whether you choose to seize it, savour it, or simply let it pass by like so many others, life is a constant stream of new days and new beginnings. A fitting sentiment then for the debut single from Fieldlily, the latest project from Beth and Emillie Key from Wildwood Kin. Forging a fresh path forward as a duo under a new name brings both tantalising possibility and daunting uncertainty, and ‘Sunrise’ is a hopeful reminder to have faith that there’s always light ahead. With its subtle airy atmosphere, an interlude full of expressive drum work, and comforting melodies elevated by the sisters’ heart-warming harmonies, it’s a stunning start to this new chapter. I have faith Fieldlily will have plenty more delightful creations to share in the days ahead, just as sure as the sun rises.
Top Tracks: Dog Door – Cover Up Contest
Photographers the world over have the ability to take crisp, clear digital photos, and yet many still gravitate to the look and feel of vintage film. It’s faded, grainy, full of the orange glare of light leak, far from the perfect way to capture a subject; but therein lies the charm. Something about those flaws, the dust, the scratches, that warm glow, just gives pictures an otherworldly shimmer. Photos like that feel like a window into a memory, as the nostalgia filter in our brain warps our recollection of the past in much the same way. The tender lo-fi arrangement of ‘Cover Up Contest’ is a prime example of that same principle in music. Dog Door, a collaboration between Jamie Cameron of Belwood favourites The Last Dinosaur and Oakland, California based creative Oliver Girdler, draw from the lighter side of bands like Sparklehorse and Talk Talk to imbue their debut single with that same wistful shimmer. ‘Cover Up Contest’ is a grainy vignette of a long forgotten summer, full of the same warm uncanny glow we afford all cherished memories.
Belwood Music 