Sometimes a heart can be so broken that the pain bleeds out through the cracks to poison the world around you. That level of grief and betrayal turns the things you once saw through rose tinted lenses into something that now makes you see red. Places that once held happy memories become bitter reminders of what’s been lost. Pain that deep takes a long time to heal, even without constant salt in the wound, so sometimes the best course is to leave in search of a fresh start and never look back. ‘Leaving You With Less’ sees Mikhail Laxton channel that sorrow into something beautiful. Taken from his eponymous debut album, this single is paired wonderfully with a video that captures the despair and anger in a truly cinematic fashion. Mikhail’s vocals reside at the improbable perfect intersect between gritty earthiness, and the warmest, smoothest soul – elevated to even greater heights thanks to the track’s soaring harmonies. The guitar work curves and winds like a country road, and whenever you feel like you’ve heard all it has to offer it just keeps pulling you along. It’s like that urge to keep chasing the horizon as long as you can, just to be sure the past is no longer in your rear view mirror.
top tracks
Top Tracks: Rosie H Sullivan – Fragments
Home is where the heart is, that’s what they say. But we share our hearts with a lot of people and places over the course of our lives; sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can form a connection to a place that runs far deeper. Sometimes true home is something inseparably entwined with your very soul. No matter how far you roam you still feel a tether binding you, pulling you back. No matter how much you grow, it is the earth that your roots cling to. No matter how much life may try to weather you down, a part of you is forever cut from that same stone. The new single from Scottish singer/songwriter Rosie H Sullivan perfectly captures that sentiment. ‘Fragments’, a loving ode to the Isle of Lewis, relates how home isn’t something you give a piece of yourself to – rather you yourself are always a part of it. That love just radiates in every moment of the track, like her breath is one with the breeze and her heart beats in time with the waves upon the shore. The wistful, elegant arrangement, and Rosie’s dreamy vocals, ensure that this gorgeous single feels just as warm and comforting as a true home should.
Top Tracks: Samantha Lindo – Little Songbird
Sometimes great things take time. A mighty oak doesn’t spring up overnight, if anything the lengthy journey it takes to grow only adds to its majesty. In an age of instant gratification, songs like ‘Little Songbird’ which take that message to heart are a rare and precious gift. Taken from rising star Samantha Lindo’s forthcoming album Ancestry, this track is a must listen for fans of Michael Kiwanuka. Its dreamy, soft-spoken intro shifts into expressive bass lines and warm soulful vocals, the arrangement gradually growing in scope and elegance before a stirring climax. A swell of strings gives way to a soaring sax solo, in a crescendo like a bird’s first flight; how I imagine that moment between falling and flying must feel. Every moment of the song seems to rise taller that the one that came before. Inspired by the story of her great uncle’s migration to Canada from Jamaica, it carries that same thread of growth in its message. How all fires start from a single spark. How a whole community may stem from one person showing solidarity, a shift in narrative can start with one story being told, and a wider chorus for change all begins with a single voice calling out.
Top Tracks: Durry – I’m Fine (No Really)
The most oft repeated lie is “I’m fine”. Usually it’s said as a quick deflection, having neither the time nor the energy to talk about how you really feel. Sometimes we’re lying to ourselves, hoping that if we say we’re fine often enough we’ll manifest it into becoming true. The new track from stellar sibling duo Durry isn’t either of those. Instead it’s the kind of “I’m fine” that slips out as a reflex – when thinking otherwise, even for a moment, would send a trail of mental dominoes all cascading down. A plaster on an open wound, a chain lock on a bike with missing wheels, a wet floor sign slowly floating away in rising flood water. It’s about as convincing as saying “I didn’t do it” when caught red handed at a crime scene, but it slips out all the same. This cathartic scream-along single is another relatable cut from Durry’s forthcoming debut Suburban Legend, out 8th September. The rollicking, foot-stomping, folk punk energy of ‘I’m Fine (No Really)’ hides the pair’s signature self-aware and self-deprecating lyricism beneath an electrifying and anthemic façade, like someone flashing a smile when they’re screaming behind the eyes.
Top Tracks: Isla – Better
“We accept the love we think we deserve” – sadly I think few truer words about love have ever been written. But what I’ve never really considered till now, and what this quote fails to capture, is how what we think we deserve isn’t set in stone. One eureka moment of self-reflection could be all it takes to see yourself in a different light. One instance of someone pushing you too far could be all that’s needed to remove the rose tinted lenses from your eyes, revealing for the first time the pattern of how you’ve been consistently taken for granted. As cathartic as that moment is, when you realise your own self-worth, it’s often accompanied by the thoughts of “why didn’t I realise sooner?”. With her new single ‘Better’, taken from her forthcoming EP Low, New Zealand based singer/songwriter Isla writes for her younger self. An uplifting embrace for her past self, laying a toxic relationship bare and trying to awaken the inner strength that lay dormant. While the past is one thing that is set in stone, ‘Better’ can still be a beacon of self-worth in the present, hopefully providing someone with their own eureka moment to help them towards the love they truly deserve.
Top Tracks: A Days Wait – Indelible (feat. LISA)
We like to think we’re rational creatures, basing our thoughts and actions on logic and reason, but we’re driven by instinct more often than we realise. We get a feeling in our gut that we just can’t shake or explain away. No matter how much you tell yourself there’s nothing lurking in the corner of a dark room, some part of you refuses to believe. There’s no real explanation as to why we fall in love with someone, why that one person in particular has our heart, but we feel it in our soul all the same. Sometimes words and reasons just falter in the face of sheer vibes. ‘Indelible’ is a song that operates in that same space. It’s the very blueprint of a carefree summer song, the kind instils both a sense of peace and of endless possibility, and yet words escape me as to what makes it so. Any sentence I string together about its driving rhythm, bright and airy guitar riffs, shimmering melodies and the sweeping dream pop haze of its chorus, somehow feels wholly inadequate. ‘Indelible’ isn’t a song you merely listen to, and certainly not something my words can do justice to; its something you feel.
Top Tracks: The Last Dinner Party – Sinner
There are so many different versions of ‘us’ – the version our friends see, the one we save for colleagues, the facade reserved for strangers in the street etc. – that sometimes it’s hard to know which one is the real thing. Sometimes we create a whole new self without meaning to; we open our minds to new ideas, wantonly dive into new experiences with reckless abandon. A sense of freedom is unleashed like Pandora’s Box, and you’re left unable to be the same quiet naive person you once were. An in a band like The Last Dinner Party, with such a finely attuned aesthetic of theatricality, and at the centre of a vortex of hype and acclaim, there’s the added difficulty of figuring out where the charismatic revelry of your goth rock alter ego fits into the bigger picture. Their new single ‘Sinner’, which fittingly explores a more dark, feral and indulgent sound than their stellar debut, reflects on the desire to reconcile all those disparate facets. Longing to have every version of yourself, no matter how different from each other, loved equally as equally important parts of your identity.
Top Tracks: Nieve Ella – Your Room
The post-gig blues are a well documented phenomenon at this point. That moment of crashing back to reality after the escapism offered by live music. Yet somehow I’m still riding the high from summer festivals. It’s amazing the power one magical weekend has to lift the weight off your shoulders, unwind the knot that’s been at the pit of your stomach, and help you rediscover a version of yourself that you forgot how to be. But with her new single, Nieve Ella, one of my favourite festival discoveries of the summer, offers a reminder that such a release is an exception to the rule that good things take time. ‘Your Room’, taken from her EP Lifetime Of Wanting out 1st September, acknowledges that the first step to unravelling that emotional knot in your gut is allowing yourself to let go. Being able to walk away from the past, admitting that something wasn’t meant to last or was a mistake from the outset, having faith enough in yourself to turn over a new page. This delightfully dreamy dose of bedroom pop is a reminder that no matter how long it takes to lift the weight that’s been holding you down, the most important step is recognising that it’s there and believing that you deserve better.
Top Tracks: Matthew And The Atlas – This Place We Live
I think it’s the responsibility of every generation to leave the world better than they found it, ready for the next generation that follows. It’s a simple prospect when talking in broad strokes, but on a more personal level, a parent trying their best to do right by their child, things get a lot more complicated. Making mistakes is part of life, it’s how we learn and grow, but every decision carries more weight when it affects a child as well as ourselves. Each path you’ve taken to get here is second-guessed, thinking whether you could have provided a better life had things worked out differently. Wondering if the things you strive to provide are what’s most needed, trying to find the balance of letting them make their own mistakes and protecting them from the same pitfalls that made you stumble. ‘This Place We Live’ sees Matthew And The Atlas reflect on the nature of parenthood. The title track from their forthcoming album, out 13th October, its stripped back arrangement gives Matt Hegarty’s distinctive voice room to shine. His weathered baritone lends a wisdom and gravitas to the track as he resolves to give himself room to make mistakes and grow as a parent, as well as fretting less about where the road is leading and instead savouring sharing the journey together.
Top Tracks: Rachel Newnham – Nobody Loves You Like I Do
There are two sides to love – the love we give and the love we receive. The latter needs little explanation; we all want someone to care for us and support us unconditionally, someone who understands us and finds joy and comfort in being around us. It’s a need built into every soul, and in a way being that person for someone brings its own reward. It feels good to be there for someone, to be their rock, their shelter from the storm. When you feel like just one tiny person in a big wide world, it can bring solace to know that to one person you are the world. However, as up-and-coming singer/songwriter Rachel Newnham attests on her debut single, sometimes there’s little comfort to be found when the love you give far outweighs that which you receive in return. The poignant indie pop balladry of ‘Nobody Loves You Like I Do’ is a tender reflection on how it feels to be under-appreciated in a relationship, setting yourself on fire to keep someone else warm, and yet holding on regardless as you still have so much love to give.
Belwood Music 