Home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling. A sense of comfort and familiarity, of love and support. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to be born into a place which feels like that, and perhaps take it for granted. Sometimes we have to travel further afield and meet the right people before we truly feel like we belong. And sometimes, like with folk pop duo All Faces, it’s in the very sensation of travelling and exploring that we feel most at home, in never knowing what awaits over the next horizon. Whenever it may strike, you’ll know it when you’ve found it, it’s a wonderful feeling and ‘Welcome Home’ does a superb job of capturing that same carefree joy it brings. With the kind of warm and welcoming hooks you’d expect from The Lumineers or early Ben Howard, this latest single just radiates innocence and positive energy.
top tracks
Top Tracks: Secret Lynx – Feline
‘Feline’ is the kind of song that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Normally I’d use that in a negative sense, denoting something lost, aimless, wasting potential, but not here. Have you ever met someone so easy-going and adaptable that you could drop them anywhere, set them to any task, and they’d take to it like a duck to water? What we have here is the musical equivalent. It has the well-travelled heartland charm of Tom Petty, the bright indie melodies of The Killers, the carefree come-what-may attitude of 90s alt rock. All of it wrapped up in a dream pop haze and dash of strings for good measure, to make the whole thing shimmer like sunlight dancing on the water. This Californian quartet’s multifaceted marvel could be played pretty much anywhere and still feel right at home.
Top Tracks: Jenny Kern – Slow Burn
A perfectly pensive track for these quiet winter nights, the aptly named ‘Slow Burn’ is just one of those songs that incites introspection. The kind of song that plays in your head as you watch the rain patter on your window, or the flames dancing in the fireplace. It has such a deeply cinematic feel that it can make even the most mundane setting feel like a movie scene. You almost seem to see the world differently with this song playing. Like the big things we all stress about don’t matter anymore, and instead you start to see more meaning in the little things that you wouldn’t normally even notice. Canadian born singer/songwriter Jenny Kern has made one hell of an impression with her debut single. I just want to listen to it on repeat until the world around me turns to dust.
Top Tracks: John Adams – Flames
Welsh singer/songwriter John Adams is the kind of artist that you can’t help but root for. Part of that is down to the fact that he’s worked his way up from busking, his years of hard graft playing a key part in making him the artist he is today. But even without any back story, his new single ‘Flames’ is more than enough to win you over. Taken from his new EP No White Lies out 8th February, this soulful breakup ballad carries that rare universal appeal that most artists can only dream of, thanks in no small part to John having the kind of voice that just melts your heart. The simple but effective video further adds to the song’s charm, showing the threads that unite us getting more and more tangled over time, and in the end leaving us trapped in a web of our own making.
Top Tracks: Astralingua – Space Blues
Personally I’ve always found solace in insignificance. Thinking about how we are but a tiny speck in an incomprehensibly large universe always seems to put my own problems into perspective. It’s easy to say that with your feet firmly on the ground, but I can imagine it can feel very different witnessing it all first hand. This new track from introspective folk duo takes a look at the other side of it all. The aptly named ‘Space Blues’ explores the loneliness and isolation of a life in space, and the feeling of looking out at an endless expanse and wondering if there’s any meaning in it all. Not only is a refreshingly unique subject for a song, but the duo have also executed it perfectly. With softly spoken vocals, mournful strings and eerie woodwinds offering a mystical feel, it’s the kind of song that makes the whole world seem to stand still and listen with you.
Top Tracks: Sun K – High In The City
Sat here on a bitterly cold night in January, snuggling close to a hot water bottle to try to keep the chills at bay, ‘High In The City’ is just the song I needed. A song to remind me that the summer sun, and the carefree adventures it brings, aren’t all that far away, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. Canadian band Sun K have loaded this track with gritty vocals and vintage guitar tones in this superb slice of old-school no-nonsense rock’n’roll. The band aren’t reinventing the wheel here, but then again if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Wheels are very much still in use and that classic rock sound is just as potent as it ever was. Everything about this song, from the throwback vibes to the nostalgic visuals, aims to recall the summers of the past. But there’s something inexplicable about it that makes me want to go out, have adventures and make new memories… when the weather warms up that is.
Top Tracks: Marlene Oak – Come Home
I’ve never heard another voice quite like this. In Swedish singer/songwriter Marlene Oak I can hear hints of Jeff Buckley, a fair bit of Dolores O’Riordan, and a whole heap of old school soul, all blending together into a pretty unique concoction. Vocals that are equal parts forceful and fragile, which end up being the perfect match for a song like ‘Come Home’. Taken from her upcoming EP Silver Moon, out 15th February, it’s a track all about finding your soulmate. Finding an all-encompassing love that fills an empty space inside that you perhaps never even knew was there. A love so deep feels much like Marlene’s vocals on this track. Something so powerful that it consumes your entire being, that you forget all else exists, and yet in turn leaving you so open and vulnerable, quivering on the edge of breaking point. They say that love is giving someone the power to destroy you and trusting them not to, and Marlene imbues that same raw emotion into this song.
Top Tracks: Natalie Shay – Yesterday
Up and coming singer/songwriter Natalie Shay was one of the new acts that impressed us most last year, and she’s already making waves in 2019 with her new single ‘Yesterday’. The addictive indie pop offering shows another new facet to her talents and features her best vocals and most infectious hooks to date. All about moving on from a one-sided relationship, and falling for someone who was never as committed as you, the track does a great job of wrapping up its honest and meaningful lyricism in an impeccable pop sheen. It’s the kind of song where you can draw what you want from it. Whether you’re looking for a break-up anthem or a new bop to get you up and dancing, it just depends on what mood you’re in. It varies from listen to listen, but you’ll have plenty of chance to explore both sides as I guarantee you’ll have it on repeat.
Top Tracks: Andrew Leahey – Airwaves
Americana and nostalgia are always a winning combination, you need look no further than this track for proof. ‘Airwaves’ is a layered love letter to the days when radio ruled the world, the days when the M in MTV stood for music and not miscellaneous. It’s a celebration of the sounds that became an important foundation for so many people growing up, and a sad reflection on how future generations will never know what they’re missing out on. More than that, it’s a view into a more personal connection with the music. Singer/songwriter Andrew Leahey underwent an operation that risked not only his hearing, but his life. An experience like that is sure to make someone appreciate the little things in life all the more, like hearing a song on the radio that just awakens something inside you. ‘Airwaves’ is a message: take it from someone in the know, seize the day and cherish the music that made you.
Top Tracks: Distant Days – Wrap Your Arms Around The Light
The latest track from Swedish band Distant Days plays like a nights sleep. Its softer moments drift by like a dream, notes falling soft like snowflakes in the magical winters you remember from your youth. The sweeping strings and gorgeous piano offer such a comforting atmosphere, like the song is an old lullaby half remembered from childhood. In the darker moments however the song takes a more sinister turn, as the dream shifts into more nightmarish territory. It offers an unsettling edge which keeps you guessing as you wait for the sweetness to return, and it just makes it feel all the more rewarding when it does. There’s just something heartwarmingly familiar about this song as a whole that I can’t quite put my finger on. ‘Wrap Your Arms Around The Light’ may wear its influences on its sleeve, recalling the likes of Nick Cave, Lou Reed and David Bowie, but it wears them well and does them justice.
Belwood Music 