From the first dark and mysterious bass line of ‘Lambs’, immediately reminiscent of Tool, you know you’re in for one hell of a ride. With the latest single from their forthcoming debut album Eleutheromania, Canadian band Trope offer a master class in building tension. There’s so much energy longing for release here that you can feel it tingling away at your skin. Opening with a heavy stomp as the song reflects on the nature of bullying, the track soon turns a corner into more frenetic territory as it turns to face the topic of betrayal. The change in tone, from steadfast to suspicious, says a lot about how the people we trust most hold the most power over us, and we are left to trust them not to break us down. From the intricate yet powerful instrumentals to Diana Studenberg’s show-stopping vocals, this is a track that demands your full attention and is more than worthy of it.
top tracks
Top Tracks: Noah Derksen – Nothing
With this latest single, exploring his own unique style of “contemplative folk”, Canadian singer/songwriter Noah Derksen reaches new levels of heartwarming innocence and charm. The gorgeous ‘Nothing’ is sure to be a wedding song for the ages, complete with Noah’s sublime vocals, a lush, comforting arrangement, and lyrics so sweet as to bring a tear to your eye. Often love songs can come across as cheesy, but this track can reach even the fiercest cynic like a single flower growing through a cracked pavement. A perfectly crafted ballad, it describes the greatest feeling of peace and contentment that someone can experience; that feeling of being with the one you love and knowing that it’s the only thing that matters. If that’s what love is then it’s safe to say that I love this song, as when it’s playing it’s like the rest of the world doesn’t exist.
Top Tracks: Arbour Season – Leaving Delaware
You don’t have to be the next Milton or Shakespeare to say something meaningful. Sometimes all it takes is a simple message told in a heartfelt way to leave a lasting impression. There are plenty of lines like that in ‘Leaving Delaware’, the new song from husband and wife duo Arbour Season, but it’s the line “there’s too many streetlights I’d like to see the stars” that most strikes a chord with me. Whether you take it literally and feel the wanderlust it induces, or see that same sentiment elsewhere as we’re being held back from living the life we want, I don’t doubt it will leave its mark on you. Great words work best though with great delivery, and on ‘Leaving Delaware’ you’re treated to some of the finest harmonies you’ll hear all year, and understated harmonica that feels as though it’s merely the breath of the wind as the very world itself plays along with this charming song.
Top Tracks: Luna Pines – Spring
They say that even within genres you generally dislike you can find exceptions that you love, and that’s true for both music fans and critics alike. I get sent no end of electronic music that I end up having to turn away, citing that it’s not something I enjoy. This new track from Luna Pines, formed by three Leeds based producers, is the exception to the rule. ‘Spring’, taken from their debut EP The House We Lived In out 1st June, uses the electronic elements alongside traditional instrumentation to craft a bewitching ambient soundscape. This song flows over you effortlessly as though it were made from the finest silk, and leaves you at peace adrift in the calm endless ocean of your thoughts. Poignant and perfectly produced, I urge all other doubters of electronic music to indulge in this track and experience the rare kind of beauty that it offers.
Top Tracks: Alec Gaston – Waiting For The Sunrise
While I don’t approve of throwing vinyl around like in the beginning of the music video, I do very much approve of this sun-drenched new song. ‘Waiting For The Sunrise’, the first single from Brooklyn based artist Alec Gaston’s forthcoming debut album, is a masterclass in laid-back psychedelica. The kaleidoscopic soundscape simply screams summer. It shimmers bewitchingly like some heat haze in the distance, and when you sit back and really listen to this track you can practically feel the sun on your face as you soak it all in. Alec’s excellent vocals here are as versatile as they are compelling, drawing as much from funk and soul as they do from the classic trippy 60s sound. This is the kind of song you play to make the most of those rare lazy days, where you can just lie back and bask in great music all day long.
Top Tracks: The Mason District – Lose Your Mind
Channelling Kings Of Leon at their very best, indie trio The Mason District – hailing from Cleveland, Ohio – have hit it out of the park with their infectious new single. ‘Lose Your Mind’, taken from their new EP The Blue Room pt.1 out now, is packed to the rafters with positive energy. A real understated highlight for me occurs in the breakdown around the two-minute mark, as each member is given their time to shine. Tom Tobias shares a simply sublime guitar lick, Colin Nutter offers a great little drum flourish, and Maria Petti rounds it out with a fantastic bass run. It shows that they adhere to the age-old law of musical trios; each member needs to carry their weight or it all collapses. There’s no danger of that happening here, The Mason District have worked in perfect harmony to create a track that would be the perfect addition to any feel-good indie playlist.
Top Tracks: Sam Valdez – Farther Away
After a few years of running a music blog, you begin to pick up on trends and take note of what genres and styles most frequently appear in your inbox. Much to my delight a plethora of great Americana and dream pop tracks end up being sent my way, but it is rare indeed to find a song that so perfectly balances both styles. Inspired by the likes of Sufjan Stevens and The War On Drugs, the new single from Sam Valdez ‘Farther Away’ boasts blissful shimmering soundscapes paired with honest heartland folk vibes. Sam’s dreamy vocals are the kind that you can just get lost in. Having grown up on the edge of the Nevada desert, it’s not hard to see the effect it had on Sam’s songwriting. ‘Father Away’ radiates warmth like the desert sun itself, all the while dancing like a mirage on the horizon and luring you deeper under its spell.
Top Tracks: The New Pacific – Get Away
This fantastically frenetic new track from LA based alt rock band The New Pacific is the perfect song to get you all fired up. The intro does its best to ease you in, but it only prolongs the inevitable as you’re soon consumed by the unrelenting opening guitar. The more subdued chorus lures you into a false sense of security with its hypnotic drums and mesmeric melodic vocals, but those high-octane riffs soon jump back into action to pull you in to an adrenaline fuelled thrill ride. A track all about spiralling out of control, both on a personal level and looking out at the state of the world, ‘Get Away’ fits the theme well by imbuing a sense of barely restrained chaos in the song’s more tempestuous moments. It’s the kind of song that makes you feel invincible, like you can weather whatever the world throws at you.
Top Tracks: Luke Sital-Singh – Weight Of Love
Sometimes the best way to get a little perspective on your problems and escape the monotony of the daily grind is to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Ditch the hustle and bustle of the city and take a moment to feel the breeze, listen to the birds singing, and remind yourself that we’re all a part of this magnificent living thing we call Earth. It’s can be such a humbling and revitalising experience, and that sensation is portrayed brilliantly in the title track from Luke Sital-Singh’s latest EP Weight Of Love. It boasts rich lyrical imagery, and Luke’s voice contains such heartfelt passion that it sounds as though he’s pleading to the heavens from atop a cliff edge. It’s such a real and honest performance, one of those rare songs recorded to capture its subtle imperfections, giving it character in such a way that you could never replicate the magic of the moment.
Top Tracks: The Honest Heart Collective – Separate Ways
Music is a wonderful means of expression, but it often seems like that potential goes to waste. There are millions of songs out there about love, or heartbreak, or just having a crazy night out, but there are so many other feelings and situations that affect countless people that don’t make anywhere near as many song appearances as they should. Take the new single from Canada’s own Honest Heart Collective. Channelling The Gaslight Anthem with their Americana inspired indie hit ‘Separate Ways’, the band discuss the sadness, confusion, and misplaced guilt of living in a broken home. This impassioned track deals with seeing the two people you love most drift apart, and battling the thought that something you did had a part to play in driving a wedge between them. It’s a powerful and heartfelt performance whose message is sure to be profoundly important for so many people. Maybe you don’t need lots of songs on a subject after all, when one song can get it all as spot on as this.
Belwood Music 