Sometimes we all need a song that we can simply get lost in, and disappear for a while. In that regard you’re unlikely to find a more suitable song than the latest single from New Jersey based band The Big Drops. ‘By The Water’, taken from their upcoming debut album Time, Color out 23rd June, is a hypnotic and tranquil journey through soft psychedelica. It takes you to a place with clear and calm waters, a kaleidoscope sun, and the gentle caress of a summer breeze. The kind of place you can spend hours exploring on your own in peaceful reverie. If you plan on listening to this song I advise you to clear your schedule, you’ll have it on repeat for a good long while!
top tracks
Top Tracks: The Lunar Year – Backyard Deck
Belwood favourites The Lunar Year are back with their new single ‘Backyard Deck’, taken from their upcoming debut album Herodias out 16th June. While the previously featured ‘Porcelain‘ focussed on the unrelenting pull of love, this new track reflects on long passed memories of youth, but with all the same heartfelt sincerity and enthrallingly passionate delivery. Beginning as an introspective, piano driven track, the song soon builds into a more expansive sound, complete with hazy guitar tones and by far the most compelling, yet understated, drum work I’ve heard all year. ‘Backyard Deck’ shows a new side to the band with its hints of dream pop and indie rock. What makes The Lunar Year so special is the honesty within their music, the sense that the band are revealing to you some fragile and precious part of their souls, making each song feel like a gift.
Top Tracks: Hyleen – Looking At
Hailing from Cannes in the south of France, funk pop singer/songwriter Hyleen has really caught me by surprise with her soulful new single. ‘Looking At’, the first track from her upcoming second album B-Side, pays homage to everyone from Nile Rodgers to Joss Stone. With all the infectious bass lines you expect from the classic funk sound, some superbly soulful keyboards at work towards the end of the track, and with plenty of polished pop production and accessibility, Hyleen has all bases covered with this latest genre-hopping offering. ‘Looking At’ has that warm vintage sound that is hard not to love. With a sound as good as this I’m more than convinced that Hyleen is the best French musician that you will hear this year, and her new record promises to share her talents with the wider world.
Top Tracks: Tom Lumley – Dream City
Belwood Spotlight artist Tom Lumley has unveiled the new video for his song ‘Dream City’, the title track from his debut EP. Beginning in broody black and white with footage of Tom and the band performing, spliced with scenes within the city streets, it catches you offguard with it’s occasional kaleidoscopic explosions of colour. Blending together indie and alternative rock, the track boasts a great interplay between uplifting lead lines and heavier rhythm riffs, with some superb bass lurking just beneath the surface. ‘Dream City’ is built around its memorable melodies, and its anthemic chorus is perfect for fans of Catfish and the Bottlemen. Tom has been going from strength to strength this year, and ‘Dream City’ is a great indication of the kind of festival ready hits that he is capable of.
Top Tracks: TJ Stafford – Crazy
Having performed in various bands over the years, and with his music being featured on such iconic shows as The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy and True Blood, LA based songwriter TJ Stafford has struck out on his own with his debut single. ‘Crazy’, taken from his upcoming debut album All My Bad Habits Have Prepared Me For This out 30th June, is a dark and brooding track, a slow burning fuse of volatile alternative rock. With an inescapable air of tension the song drifts along its mesmeric rhythm, the haze pierced only by occasional cathartic bursts of aggression. Like a sleepwalk through a minefield, the contrast at work here is quite striking. TJ has started strong with his solo career and his debut seems sure to have more surprises in store.
Top Tracks: The Afghan Whigs – Arabian Heights
Cult 90s legends The Afghan Whigs are back, with the latest cut from their forthcoming album In Spades, out 5th May. ‘Arabian Heights’ is nothing short of a rock masterclass; with a riff reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Rover’, a myriad of mystifying effects that could have come straight from Rush’s ‘Clockwork Angels’ and a stellar rhythm section that sounds like The Stone Roses possessed by the devil incarnate. There’s simply so much going on here; otherworldly elements, exotic expression and all the classic alt rock sounds in a way you’ve not heard before. ‘Arabian Heights’ takes every interesting aspect of every rock album you’re likely to hear this year and fuses them into something simply spectacular. If the rest of In Spades can match this then we may have an absolute classic on our hands.
Top Tracks: Duncan Lloyd – Heads Of The Bastille
Lead guitarist and primary songwriter for Maximo Park, Duncan Lloyd, has shared his latest single ‘Heads Of The Bastille’. The first single from his upcoming solo album I O U O M E, released 26th May, it juxtaposes a sad tale of waning love in a failing relationship with gloriously bright and cheerful indie melodies. The track gives the impression of a “C’est La Vie” attitude, trying not to get bogged down in life’s pitfalls and simply acknowledging that they are a part of the journey. Lloyd’s pensive and personal, albeit glass-half-full, songwriting on this track is delightfully refreshing. Music is meant to speak to people, and sometimes we all need to hear that when things get tough, we just need to accept the world as it is and try to look towards the future. This warm and honest song is the reassuring voice of reason you need.
Top Tracks: Naomi Wachira – Beautifully Human
There are many memorable lyrics that stay with us, but one of the most powerful to my mind is “war is not the answer, only love can conquer hate” from Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’. It’s a message that all too often gets forgotten in today’s divided world, but has been captured perfectly in the latest single from Kenyan born singer/songwriter Naomi Wachira. ‘Beautifully Human’, taken from her upcoming album Song of Lament, speaks out about human equality and celebrating our differences rather than fearing them. Combining folky acoustic guitar, warm reggae rhythms and soulful, uplifting vocals, the track plays as a bright anthem of hope, but deep down within lies a firm resolve not to give in to the darkness that surrounds us. This a ray of sun to be cherished in this bleak landscape.
Top Tracks: Julian Fulton – Howl
The old ways never really disappear, but sometimes they warp and change into new forms. The style-shifting new single from Julian Fulton contains bits and pieces of a range of genres, but at it’s centre beats a blues heart. ‘Howl’, taken from his upcoming EP Battered Receptions out 12th May, starts with a straightforward blues intro before taking you on a wild ride. Weaving its way from Jack White-esque vocals and a crisp indie guitar interlude, to wandering bass lines and mystical, atmospheric synths straight out of Rainbow’s Rising. Each surprising turn it takes builds the song up into something greater, and it grows even further with each new listen. Julian has seamlessly blended a range of styles into this intriguing little number, and his new EP promises to bring more of the same.
Top Tracks: Levy & The Oaks – Out Of The Blue
New Jersey based indie folk outfit Levy & The Oaks are back with their new single. ‘Out Of The Blue’, the title track of their upcoming EP out 19th May, shares a message of giving both yourself and others a bit of love, patience and understanding when times get tough. Starting out with a sparse folk arrangement, the band then bring an anthemic indie pop chorus into play, the kind that stays with you for days at a time, before catching you off-guard in the closing moments of the track with a hearty dose of electropop synths. Levy & The Oaks refuse to be pigeonholed with this latest track that seems equally at home as a festival anthem, or as a fireside sing-a-long for those long summer nights. It’s the kind of song that will end up being important to many different people, all for very different reasons.
Belwood Music 