Happy New Year!! It’s 2023! Reasons to be cheerful….errr…. well, I’m sure there’s something. We’ll get back to you. In the meantime, listen to some lovely soothing music, that will in some cases not be soothing but may jolt you in to action to start on those resolutions you all have definitely made and definitely already started and will religiously stick to, like a choirmaster in a vestry full of choirboys. Enjoy!!
Tape Runs Out – Souvenir
Why We Love It: because it has that American alt-rock from the 00’s feel. A bit Interpol, a bit The Walkmen, a bit Editors. But they’re from Cambridge. It’s moody and noir and really quite exciting. They’ve got a good band name too, very important, oft the opposite currently.
‘Souvenir’ has completely nailed the drone, two chord verse, choir-like backing vocals, angular guitars scattered hither and thither. It doesn’t outstay it’s welcome either, sticks around just long enough to make the tea and then catch the next bus.
They’ve been about for a while but are only releasing their debut LP, Floodhead, this coming March so keep an eye out for that. (Jim Auton)
Afflecks Palace – I’m So Glad You’re On Ecstasy
Why We Love It: because we all need a bit of Smiths-y jangle-pop don’t we? Their influences, from the name to the sound are pinned to their lapels but that’s no bad thing, it’s just some people think certain influences are more worthy than others these days. I think this is great.
‘I’m So Glad You’re On Ecstasy’ is an interesting name for such a blissed out, dream-pop record, maybe mushrooms would be more fitting? Obviously this is about someone who is self-medicating to escape from reality, and who doesn’t want that right now.
Best lyric “I’m a walking disaster/I’m so horny but so lonely”.
A couple of EPs down, and debut LP What Do You Mean It’s Not Raining? came out in 2021but more new stuff incoming. (Jim Auton)
H.C. McEntire – Rows of Clover
Why we love it: Described as a “grief-stricken lamentation on the loss of a “steadfast hound.””, ‘Rows of Clover’ is the latest track to be taken from H.C. McEntire’s forthcoming album, Every Acre, which is out on the 27th of January via Merge Records.
By way of a much wider explanation about the song, the musician, writer, and producer from Durham, North Carolina and front woman of Mount Moriah says “The chorus lyrics in ‘Rows of Clover’ arrived before anything else on this album. They are dark and straightforward, unapologetic—a body in pain, a broken spirit, a tired heart. I needed to acknowledge my grief and depression in an unmistakable way; to name it and know the feeling of it being lifted by my lungs. In contrast, and written much later, the verses offer observations of a more poetic kind, kneeling beside that same garden bed: hunters planting millet and rye; a fawn born in the front yard; sundown through cedars; burn barrels roaring orange; fresh pink ribbons tagging the ridgeline around me. From the center, looking out—I sowed the red clover, to start over again.”
Give ‘Rows of Clover’ a listen and hear for yourself. It’s a bit special with H.C. McEntire emotive voice capturing all of the deep yearning that lies at its very heart. (Simon Godley)
Seafret – See, I’m Sorry
Why we love it: It is now more than six years since I first caught Seafret in concert. Twice within weeks I saw the duo from the East Riding of Yorkshire seaside town of Bridlington, lower down the respective bills at the Deer Shed and Cambridge Folk Festivals. You sensed even then that they were destined for big things, a promise that has since been confirmed by a series of great EPs and singles, the last of which ‘Atlantis’ hit the UK top 40 off the back of a surge of TikTok interest. Last year their number of monthly Spotify listeners increased to over 12 million.
And 2023 looks as if it is going to continue that critical and commercial momentum. Seafret have just released their latest single, the rather brilliant ‘See, I’m Sorry’, a song that is accompanied by a stunning new video, where fans of the duo were asked to say what they were sorry for, interspersed with clips of singer Jack Sedman and guitarist Harry Draper performing on the seafront of their home town. (Simon Godley)
SYML – Believer
Why we love it: “Touch me like a lover, speak to me like a friend.”
SYML – the solo project of the Seattle born and raised singer, songwriter, and producer Brian Fennell – provides some pretty sage advice on how to develop a positive personal relationship on his latest single, ‘Believer’.
Taken from his forthcoming second album, The Day My Father Died – produced by renowned indie producer and Brian Fennell’s fellow Seattle native Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Built to Spill, Band of Horses), out on the 3rd of February via Nettwerk – ‘Believer’ is a beautiful tribute to Fennell’s life partner, his words of devotion conveyed over a perfect melody in his unique falsetto.
Speaking about the song, Brian Fennell says “To be a believer in something is as pure as it gets. For me, it’s when I realised it was never a God or magical ghost, but my lover and how I fell at her feet.” (Simon Godley)
Black Belt Eagle Scout – Nobody
Why we love it: Black Belt Eagle Scout is the moniker of Swinomish, Washington-based multi-instrumentalist, and radical indigenous queer feminist, Katherine Paul – whose new album is out 10th Feb via Saddle Creek (Tomberlin, Indigo De Souza etc.). The first single ‘Nobody’ is a comforting ode to indigenous representation and personal growth, that gently envelops you upon a bed of shimmering guitars and clip clopping drums swelling into a life affirming anthem. Swen with Paul’s vocals that are gently sonorous and imbued with a meditation upon growing up without role models and the strength and self esteem gifted to her by her community and the shifts in representation in the media.
She says “I didn’t have very many Native role models to look to on TV or the radio. It was within my own community that I found inspiring role models through our elders and our community leaders. With Native representation in music and television slowly growing, I often ask myself where I stand within representation in music and how I want to be seen.” (Bill Cummings)
Quiet Houses – Hot and Clumsy
Why we love it: Quiet Houses are the duo of Edinburgh-bred Jamie Stewart and Hannah Elliott. They have revealed their new single ‘Hot and Clumsy’. Surfing through paddling beats and shimmering mathy riffs, Hannah Elliot’s emotive vocals inhabits the minds eye of the songs narrative of teenage parties and detailing the awkwardness of early intimate moments, the rushing swooning chorus is gorgeous.
“‘Hot and Clumsy’ is about the nervous excitement of being young and liking someone at a party. The song celebrates the awkwardness of being vulnerable with someone, it embraces the moments we are all embarrassed about.”
“Around the time we started writing the song I was learning lots of math-rock style riffs. I had a few riffs of my own but didn’t feel they would work in our music until I paired one of them with the drum loop that plays throughout Hot and Clumsy. The loop comes from this drum machine app called FunkBox which I read about in an Aaron Dessner interview. I took this idea to Hannah and we wrote the rest of the tune that week.
We loved the awkward energy of the music and wrote the lyrics around that. The song is about the nervous excitement of being young and liking someone at a party. We wanted it to celebrate the awkwardness of being vulnerable with someone, and embrace the moments we are all embarrassed about.” (Bill Cummings)
