10.27.15
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Ellie Ford – July

Cast your mind back to July. In many ways, four months is not that long ago but for me it feels like an age. The summer was ending before it had even begun. The days were already getting shorter and darkness was beginning to creep into our humid evenings. 

I wasn’t a happy chap then. Dreams of a delightful year that had seemed like an optimistic wish in Springtime lay shattered by June. My eventful and largely destructive trip to Brighton for the Great Escape in May had perhaps been an indication of what was around the corner. 

But it wasn’t all bad. There were still the festivals. At Beat Herder in the Ribble Valley, I experienced new things. By the end of July, I was pretty much smiling again for the chug to the coast of Cornwall for the charming Port Eliot festival. 

All of our July’s were different. I bet we can all remember moments of joy and moments of happiness that occurred back then. I bet we can remember the new things we tried, the things we were losing and the things that were just beginning. 

I’ve been sent this new video from Ellie Ford. 

She’s from Brighton but I don’t remember seeing her on that lost weekend in May. The song is called ‘July’. Ellie’s experiences of calendar month number seven are different to mine. But, this remains a song that fluctuates between highs and lows, peaks and troughs. Centred around a harp, new instruments are added and then removed. Orchestration comes and goes. Ellie’s voice flutters.

July is the first song from Ellie’s album ‘The Other Sun’ that’s not out until Spring 2016. July suggests that things are just beginning for Ellie Ford. 

 

10.26.15
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Sam Baker – October/November tour

A call out to the fine people of London, Lewes, Plymouth, Leeds, Gateshead and Bury. You’ve got a chance, this week, to see one of the most compelling live performers that I had the pleasure of reviewing last year. 

For Sam Baker is back in England and once again he’s joined by Carrie Elkin. Here’s my review from the simply stunning show that I saw last year.

 

And here’s a video of Sam playing the title track from his most recent album, Say Grace. 

Take a chance on live music. You surely won’t be disappointed.

10.25.15
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Ephemerals – You’ll Never See Me Cry

 I’ve had my fair share of relationship break-ups over the years. I’ve dealt with them in a number of ways but the common factor in all is that I’ve blubbed like a baby. Admittedly, some of those tear-stained goodbyes have lasted for mere seconds yet others have been cathartic, waterwork exercises that have surely tested the patience of my most chilled friends. 

 So, I confess to not entirely understanding the emotional sentiment of the new song from London based soul act, Ephemerals. “You’ll Never See My Cry” isn’t immediately identifiable as a break-up song but by the end of verse 2, the listener is left in no doubt.

 There’s hurt and regret a-plenty within this beauty. Tears might not be streaming down the face of the singer in that faux manner that viewers of X factor will be all too familiar with. Nope – this suppressed pain comes direct at you from the heart – and it’s all the more raw and powerful for it. 

 “You’ll Never See Me Cry” is the first release from Ephemerals second album, ‘Chasin Ghosts’ that’s just been released on Jalapeño Records. I’ve heard short snippets of the tracks on the album. 

 On the evidence provided, these are some Ephemerals that are very unlikely to be transitory or to quickly fade. 

 

 

10.10.15
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Kirt Debique – Things Left Unsaid

I no longer have a CD player at home. Everything is accessible through this pad on which I type. Increasingly, ‘things’ and ‘products’ become redundant as we move towards virtual storage, a space amongst the cloud.

Despite this lack of equipment, I still let out a squeal of satisfaction when, from time to time, the postman pops a CD package through my letterbox. They’re often delivered from PR companies eager for me to hear and review the latest artist they’re pushing. 

I daren’t reveal that Dropbox is often easier. I still love having something to hold. My car has a CD player; never a tidy cocoon, it’s now full of promotional polycarbonate plastic. 

One of the CDs that has really caught my ears in recent weeks is the new one from Kirt Debique, ‘Things Left Unsaid’. Before listening to the album, I had been drawn into the premise of it via the disturbing, yet ultimately (I think at least) redemptive video for the lead song from the album ‘Tell Me How You Know’. I’ve not heard many tunes this year that capture feelings of hurt, rejection, mistrust and anger in such laidback, calculated beauty. 

Accordingly, ‘Things Left Unsaid’ is an album conceived as a series of letters to parents and partners, siblings and strangers. Its eight songs delve into themes of love, family, and loss. Sitting behind accessible melodies are dark ponderous, rumblings. This is an album that lays demons bare; it knocks down the walls and barriers we all create around our hurt in order to protect and encourages us to dig deeper within our key relationships to become better citizens.

Kirt says of the album, “my dream would be if two people could actually become closer together and have these kinds of conversations by listening to, and talking about, the ideas on this record. I’d love that.”

It’s the sort of record that I should invest in a CD player at home for. 

 

 

 

 

10.08.15
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Felix Hagan & The Family – Kiss The Misfits

We’re halfway through another busy, working week. I’m pretty lucky that I enjoy my day job even though it can sometimes be pretty intense and busy. Tomorrow, I’m up before 6 to head to London for the second time this week. Tomorrow, I’ll have to wear a suit. I clock up the train miles. 

 But, I mustn’t grumble because doing this day job means I can cover (in part) the costs of my hectic social life. And this week, my social life (where I get to muse about music) has been pretty active. It shows no sign of abating this coming weekend either.

 I took advantage of being down in London for a ‘day job’ meeting to nip across to BBC 6 music’s live ‘Bloc Party’ show at Maida Vale. My brief reflections for eGigs are here. 

 Last night, I saw Squeeze and John Cooper Clarke at De Montfort Hall in Leicester. My review for the Leicester Mercury is here. 

This coming weekend, I’m heading off to Skegness to cover Butlins Alternative Weekender for EFestivals. I concede it’s not a shabby life. 

 I love my social life. I can whip off the suit and tie to mix with the people I really want to mix with. I can ‘Kiss The Misfits’. The theatrical, exuberant happiness of Felix Hagan & The Family’s tune, from their EP of the same name that’s coming out at the end of November, leaves the listener in no doubt which camp they’re in. 

 

This is an embrace of staying up all night, of exploring the darker recesses of pubs and nightclubs and of not worrying where the next pay cheque is coming from. 


 
10.03.15
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The Gods Themselves – Pink Champagne

I’m reminded of a work Christmas party. I was a mess back in those days. We all got on a coach and headed 50 miles up the motorway to join colleagues from another office. We only ever met in Tinsel season.

I had a wee. “Do you want some Pink Champagne?” said a voice from a cubicle. “What’s that?” I asked. “It’s like speed but with a tinge of red”, said the mystery voice. I got to know him as Duncan.

I missed the coach home. 

Hearing The Gods Themselves muse about Pink Champagne brings it all back. I don’t suspect that their tune is amphetamine tinged but I adore the edgy noise on display here.

“You’re such a young tramp, with your vanity Mouthin’ off beneath the marquis” 

I was terrible back in those days.. 

 

 

 

 
10.01.15
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Summer Twins – Demons

I’ve been sent a copy of the new album, Limbo, from Summer Twins. It’s released in the US today but fans of the sparkly, seductive, 60’s-inspired sisters in the UK will have to wait another month until they can get their hands on a copy. 

There’s a few train journeys coming up and I’ll make the most of them by digging into the new tunes of Chelsea and Justine Brown. On initial listen tonight, there are songs almost as immediate as Summer Twin classics like ‘Forget Me’ but where the earlier stuff twinkles on the toes-edge of twee, these new tracks have a harder, leathery jacket. The vocals appear more underplayed in the melodic mix as some of the throwaway cartoon punk guitar riffs take greater prominence. It’s still pretty fab though.

Apparently, Limbo was recorded over an intense ten day recording session in an isolated Sacramento studio. You can certainly feel some of that burning solitude surface within the one track that’s been circulating to date from the album. ‘Demons’ are being released through this release. 

Compare and contrast ‘Forget Me’ with ‘Demons’… I know what I prefer… 

 

 

09.30.15
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Will Varley – The Man Who Fell To Earth

One of my favourite festivals of this summer was the stunning Port Eliot down in Cornwall. Late one evening, in a walled garden where people drank wine and ate lobster by day, I sat in a rickety, wooden chair whilst Will Varley sang and strummed. It had been a lovely day but the lack of cloud cover now meant that it was a freezing night. A tear fell down my cheek.

I already knew that Will was good. I’d featured one of his early videos in one of my very first Sonic Breakfast posts over a year before. I hadn’t realised how good. It’s easy to dismiss him as a Frank Turner/Passenger copycat but that’s really not allowing yourself to open up to the absolute quality and humanity that exists within his songwriting. 

Take the new single ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’. The latest release from his forthcoming album, ‘Postcards from Ursa Minor’, this is a stark, simple and yet haunting tune. The video is pretty captivating as well, especially for those of us who misspent periods of our youth in setting up domino rallies and playing the board game, Mousetrap. When you find out the reasons why Will wrote the song it stands out as tragic and timely. 

This song is the story of Jose Matata, an African immigrant whose body was found in a quiet suburban street one morning after falling out of the fuselage of a British Airways plane above London in 2009, attempting to illegally gain entry to the UK. 

In 2015, people are still dying in desperation, taking risks and losing their lives because they calculate that such risk is more preferable than their current lot. 

As another sunny morning breaks, we pull back our curtains and try hard to blank such desperation from our minds. Another tear falls down my cheek. 

 

 

09.28.15
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JP Hoe – Beautifully Crazy

It was some years ago now that I went, as part of a group of friends, to a Pantomime production in a village hall. I seem to remember that one of my friends very loosely knew somebody connected with the play; they might have had a friend who had a daughter in the chorus or something similar. Whatever, a thing that attracted this group of friends to go en masse to a village hall full of strangers was the pure outlandishness of it all. We were outsiders causing a bit of consternation. “No Janice, I don’t know who they are either”, we heard the lady whisper whilst serving at the tea bar. 

We had such fun at Kirby Muxloe (this was the village hall location) that we established an ambitious plan. Visiting village halls to sample the specific entertainment going on within would become a regular pursuit. Confusing locals with our urban, presence would become our goal. Yes, we even set up a closed Facebook group (The Village Hall Preservation Society) to co-ordinate our aim. 

But, like many of the best-made plans, we never followed through. Life took over and the gigs, plays and quiz nights within our city walls always seemed more exotic. 

A week or so ago I was sent an invite to a gig that’s happening at Medbourne Hall, not far from Leicester. I had to look at Google Maps to check where Medbourne was. The hall website simply says that they’ve got a ‘Canadian Music Artist’ playing next Saturday. 

JP Hoe was a new name to me but I clicked and watched the video to his new song, ‘Beautifully Crazy’. I liked the tune enough to secure tickets to the village hall show. I couldn’t entirely understand why this ‘6 time Western Canadian Music Award nominated’ chap was heading to Medbourne but appreciated that the press release said ‘he has the enviable skill of sounding as good stripped down around a campfire as he does in a soft seat theatre with a full orchestra.’ Above everything, I realised that there’s a talent here who needs supporting as he tours the world.

I think it’s going to make for an interesting Saturday night. Who else is in? 

09.27.15
by

Correatown – Longshot

Loving this new tune from Correatown that I’ve been sent. 

LONGSHOT (idiomatic, nautical) Something unlikely; something that has little chance of happening or working. The term arose from the accuracy of early ship guns, which were effective only at close range and unlikely to hit the mark at any great distance.

Funny how words such as ‘longshot’ have stayed with us long after the technology that gave birth to the word have hit the scrapyard. 

A musician’s life is tough. I sense that, in this tune, Angela Correa, the main catalyst behind Correatown, is pondering her very essence as a creative sort. She’s wrestling with the general futility of her craft when she sings “Is it better than nothing if I’m hardly paid? Friends all think that I’ve got it made.” She’s realising that despite the happy, endearing, melodic pop bounce that coats this tune, there’s limited chance of hitting the target, whatever that target might be.

But I’m begging to differ. ‘Longshot’ is the first track I’ve heard by Correatown. It’s the first track to be released from a new album, ‘Embrace The Fuzzy Unknown’, which comes out at the end of November. This is Angela’s 4th album so I can dip into her back catalogue whilst waiting. I’m looking forward to hearing more of Correa’s dreampop vision. 

And I’m sure that many others will have their ears tugged in a similar fashion.