I'm not posting much at the moment as I'm really struggling to find the time, but dropping in now and then to share things that I love - and at the moment, that's the debut album from Banji. It's ridiculously good. I've been a fan since the first single found its way into my inbox almost exactly two years ago, and I am all kinds of excited that the album is finally out. It's been a great soundtrack for my commutes over the past few days. You can (and must..!) listen to Freshcakes here, but to whet your appetite, there's a lovely acoustic session from a few days ago below.
Talking about the process of making the record, frontman Morris Brandt explains: "Banji's songwriting has always reflected my surroundings and environment. Big themes of this album are struggling with adulthood, self-worth and self-esteem, mental health and frustrations, addiction, and finding your own self-discipline and maturity over time. The lyrics that flowed out of me throughout the making of Freshcakes tend to be built around introverted thoughts, personal social situations, and subjects that I find difficult to dissect. Stressful feelings about mistakes made, expectations unfulfilled, and the guilt that surrounds that. At a young age I've learned to use music as an output for frustration and stress. The main thing that I wanted to do with this record was find a place for those feelings and letting them go, kind of like therapy in a way."
It's no secret how much I adore Low Island and I am delighted to share a little write-up for their debut album. If You Could Have It All Again was released last week via the band's own label Emotional Interference. Recorded, produced and engineered by the band themselves at their makeshift studio in rural France, the record is very much a DIY project and I am so so proud of my pals for the piece of work they've each put so much into. Carlos, Jamie, Felix & Jacob are stars and I'm so excited to see the journey this record takes them on.
I've had a stream of this in my inbox for a couple of weeks and have been revelling in the joy of it on my commutes to work. Since the release on Friday I've listened to very little else. Longer album reviews in the traditional sense take up a lot of time which I don't really have at the moment - I've recently headed back to work and keeping on top of the site alongside a full time job is difficult, but consider this post a *very* strong recommendation for you to wrap your ears around the new record. (Thank me later!)
The release of their debut record makes me reminiscent of my first days as a fan of the band... looking back, I'm sure that I must have generally discovered their music through the Oxford scene, but a specific gig cemented my love for them. Rushing across Brighton to Patterns with team Tigmus to make sure we were front and centre for their set at The Great Escape in 2017 - it was incredible. I've somehow only managed to see them once more since, at a London headline later that year, but have been completely in love with their output since then. I can not waaaaaait to catch them live next to see just how much their live show has progressed since the oh so distant days of 2017.
While we're all very aware that recent singles Don't Let The Light In, Feel Young Again and Who's Having The Greatest Time are absolute bops, I've enjoyed getting to know the unreleased tracks on the record. Currently, What Do You Stand For is a stand-out for me, and Momentary is easily one of my favourite tracks of the year. A perfect example, within a track, of the contrasts that exist in the band's music more generally. From a tender opening, layers of sound build into what is sure to be a dance-floor filler. The production all the way through the record is exquisite.
As someone who feels a little bit like I'm stagnating in my mid-twenties (not helped by the pandemic, that's for sure) having come home after university and finding myself in a string of retail jobs, the themes through the record are all too relatable. At times painfully so, but mostly in a comforting way, as in In Your Arms, an ode to Carlos' childhood bedroom. The record 'takes stock of a twenties filled with false starts, heartbreak and cyclical conflict, and carves a path towards a better decade to come.'
Carlos describes the album as a product of "ten years of trying to make things work - in music, but also in life, a litany of romantic disasters that have coloured the last ten years of my life." He describes the character he inhabits loosely in the record looking back and saying "have I just really fucked this up? Have I made a royal mess of the last ten years?" It's sorrowful but there is also a lot of hope - dark and light, good and bad. The record exists on contrast. It's real life. It's raw. And it's so SO damn good.
Whilst I fear that my words won't be able to do it justice - especially as I'm trying to write this the day after the announcement of a second lockdown in England, and amidst the uncertainty of, well, everything - it's a huge honour to have been entrusted with an early stream of the new record by Novo Amor. In a way it couldn't be arriving at a better time, for me or the world. Both Ali (the Welsh singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind the moniker) and you, the 'reader', will know how much I adore his music. I think I say that a lot (and it's always true) but sometimes an artist comes along and their music pulls the rug out from under you, transporting you, bringing out those verging-on-obsessive tendencies. For me, Novo Amor is absolutely that artist.
When his debut solo record Birthplace arrived in late 2018, I don't think that I had fallen for a record so hard in a while. I loved others just as much, but for an artist who I had only discovered perhaps weeks previously, the love I had for the record immediately was overwhelming. It became an instant favourite, a bit of a life-raft, an album that I would constantly turn to if I needed some musical comfort, and I still do. I was therefore delighted to be offered the chance by Ali to listen to the new record early. To put it simply, I sit here in my living room writing nice things about the music I enjoy, essentially for a bit of fun, and for that to lead to opportunities like this frankly blows my mind. Even more so when I glance at Ali's Spotify account, where he has over three million (!) monthly listeners currently. Mind-boggling.
In a year where I've only been able to get to a couple of gigs (back in February - Bear's Den and The Hoosiers) I've spent a lot of time feeling super nostalgic towards memories of previous shows. Last June, I volunteered at Bushstock Festival, in the gorgeous church that Ali and his band headlined. To get to watch one of my favourite artists headline at my favourite festival would've been enough, but to meet and look after the band was the icing on the cake. Unsurprisingly, they're the sweetest bunch and made me feel really welcome, before playing an absolutely cracking set.
Fast forward a year, and Novo Amor returned in June with two brand new tracks, Decimal and Halloween. The stage was set... something was happening. A record? Fans online certainly hoped so. A little bit of teasing ensued and Cannot Be, Whatsoever was announced a few weeks later with the release of Opaline. All three of the singles are sublime. Each unique. They hinted at something sonically a little different to the previous record, as Ali elaborated on in videos shared online...
You kind of ask, what am I trying to achieve, what is this album about, why am I bothering? And those are questions which you don't ask yourself in the start. It definitely felt like a new era of Novo Amor for me, because it was so different. This new album is just another chapter in the progression of my life, of these moments. As I started making the new album, I kind of remembered why I make music, remembered why I like doing it. It was really exciting.
This record features the same set of players and influences and that trademark falsetto remains, but the sound and the narrative have progressed naturally, growing alongside Ali. I think that a really formative and important moment in the life of a music fan is when you realise that you don't need to feel really precious about the music that somebody you admire makes. When a band return with a new track and it's a little different, it's often treated as a bad thing, even when the track is great. The latest Mumford & Sons record, for instance, is far from the banjo frenzy that is their debut, but that doesn't take anything away from either. I frankly adore both Novo Amor records, and I bet that this was far more fun to make than heading to the drawing board with Birthplace #2 would've been.
I enjoy the whole thing, I enjoy the challenge, because I keep on going because I want the end result of the album, this body of work that I'm happy with, but as you get more and more audience of course you kind of get a bit more freaked out about what people are gonna think about it, which you can't help [...] people say they make music for themselves but it's hard to kind of have that mindset when you know people are gonna hear it.
It's not always easy to make sense of these thoughts or know how far your reach will extend. Sounds and ideas become scatterings of shapes and patterns that need to be grasped, pulled closer and nurtured, the process can feel like a mess. But I think it's good to allow these things to clutter, to become the mess that you then have to work to refine. The thought that you can create things that affect people so fiercely out of thin air can really overwhelm.
While Ali's lyrics are usually left to our interpretation and I don't have a press release, or indeed any technical musical knowledge with which to throw fancy words at you, I can do what I always do - try to spread love for the music that I love. This records falls into that category entirely. After receiving it a couple of months ago, it sat in my inbox for a couple of weeks before I had the chance to sit and take my first proper listen. I knew that I would need the time to take it in properly. Since then I've smugly listened, over and over, finding new parts to marvel at on every listen. A new lyric which stops me in my tracks, a stunning violin part. There is so much intricate detail to unpick, and a whole lot to love.
I love (and I'm not sure I've used that word enough yet... are you starting to get the gist?) the track Halloween. The lyric "I miss my friends that I pretend I don't need, but I could've done with them this week" gets me every time. With another lockdown looming this is such a relatable sentiment. From the title at least, No Plans also feels particularly topical at the moment. It's my favourite track from the record, I think. But don't tell the others. The 'drop' a couple of minutes in was such a surprise on my first listen, but a really really superb one. The vocal and the sudden cacophony of instrumentation in this track feel like a sudden unleashing of energy, of raw emotion. It fills me with fire for those few minutes, before immediately contrasting with the much more delicate Birdcage and Keep Me, two really tender tracks. The record has a lot of contrast at its heart, which I think reflects some of the process of making it, detailed in Ali's recent social post, with some admirably honest thinking:
months down the line the record grew this backbone of indecision, jumping from feelings of self-affirmation to self-pity, from joy and celebration to feelings of boredom and anxiety. It's not something I really wanted, but those feelings naturally manifested themselves within what I was creating. I think that spectrum of emotion appropriately mirrors how it feels to make an album, at least for me anyway. It's a mess and can cause a lot of grief. It gives you life, then drags it back out of you. It gives you happiness, the best days, the worst days, and makes you question your purpose and abilities. These words feel unnecessarily dramatic when describing nine months of just making music, but hey, that's how it feels.
I could likely ramble more, but you should probably just go and listen to the record. It means an awful lot to me and I'm so excited for everybody to hear it. I know that it will come to mean a lot to those millions of listeners around the world, and to those who are yet to discover Ali's music. You've got a lot to look forward to if that's you. A teeny bit envious.
If the world has fixed a little by then, Ali is touring all over the place from next April, with some UK shows including London's Barbican. Huge! Tickets and dates for it all, and for something exciting to put into your calendar beyond the weekly grocery trip, are here.
Check out the new record on streaming services/Ali's store here.
“With this LP, we’ve created something we’re really proud of that truly cements our identity as a group, at least.”
As the days (and nights, and, well, all of the time) start to suddenly get chilly, a record which appears audibly sun-drenched is exactly what we need, right? Luckily, London via Australia quintet Tempesst are on the case with their debut album Must Be A Dream, released today via their own label Pony Recordings. Produced by the band’s longstanding collaborator Elliot Heinrich and mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer, the record explores themes of ‘identity, purpose, ageing, love, loss, substance abuse, the death of loved ones and remembering the beauty beneath it all.’
For me, it’s a soundtrack for sunnier days. Years in the making and long anticipated but more than worth the wait. The band describe the process - “over the past four years we’ve been carving our own path, finding our feet and forming our identity. It was pretty obvious that a traditional path in the music industry couldn’t provide us with the autonomy and potential for longevity that has always been important to us.”
“So, we’ve built our own studio, created our own record label, filmed our own videos and set ourselves up to keep doing this for as long as we want to. The luxury of having our own space has allowed us to evolve creatively and to experiment in ways we haven’t been able to before. Musically, there is an element of surprise and it never gets too comfortable, as if in a dream.”
The quintet started life more than a decade ago in the small Queensland city of Noosa, on the Australian coast, with twin brothers Toma and Andy Banjanin. Coming from a musical family and members of the Pentecostal community, their first steps into the world of music were as members of their church band at fourteen. Performing four times a week for four years, Toma recounts that they “picked up a lot from that whole experience, including working with older guys who taught us music theory and important things about playing as a band.” It is also where they met Kane Reynolds and Blake Mispieka, now the keyboard and bass player for Tempesst.
Leaving home to explore a wider world of music, the brothers took to the UK, before leaving for Brooklyn, NY - the heart of the indie movement in the 2000s, figure-headed by the likes of The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend. A furiously creative and community driven DIY scene, through which the brothers expanded their musical interests, discovering as much as they could.
With the expiration of the visas bringing them back to the UK (Hackney, more specifically) the band was formed, with Kane, Blake and Eric Weber completing the line-up. Andy explains the band’s desire to create their own studio space in which to record and practice - “we had a really kind of basic production studio that Toma kept at his house, and at the time we actually were looking for rehearsal space because in London - one of the biggest challenges that you have is that you can’t really make noise. So we came across this warehouse and it was way bigger than anything we were looking for but it had us wondering what it would actually cost to set up a studio. So we decided on this space thinking that into the future, we can use this to enable our creativity.”
Desiring to carve their own paths in the industry, they set up Pony Recordings while piecing together their studio. Without the time or financial pressures that a regular studio set-up would bring, owning their own made the process far more free, creatively. Andy explains - “we’re quite hands on anyway, so to record in our own studio just makes sense [...] with the studio, we have the time to work on all these key things that are quintessential to our sound but also experiment and add an element of surprise, whether that is a weird synth solo or a key change. It’s those little departures that keep the listener on their toes.”
The record is recognisably Tempesst, taking elements that I’ve come to love from the tracks of their two EPs, but it is filled with exciting new sounds and influences. Must admit that I was not expecting a saxophone solo but that I am completely here for it. Stepping slightly sideways from psychedelica in parts, the record incorporates various sonic influences, with PhilSpector and “everyone from Scott Walker to Jeff Buckley to Nick Cave” proving influential in the record’s creation, while the vocal arrangements “were definitely inspired by Eagles and the first Crosby Stills & Nash LP, as well as the narrative storytelling of Joni Mitchell and Blue.”
The album manages to keep you on your toes, not falling at the hurdle of being a bit same-y. Currently, as I write this at 1am on day of release, a favourite track is Age of the Bored but I’m genuinely loving the entire record. I feel like I write that about every record that I ‘review’ - but I don’t review albums, I recommend them, so… you know. This one passed the test. It’s superb. Now I just need to while away the time before we can see them performing it live!
How about something a little different? It's no secret here that I'm an
enormous fan of Cosmo Sheldrake and his music. Since my first real
introduction to his work when he opened for Johnny Flynn at the
Roundhouse in 2017 - consider me blown away and the
Pelicans We EP hastily bought at the merch stand - I've been pretty
much constantly mesmerised by all that he has released into the world.
A London-based multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer and producer, Cosmo
is also, put simply, a musical wizard and genius. His music is unique, pulling
together sounds from the world around us, twisting them into magically quirky
tracks. His work sits beyond the realms of genre.
It probably isn't for everyone (but what music is?) - in fact, one of my
favourite Cosmo related stories is about a time that I played his debut album
The Much Much How How & I at the HMV store that I worked in.
It sounded frankly glorious across the speaker system, but a customer sought
out a colleague and asked who had chosen to play it - you could say that they
weren't a fan. Fear not though... my love for the record more than made up for
it.
I still listen to that record frequently, most recently on a commute to work,
while reading a chapter from Cosmo's brother Merlin Sheldrake's new
book
Entangled Life(like the Sheldrake family fangirl that I am rapidly, and unashamedly, becoming.) The
book is about the genuinely fascinating hidden world of fungi. In a crazy and
genuinely quite mind-boggling turn of events - the pair released
a piece of music
to coincide with the book's publication, on which you can hear mushrooms
devouring a copy of the book.
That is a slight indication of just what you're getting yourself into when you
choose to listen to Cosmo's music. It's nothing if not educational - just wait
until you hear about tardigrades. His latest album, Wake Up Calls, is
set to be released tomorrow. The record's thirteen tracks feature a
gloriously rich ensemble of birds and their songs. The record is intended both
to celebrate the sounds of those birds around us, and to simultaneously
highlight the peril that they face. About the record, Cosmo says: "I hope that this music may serve as a wake up call: to help us become more
aware of the glorious polyphonic soundworlds that surround us before many of
these voices become extinct in Britain, and to remind us not to take any of these creatures and the music that
they make for granted."
Created across a nine-year period, the record has evolved through many
different stages. Some pieces started life as presents for Cosmo's friends and
family, intended as a peaceful alternative to traditionally jarring alarm
clock sounds. A couple of the tracks were written for the
People's March for Wildlife in September 2019, with the title of the
album coming as a suggestion from acclaimed nature writer
Robert Macfarlane in a conversation in the run up to the march.
Nightjar, similarly, was written for an
Extinction Rebellion protest in London.
Across the record, we hear the song of birds found on the red and amber lists
of endangered British birds (with the exception of the Robin and Blackbird,
which aren't endangered... yet.) The full cast is (deep breath): Robin,
Blackbird, Willow Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Ring Ouzel, Mistle Thrush,
Nightingale, Dunnock, Sheldrake (Cosmo remarks
"I couldn't help but include a recording of a Sheldrake, the bird that my
family is named after, which is also on the amber list"), Nightjar, Short Eared Owl, Long Eared Owl, Little Owl, Barn Owl, Tawny
Owl, Turtle Dove, Cuckoo, Skylark, Teal & Bittern. The album sees us travel through
a day in the life of these wonderful creatures - from night with the Nightjar
and Nightingale as the record opens, through dawn and day time, round to
evening chorus, and drawing to a close with night again.
It's difficult to pull a record like this apart, to highlight a favourite song
or two. The project is best listened to in its entirety, given your full
attention. I adore it from start to finish, and I'm frankly over the moon to
have been allowed to listen to it early. I love Cosmo's work but there is
something particularly important and pressing about this. I'm desperate for
the first listen on my record player, to take some time out of my day to let
the sounds of these birds fill my room and my ears.
Finally - a couple more things to love about this record. The vinyl is made
from recycled materials at one of the most environmentally friendly pressing
plants in Europe, Deepgrooves. You can grab a copy from
Bandcamp or Music Glue and pre-save the album digitally
here. Some of the proceeds from the
record will go to a number of of conservation charities which work with
endangered birds, including Wild Justice,
Birdlife International and
The British Trust for Ornithology.
"all the world becomes too much and I dip my head under..."
The reality of running this little blog is using my one day off in a stretch
of eight days to listen to a bunch of submissions and write posts. Days off...
what are those? So it's almost 11pm and I'm trying to write a post which has
been circling the top of my to-do list for a couple of weeks. I hope that
Me, Charles won't mind me saying that I was entirely flattered upon
finding his email in my inbox.
Within it, he said some of the kindest things that anybody ever has about the
blog. Talking
about how he had first been introduced to the blog and how it influenced
him... I was kind of blown away, to the extent that I thought it might somehow be spam. Turns out that he is in fact a genuine human
being and is just really lovely (and loves the blog...!)
Me, Charles is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer from South
East London, and he's just released his debut LP Like and Share. Eight
years in the making, the record reflects his interests in genres such as
alt-rock, bossa nova, jazz and experimental electronica, as well as influences
like James Blake and Jeff Buckley. This record, however, isn't
easily categorised. It's an exploration, musically and personally. An album
which is incredibly intricate. At times delivering a huge soundscape, and then
piercingly intricate. This record demands your attention for 36 minutes, if
you want to get the most out of it.
The record is made all the more sweet when you read
Me, Charles story. Some of the songs started to spring into being
when he was just 17. The year prior, he lost his mother to breast cancer. As
it does to so many people, music became an invaluable outlet for him. The
tracks, in their depth, carry an emotional weight, and allow for reflection.
Having just emerged from seven years of addiction, we find
Me, Charles really beginning to realise his potential with this
release.
"It's a cliche, and everyone says it, but it really does feel like a form
of therapy to write [...] to perform a song is like having a pocket frozen
in time, and every song takes me back to a certain moment or part in my
life. They're like little time capsules. There are songs that I wrote years
ago and I can remember the situation that prompted the song, what the room I
wrote it in looked like, what the weather was like. It's like keeping a
really detailed diary."
A teeny album recommendation for your Friday - today brings new records from
Dan Croll and Brooke Bentham (I had written two other artists here but entirely misjudged their release days...) but you'll
struggle to find anything quite as, for want of a better word, soothing, than
this. This record is exactly the tonic we need for this year, and it'll bring
you comfort for years to come. A perfectly named release, and one delayed by
covid... I've had a stream of this in my inbox since January and I'm delighted
that it is finally out in the world. Siv Jakobsen's A Temporary Soothing is, in essence, sublime.
The album arrives in the wake of her debut EP The Lingering (2015) and
debut LP The Nordic Mellow (2017) and the extensive touring that she
did to support the release of both. After this busy period, she took some time to
rest at home in her native Norway, allowing the events and experiences of the
previous years to settle. Writing for a new record began...
Now, A Temporary Soothing is here. Released via Norwegian label
U OK? the record was produced by Chris Bond (who notably
produced the first two Ben Howard records.) Heavy work commitments
meant the pair met to record for intense periods of one week or two across the space of almost a year. This process allowed Siv creative freedom to try new
things, exploring ideas between recording sessions.
On writing, Siv comments that "there is often a preconceived notion made about artists who write 'sad
songs', that they must be sad people. I have made the same presumption about
others in the arts and this idea of the 'suffering artists' stuck more and
more to my consciousness after several encounters where I felt I was met
with amusement that I 'seemed like a happy person.'" Responding to these thoughts, she explains that the record
"was conceived from this building fear that I wouldn't be able to be both
happy and a good writer at the same time. Ultimately, it developed into a
broader look upon my relationship with fear and nerves."
With honesty, integrity and her personality at the heart of her writing, this
record, collectively, serves as a window onto this chapter of Siv's life.
Musically, the songs are like a warming hug against the snowy Norwegian
backdrop. Silky smooth vocals, sumptuous (I said it!!) strings, there's a lot
to like here. Anywhere Else is one of the best tracks you'll hear this
year, but it's hard to separate them. It's a really divine piece of work. I
best pencil it into the records of the year post plans now.
"This is an album for anyone who's ever turned to music in a time of crisis, whether personal or political. It's about the solace one can get from listening to music or playing music when everything else in your life or the world has gone wrong. It's about finding kernels of hope and renewal in dire situations."
Well, this is up there with the coolest perks of running this blog to date. I've had an early stream of the brand new Bombay Bicycle Club album Everything Else Has Gone Wrong in my inbox for a couple of weeks. I have so much love for the band and their music and it has been utter joy to have an early listen, or two, or twenty... It's finally out in the world now, so go and listen. And then come back here. Or read on, and then listen. But do listen - it's an incredibly triumphant return for the band and I simply adore it.
Let's rewind first. Back in 2014, just after I'd first moved to Oxford to study, I finally got to see Bombay live. The last ever show at London's Earls Court, with Peace and Sivu supporting and appearances from Dave Gilmour, Rae Morris and Lucy Rose. The band were touring So Long, See You Tomorrow which had just earned them their first number one, and the show was their biggest to date - it was euphoric. A few months later, they decided to break up. Frontman Jack Steadman reflects that it felt like the right moment to step back and pursue other projects, saying that "it's so much easier to stop when you can call it quits and know you were at the top [...] I think if we had gone any longer, we may have broken up in such a way that we might not have ever been able to return to it." In the few years that followed, Jack released a collaborative album as mr jukes, bassist Ed Nash released a record as Toothless, drummer Suren de Saram hit the road as a session drummer, and guitarist Jamie MacColl went to university, getting himself a BA and a masters. Then, as the ten year anniversary of debut album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose started to loom, the band spoke about playing some shows to celebrate. Jack recalls thinking "we can't come back and play an old album and disappear again." And so, plans began to form.
Almost exactly a year ago, seemingly out of nowhere, and to much joy from me and fans all over the world, Bombay shared a time-lapse video in the studio to social media. The video came alongside this message: "since late last year, we've been getting back into the swing of playing music together. We were initially a little rusty but also nostalgic playing songs that have been around since we were teenagers. More than anything it just felt great to be in the same room playing again. It made us realise what a good thing we have and has given us renewed energy and enthusiasm for the future. The joy we were getting out of playing the old songs seemed to naturally lead us onto working on new material, so we're becoming immersed in that as we speak. Hopefully it won't be too long before we have something new for you guys to hear. [...] We've missed you."
Hold the phone.
Suddenly, everything felt a little better with the world. Even the idea of just one new track or some one-off shows was ridiculously exciting. Bombay were back and all was good with the world, even if it wasn't. So an entire album? They're spoiling us.
Last Summer, before the album had been announced, I was lucky to score tickets to see the band play one of their first shows back in Islington's 900 (ish) capacity Assembly Hall. It was the sweatiest, most joyous evening of live music that I've experienced in a while. Almost transcendent. The band tore through a setlist with tracks from their entire back catalogue, and you'd hardly know that they'd been away. The best part was seeing the utter joy on the band member's faces - they'd had some time out, and it was certainly the right thing to do, but they were back playing live with their best pals and it felt brilliant.
To kick off the album process, Jack and Ed took themselves to a friend's house in Cornwall, spending a week there each month for the first half of 2019, working on demos separately and coming together to go through them. This time around there was an exciting first for the band - two tracks on the record were written or co-written by Ed. Jack explains that "I think that's a nice example of things being different [...] of how us all going and doing own own thing has benefitted the band [...] because I think Ed probably had songs up his sleeve all this time, but doing a solo album has given him the confidence to share them." It is worth mentioning that both tracks, Good Day and People People, are brilliant. The latter was co-written with the band's long-time collaborator and touring member Liz Lawrence, who sings on the track. Elsewhere, singer/songwriter Billie Marten lends her gorgeous vocals to closing track Racing Stripes.
From the beginning, the band were certain that they didn't want to produce the new record themselves. "Having someone else come in was a way of pushing us slightly out of our comfort zone", Jack explains. On Nash's suggestion they brought in John Congleton (Wild Beasts, St Vincent) and spent just three weeks in LA recording the album with him, often recording tracks in just one or two takes, new territory for the band. Jack describes it as "the least sanitised record we've ever made [...] the album sounds a lot looser, in a good way, than our other albums, which can be very machine-like. I feel like I've relaxed, and chilled out a bit. There was less time spent on the computer. We recorded Good Day, which Ed wrote, all playing together in the room. I was looking around being like, ah, it's us four again. It was a sweet moment."
The result is a record which is a true return to form. It's Bombay as we love them, yet fresh and new, with the experiences of the last few years, both musically and personally, feeding directly into the record in the lyrics and sound. They're back and they're still just as brilliant and this record is worth the six year wait. The album's theme is perhaps best found in the title track, the last to be written for the album. A track about hope and renewal and finding safety in what brings you comfort while everything is falling apart, the chorus repeats "keep the stereo on, everything else has gone wrong." Jack explains that "for my whole life, I haven't been very good at expressing myself with words. The irony is that the song is about not wanting to write lyrics, but it has lyrics I'm really proud of. And after that, we realised a lot of the other songs had that theme, of music as a cathartic refuge." I for one will be clinging to this record this year to deliver me hope in the moments when it is needed.
While they were often writing about relationships and about being teenagers the first time time around, Jamie explains that the new record is lyrically quite a departure. "The songs are quite direct and personal [...] about companionship, about trying to find your place in the world, all these things we never really touched upon before. All of our friends are struggling with that next stage in life" (some sweet synchronicity with Liz Lawrence's track None Of My Friends there.)
As the first track to be shared after the hiatus, single Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You) has to remain one of the highlights of the record for me. It's the track you arrive at if you squish everything you love about Bombay into 3 minutes and 40 seconds. Classic Bombay, but new. Suren recalls a moment where he was "playing the demo to a mate of mine, in my car, and as soon as it came on, he had a big smile on his face. It felt like we were back. [...] There was an element of not knowing what you've got til it's gone, and taking things for granted, which we definitely were. Having spent some time apart, we realised how special and meaningful it was to all of us, in our own way. We're much more appreciative now." The message is echoed in the humorous video for the track, directed by ex touring member Louis Bhose.
Elsewhere on the record, from the first listen to the (alright... I've lost count already), favourite parts for me are the passionate conclusion of Let You Go, the catchy interludes in I Worry Bout You (I've been humming that one at work for the past couple of weeks) and how glorious and majestic Do You Feel Loved? is. The latter's writing is a rarity for Jack, a track on contemporary culture: "it is about technology, and how we're all desperate for affirmation, refreshing our phones to look for people to love us and to get likes."
Lyrically, Good Day stuck out to me from the first listen. The chorus repeats "I just wanna have a good day, and it's only me that's standing in my way" and is followed by the heartbreaking "first my looks and now my friends, day by day I'm losing them." It is one of the darker parts of the record, with the harmonies and guitar riff creating a bit of contrast. Written by Ed, he describes that "it perfectly summed up how I'd been feeling for the year or two prior to that. I was having a hard time on a day to day basis, and I'd be like, fuck this, why am I doing music, I should get a real job. I realised there were bigger problems than the ones that were surmountable. You're in charge. If you want to have a good day, you're the master of your destiny."
After the punchy conclusion of Let You Go the album comes to a peaceful close with Racing Stripes. It represents a writing breakthrough, arriving after a brief period in Cornwall when Jack was finding it difficult to write. Jamie describes it as the first song we've done where I feel you could have a lighter in the air and sing along to it." On the record more generally, he adds "I find this album to be so much more positive than anything we've done before. It is inherently optimistic about what's next."
What's next? A huge string of tour dates around the UK, Europe, the US and Canada, that's what. Remaining tickets available here.
That's it. I'll stop rambling now - well done if you made it this far. Now, go and listen to the magnificent new record, buy it, tell Bombay just how brilliant they are. Enjoy.
I am ridiculously excited by this one - Christof van der Ven releases his second solo album You Were The Placetoday on Planet Zog Records. Please do yourself a favour and set aside some time to listen to it. I'm impressed at how quickly this album has come into our lives - juggling work as a chef, solo musician and playing live with Bear's Den, Christof made his way onto my albums of the year list last year with his debut Empty Handed. He's already released one of my favourite EPs of this year in the shape of Beneath The Ordinary Load and somewhere between that and some pretty extensive touring with the Bear's Den guys, he found time to recruit a talented ensemble of musical friends and create this record.
You Were The Place was recorded, produced and mixed by Christof's Bear's Den bandmate Marcus Hamblett (who is equally busy with an upcoming solo album of his own just announced) and features musical contributions from Tommy Heap, Jools Owen, Tommy Sheen, Emma Gatrill and Andrew Stuart-Buttle (you can spot most of these in the live videos below!) Between them they play with Matthew & The Atlas, Bear's Den, This Is The Kit, Lucy Rose and more - an enormously strong foundation for an album and one which is audible in this album. The instrumentation is top notch!
The album was written and recorded over the three month period following the end of a brief and intense fling, and the result is a collection of tracks which cycle through the raw emotions that you might expect. As such it is incredibly personal and emotional, sad in places but full of hope and optimism in others. As his PR beautifully describes it, Christof "manages to harness a tentative optimism both sonically and lyrically throughout the album, reminding us to be thankful for the ability to love at all and that there will always be someone out there who can awaken even the most subdued of souls."
In keeping with the raw themes at the heart of the record, Christof booked time in the studio and set himself a three month deadline to make the album before a single track was written. Far from it feeling rushed, the result is an album which says everything that it needs to about a situation which is deeply personal, while remaining relatable and offering listeners an opportunity to explore their own emotions through the tracks. Christof explains that "I think for people who've found themselves in this situation before, they can listen to the album and find that it helps them through a tough time. If that's something that I can do with this project, I'd be very grateful."
It's hard to 'review' specific tracks on the record because it is clear both through knowledge of the creative process behind it, and from listening to it, that the album works best as a whole. Created in such a short and intense period the tracks sit beautifully together, building a story lyrically until the last few lines of closing track A Stranger with "the strangest of it all is you're a stranger to me now." To look at them, the lyrics read more like a collection of poetry than an album - he's a really talented writer and my sentiments surrounding his EP earlier in the year most definitely still stand, I really appreciate the honesty and integrity that is tangible throughout the writing.
After a couple (alright, lots) of listens over the last couple of months I think that I've picked out 4AM as my stand out track on the album. One of the louder and busier tracks sonically, I love the live version in the video above and can imagine it getting a strong reaction in the live environment. Another track I'm loving is Fucking Loser - a pretty clear message in the name of the track and the refrain "I really am a fucking loser" but there's some hope in this one - "you were the place I stood, the day my feet were sore. A reminder I could love one still." Elsewhere I'm absolutely loving the horns section in Pill too.
Christof heads out on tour in Europe and the UK in a few weeks, with shows in Brighton (The Hope & Ruin on 7th October) and London (The Lexington on 8th October) to launch the album. It's a full band tour and if his Waiting Room show earlier in the year is anything to go by, it is sure to be a gorgeous evening - full dates and tickets here.
Listen to the album on Spotify here and grab your physical copy through Christof's site here.
Happy Thursday! I’m really excited to share a write-up of a lovely new album that is released tomorrow, from Aussie group The Teskey Brothers. It’s actually only a few weeks since I first listened to the band with the release of single So Caught Up. The track fell into my inbox, I posted about it (saying that I was “really really digging this one”) and was soon watching the band play a set on the Communion Music stage at Citadel Festival. I really enjoyed their set and was as blown away by frontman Josh’s vocals live as I expected. Maybe more. Despite their mid-afternoon slot, the band managed to fill out the tent, playing to a large audience of adoring fans who were lapping up new music alongside older tracks.
Hailing from the outback near Melbourne, The Teskey Brothers are a four-piece made up of brothers Josh (vocals) and SamTeskey (guitar) alongside BrendonLove (bass) and LiamGough (drums). They started playing music together as teenagers, realising that they shared a love for 1960s American soul music - an influence which remains clear in the music they’re releasing now. They released debut album Half Moon Harvest around two and a half years ago, for which they were awarded ‘Best Soul, Funk, R’N’B or Gospel Album' at The Age Music Victoria Awards (as well as Best Emerging Act). As well as a positive critical reception, the release of the album saw them starting to amass a larger following and play bigger shows, with recent sell-out shows in Union Chapel and Omeara in London.
Run Home Slow is the album’s follow-up and - I think/hope that fans will agree - it is worth the wait! Recorded straight to 2-inch tape, the band are keen to honour the methods and sounds of old school Motown. Presented as a rebellion to the digital age, the album delivers a quite endearing level of authenticity and rawness that is quite rare in our current age where most music is heavily-produced. From the very first notes of opening track Let Me Let You Down a false-start makes it clear that we're hearing a live take. For me, elements like that give the album some character - who wants a perfect take anyway?
The band enlisted the help of producer Paul Butler (MichaelKiwanuka, AndrewBird) who flew to the band’s home studio in Victoria to work on the album. Together they've created a record which sees a sonic progression from the first record, whilst still maintaining the elements of that record which fans had loved so much. Of this process, drummer LiamGough explains that “we were really aware that we didn’t want to alienate fans […] We feel really proud of the first album, but the second album needed to be a step up.”
I think it's testament to the recording process that I'm struggling to pick out favourite tracks on the record - I feel that it works best as a whole. I'm loving Hold Me at the moment, particularly in a gorgeous performance for US show CBS This Morning (watch below) - those harmonies are sublime.As my first introduction to the band and one of the livelier tracks on the record, So Caught Up also remains a highlight for me. Falling around the half-way mark of the album, it enlists a bit more ‘pop’ than fans of the band might be used to. Bassist Brendon Love details that it “was a bit different to what we’d normally play […] but we were also quite excited about that.” Judging by the reaction the track got at Citadel: so are the fans.
Closing track That Bird came to Josh in a dream while he was camping in the Colorado wilderness (you couldn't make it up.) Bringing the album and its themes to a close beautifully, its gentle groove provides the setting for a conversation about, Josh explains, whether it is “better to live in the present and forget about the past or is it better to learn from the past and use those mistakes to grow from?”
To summarise: at various points this album will make you want to dance, sing, cry and play your best air-guitar, all while remaining transfixed by Josh’s stunning lead vocals and the glorious musical talents of the entire band. Be sure to take a listen when it is released tomorrow!
Having sold out Union Chapel earlier this year, they’ve got a sold out Jazz Cafe gig coming up on 3rd September. Be on the look-out for show announcements for later in the year too!
Not that it was ever in doubt... but Truant, the new record from Benedict Benjamin, is a triumph. A sign of a great album, it's incredibly personal for Ben, while remaining relatable. In the way that a piece of literature might reflect the time in which it was written, this record sees Ben detailing the challenges and joys of experiencing parenthood for the first time following the birth of his daughter. His talent as a storyteller is exhibited through an array of lyrical themes, which give an honest account of his experiences of introversion, incompatibility, lack of sleep, family, relationships, heartbreak and love.
Sitting in between slower tracks I Spy and Halo, album singles Ain't Easy, Tell Me If You're Lonely and The Way You Talk To Waiters provide the more full band sound that Ben has employed for his second album, a departure from his debut Night Songs, though the influence of early sixties music is still very much present.
Melodically, Culture War is one of my favourite tracks from the record - which was a highlight of a recent live set I saw Ben play in London too. Elsewhere Baby's Crying provides the most obvious comments on Ben's new found parenthood, with lyrics such as "it don't stop because it never does, there's always something new" proving the harsh reality of the situation. A lyrical favourite of mine from the record is the track Alone, a gut-wrenching song positing that "I don't know why I am like this, I have done my best to fight it, sometimes I just need some time to be alone."
Closing the record, Motherfucker (another favourite at the gig recently) provides an amusing but succinct summary of the emotions that run through the record. "I'm a motherfucker baby, my mum's a motherfucker too, you're a motherfucker baby and that's what I like about you. Now we're gonna have a daughter, and we're gonna raise her right, she'll be a motherfucker always cos that's the only way to live a life." Ben describes it as "a song about the core unit of people in my life and how much I love them" and closes the track, and the record, with"you keep me strong, I'll steer you right" - a lyric full of hope.
As the latest additions to the blog playlist prove, Friday was a fantastic day for new music. There were new records from Vampire Weekend, Benedict Benjamin and Ten Tonnes alongside singles from the likes of Christof van der Ven, Cosmo Sheldrake and Of Monsters & Men. In short - a very good day for new music. I challenge you, however, to find something nestled in your new music playlists that is quite as beautifully crafted as the self-titled debut album from Hailaker. From first listen this record completely stole my heart - take a listen on Spotify or via Bandcamp below.
With founder members Jemima Coulter and Ed Tullett playing as part of his band on the night, my first introduction to Hailaker was when watching Novo Amor headline Union Chapel last year. Tracks from the project were played between sets, and a free download card handed out at the merchandise table. With contributions from Novo Amor, AKA Ali Lacey, on production and instrumentation on the new record, there's a lot of synchronicity between the projects - if you're a fan of one you'll likely adore the other.
Generally though, the Hailaker sound is new. Different. Dare I say... fresh? This is reflected in the name, a made up word, about which Jemima explains that "having a word with no defined meaning means the only association it could have is with the project. That's so freeing because it's completely open, and I think it's led to us feeling infinitely free about what Hailaker is." I absolutely love this.
The result is something truly special. With a lack of self-imposed restrictions on genre, and free from pre-conceptions, each track has a unique appeal. An array of instruments - synths, guitars, flute, saxophone, keys, violin and harp to name a few - create something which is experimental at its heart, and fun to listen to in its unpredictability. It's also worth mentioning that the vast collection of sounds are brought together really well - the production on the record is superb, it never once feels as if there might be too much going on sonically.
Lyrically, the record tackles important issues such as depression, with one of the slower and least heavily layered tracks of the record, Watercolour, opening with the line "Face it, I would sit at home finding places I wouldn't go". Closing track and recent single Not Much sees a narrator struggling with depression second hand, exclaiming in the chorus "it's hard to be around her, I bet it's hard to be down lots." On first listen, a highlight of the record for me was the track Phonetically. It provides a brilliant example of the unpredictability of the record - once you've got used to Jemima's beautifully striking voice taking the lead throughout the record, this is flipped on its head, with Ed taking lead vocals on this one. Other personal highlights are recent singles I Could Be Back and Coma / Smoke which are two of the busiest and loudest tracks on the album.
Working on the record while Jemima was studying for a Maths degree in Bristol and Ed was working with Novo Amor in Cardiff, the album was co-produced by the duo, mostly at Ed's own Oxfordshire studio. Jemima describes the record as "the narrative of mine and Ed's friendship first and foremost, since it meant we went from being strangers to spending weeks writing together [...] there's only a few friends in your life that you'll spend such concentrated time with from the onset, and it's been so amazing for that to be the foundation of our friendship."
Collaboration is a huge part of the fluidity of the project, and another collaborator is Mike Roth, an artist from Portland, Oregon. During the album's creation, Ed introduced Jemima to his artwork; collages filled with scraps of images, letters, cuttings and ephemera. The artwork is reflective of the lack of boundaries within the project. The duo see his artwork as equally important to the music within the project - Ed explains that "what Mike does is so fascinating and beautiful, this incredibly intriguing mix of things that otherwise shouldn't be", while Jemima adds that his "use of recycled materials means his artwork is so consistent and also relevant, kind of intrinsically profound."
If you missed it, check out the recent Hailaker video for Not Much in a blog post here.
"I guess I was just trying to say that I have this fear that if you don't say that you're having a good time, no one will ever know. And I wanna tell you guys that this has been one of the best nights of our lives so thank you all so much for coming."
Davie from Bear's Den there, being entirely unassuming and humble at the first of their two sold out shows at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on Tuesday, a show which they described from the stage as a "homecoming" (they used to live nearby) at one of their favourite venues. With tracks from their brand new record So that you might hear me (out tomorrow!!) in tow among favourites from Islands (2014) and Red Earth & Pouring Rain (2016) the band had a triumphant return to the London stage... and they even played my favourite track, Magdalene. As a huge fan of the band, the fact that I've had a stream of the new album sitting in my inbox for six weeks is slightly mind-blowing, and easily a highlight of the last few years of rambling on the blog. I'm going to attempt a review but put simply, and echoing the sentiments of my write-up of the recent Nottingham gig: I adore this band and after many (many) listens the record is finding a very special place in my heart.
(c) Sequoia Ziff
Taking a break after four years of non-stop touring, the band set up the Josiah Booth Studios in North London last year to work on new music. While their debut album established them firmly in the folk realm of touring buddies Mumford & Sons the second album saw them employ the use of electric guitars and synths to explore a new sound. The new record, in a way free of musical and time constraints, finds the band reeling in the confidence of two brilliant records. Sitting somewhere in between (and often simultaneously) acoustic and electronic, the record combines elements of both genres, exploring new ground and allowing the piano to take centre stage. "I love how the boundaries between genres have gone in the age of streaming" says Davie, while Kev adds "no one listens to music in boxes anymore, so why make it like that? We just tried to follow our collaborative intuition and go where each song suggested."
The result of this process is a record which sees lead single Fuel On The Fire with its central, pulsing electronics (akin to a submarine sonar - in the album's podcast series, Kev describes his fascination with the sound, describing it as "the loneliest sound I can possibly imagine") sitting directly alongside one of the album's quieter tracks, Breaker / Keeper. With the lyric "truth is a part of me died, when you said I don't really want to be alive. Time stood still, and it hasn't really moved since" this is a beautifully heartbreaking number combining piano, acoustic guitar and horns. The sonar sounds return in the following track, Not Every River, a short track at the record's centre, proving the benefits of listening to the album in full and an example of the musical ties connecting the tracks.
To start the process of creating the record, Davie headed to a cottage in the English countryside with a guitar to work on lyrics while Kev worked on musical ideas on piano and drum machines. They are a band deeply loved for their lyrics, which are often relatable and heartbreaking in equal measure, giving strength to their fans. Davie has delved deeper for this record, exploring personal topics around the album's central themes of intimacy and connection. He describes that "in the past, I've always tried to understand what I'm writing about. This time, lyrics came from a more subconscious place. Like they were things I needed to say and I worked back from there. I was inspired by Neruda, who wrote as though he was trying to figure out his own feelings as much as explain them to anyone else. The aim was to be more honest and instinctive."
The record's opening track (and my favourite) Hiding Bottles sets the tone for these personal themes instantly. Though it is one of their rockiest tracks to date, setting gritty guitars and electronics against some almost angry singing on Davie's part, the tracks opens the record vulnerably with the repeated lyric "well I'm keeping it together but you don't know the half of it. It's starting to show, no I'm not on top of this." The band describe the intention of the album as "trying to communicate with someone honestly [...] an attempt to reveal the honest and difficult challenge of communicating with anyone that you really care about." This track is one of the best realisations of this, written about Davie's relationship with a close family member with an alcohol addiction with the lyrics, he explains, recalling "real conversations, trying to reach out and help someone. It's also about recognising what you can and can't change, however hard you try."
Another incredibly personal track, most recent single Crow is sure to be a favourite from the record for many. Davie describes writing the track "in memory of my Mum's boyfriend who lived with us growing up. He was an awesome guy and somewhere between a father figure and a best friend to me but unfortunately passed away when I was 15." The track will be particularly pertinent to those who have lost somebody close to them, and I've already witnessed it bringing fans to tears at gigs.
It's a rare treat for music to really touch you in that way - the band talk of the "weight [of] our relationship with our audience that we take seriously and won't ever take for granted", explaining further that "once a song is written and recorded and available, we cannot claim it to be ours, alone, anymore. This song lyrically encompasses so much of what we stand for and talking openly about difficult things and sharing those thoughts with our fans means we can support each other and feel less alone in life's harder moments."
Themes of loss and connection are prevalent through the record, with Davie declaring on Fossils "if I could take it back love, I'd take it back love" and "I miss the way you trusted me, with anything with everything, can we just go back?" Later on the record, Conversations With Ghosts opens with "you needn't be a chamber to house all the echoes and voices of those that have left you" and features one of the stand-out lyrics of the record - "I'll go swimming in the caves, in the sparkle in your eyes, they're just the tears you don't let yourself cry, trying, so hard to say goodbye." Musically however, the lyrics of this track are juxtaposed with an optimistic, breezy piano tune at the centre of the track, and a reassuring plea to the listener - "don't let the darkness in."
Next comes another of my favourite tracks from the record, Evangeline. The track's repeated line "if you wanna go alone, then go alone" brings it into direct contrast with single Laurel Wreath and its refrain "you don't have to be lonely, alone" highlighting the difficulties in communicating with those that you're close to that the band sought to explore on the record. Evangeline echoes earlier tracks on the album, sampling an actual submarine sonar, and a stunning brass section provides one of the closest links, musically, to their debut album. This is taken further in the final track Blankets Of Sorrow, which Davie has described as "part two" of Bad Blood, the final track of their debut album, as the tracks share the same time signature and are stylistically very alike. The album is drawn to a close beautifully with the lyric "Not letting in or letting go, just saying what I've always known. That I only speak, so that you might hear me."
The record was demoed at the band's studio and recored at several studios in Seattle over the course of seven weeks with producer Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty). Both being big fans of The Shins, Davie describes it being a dream to work with Phil - "a deeply rewarding and massively educational experience." The full touring band (Christof van der Ven, Jools Owen, Marcus Hamblett and Harry Mundy) appear on the album, and joined Kev and Davie in Seattle to record brass, drums, electric guitar and more. Talking about the album process, Davie explains that "the album has grown and evolved from all of the processes we went through. Every step of the way, it has been instinctive, collaborative and pushed us both lyrically and musically. From writing the songs to Kev and I working on the songs together in the church, working through them as a band together with Phil in Seattle and even ultimately mixing with Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, The National) in London. Each separate process shaped and informed the album enormously." Bear's Den release their gorgeous new record So that you might hear me tomorrow, April 26th - order your copy from their website here. If you're in London, they play a launch gig at All Saints Church in Kingston for Banquet Records tomorrow evening - I can't wait! Tickets still available here.
If you've been following this blog for a while you'll probably be aware that I'm quite the fan of Jack Savoretti. His music has meant the world to me for years and I am really excited to see the love that his new record Singing to Strangers is receiving. It's looking like the album could reach number one this Friday which is hugely deserved but also slightly mind-blowing. I've been listening to Jack since 2012, from the release of After The Storm, and it's been a total joy to see his music flourishing in the past few years with the release of Written In Scars (2015) and Sleep No More (2016).
The new record features Jack's superb live band: Pedro Vito and Sam Lewis on guitar, Sam Davies on bass, Jesper Lind on drums and Nikolai Torp on keys. It was recorded last Summer and produced by Cam Blackwood, who produced Jack's previous record and has worked with the likes of George Ezra, Lewis Capaldi and Tom Walker. If all of that doesn't sound enticing and exciting enough... the band had the insane privilege of recording the album in Rome at the studio of legendary film composer Ennio Morricone.
His studio is in the "basement of this huge church" Jack explains, endowing the recording process with a cinematic atmosphere which is captured in opening track and lead single Candlelight, which many listeners have noted could easily lend itself to the opening credits of a movie. Following in the steps of break-out track Catapult (2015) the record features soaring string sections, creating a really powerful soundscape throughout. Tie that in with Jack's raw and raspy vocals and lyrics that are simultaneously heartfelt and heartbreaking and you've got something really magnificent. Not to mention that the record features co-writes with Bob Dylan (Touchy Situation) and Kylie Minogue (Music's Too Sad Without You). I'm really enjoying the record in its entirety at the moment, but a stand out for me is certainly Love Is On The Line.
Another personal favourite is the stripped back interlude on the album, the title track, which provides an extremely vulnerable moment where Jack repeats "all I can do is try my very best to entertain you. All eyes on me again, but I don't believe there's anything to see." Discussing the meaning behind the title, Jack explains "that's my job: I sing to strangers. That's what I've spent most of my life doing. Singing to friends and family and fans; they're already onside, so you can, to some extent sing anything. Strangers need convincing, touching, connection." With a potential number one album incoming (everything is crossed!) I'd say you're doing a pretty good job of that, Jack!
If you'd like to catch Jack live, he's heading out on tour across Europe and the UK very soon, culminating in a show at Wembley. (Actual Wembley Arena.) I am very excited for that one - Jack's biggest headline show to date and my first time seeing him in over two years! Check out the full list of shows and ticket info here and grab your copy of the record here.
