LISTEN: Leif Vollebekk - 'Long Blue Light' & '29 #Strafford APTS'

Without wanting to understate his acclaim, I'd posit that for a lot of you, Leif Vollebekk is one of the best singer-songwriters that you haven't heard of. I hadn't until last year, when I started to receive press for his record New Ways. It was released just over a year ago, while he was touring with fellow Canadians Half Moon Run. I caught them both playing in London and Leif's set was frankly incredible. Utterly compelling. I adore the record, and can't get enough of Blood Brother. So much love for it. 

Following on from the release of the Rest EP earlier this year, Leif is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the record with another two-track release which has me all sorts of excited. Audible gasp upon finding out that one track was a Bon Iver cover. Heavenly. He explains that Long Blue Light is a brand new track which was recorded "during the sessions for New Ways, live with just myself and a drummer, Homer Steinweiss. I had all but abandoned it but this year I kept coming back to it. I added some overdubs and had Cindy Cashdollar finish it off with a gorgeous dobro part. It was supposed to fade out but I rather liked how it just falls apart at the end." 

Talking about the Bon Iver cover (hold onto your hats, folks) Leif explains his fascination of the record: "when that Bon Iver album, 22, A Million, came out, it put something of a spell on me. It acted on me the way records of my youth did. I could take a walk in that record and see things. I still do. I started playing around with this song some December evening way up north, when the light of dusk lasts hours and hours and everything goes blue. The snow, the faces, the houses. The two songs are a bit wrapped up together."

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My albums of the year (2019)

Frankly, 2020 can't come quickly enough - partly as it is bringing us a new Bombay Bicycle Club album and I am counting down each second until that is in my life. Beyond that, there are debuts from Seramic, Rhys Lewis and White Tail Falls to expect as well as new records from the likes of The Staves, Lucy Leave and The Big Moon - there's a lot to be excited about! Before all of that, however, it's time to look back on the music that I've been listening to this year with a round-up of my favourite albums of the year. I loved doing a post like this last year - when Novo Amor narrowly missed out on the top spot to the incredible Someone Out There from Rae Morris (you can catch up on last year's post here.)

As this blog is solely contributed to by me (hi!) the list is a bit of a self-indulgent reflection of the music that I've been loving this year. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of a year, which kicked off with me being made redundant from my job at HMV back in February. I've traded music and films for a job as a bookseller now and I'm loving it, but I still miss being surrounded by music lovers every day. It has become even more important to me to have the blog to use as an outlet to ramble about the music that I love, and what follows below is five of the records that I've fallen in love with this year, with a further list of several more brilliant albums that I wanted to shout about.

1. Maggie Rogers - Heard It In A Past Life

Could there really be anybody else but Maggie Rogers in the top spot this year? Her incredible record has come to occupy a really special place in my heart. I first started listening to Maggie towards the end of 2018 when she was announced as tour support for Mumford & Sons. From then, my love for her grew with each new track that was released, and my anticipation for the record grew. The album itself arrived in January, while HMV was in administration and in the midst of a really confusing and stressful time for me. It is no exaggeration to say that it helped to ground me and bring me much needed joy through the experience of redundancy. I spent several weeks listening to the album at least once daily, finding new aspects of it to love with each listen.

I feel that it's worth noting that Heard It In A Past Life is Maggie's debut album, and as such it is even more impressive. She has recently been nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy award, the pinnacle of a whirlwind year of touring, huge TV appearances and a whole lot of dancing like nobody (or indeed, everybody) is watching. Given that I adore the album in its entirety, I struggle to pick a favourite track from it, but a stand-out track for me from the first few listens was Burning, so why not start there and then go on to check out the entire album. You can thank me later!

2. Friendly Fires - Inflorescent

Next up an in a really close second is an album that I spent a long time waiting for, worrying that it might never exist. I think even the band themselves couldn't be sure that they would make this record, but I am so incredibly glad that they did. Friendly Fires were one of my favourite bands of the early 2010s and I worried that I'd never get to see them play live when they took an extended hiatus several years ago. To my delight they returned in late 2017 and I was lucky to see their triumphant London return last April. Fast forward a year or so and the moment that I'd been waiting for... an album announcement. The wait was finally over in August, and it was more than worth it. I think that I probably annoyed some people with how much I couldn't stop talking about the album when it was released.

The record is an injection of pure joy in what is very often a pretty miserable world. Friendly Fires are back with their infectious energy, catchy hooks, incredible live shows and an album to fix all of our problems. Or possibly just to get us dancing - but that's a start. Again, I really adore the full record but my favourite track would probably have to be Silhouettes. A certified bop.

3. Bear's Den - So that you might hear me

Having been a big fan of Bear's Den for a few years, one of the coolest perks of running this little blog came earlier this year when I received a link to listen to their album and review it six weeks ahead of release. It arrived in my inbox while I was searching for a new job and feeling a little lost, and the album felt like something that I could keep to myself before it was released out into the world - it really came to mean a lot. I recall describing my review at the time as being like a love letter to the band. It sounds a little cliché to say that an album tangible helped you through a situation but it really did. I've been lucky to see the band live a few times this year in various settings (headlining a stage at Citadel Festival and the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire to name a couple) - it's been a Bear's Den kind of year and I'm very happy about that.

In their third studio album, we find the band enjoying the confidence that the success of previous records Islands and Red Earth & Pouring Rain brought, combining the acoustic and electric elements of both to explore new ground sonically. The record explores themes of intimacy and connection. with the band describing it as being about "trying to communicate with someone honestly [...] an attempt to reveal the honest and difficult challenge of communicating with anyone that you really care about." It is a gorgeous example of Davie's skills as a songwriter, bringing to life his story and those of others. A favourite track of mine is the opener Hiding Bottles, written about his relationship with a close family member with an alcohol addiction. From my first listen, the 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" has really resonated with me.

4. Christof van der Ven - You Were The Place

In a way, Christof manages to make his way onto this list twice - he's a touring member of Bear's Den, creating some gorgeous solo music in the spare time that allows him. Having released his gorgeous debut album at the start of last year, he's the only artist to have been on both the 2018 and 2019 lists, and deservedly so. I really really love this album - and was lucky to have an early listen of this one too. With the album in 2018, an EP release at the start of this year and a busy tour schedule with BD I'm impressed at the rate at which he got this album out into the world - I feel lazy just thinking about all of that. Written in response to the end of a brief but intense fling, this is an incredibly personal, yet relatable, record from Christof. As you might expect it is sad in places, while being full of optimism and hope in others. Production from bandmate Marcus Hamblett is superb too - the finished record is raw and intimate and really deserving of a spot on the list.

5. Lucy Rose - No Words Left

After a little thought about who finished up my top five albums of the year my thoughts kept on returning to Lucy Rose and her fourth studio album. It is, in a word, sublime. In direct comparison to her previous records, this one is incredibly stripped back (centring around vocals, guitar, piano and strings) and is as a result stark and vulnerable. At the time of release Lucy wrote online that "these songs have allowed me to get to know myself in a way I haven't before and I'm sure after you listen to it you'll end up knowing me better as well." It is a record which explores issues of anxiety, isolation and uncertainty without sugarcoating anything, it is exactly the kind of record that I needed to hear this year. While I really connect with a number of lyrics across the record, my favourite track is perhaps The Confines Of This World, in which Lucy delivers the lines "I really don't mean to bring you down, But I need someone to talk to." 



Well done for making it this far - that's my top five albums of the year. I genuinely adore each of them, and will enjoy listening to them on repeat for years to come, I hope. It's been a bit of an up and down year for me and these albums have really helped to bring some light into my life when I've needed it. But I'm not finished there... there's been plenty more (in fact, more than I'd realised) that I have loved this year, so here is a bit more of a list (in release order) of albums that I really recommend you check out. You'll love them too, I hope!

Busted - Half Way There
Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs
Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 1)
Jack Savoretti - Singing to Strangers
Fil Bo Riva - Beautiful Sadness
Pêtr Aleksänder - Closer, Still 
SOAK - Grim Town
Hailaker - Hailaker
Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
Benedict Benjamin - Truant
Matthew and the Atlas - Morning Dancer
CHILDCARE - Wabi-Sabi  
Charlie Cunningham - Permanent Way
Bastille - Doom Days 
Two Door Cinema Club - False Alarm
The Black Keys - "Let's Rock"
Grace Lightman - Silver Eater
The Teskey Brothers - Run Home Slow 
Marika Hackman - Any Human Friend
Bon Iver - i,i 
Liz Lawrence - Pity Party
Geowulf - My Resignation 
Half Moon Run - A Blemish in the Great Light
Leif Vollebekk - New Ways
Marcus Hamblett - Detritus

LISTEN: September 2016 playlist

I moved back to Oxford this month for my third and final year of university (quite scary) and I've already been to some cracking gigs... but October is looking particularly busy (we'll get to that when it happens!) Here's my playlist for the month, a snapshot of the music I've been listening to this month, whether live or otherwise - hope you enjoy!!

1. Dawes One Of Us - the most exciting thing to happen in music for me this month was that one of my favourite bands, Dawes, released their fifth studio album. We're All Gonna Die is the follow up to last year's All Your Favourite Bands, one of my favourite records of all time so this one had a lot to live up to and I haven't been disappointed. Feels only right to kick off the playlist with the opening track of the album!

2. Jack Savoretti When We Were Lovers - my favourite artists are the gift that keeps on giving, as this month another big favourite, Jack Savoretti, announced his new record Sleep No More which is set to be released on 28th October, and released the first single from the album which is an absolute corker. Less than a month to go, very excited to hear more of the album - you can also hear a lot of it debuted live on his upcoming UK tour.

3. Slate Hearts Take Me to the Green - in a busy first week back in Oxford I went to a few gigs, one of which was the fantastic Lucy Leave hometown headline to round off their debut UK tour. These guys were supporting and they're pretty exciting, love this track.

4. Fil Bo Riva Killer Queen - I was sent Fil Bo's track Like Eye Did last month and loved it, so was glad to hear that this month he's released another. The studio version is pretty cool but I'm also digging this live version, his voice is really something special.

5. Bastille Power - another of the gigs I went to this month was finally seeing Bastille in Kingston, where they played much of their new record Wild World, a lot for the very first time which was cool to see/hear. It's been a while coming since their hugely successful debut album back in 2013 but the new record is definitely worth the wait and has just seen two weeks at the top of the charts (and it's looking like it'll be a third week tomorrow!)

6. Bon Iver Minnesota, WI - a much older track than the rest, I've been in quite a classic Bon Iver mood this month after security a ticket to one of the upcoming London shows in February. I bought this record entirely on a whim a couple of years ago because I had just bought a record player and wanted more to listen to and I adore it from start to finish. 

7. homeplanetearth Find Me - these guys are a superb local Oxford band who have just toured the UK to celebrate their debut EP (which this track is taken from) including a huge show for Tigmus upstairs at the O2 Oxford which was the day before I moved back to town, very gutted to miss it!

8. Laurel Life Worth Living - a couple of days after moving back I attended my first Oxford Sofar Sounds in 6 months (absolutely crazy that it's been so long!), one of our acts was London based singer songwriter Laurel who had the crowd absolutely mesmerised. A beautiful stripped back set in the stunning venue, an independent cinema just up the road from me.

9. Tom Speight Falling - Tom was announced as support for Bastille the day before the show so I didn't get chance to check out any of his music before the show apart from a snippet of this track which went down pretty well on the night. The hardcore Bastille fans at the front were absolutely loving this guy who seemed pretty overwhelmed by all the loving, and by the fact he was using in-ear monitors for the first time. 

10. Twin Atlantic The Chaser - I finally grabbed a copy of the new Twin Atlantic record a couple of weeks ago and it's got everything you might expect of their records, including the brilliant first single No Sleep and this recent single.

11. Lucy Leave Fighter Pilot - as mentioned above I saw these guys play in Oxford this month, where I ran the door for the show (an absolute pleasure!) I've heard of them on the scene for a while now and been really keen to catch them live so glad that I finally got the opportunity to do so! 

12. Bon Iver 33 "GOD" - until it came to choosing a playlist for this month I hadn't actually given any of the new Bon Iver record (released today but I haven't had chance to listen fully yet!) a listen, but this track, which samples a bit of Paolo Nutini is quite cool, if a bit of a departure from the other track earlier in the playlist! Looking forward to taking more of a listen to the record and most importantly hearing it live in February!

13. Dawes Roll With The Punches - this is one of my my favourite tracks from the new Dawes record, which Taylor describes as a track which deals with separation not in a personal way, but looking at the consistencies in any separation/break-up, things that everyone can relate to. My enjoyment of the track is probably more in the sound than the deep meaning, but I definitely appreciate the songwriting which as always with Dawes is pretty clever!

14. Bastille Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith) - another of my favourite tracks from the new record, very much a slower tune but still really catchy. As I write this I've just received an email saying my video of Bastille from the show last week has been taken down from Youtube and I've received a copyright strike - had to sit through "copyright school", the joys..

15. The Hoosiers Weirdo (Acoustic) - my first gig this month was my last gig of the Summer, The Hoosiers headlining the O2 in Islington. Though I've seen them over 10 times it was the first time seeing them play in London and was made even cooler by interviewing Irwin and Al before the show for some research I'm doing. Sadly it was Sam's last (sort of) gig with the guys and I love this track from their third album where he takes lead vocals, particular this version on an acoustic album!