The Staves are back! Album announcement time! Isn't it exciting????!!!
It feels like time has been a little bit wobbly for the past few years - somehow, their last album came out in early 2021, meaning there will have been just over three years between albums. We are ever so deserving of this new album. That 2021 record, the excellent Good Woman, was my album of the year. My most listened to album of that year, the first show that I got to after the various lockdowns - a record that really unlocked a deeper love of this band for me. A little bit exciting that they're back with a new one then.
Produced by John Congleton and their first release via Communion Records (I mean - a perfect fit if ever I saw one?!) All Now arrives on 22nd March 2024, and features recent single You Held It All (again - excellent) and this new single, the glorious title track.
On the track, Jess and Camilla say "it's a stream of consciousness about frustration and feeling overwhelmed with modernity. Kind of a rejection of the performative way we have to express ourselves now in order for it to be deemed valid."
Discussing the video, which was directed by James Arden, the pair add "We were in love with the old footage of singer songwriters performing in shows like 'The Old Grey Whistle Test', and the way the audience hung on the singer's every word. We wanted to play with the idea of 'All Now' being an ideology and a message. Something that came from artists and creatives, but is then hijacked and commodified by corporate creeps, preaching the message to gain power."
You heard it here first: I'm well and truly back in my The Staves era. So many of my favourite artists are coming back with new songs and albums at the moment and I have fallen pretty hard for this one. The duo are back with You Held It All, their first release via Communion Records (a match made in heaven, I think?) and their first new music since the 2021 album Good Woman(my album of the year.) It is almost TOO good?! I haven't much to say, apart from that I love these sisters so much. Crossing my fingers that there's an album on the way, but for now, I'll happily listen to this one on repeat...
On the track, the band share: "You Held It All is a song about understanding, and the knots we tie ourselves in when we don't express our truth; and how much power and freedom there can be when we do."
Let's escape the heatwave for a moment and go back to July last year. Wunderhorse (AKA Dead Pretties frontman Jacob Slater) was bursting onto the scene with Teal and I was nothing short of obsessed. A few singles later, he's just shared Leader of the Pack and the obsession is back. The press release describes it as "an instant earworm" and I couldn't agree more... it has glued itself to my brain, and you won't find me complaining. The track is taken from the upcoming debut album Cub, releasing via Communion Records on 16th September, with a show at London's Lafayette on 20th October.
On the track, Jacob shares "Leader of the Pack is a song about betrayal. About not being able to escape the thing that eats away at you, it's a song written as a means of getting even."
Joyous news last week from my faves MarthaGunn. After around 7 years of being a band, lots of touring, many brilliant singles and EP releases, they've announced news of their long-awaited debut album (!!!!) Something Good Will Happen, due for release via Communion on September 17th. New single Giving In is out now (video below) and they're heading out on a real life tour (remember those?) later in the year. I love MarthaGunn for their gorgeous harmonies, all too relatable themes and the passion they each exude - a passion to create and to collaborate. They're a really special bunch and I'm so excited to hear the fruits of their labour. Better not wish away the summer months waiting for the record though...
On the new track, frontwoman Abi Woodman shares: "Throughout my life, like most people, I've had my fair share of ups and downs, emotionally and mentally. This song came about after we had been away on tour for about a month. I had been quite ill and had to miss a few shows. I felt like I had left everyone down. When I got back off tour, I just felt really low. The one person I turn to when I'm feeling low, is my mum. I sometimes feel guilty for baring all my worries upon her, afraid to be a burden. This song is about trying to hide how you feel from others. I like to come across as a strong woman, and I am, so in those moments of fragility, my biggest fear is people seeing me as weak. I tend to hide away when I feel like that. I eventually told my mum how I was feeling and the feeling disappeared within a few days. It's so important to share those feelings with someone and talk about them."
"This album is us navigating the relationships of our twenties - the failures and successes. Constantly trying to find out who you are as a person, and constantly growing. You don't always grow the same as the people you are with. Sometimes you are on the same path as someone, then suddenly you're not. The overarching theme through this is losing oneself and rebuilding oneself through doing that, you learn a lot about yourself. You're always going to face challenges in life that are going to tell you that you're not good enough and let you question yourself, and it's a constant daily reminder to look after your inner voice, and to treat yourself well by having boundaries."
"I want to connect with people. The beautiful thing about songs is that you don't have to know someone, but you can connect with them through the same song without saying something. I want this album to be able to help people in some way, and give people courage to leave a situation they know isn't right for them, or for the other person. To go after the person they love and to know no matter how bad things may seem, it's just a chapter. Things always get better."
MarthaGunn tour the UK later this year, starting in Oxford on Sept 30th and taking in venues around the country through October, including London's Moth Club on the 5th. Tickets here.
Pre-order/pre-save the record Something Good Will Happen here.
A new (ish) MarthaGunn tune came out into the world yesterday and I have to say I'm very pleased to have it back! This has long been a live favourite of mine, and I've actually got it on a Communion 7" from a few years back. The track is Honest and it's been given a freshen up, and is more brilliant than ever. I hope the release means that we're stepping ever closer to an album announcement from the band, but singles will do for now... honestly.
The lyric video for the track reflects that it is in part an ode to singer Abi's mum - in a post online she shared that "she is a strong and loving woman. Her strength has pulled me through so many times and I have her to thank for everything. This is why I chose to make the video all about her. Footage shot by my dad in the 90s and edited by me a few days ago."
On the track, Abi explains: "Back in 2016 I did a meditation with my mum. I remember asking in my meditation what I needed to do to get better at writing songs. I was shown a piano. I bought a piano a few weeks later and this was the first song I wrote on it. I didn't really feel like I wrote it. It was one of those songs that just wrote itself. For me 'Honest' is about a few things. It's the death of the person you were before a trauma. The grief you feel, knowing that person will never exist again and that you will always see life through new eyes due to experiencing something major. It's also about the fear of failure and the shame associated with that. The fear of not living up to your own or peoples expectations of you."
"The lyric 'Bereavement of a friend, a version of yourself naturally came to the end' is about breaking the shell for painful growth that is necessary to keep going. The only way to move through a painful time is to grow from it. I find that if you don't choose to grow and keep moving, things become stagnant and you will become depressed. Lastly, it's an ode to my mum. That woman means everything to me."
Completely over the moon about this - Dizzy are back with their first new music of the year, Sunflower. The track follows up their recent Heavy / Twist EP and the 2018 debut album Baby Teeth which I absolutely adore. They were a random discovery for me as a friend took me to their set at a festival and I am so grateful for that introduction - I love them. The new track was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Florence & The Machine). With lyrics that see singer Katie Munshaw drifting between self-loathing and self-care, Katie describes the track as "a three and a half minute 'snap out of it!' to myself when I'm feeling low, unconfident or not myself."
The band are about to head on a support tour in the UK and Europe with Oh Wonder but they've also just announced a London gig of their own at brand new venue Lafayette (sister venue, if you will, to Omeara) on November 18th. Tickets are on sale here today!
A new MarthaGunn song, which is technically an old MarthaGunn song, but new. They've just brought out a new studio version of Heaven, which if I recall correctly was their debut single a few years back (at least, one of the first.) As such, it was the starting point of my live for the band and has always been a live favourite so I'm really glad to see the return of the track and I'm loving this version.
Frontwoman Abi Woodman, when sharing the track to the band's social media, explained that: "I am not comfortable being comfortable. I always want more. Sometimes I don’t know whether to accept the beauty of simplicity or to self-sabotage to find something greater. When I wrote ‘Heaven’, I was playing out a fantasy in my head and exploring a path I could only dream of taking. A few years on and I have stopped living in fantasies. I go after everything my soul desires. Heaven is a song for anyone dreaming of something more."
Back in April, Bear's Den released one of my favourite records of the year in the shape of third studio album So that you might hear me. I was lucky to have an early stream of the album for a review, and an instant favourite for me was opening track Hiding Bottles. I'm excited to share that it is their latest single and that the band have just released a video for the track!
Focusing around the lyric "I'm keeping it together but you don't know the half of it / It's starting to show / I'm not on top of this" the track is a powerful and poignant one for the band's vocalist Andrew Davie. He explains that the song is "about life with an alcoholic relative. It's an exploration of the inability to reach someone and the isolation that intrinsically creates." Having been through this experience himself, Davie sought help from charity Al-Anon, who offer support meetings and a community for those with friends and family that struggle with alcohol addiction.
He explains that "I think the main thing Al-Anon allowed me to understand was that there are just so many people going through issues caused by having an alcoholic friend, loved one or relative - how many lives can be affected by just one life. For us as a band to work with Rollo and be able to make a video that might ring true for other people who could be looking for help or support was something we really wanted to do. The idea that the video could potentially help lead someone to an organisation that has helped me and so many others and could help them just feels really right to us."
The video follows a teenage girl and the pressures that her father's alcohol addiction places upon her and the rest of the family. Director Rollo Jackson explains the use of a "full cast of identical twins and in-camera effects" to seamlessly split the video into two parallel worlds. This process is used to highlight something which became apparent through research of Al-Anon case studies, whereby families going through these situations might exhibit two versions - "one fighting to keep everything 'normal' and another private version, out of control."
I've a lot of love for the band anyway (is it obvious yet?) and love that they are using their platform to spread the word about something which affects so many people but which isn't always talked about. Al-Anon state that for every problem drinker in the UK, five other people are affected. For more information on the charity and to get help for you or somebody you know, head to their website here.
Take one of my favourite bands (Matthew And The Atlas), one of my favourite music venues (Omeara) and one of my favourite actors (Charlie Cox) and you get something pretty special. Calling Long Distance is taken from the recent Morning Dancer album by MATA, and it's a beautifully understated track, showing off vocalist Matt Hegarty's unique tone. Loved catching the band again this weekend at Citadel Festival on the Communion Presents stage!
With a run of US and European shows coming up, the band return to the London stage with a headline show at EartH in Hackney on 20th November - full dates here.
On Sunday I had the absolute pleasure of joining thousands of music fans in (very) West London's Gunnersbury Park for this year's Citadel Festival. My third one-day metropolitan festival of the year, it was a gorgeous day of live music, surprisingly decent weather and brilliant company. I was there to review and found it particularly amusing when the guy on the press box office asked "what publication are you with?" to which I bemusedly gave the name of my tiny blog as confidently as if it were the NME itself.
A reduced train service combined with a fault on the line held me up and meant that we missed the start of MarthaGunn's set but thankfully caught the majority of it, heading in the direction of recent single Saint Cecilia once we'd made it through security. Playing on thestage closest to the festival entrance, they opened up proceedings beautifully for those just arriving, showcasing brand new tracks and old favourites to the crowd at the Communion Presents stage. Closing the set, early single Heaven was a highlight, and I'm quickly realising that lead singer Abi is my hero.
As if all of my 2017 Communion dreams had come true, next up on the stage were Banfi. I caught some of their set at Bushstock recently, but couldn't see much from the back of the venue so it was great to see them again - my tenth time seeing them live and always a treat! Newly appointed manager/bassist Scott Miller (of Dry The River fame) fits into the band perfectly. They too delivered a set combining old favourites She Comes Home, Never Really Cared and Happy When You Go seamlesslywith brand new tracks from the debut album they're working on. (Can't wait!!)
Next, with a gap in our schedule we had a break from the music, and explored more of the festival site. Near the main stage we found an area hosting a range of comedy, science and circus performances. We were drawn in by some dance, and were shortly being a little bit mesmerised by some diablo skills in the Roundhouse Presents area.
After a while of watching and repeatedly exclaiming "how? HOW?!" at the mind-boggling talent on show, we headed back towards the Communion tent, walking via the main stage and catching some of The Coronas on the way. After enjoying their new track So Caught Up recently I was really looking forward to checking out what Melbourne's The Teskey Brothers had to offer. Despite their early afternoon slot, they filled out the tent and played blues rock to a hugely enthusiastic crowd, hanging off their every word and over the moon at the addition of a harmonica to the mix. As their bio says, "onstage, singer Josh Teskey's smoke whiskey voice defies expectation, flooring audiences." Their new album Run Home Slow is out August 2nd!
We stuck around at the Communion stage afterwards - as I said in my preview of the festival, the quality of their booking means I could've happily stayed there all day. Next up was Matthew And The Atlas - my fourth time seeing the band, but the first out of the surroundings of a church venue (twice at Bushstock Festival and once at a special Bear's Den Christmas show.) Vocalist Matt Hegarty and his incredibly talented band ran through a set featuring two of my favourite tunes, On A Midnight Street and Pyres, before treating us to a peaceful rendition of Elijah. Watch out for a post on his brand new video later this week!
Cue a dash for food and a rush to the main stage, where we managed to catch the end of the DMA's set. Hailing from Sydney, I'd never listened to them before and quite enjoyed what we saw - it was pretty clear that they were well loved. In parts it felt like the vocals of Blossoms tied with the guitar lines I love from The Vaccines - a solid combination indeed. We managed to make our way through the crowd and get much closer to the front for the set I'd been most excited for, the opportunity to see one of my absolute favourite bands live again. Friendly Fires delivered a hell of a performance, with frontman Ed Macfarlane showing us his signature (and frankly marvellous) dance moves from the first notes of opener Lovesick right through to closing track Kiss Of Life. I'm not really one for much dancing at gigs but it's impossible not to find your hips swaying along to these guys. In a completely joyous set (complete with a LOT of singing along on my part) the band ran through tracks from their self-titled debut album, the utterly sublime second album Pala and singles from upcoming album Inflorescent, due for release 16th August. It's been a long wait and from the tracks we've heard so far, I think it'll have been worth every second.
Feeling completely elated from their set, we quickly headed back to the Communion stage to catch the second half of Jade Bird's set. She was a last minute addition to the line-up, replacing Matt Corby due to illness, and what a welcome addition. I've been wanting to see her live for a while and really enjoyed the set, full of tracks from her recent self-titled debut - the only sad thing is that I think I missed her playing my favourite track, Uh Huh. I guess I'll just have to go and see her play again!
In a miraculous turn of events, we managed to get back to the front row in time for the stage's (reasonably early, at just after 7pm) headline set from one of my favourite bands, Bear's Den. It was my fourth time seeing them on the So that you might hear me run of shows and it was an absolutely triumphant return to the hometown stage after months of touring the album across Europe and the US. In a typical 21st century move, a guy on the front row was streaming the cricket live on his phone, holding it up for those around him to watch before the band started, and an amusing moment in the set arrived when the crowd cheered and clapped for a while after the second or third track. The band looked chuffed and I joined in, thinking it was sweet that the crowd loved them so much, before realising that it was because we'd just won the cricket.
In an hour long set (my only complaint is that this passed far too quickly) showcasing favourites from all three albums, the crowd proved themselves to be very much in love with the group, singing at the top of their lungs and clapping along at every opportunity, and occasionally resorting to cries of "we love the Den!!!" between tracks. It was my 11th (I think) time seeing the band but felt just as exciting as the first, with the opening banjo notes of final track Agape still instilling a lot of joy. After a Highlands & Islands tour of Scotland next month they're touring the UK later in the year, and have just announced a show at London's Eventim Apollo for 20th February - full dates here.
After catching up with some friends we headed back through the festival site to the main stage to watch some of the headline set from Catfish and the Bottlemen. For some reason I've never really taken a proper listen to the band, and mostly know them from what I've heard on the radio, but as we walked across the park, I could hear their first album hit Kathleen and couldn't help but speed up to get closer ("I know this one!"). With the morning's train woes in the back of my mind, we didn't stay for the whole set so that we could beat the crowds back to the tube, but from what I did see they proved themselves more than worthy of the top spot on the billing.
All in all I totally loved my first Citadel Festival and would certainly recommend it to people looking for a family friendly Summer festival that has things other than just music on offer. If the line-up next year is anything as strong as yesterday's (bear in mind that I missed Bastille and a host of other brilliant artists) then you'll be in for a treat.
It's been just over a year since I was first introduced to Dizzy. A friend encouraged me to go along to their set at The Great Escape festival - I knew nothing about them, what sort of music it was, just the name, but I went along and absolutely loved it. Their debut album Baby Teeth was released a few months later and quickly became one of my favourite albums of the year. Working at HMV at the time, I loved playing it in store and getting some colleagues to fall for the record as much as I had. The band is made up of brothers Charlie, Alex and Mackenzie Spencer and their neighbour Katie Munshaw who have been making music together through high school - there is something incredibly endearing and loveable about the group. The critics agree - they received the Juno Award for Best Alternative Album back in Canada. I'm really excited to hear that they're back, with new single Twist being the lead track from an upcoming EP due later this Summer via Communion Records.
Talking in a mini documentary video about the new track which you can check out below, Katie describes that the album had been written straight out of high school, meaning that there was quite a length between writing the tracks and when they were released and audiences were able to connect with them. With new tracks on the way which were written in the past few months, the band are clearly raring to release them. Katie explains that while "Baby Teeth was written about bedrooms, parking lots, restaurants and movie theatres, the new stuff is coming from a well of travelling and touring. Twist is really about missing someone so badly that you see them places and get really excited, and then realise it's not them. It's about the hold someone can have over you even after they've left your life."
They've just finished up their first headline tour back home but fear not, they're coming to England very soon with a few shows - not to be missed! Tickets here.
29th May: Rough Trade, Bristol
31st May: The Eagle Inn, Manchester
1st June: All Points East x Gentlemen of the Road, London
2nd June: Notting Hill Arts Club, London
Follow Dizzy - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.
"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.
With just over a week to go until the release of their third studio album So that you might hear me, and while in the midst of a UK tour (which saw me catch the band in Nottingham last week - check out my write-up here) Bear's Den have been gracing us with lots of tears of the new record. Last week they shared the music video for latest single Laurel Wreath, and have kept up the momentum with the release of brand new track and video Crow yesterday. Both videos and a little bit of info are below... I'll be reviewing the record at some point next week so keep an eye out for that post too if you're a fan of these guys.
The Laurel Wreath video was shot in the Marzahn-hellensdorf neighbourhood of Berlin, a neighbourhood home to many immigrants to Germany, but also a stronghold of the far right. The video features local actors from a housing centre for refugees and explores themes of loneliness as the actors go about their lives blindfolded, reflecting the track's recurring lyric "you don't have to be lonely alone, I could be there in a heartbeat." The director duo Jungle describe the idea of "people living their lives in the private cubicles they call home, willingly unaware of each other. Paying a price for their individuality. A dreamlike reality where people embodied their isolation through blindfolds."
The next track on the record, Crow is one of the most emotive, stripped back tracks on the album. It is one of the band's most personal songs to date, with singer Andrew Davie saying "the song was written 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 growing up but unfortunately he passed away when I was 15. I wrote this song as I wanted to acknowledge how important and thankful I am to him for helping to raise me and my sister." The video for the track shows a bunch of the band's fans in Nashville, London, Brussels and Sao Paulo listening to the track for the first time alongside family members. It's an incredibly simplistic video offering, but makes for emotional viewing.
Davie explains "we thought that a music video that celebrated the idea of family would be the most appropriate thing we could do. Frequently we receive an overwhelming number of messages from people telling us about their relationships with the songs and their stories of how those songs have interacted with their lives. We wanted to honour those stories and provide an opportunity for their stories to be told. 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. There is a weight to our relationship with our audience that we take seriously and won't ever take for granted."
Head to the Bear's Den website to pre-order your copy of the new record So that you might hear me, due for release 26th April.
Although I already shared the track itself a couple of weeks ago, I'm eager to share the stunning new video from MarthaGunn for their recent single Saint Cecilia. I've loved these guys for a couple of years and the new track and video (created by the incredibly talented Dan Harris) mark the start of an exciting year for the band, I can't wait to hear more new music! They're heading out on their first headline tour this month, taking in shows in Bristol, London and Manchester, before playing the likes of The Great Escape, Bushstock, Hidden Herd and Citadel festivals. Watch the video to get a little taste of the atmosphere of a MarthaGunn show, and then grab yourself a ticket!
This has been a long time coming and is very much brilliant news - Brighton's MarthaGunn are back with a new track! Following the recent announcement of their first UK tour in Bristol, London and Manchester at the end of April, they're releasing the first product of months of work in the studio and I already absolutely can't wait to hear more. Equally excited to see more of the artwork as Dan Harrisis Creative Director for the project - he's an incredible photographer whose work I really love!
For now, here is Saint Cecilia. Introducing the track online, the band explain that "When you ask yourself a question, instinct will usually answer. This song is about ignoring those guiding voices. A restless longing for change despite an unwillingness to do so." Listen below (and here on Spotify) and if you like what you're hearing, grab tickets for the upcoming shows here!
I'm really excited to be heading back to my favourite festival Bushstock this June (15th) for a second year of volunteering! It'll be my fifth consecutive year at the festival - it's always a highlight of the year and consistently delivers an incredible line-up. Whether you're catching artists you're already familiar with and love, or taking a chance on somebody new, you're sure to be in for a treat. For those who don't know, Bushstock is a one-day multi-stage festival held in Shepherd's Bush. With Communion Presents organising, you're in pretty safe hands musically. Across the last few years I've seen the likes of Nick Mulvey, Bear's Den, The Staves, Matthew & The Atlas, Ten Tonnes, Banfi, Rukhsana Merrise and MarthaGunn play at the festival.
For me, this year was already sounding incredible at the announcement of Novo Amor as the first headliner - so it can only get better from there, right? Correct. Novo is joined by recently announced fellow headliners Gang Of Youths. The Aussie rockers play the festival following four consecutive sold out shows at Islington Assembly Hall in April. In addition, the likes of Ferris and Sylvester, Jordan Mackampa, Laurel, Marsicans, Mosa Wild, Rhys Lewis, Roman Lewis and more have all been added to the line-up, which you can check out in full here. There are more announcements to come too!
With Super Early Bird tickets selling out in record time, and Early Bird tickets now also sold out, general tickets are on sale and selling fast - you can grab yours here for what is guaranteed to be a wonderful day of live music on June 15th!
"You fire those words right at me, with your loaded gun. You watch as they fly through my skin and to deeper within."
The time seems to have flown and it's finally (almost) time for us to hear the new record from Lucy Rose. No Words Left is due for release this Friday, and Lucy has shared the third single in the shape of Treat Me Like A Woman, a liberating and bold introspective comment on gender equality, delivering lyrics such as the above, and "I'm afraid and I'm scared and I'm terrified, that this is how it will be for all of my life." You can pre-order the record here and listen to the gorgeous new track below.
Lucy explains that the track was written while on tour in Munich "after a combination of events which pushed me to think about the way people interact with me purely based on my gender." She goes on to explain that "I don't want a debate, this isn't a song aimed at men, it's a conversation that everyone needs to have with themselves. Have I ever judged a woman differently to a man? [...] This song has been created inside me over years and year of small, tiny, and in ways, insignificant events that have built into a tower of anger." "I isolated myself from my entire touring party. I couldn't explain to them how I was feeling [...] The next night in Vienna I played 'Treat Me Like A Woman' for the first time. Like playing any new song, it was emotional, but wow, in all my career I've never felt so empowered and liberated to be expressing something that for so long I had felt unable to explore [...] these are matters that are important to me, that affect women every single day and it was time for me to stand up and say something in the only way I could, in song."
Lucy tours the UK and Europe across April and May in support of the album release, opening with a sold out show at London's Union Chapel. Before that, she's playing some in-store performances this month: Rough Trade East, London (21st March); Resident, Brighton (22nd); Rapture, Witney (23rd); Truck, Oxford (23rd), Music's Not Dead, Bexhill (24th); Banquet, Kingston (25th); Pie and Vinyl, Southsea (26th) & Sound Knowledge, Marlborough (27th).
UK tour dates as follows: Union Chapel, London (9th April); St Georges, Bristol (10th); Gate, Cardiff (11th); Stoller Hall, Manchester (13th); Liberty Hall, Dublin (14th); City Varieties, Leeds (16th); St Lukes, Glasgow (17th). Grab tickets and check out the full dates on Lucy's site here!
I ventured back to London on Monday for my sixth (I think...) gig of the year, a Communion Music show with Christof van der Ven headlining, and Benedict Benjamin and Emma Gatrill in support. The trio had been on a co-headline tour for the week, taking in shows in Leeds, Stroud and Brighton before heading for the capital. It was genuinely so stunning that I can almost forgive the mildly stressful journey I had to make to a new area of London, and the stress of searching out the venue, The Waiting Room, which is the basement of a pub in Stoke Newington.
Once I'd found the venue and settled down (it has a bench stretching along the length of the room - bonus!) Emma Gatrill took to the stage to open the show. Delivering vocals, harp and keys (through a pedal board, confusingly) she was joined by Marcus Hamblett (producer and live member of Bear's Den alongside Christof) on guitar. I know of Emma through her work with Matthew and the Atlas, but her solo work is new to me, and was utterly spellbinding. I particularly enjoyed the track Skinwhich is taken from her 2017 album Cocoon.
Up next was Benedict Benjamin. I saw Ben playing live a couple of times when I was living in Oxford, both times at Sofar Sounds shows where he was playing solo, so it was great to see him play again, and with a band this time around. During his set, I remembered the trivial fact that I was the first person to buy a physical copy of his debut album Night Songs (which I adore and which quickly became a soundtrack for my essay procrastination) back in 2016 at one of the Sofar shows. Claim to fame?! Monday's set delivered a mix of tracks old and new, including the amusingly titled Motherfucker (which is, in the sweetest way possible, about his baby daughter). I'm really looking forward to his new record Truant, which is due for release on May 3rd and features the single Ain't Easy which you can listen to below.
Next up, Christof van der Ven took to the stage. Similarly to Ben, I've seen Christof performing solo a couple of times in the past, last year (opening for Adam Barnes) and a few years back at a Bear's Den show. This time around he was joined by a band, a sort of folk supergroup made up of members of Bear's Den and Matthew & The Atlas. And they were glorious. Very happy to hear that album two, which I believe features this live band, is currently being mixed in Berlin!
What Christof lacks in on-stage banter while distracted by the task of tuning his various guitars, he makes up for in some gorgeous songwriting. The set combined tracks from his 2018 record Empty Handed(which made it into my gigs of the year list) and his recent EP Beneath The Ordinary Load. I've been listening to the EP a lot since the show and have found myself really connecting with the "emotional weight" that Christof himself describes the tracks as carrying. I really appreciate the honesty and integrity in the writing.
Opening track Town To Town reflects on the "personal struggle of not having a home and being on tour all the time. Not being grounded [...] Not having a place to come back to that is mine". Second track The Spell (which you can listen to in a lovely acoustic session below) touches on his own broken heart, and lead single Cut The Ribbon is written for a close friend, of whom Christof explains: "my dear friend Martijn had an operation on his heart last year and struggled mentally for a while. This one is for him." Final track Big Men At Heart is a track written about mental health, and the importance of speaking up. Christof said of the track that "last year the singer Scott Hutchinson took his own life. I never met him but we have mutual friends. It hit home. It was devastating [...] This is one for Scott and for speaking out about mental health."
What's better than a new Bear's Den track to kick off your Wednesday, I hear you ask... how about TWO new tracks from the lads?! They're back (finally!) with the album to follow up 2016's glorious Red Earth & Pouring Rain and I'm delighted. So that you might hear me is set for release on 26th April via Communion Records and they've shared two tracks from the record today, as well as a full track listing and some tour dates!
The album was recorded in Seattle with Phil Ek (Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty) and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Metronomy) and is described as "both bold and exposed, intimate yet expansive". The two singles display this essence perfectly. Standing alone, the tracks feel as if they'd have a home in different genres, but in the context of the upcoming album I feel this shows us a band who are confident enough to explore their musicality - and they've earned that confidence. Fuel On The Fire makes use of pulsing drum machine beats and electric guitars and is reminiscent of the band's last, more electronic, record, while Blankets Of Sorrow is a far more intimate track, drawing links more closely to the band's debut album Islands. In both tracks and the record more generally "a need for connection lies at the heart." I for one am very glad to have the guys back and can't wait to hear more from the record!
The Bear's Den live show is a joy to behold, and if you're digging the new tracks you should most definitely grab a ticket to the upcoming shows, UK dates as follows: Rock City, Nottingham (9th April); Academy, Dublin (10th); Limelight 1, Belfast (11th); Barrowlands, Glasgow (13th); Albert Hall, Manchester (14th); O2 Academy, Bristol (16th); O2 Guildhall, Southampton (17th); Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (23rd). Check out ticket info & Europe/US/Canada dates on the site here.
This genuinely is some of the best music related news I've heard in a long time. My favourite festival Bushstock have announced the first few acts for the 2019 festival, including my favourite musical discovery of the year Novo Amor, who is the first headliner. Can. Not. Wait. Bushstock is a one day multi-venue festival held in Shepherd's Bush and organised by the folks at Communion Music. Across my four years of attending I've caught the likes of Nick Mulvey, Matthew & The Atlas, Seramic, Amber Run, Ady Suleiman, The Staves, Tamino and Frances. They're my favourite label, working with some of my favourite artists, and it's always a wonderful day of music discovery - the worst part is deciding which artists to miss! Alongside Novo, they've also announced the equally brilliant MarthaGunn, as well as Apre, Olivia and Winnie Raeder with a lot more to be announced. Grab bargain early bird tickets for the festival, which takes place on June 15th 2019, here.
