LISTEN: Harry Pane releases 'The Wild Winds' EP

It's been out for just under a week and I'm loving the newest EP from Harry Pane - The Wild Winds is the follow up to his Changing EP which was one of my favourite releases of 2016! The new EP is opened up by the lead track Fletcher Bay which has been making waves on playlists and radio shows alike over the last few weeks, it's an emotive and soothing tribute to Harry's father. The title track is another slow one, while the middle track Real Souls is sandwiched with two much louder, punchier tracks - my favourite of the lot is probably Old Friend! As a whole, the EP shows off the intricacies of Harry's guitar style, his songwriting and it's a beautiful set of tracks, well worth checking out! Take a listen to his recent performance of Fletcher Bay on London Live below...

Harry is currently touring to promote the EP with a bunch of shows organised through Tigmus and I'm really looking forward  to running the door for his Oxford show at the end of the month. I'm also hoping to catch his set at the next Communion Music club night at Notting Hill Arts Club, it's great to see him on the line-up, alongside the wonderful Marthagunn and a load more upcoming artists!



Check out all of Harry's upcoming shows here and grab a copy of the EP on CD/vinyl through his site here. 

LISTEN: Harry Pane - 'Fletcher Bay'

In my year working with Tigmus I've heard lots of new artists and someone that's really stood out for me has been Harry Pane, who I bumped into recently busking in King's Cross station. He released his Changing EP with a couple of sold out shows over summer, and it's follow-up, The Wild Winds, is set for release on April 7th. The first track from the EP, Fletcher Bay, was premiered online yesterday following a Hoxton Radio premiere last week.

The track is named after 'the idyllic place at the end of the winding Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand', and is a tribute to Harry's father who passed away last year, being the location where he returned to scatter his father's ashes at the end of 2016. The emotion and story behind the lyrics comes through the music and the track is incredibly delicate, a contrast to the likes of the punch-y and loud Cold Light Of Day (making use of some wonderful slide guitar) - it's great to see some variety in the tracks and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the EP!

Harry supports the release of the EP with his first UK tour taking in the likes of Oxford, Birmingham, Brighton, Winchester and tons more over April... dates and ticket links through his site here! Pre-order the EP on iTunes and follow Harry on Spotify to be the first to hear the rest of the EP!

TOUR NEWS: Harry Pane (March-May 2017)

I first heard of Harry Pane through Tigmus last Summer, when he played a couple of hugely successful shows for us - I caught him play a set on his Coffee House Tour and was suitably impressed, so I'm excited that he's heading out on tour in a couple of months to support the release of his new EP. To get a taster of his last EP, here's a video from Sofar Sounds London of Cold Light Of Day - the whole Changing EP is pretty sublime though so do take a listen if you've got a little time to spare!

Harry plays the likes of London, Oxford, Winchester, Coventry, Cardiff, Birmingham and Brighton on his upcoming Wild Winds EP Tour - check out all the dates and grab tickets here!

LISTEN: July 2016 playlist

Compared to the last couple of months, July has been pretty busy, with gigs from King Charles, Twin Atlantic, Jack Savoretti, Harry Pane, The Hoosiers, Bear's Den (as well as attending a TV recording and seeing a play a couple of times). The playlist reflects the music I've been listening to live at those shows, as well as some great new releases, and I've explained why I've added each track/artist below - check it out and let me know here or on Facebook if you enjoy the tracks! Spread the word... 

1. Viola Beach Swings And Waterslides - with their album released posthumously on Friday, it feels only right to start the playlist with this track. Back in February I went along to a Blossoms show on the tour where Viola Beach were due to be playing as support, and out of respect they played a live recording of their set from an earlier show of the tour. I can't wait to take a proper listen to the record once I get some time to sit and give it my full attention.

2. Bear's Den Emeralds - I'm loving Red Earth & Pouring Rain, the new record from these guys a lot, and apparently so are lots of people as it reached number 6 in the album chart on Friday (YES!). While it's difficult to pick a favourite track as the whole thing is pretty incredible, this is a stand out track for me!

3. Biffy Clyro Animal Style - these guys released their latest record Ellipsis this month, and I'm very excited to have grabbed a ticket to see them play an acoustic show for Banquet Records in October. 

4. Leo Stannard In My Blood - Leo's pretty close to announcing news of his debut album (I hope) and I was very excited to listen to the studio version of this track, released this month. I loved hearing the track when he played it live for the first time back in February.

5. Tempesst Broke Down Blues - this track was debuted online just before I saw these guys play at the Reach Out charity gig, and it went down really well with the crowd as did the rest of the set. They were really fun live, and they've got a headline London show coming up in September through Communion, tickets here.

6. Twin Atlantic Crash Land - this month I finally got to see these guys play live, in the pretty intimate Scala. While the rest of the show was loud and energetic, a highlight for me (probably as a big fan of acoustic music) was that they performed this track, accompanied by some pretty loud singing by the crowd.

7. Jack Savoretti Sweet Hurt - I was really lucky to get into Jack's sold out Somerset House show this month, and while all of his music is pretty special to me, there's something extra lovely about this non-album track. An added bonus for Bella Italia to play the track when I was grabbing some food there before heading to the show!

8. All Tvvins Darkest Ocean - these guys, a duo from Dublin, supported Twin Atlantic on their recent tour and their set was a whole lot of fun to kick the night off with. I was particularly fond of how much fun it seemed the guitarist was having (and the fact that the bassist was the lead vocalist - hooray for changing up the normal dynamic!) Their debut album IIVV is released in a couple of weeks (iTunes pre-order) and they're playing a UK tour in October (dates on their site here.)

9. The Hoosiers Up To No Good - a highlight of the month was definitely catching these guys (for the 11th time) headlining a new festival in Rescue Rooms in Nottingham where I first saw them live over 5 years ago. They play a huge London headline in September, tickets available here.

10. Geowulf Saltwater - a really lovely summer tune, this is the debut track from Geowulf, a new duo who opened up the Reach Out Charity gig this month. 

11. Tom Lowman Blue State - this pretty cynical and relevant track ("the country's going mad, perhaps it always was") is taken from Tom's debut album Tales from the Wrong Side of History (available on iTunes here.)

12. Harry Pane Cold Light of Day - this is from Harry's Changing EP, the title track of which featured in last month's playlist as I loved the EP so much. I was really glad to catch Harry playing a short set in Shoreditch this month as part of the Coffee House Tour.

13. Gizmo Varillas Give a Little Love - Gizmo played a fun support set when I saw Jack Savoretti this month - his debut album El Dorado is out later in the year!

14. Twin Atlantic Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator - while the other track by these guys in the playlist is from their 2012 record, this is a new track from their upcoming release GLA (a nod to their Glaswegian roots) which is out in September (pre-order on their site here and get three tracks  including this one instantly.)

15. Jack Savoretti The Proposal - while Jack's huge success over the last couple of years has coincided with the release of his latest record Written In Scars and its subsequent re-release, I'm a huge fan of his third record Before The Storm and it was great to hear tracks like this one in the Somerset House setlist! Check out a video of the track being performed at the show, filmed by Martin who I met in the queue with whom it turns out I have a few mutual friends and musical interests!

16. King Charles Love Lust - while I'd definitely have considered going along to the Reach Out charity gig if Charles hadn't been on the line-up (cake, charity, other great acts and a whole host of lovely people!), it was definitely a bonus. Playing as a stripped back 3-piece band, with a temperamental guitar and scheduled after the Euro 2016 final (meaning the set was cut short a little) the night was pretty fun and it was a pleasure to see Charles & co play as always! 

17. Tom Figgins Rain On Me - I'll stop rambling about the charity gig soon (did I mention it raised around £1650?!) but one last thing... it was great to see Tom play again, with a highlight of the night being an impromptu performance of his stunning track Crave (not on Spotify but a demo on Soundcloud) to 5 or 6 of us as he tested his guitar after it fell from his case as he tried to leave. 

18. Bear's Den Gabriel - to celebrate the release of their record, Bear's Den played a mini tour of record stores, including Rough Trade in Nottingham (read my post about the show here.) With the band finishing off their beautiful, full and fairly warm set with an unplugged performance of this track within the crowd (like this performance in The Netherlands), it feels like a nice place to finish the playlist at!