LISTEN: Rose Cousins - 'I Would Die 4 U'

It was a joy to find this track in my new release playlist on Friday... there's no hiding how much I love Bear's Den and Christof van der Ven, and I'm loving this gorgeous cover of a Prince track that they recorded with US artists Rose Cousins. In a moment of "serendipity" as Rose describes it, the band and Rose landed in Toronto at the same time in May and got together to record on a day off from touring. The result is a beautiful cover with sublime harmonies.

In her post online sharing the track, Rose wrote of Prince that "the legend died on my birthday. He was beyond bold and daring in all moves both in presenting himself physically and in his music. A ground breaker. But there's so much we never see and his death was so vulnerable and tragic. Hard to know anyone's whole story, isn't it? I love this song and these gentleman for using part of their day off to come sing with me. Enjoy." 

Follow Rose Cousins - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Candy Says - 'Running Up That Hill'

Oxford's Beanie Tapes (yep, you guessed - a cassette tape label releasing music from a host of brilliant local artists including Premium Leisure and Max Blansjaar exclusively to tape - check them out!) have sent me some rather exciting news about their own band Candy Says. They've only gone and recorded two brand new tracks for new Netflix film Close, which is released today and stars Noomi Rapace! Watch a trailer here.

For the opening credits of the film, the duo were asked by the film's Oxford-based director Vicky Jewson to record a version of Kate Bush's classic Running Up That Hill which fit the mood of the film (in which "to protect an heiress from highly trained kidnappers, a lone security expert (Rapace) must unravel a sinister plot - while striving to stay alive.") They have most certainly risen to the challenge - and then some! Working with the film's composer Marc Canham, with whom they'd previously worked on the Netflix film Burn Burn Burn, the duo have created a really intense and mysterious soundscape to mirror the themes of the film. Perhaps most excitingly - the cover has the approval of Kate Bush herself!

Candy Says are due to release their new EP You Are Beautiful; We Are All Beautiful online in April alongside a UK tour. The EP was released physically in Oxford at the end of 2018, proving to be Beanie Tapes best release to date - selling out its first pressing in a day, and the second in a week, with local music magazine Nightshift giving the lead track a rave review.

Follow Candy Says - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WATCH: Ferris & Sylvester - 'Waterloo Sunset'

It was a joy to finally catch Ferris & Sylvester live last week as my first act of The Great Escape Festival - they were playing out on the main festival street with tons of people passing by (and lots stopping) during the set, and it was one of the highlights of the weekend! They're a really quality duo and I love their Made In Streatham EP, particularly the total tune Better In Yellow which it was also great to see them recording in a session for The Independent during one of my volunteering shifts!

Following the theme of the EP's name of sticking to their London roots, they've released a cover of The Kinks' classic Waterloo Sunset, itself an ode to London. Talking about their choice to cover the track originally on Radio 2 the duo said that "we think it absolutely encapsulates what it means to be young, lost and living in London. It ties in with all the themes behind our 'Made In Streatham' EP and pays homage to truly amazing, timeless songwriting." After the cover went down a storm on the radio, they've released it to Spotify with a live video filmed in The Streatham Space Project which you can check out below. Ray Davies himself (!) has complimented the cover, saying that "I like the way they approach the song [...] It makes me feel as though I could write for this band. Well done."

Follow Ferris & Sylvester online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Banfi - 'Mercy Street'

It's always lovely to hear bands and artists discuss the musicians who inspire them and whose work they admire, in a way peeling back a layer of their work to reveal some of its origin. You'd probably be hard pressed to find an interview with Banfi where they don't talk about their love of Peter Gabriel (of Genesis fame). In fact they love him so much that the second track from their upcoming EP is a cover of his tune Mercy Street, taken from his record So. Listen to the track below and keep an eye out for the EP, which is due for release on 16th March!

Banfi head out on tour next week - taking in some shows around Europe before playing Edinburgh (19th March), Manchester (20th), Bristol (21st) and London's Oslo (22nd). Tickets for all the shows are available here.

Follow Banfi online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

LISTEN: Jack Savoretti - 'Cry Me A River' (plus HMV gig announcement!)

You wait months for a Jack Savoretti show and then two come along at once... I've had my ticket to see Jack headline the massive Hammersmith Apollo on 9th November for months now, and he recently announced a set at HMV Oxford St to play tracks from his new record Sleep No More and sign copies of the album! The show should be pretty special for me as, back in February last year, its where I first saw Jack play and met him when he was launching his last album Written In Scars - who knew how successful that was going to be?! Jack was on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 show at the weekend, performing his new single When We Were Lovers and a cover of JT's Cry Me a River as he was going to be a guest on the show - can't get enough of the cover! Listen below or click here for the full feature on the show. 

The show at HMV Oxford St is a week on Tuesday (25th) and you can secure your spot by pre-ordering a CD here. You can also catch Jack on his UK tour, kicking off at the start of November in Leeds!

LISTEN: Flyte - 'Sprawl II' (Arcade Fire)

As a fan of Arcade Fire and harmonies, I'm loving this video of Flyte covering the track Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) which I've just watched 4 or 5 times in a row. Seriously beautiful stuff, filmed by the talented Katie Craik under Westminster Bridge, very much worth a watch...

Flyte are starting up a club night, with the first coming up on May 4th at Moth Club, tickets available here. 

LISTEN: Richard Walters - 'Young Folks' (Cover)

I'm realising very quickly that I need to take a listen to Richard Walters solo back catalogue, having only listened to his work with Liu Bei. He's just had a new track featured on a Polish christmas advert so I watched the advert and searched out the full track, a cover of Peter Bjorn and John's Young Folks (previously a B&Q advert song...) Absolutely loving this cover and resisting the urge to try and whistle along to it! Take a listen...

WATCH: Jack Savoretti 'Nobody Cept' You' for Ont' Sofa

Taken from his latest album, Written In Scars, is this Jack Savoretti cover of Bob Dylan track Nobody Cept' You. Being typically smitten by most string sections in songs, I love this performance of the track that Jack recorded for the Cosmopolitan Quartet Sessions and Ont' Sofa. With its beautiful lyrics and Jack's unmistakable vocals, the track could easily be one of his own, and he really  does it justice both on the album version and in this stunning session.

Jack Savoretti has a UK tour upcoming across October, with dates and tickets here - but move quick as a few of the dates are already sold out, with tickets remaining for his Roundhouse London headline show. With the reception of his latest record, and appearances at various festivals and on several TV shows across the past months, it's great to see Jack's career going from strength to strength, and I'd highly recommend taking the opportunity to see him in these smaller venues; I can't wait for his show at O2 Academy Oxford.

LISTEN: Grace Lightman 'Black Is The Colour' ft. Parallax Orchestra

Following my post about the new Liu Bei track a couple of days ago is this new track from London artist Grace Lightman, a cover of Black Is The Colour featuring Parallax Orchestra (a project involving Will Harvey, previously violinist/keys player for Dry The River). Grace shares management with Liu Bei, as well as creating music with one of the bands members, San Felu (who is the new keys player for Dry The River... confused yet?)

With a successful debut track, Vapour Trails, and her first solo live dates upcoming over the next few weeks I was intrigued to listen to the track. While not perhaps the kind of music I'd typically listen to, I admire the mix of honesty and mystery that the track combines. The strings bring another dimension to the track whilst keeping it stripped back, with Grace's unique vocals taking the forefront, with the vocals and strings combining with piano to create a chilling but beautiful track.

Grace Lightman plays:

August 19th: The Green Door Store, Brighton

September 3rd: The Waiting Room, London

September 12th: Big Next Festival, Ghent, Belgium

WATCH: The Kooks cover Foster The People's 'Pumped Up Kicks'

An oldie (not that old..) but a goodie. The Kooks' cover of Foster The People's Pumped Up Kicks for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.

WATCH: The Hoosiers cover Nelly Furtado's 'Night Is Young'

The Hoosiers are my favourite band, so of course you'd think my opinion is bias, but I don't just sit and 100% love everything that any musician I like sings, but in this case, I love this! I haven't listened to the original much, but I recall doing so when I first heard the cover to see how the two differed. But this cover is wonderful.

I think they did a really good job on covering this so well, seeing as the sound of the original is nothing at all like their sort of music, but they put a nice spin on the song and I specifically love the use of the Stylophone...

Also, love the sort of natural feel to it, that they just recorded it in that shot, and haven't used loads of mics to get the sounds exactly right and play around with it as if it were being released like many artists who do covers end up doing. This gives it a stripped back feel says that they did it more for the fun and because they just want to share it with their fans!