singer-songwriter
Album review: Chad VanGaalen – ‘The World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener’: an excellent, multifaceted curio of psych and fun
YOU’VE gotta love Chad VanGaalen, the Albertan singer-songwriter who completely follows his own muse, sees the world his own goddam way, thank you very much; and who’s been delighting those of us in the know for a decade and a half now. He first emerged blinking into the musical sunlight with his Infiniheart album for …
Track and EP News: Tommy Ashby and Lydia Clowes – Happy Just to Know
Scottish singer-songwriter, Tommy Ashby has released his duet with Lydia Clowes, ‘Happy Just To Know’. It’s out via Wow & Flutter Records and is the first single from his new EP, ‘Lay Low’, which is out on 14th May. It’s an absolutely brilliant slice of life-affirming joy from start to finish and is that song …
Track: Loney Dear – ‘Oppenheimer’; the atomic age examined delicately in falsetto and solo piano
LONEY DEAR is the wholly unusual solo vision of Emil Svanängen, part of the stable of talent over at Peter Gabriel’s Real World imprint, with a curiously timeless and very intelligent take on the solo singer-pianist auteur thing; at once wholly himself but seeming to draw on elements of the drama of early John Grant and equally …
News: Nordic country singer Louien will release an EP in June; hear a first track, ‘Better Woman’
LOUIEN we touched base with just a matter of days back, in an ensemble sense, when she lined up alongside Siv Jakobsen and The Northern Belle for the Nordicana loveliness of “No Rush”, bringing three-part harmonies to a chiming beauty of a tune reminding us to take care of each other. Now Miranda Solberg (for …
Track: Roddy Woomble to release a new solo album in May; hear a first single, ‘Lo Soul’; there’s tour dates, too
FORMER Idlewild man turned solo songcrafter of considerable talent, Roddy Woomble has finally turned his hand to a follow-up to 2017’s The Deluder; he’ll be releasing his new album, Lo! Soul, in May, by way of previewing which he’s just dropped a lead single, the (almost) title track “Lo Soul”. Take a listen and read …
News: New Model Army’s Justin Sullivan announces May solo set; hear the stark storytelling of ‘Amundsen’
NEWS which will delight members of the Militia worldwide: Justin Sullivan, founder of Bradford post-punk legends New Model Army, fierce social advocate and commentator, has announced he’ll be releasing only his second solo album come early May, 18 years on from the previous, Navigating By The Stars. It’s entitled Surrounded, will comprise sixteen new songs …
See: Jordan Klassen – ‘Golden Ladder’: hushed Canadian alt.folk songcraft
VANCOUVER’S self-styled fairy-folk singer-songwriter Jordan Klassen released an album, Tell Me What to Do, last May, which he hopes connects people organically, drawing upon their shared experiences lyrically and conceptually; and, he hope, making them feel less alone in a crazily paced, hyper-connected world. It explores what’s it’s like to be in a world where …
See: Conchúr White – ‘Vocation Vacation’: keeping one’s online life polished in a late-night tumblin’ tune
OUT OF Armagh with a swingin noir take on songwriting which seems to combine late-night whisky tumbler tunesmithery with, in the case of the single he’s dropping today, a little of that effortless glide you found in the Bunnymen – ladies and gentlemen, introducing Conchúr White. Scroll down to the bottom there and you’ll find …
Track: John Smith – ‘Hold On’: a plea to stay hoping with The Staves’ Jessica
AT LEAST once in recent times, Essex-born, Devon-raised folk troubadour John Smith has received the epithet “the guitarists’ guitarist”. And with a CV like his, you couldn’t argue; as a session musician he’s has played with Joan Baez, David Gray, Joe Henry, Lianne La Havas and Tom Jones. He’s also in possession of a voice …
Track: Ted Barnes feat. Michael Clarke – ‘Way Beyond This’: a delicate acoustic tune telling of the moment your lover leaves
YOU MAY or may not have been blessed enough to have swooned for Clayhill, the cruelly underrated trio who got lumped into the semi-trendy genre ‘The New Acoustic’ by the music press alongside the likes of Lowgold and Kings of Convenience, which definition did them a massive disservice. Seek ye their albums; for further evidence …