It would be easy to write off a singer/songwriter who first rose to prominence on YouTube as just a flash in the pan, but 20-year-old Claire Cottrill (aka Clairo) appears to have some staying power. Cottrill has a saintly intrigue and cool confidence, and slick, yearning pop songs to match. Songs like “4EVER,” “Pretty Girl” (which currently boasts 34 million YouTube views) and her best track yet “Bags” are expectedly moving, but what’s most surprising is her magnetic stage presence—she gracefully glides across the stage like a veteran. Her debut album, Immunity, which she co-produced with Rostam, is finally here.
“Immunity” is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Clairo, released on August 2nd, 2019 through Fader Label. The album was co-produced by Clairo and Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend.
Josh Ritter always returns when we need him most. In April, he released his 10th album, Fever Breaks, which was produced by Jason Isbell and features the 400 Unit. Thanks to that collaboration, it’s a fuller southern rock sound than some of the folk-leaning fare of Ritter’s early catalogue, but maintains his narrative lyrical abilities. At times, Fever Breaks collapses into bluesy fits (“Old Black Magic”) before relaxing into more tender territory, like on the subdued swing of “I Still Love You (Now and Then).” In his 20 years as a working songwriter, Ritter has given us plenty of songs that don’t need any extra flash—his words bring all the pizzaz you could want.
But it’s still enjoyable to hear him up the ante with the 400 Unit on Fever Breaks, a record that sometimes boils over with searing southern rock ‘n’ roll but more often still simmers with the warm, weary words of a man who’s done a lot of living in his 40-some-odd years.
From the album ‘Fever Breaks’,
Produced by Grammy Award-winning musician Jason Isbell, this 10-song album was recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A and features Isbell’s band, the 400 Unit. Album cover painted by Jason Holley.
Angie McMahon is an Australian musician who loves honest songwriting and romantic melodies, with songs that ruminate on life, love and takeaway food. Angie loves to write and perform across the full dynamic spectrum, shifting between gravelly intimacy and pounding rock.
One of the standout discoveries at this past South By Southwest, was Australian artist Angie McMahon has now released her debut LP on Dual Tone Records, a partnership she announced during the festival where she was awarded the Grulke Prize for Best Developing International Act. Considering she has only released five or six tracks for us to spin incessantly since then (and they are, by all means, each incredible) we’ve been ready for this album since first hearing McMahon’s guitar fill the vaulted ceilings of a church in Austin.
McMahon’s gorgeous vocals range over somber folk melodies, evoking passionate emotions in anyone within earshot. Look no further than the stunning energy of “Keeping Time” for the essence of one of the finest vocalists and songwriters we’ve had the pleasure of discovering this year.
Ten Fé is an act we have covered before. Their talent is incredibly captivating and is found in their ability to create vastly different soundscapes. With their new single “Heaven Sent Me”, we are reminded of contemporaries like The National, mixed with a throwback flare. From post-rock to college-rock, the band is as talented as it is authentic. Their newest albumFuture Perfect, Present Tenseis a needed listen for anyone who appreciates beautifully textured rock. Boundless in creativity, we cannot recommend this act enough and patiently wait for more.
I don’t have to do anything more than read the name of the album to have the chorus of the title-track stuck in my head, and it’s a reminder that although the Nottingham troupe put so much into their progressive style and vocal harmonies and arrangements, and a more conceptual theme in the case of Everybody’s Going to Die — their answer to 2018’s excellent Science Fiction — their roots are in songcraft, and it’s the foundation of songcraft that lets them soar. Would be higher on the list if it weren’t so new.
Church of the Cosmic Skull are not only one of the most exciting rock bands in the world today, but also an ever-growing spiritual organization, spreading the light of the Cosmic Rainbow across this planet and beyond.
The combination of Hammond organ, electric cello, guitar, bass, drums and six-part vocal harmony completes the 7 piece psych-prog-pop-rock powerhouse. Fans of ELO, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Deep Purple et al have been waiting for a new torch-bearer since the late 70s: the wait is over.
Brought together by songwriter Bill Fisher, the group features some of the best musicians in the universe:
Band Members
Bill Fisher – Guitar & Vocals;
Michael Wetherburn – Hammond Organ & Vocals;
Amy Nicholson – Electric Cello & Vocals;
Loz Stone – Drums;
Sam Lloyd – Bass & Vocals;
Jo Joyce – Vocals;
Caroline Cawley – Vocals
If life were fair, then things would be easier the second time around. But music history is littered with bands who have clattered headfirst into the hurdle marked ‘sophomore slump’. Not The Big Moon, though. You’ll find them soaring clear in the outside lane.
The London quartet’s debut LP, Love In The 4th Dimension, rode a quirky wave of guitar-pop to a Mercury Prize nomination back in 2017, and its follow up Walking Like We Do is a worthy successor that melds controlled experimentation with a road-tested understanding of what makes the band tick. Its fresh palette – soaring synths, ringing piano intros, stacked vocal harmonies – is a perfect fit that took a little getting used to.
“It was a new experience writing for an audience that already exists and expects something,” vocalist and guitarist Jules Jackson admits. “For a few months, I put too much pressure on myself. After a while, we realised we could make any kind of music, and we didn’t have to copy the first album. We could do anything. I felt a lot more freedom after that.”
After wrapping up touring on Love In The 4th Dimension, The Big Moon pressed pause. Guitarist Soph Nathan released an excellent record with Our Girl – an experience she equates to swapping brains – while Jackson eventually settled back into writing mode. The initial roadblocks she describes came from a place of over-familiarity. Specifically, they came from her guitar.
“It was quite a long process of trying to find new ways to write songs,” she says. “Every time I sat down and tried to write in the way that I always have done, I would write the same kind of song. Your hands go to the same shapes on the guitar, and you have the little things that you instinctively do. I started playing the piano a lot more.”
At the same time, Jackson was adjusting to writing from a fresh perspective. Like the rest of us, her world isn’t the same as it was three or four years ago, and Walking Like We Do acknowledges the weird, frightening landscape outside its window. “I don’t think I wanted to write an album that was all about distraction and forgetting,” she says. “There is definitely a time and a place for the right song to come into your life and give you a bit of a break from thinking or trying to articulate things, but you always crash down to earth in the end.
“When I was writing the first album I was falling head over heels in love, and that was all I cared about. Those songs were the sound of me trying to process that. The last couple of years, it feels like I’ve grown up and the world has changed. Things got a lot stranger, and I think this album is us trying to process that and translate it into something that makes sense. It doesn’t.”
Aided and abetted by Nathan and the rhythm section of Celia Archer and Fern Ford, who have parlayed their roles as bassist and drummer into multifaceted synth and sample work, Jackson eventually assembled an ambitious, melodically florid set of songs. With so much going on, room had to be made for the guitars that provided such a giddy rush on album one.
In a canny move, they sought to isolate them in empty pockets of space, dropping droning distortion over the outro of the opener It’s Easy Then, or twisting corkscrew riffs into the pop confection Why. On the loping, addictive single Your Light, the guitars are a clean, rhythmic counterpoint to the song’s driving pace. “Each guitar line has a reason behind it,” Nathan says. “With the first album, the instinct was to keep layering them.”
Jackson adds: “We really wanted to try new things, which does lead to picking and choosing where you put the guitar. On It’s Easy Then, there are none for the whole thing until the very last chorus. When Soph starts start playing – it’s like two notes – there’s so much emotion and joy because you haven’t had it yet. When you get a taste of it, it’s the best. It’s better than if you had played it for the whole song.”
Walking Like We Do was recorded in Atlanta with producer Ben H Allen III, who has worked alongside everyone from Deerhunter to Belle & Sebastian in the past. “We got on the phone and he was so excited about all of our demos,” Jackson says. “He had listened to them really deeply and sincerely loved them. He became like a fifth member of the band.” Nathan adds: “He was asking Jules about the lyrics, what they meant, what the intentions were for each song. He got into it before we even fully decided to go.”
Jackson and Nathan took their beloved guitars – a Gibson Les Paul Special Double Cut and a G&L ASAT Classic respectively – along for the ride and, when in the studio, also mingled with a handful of Telecasters, including one kitted out with a Bigsby tailpiece.
“They had the head of a Twin and a Vox AC30 in the control room,” Nathan says. “They’d link it up with different cabs. It was nice to be in the room and have the control with the head but also be able to just switch it out with lots of cabs and make different sounds. We normally use our own amps, but it just felt like there were so many options. You’d just keep going until you got the sound that felt right.”
Walking Like We Do is the sort of record that vindicates the choices made along the way. It doubles down on certain elements of The Big Moon’s style while boldly changing things up elsewhere. It feels right. “We’ve learnt we can be anything,” Jackson says. “As long as it’s us singing and us writing the lyrics and us writing the songs, we can play anything and do anything. It’ll sound like The Big Moon.”
Walking Like We Do by The Big Moon is out on 10th January on Fiction Records.
Ghum is comprised of members hailing from London, Spain and Brazil, and consist of Laura Guerrero Lora (vocals), Marina MJ (bass), Jojo Khor (guitar) and Vicki Butler (drums). They met after bassist Marina placed an advert on Gum tree (hence the name Ghum). They’ve had a fantastic 2019 in the wake of their dark brooding second EP The Coldest Fire which garnered them national airplay in the UK.
There’s a dark uneasy intensity apparent in much of their output to date, channelling the dark spirit of Joy Division and the edgy post-punk energy of Savages. Lead track “Saturn” tells the story of a toxic relationship, but the bleak subject material is illuminated by some masterful guitar flourishes from Jojo Khor and the fiery intense passionate vocals of singer Laura Guerrero Lora. They have described The Coldest Fire as a “reintroduction to Ghum” after releasing an excellent self-titled debut EP back in 2017, and this year they have turned things up several notches, expanded their sonic palette and sound like they mean business. 2020 looks set to be an interesting and exciting year for Ghum.
Sydney-based quartet Body Type released their critically acclaimed debut EP1 last year and generated a huge buzz after playing SXSW in 2019. The band who comprise of Sophie McComish (guitar and vox), Annabel Blackman (guitar and vox), Georgia Wilkinson-Derums (bass and vox), Cecil Coleman (drums) released their second EP, entitledEP2 this year. “Free To Air” may well be the tune that initially hooks people in. It’s slightly more reflective than their previous release the spiky jagged glory that was “Stingray” but proves that Body Type has got what it takes to make a huge dent in 2020.
“Free To Air” eddies and flows driven by spidery guitars and gorgeous vocal harmonies. It’s a song tinged with beauty and poignancy and is a perfect example of how to craft artful, dazzling, intelligent evocative indie-pop with some style.
Stingray is lifted from EP2, out now via Partisan Records & Inertia Music:
Arbouretum has been called the best of the millennial classic rock bands. The band, founded by guitarist and vocalist Dave Heumann, effortlessly weaves its melodies & guitar solos with the often hypnotic rhythms of bassist Corey Allender & drummer Brian Carey around the deliberate keyboard of Matthew Pierce to lift the vocals. The result is a full sound delivered with a striking sense of intimacy. are a poem by AJ Gault (1818-1903), great-great-great grandfather of Dave Heumann.
Before we end out the year, please make sure you get acquainted with Los Angeles-indie artist, Celeste Tauchar who goes by talker. She has just released a super grungy song titled “Learning the Feeling.” The song is slow in pace with electronic sounding drums and dark sounding guitar riffs. The vocal tone is standout and melodies seem to fit in with the likes of The Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and Eve Minor. The song is off of a 2-song release that also contains a track called “Keep Me Safe.” It’s a softer sounding pop song compared to “Learning The Feeling.” Both songs show off the singers immense vocal talent and range. We are very excited to hear what’s next from talker.
“Learning The Feeling” by talker out now on Common Ground Records
