The guitar work may sound uncomplicated at first blush, but that’s only because it’s so effortless. Haley Heynderickx is a true triple threat—vocalist, lyricist and guitarist—and her genius arrangements unfold upon repeat listens. Opener “Gemini” is a frantic self-takedown that features some of the most seductive strums of the album. The chords on “Jerry’s Song” pleasantly burble up over the smooth stones of bass, cello and layered vocals. And “Spit in the Sink” is a poem—about how we all try to create in spite of a tech-sick world that tells us creativity isn’t useful—that thanks to a sinewy melody proves itself as a song over and over again.
There are too many other whip-smart lyrical strands to follow in one review, but one of “Seed’s” noteworthy themes is the miracle of a new day. Each new morning is “an offering,” as Heynderickx declares on “Sorry Fahey,” whose title is likely a nod to primitive guitar great John Fahey. Or, as she puts it on “Swoop,” “[t]here’s an artistry in the day to day.” And this kind of creativity isn’t found in a Zoom meeting or a social feed. It’s more likely in “free time” and “a hand next to mine,” both of which Heynderickx longs for on the title track.
As she did on her first album “I Need to Start a Garden”, Heynderickx shows us that meaning can just easily be found in big existential questions and experiences as it can in the most minute details, down to a seed or a bug (her fixation on “The Bug Collector,” from her debut).
When John Rossiter isn’t telling a character’s story, he turns the focus on his own interior life. The songs on “The Fool” are honest at their core, and often quite heavy, dealing with serious topics. The record is an impressive and engaging work but not an easy listen. Its centerpiece, “Rich,” may well be Rossiter’s masterpiece, but you’ll want to take a moment after finishing it. There are a few different ideas held in the song, and while they are all distinct, they are also tangled together—but Rossiter does his best to parse them. Most strikingly, he sings bluntly about his own mental health struggles, and how mental illness and suicidality are passed down genetically. As he holds this idea in one hand, he also holds the inherited nature of generational wealth in the other—pondering how, though it can’t save people from all struggles, it affords them privilege.
People who have family money are more often free to pursue careers in fields like the arts, and he acknowledges the open secret of it all. Song to song, there isn’t much sonic variation, and after the throw-everything-at-the-wall approach he took on Shepherd Head, the bare-boned arrangements here are refreshing. It’s unlikely that Rossiter will make another record like The Fool, but Young Jesus was already an unpredictable project before it, anyway. Though it can often leave you with a sense of discomfort, it’s remarkable that there isn’t a confrontational edge to The Fool. You don’t get the sense that Rossiter is trying to provoke you, necessarily, and you aren’t being asked to give him brownie points for being in touch with his own emotions. Rossiter has, instead, made something open—something that he needed to make, even if he didn’t know he ever could.
Dan Bejar of Destroyer says: “It’s hard to talk about Rosali’s music. Songs that reach outward like this, but then constantly disarm with their intimacy. What do you call such inner searching that is hellbent on rollicking? Songs that long for a sense of peace and songs that want romance, all on equal footing in the same plot of earth? Performed wild, but always centered around the incredible lyrical calm that is Rosali’s voice.
“Sandy Denny jamming with Crazy Horse on a late night in the mid-1970s,” so I won’t attempt to try, but I will add that it’s pretty remarkable how well Rosali captures that vibe 50 years removed from this imagined scenario. The North Carolina/Philadelphia singer/songwriter (whose full name is Rosali Middleman) has been releasing albums of warm, earthy folk music for nearly a decade, and on this one—her MergeRecords debut—her Crazy Horse-esque backing band is the David Nance Group, whose rugged jams couldn’t work more perfectly with her transportive voice.
“Bite Down” is packed wall to wall with tunes that are unsettled but unhurried, generous with melody, wandering but never lost, and reliably steady despite the never-ending twists and turns of an earthly existence. But above all, they are beautiful, broken and built around the kind of raw emotional uncertainty that will resonate with anyone who has ever lived, loved and/or lost. “Bite Down’s” highlights include “My Kind,” a kinetic, country-blues stomper that serves as evidence that Rosali is perfectly capable of a Waxahatchee-style arc if she chooses to pursue it, and “Hills on Fire,” a triumph of room-sound atmospherics and squirrelly guitar-isms that feels like watching a lightning storm crawl across a vast flatland, or perhaps childhood trauma streaking through an adult body. And while “Bite Down” has more approachable peaks, it ends with two tracks that echo both its stylistic range and its recurring themes of pain, self-reflection, healing and hope.
“Bite Down” makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. … The calm of her voice over top of the band’s raging it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm’s way. But it’s not harm. It’s just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali’s voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That’s their sound.”
Montreal’s Feeling Figures are aging in reverse. “Everything Around You“, excellent follow-up to last year’s sleeper underground hit “Migration Music“, is actually their first album—at least in terms of when it was recorded. Who knows what internal math pushed this one to the back of the line, but it was a smart call—it’s actually a stronger, deeper, and richer LP (and other comparatives, even), and one of the better underground rock records of the last few years. And you can be excused for just assuming the band’s from Australia, as they’ve been schooling the rest of the world on this kind of stuff for a couple of decades now. If you’re well-versed in the wayward permutations of unpopular music, you’ll know the score here immediately.
Two guitars, bass, drums as trad a line-up as possible playing rock music, but not that kind of rock music; i.e., not something you would ever hear on classic rock radio, no matter how much time passes (those stations still exist, and they’re probably playing Vampire Weekend even as I type).
Think White Light / White Heat, Wire’s second record, Sonic Youth, early Dinosaur Jr., and a ton of New Zealand and Australian bands, from The Clean all the way up to whatever new group Jake Robertson formed today. Feeling Figures fit squarely into that legacy, and “Everything Around You” is a fine addition to that canon.
“She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She” is Chelsea Wolfe’s first solo album since her excellent 2019 LP “Birth of Violence”, and it’s at once a return to form and a venture towards something entirely new. The album’s title reflects its central theme: a conversation between past, present, and future selves, exploring rebirth and personal transformation.
Chelsea Wolfe has been a scene staple of all forms of gothic music for nearly two decades now, but her latest head-turn of an album “She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She” is as serpentine as its mantra-like title. Coming off her work with composer Tyler Bates for the original score to the 2022 Ti West slasher X and a collaborative LP with metalcore legends Converge, Wolfe continues to evolve from her early neo-folk days in the mid-2000s into heavier industrial and darkwave sounds after 2015’s “Abyss“, 2017’s “Hiss Spun“, and 2019’s “Birth of Violence“. As her recent music started to climb into the Billboard charts for the first time in her career, Wolfe kept the alluring and suffocating atmosphere as taut as the thrilling horror films she’s come to score.
The allure of “She Reaches Out” is in how it captures our liminal moments where we wrestle with self-reflection and self-evolution after pivotal life events. Wolfe depicts all 10 dark tales with a shapeshifting beauty and menace. Opener “Whispers in the Echo Chamber” starts with lyrics about rebuilding yourself through pain as Wolfe’s vocals rotate in a vortex created by producer Dave Sitek’s modular wall:“Bathing in the blood of who I used to be,” she sings.
The shadowplay continues with “The Liminal” and “Eyes Like Nightshade,” the latter paying tribute to Wolfe’s favourite scene from Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire in which two lovers try hallucinogenic flying ointment and end up with belladonna eyes. Likewise, Wolfe’s eyes continue dilating as she reaches out further into the world of moonlit music.
The Cure have announced a new live album, their seventh. “Songs Of A Live World Troxy LondonMMXXlV” was recorded at the band’s show last month at the 3100-capacity Troxy in East London, an event scheduled to celebrate their new album release “Songs Of A Lost World”, The record is the rock outfit’s first album in 16 years, and it’s been heavily anticipated for years now. And with the success of the new record, and features live versions of the album’s eight songs. The somewhat private concert celebrated the release of the highly-anticipated album“Songs Of A Lost World“. The performance included live versions of songs like “Alone”, “And Nothing Is Forever”, “I Can Never Say Goodbye”, and more.
The Troxy London set went much longer than what will be available on “Songs Of A Live World“. Eight songs from the set will make it to the live album. However, the performance itself spanned a whopping 31 songs. The set featured the entirety of“Songs Of A Lost World” performed live. The band also performed a few well-known Cure hits and fan-favourite songs.
The album will be released on December 13th, and The Cure’s royalties will be donated to War Child, the charity that works to support children living with the effects of war and conflict. It’ll be released across a number of different formats, including standalone single CD, LP and cassette. It’ll also be packaged as a double set with the studio album, wrapped in a variation of the original album artwork. The vinyl versions of both albums will ship in February 2025.
At the same time, the band have launched single and double “blood red moon” vinyl editions of “SongsOf A Lost World”. The double set features a second disc featuring instrumental versions of the studio tracks.
The Cure’s royalties from sales of “Songs Of A Live World Troxy London MMXXlV” will be donated to War Child
Fontaines D.C. released their highly-anticipated fourth album, “Romance”. “Romance” is the band’s first album with producer James Ford and is without doubt their most assured, inventive and sonically adventurous record yet. It’s set to build on the success of the Dublin-made, now London-based band’s acclaimed 2022 album “Skinty Fia”, which reached number 1 in the UK and Irish album charts…
The Dublin quintet’s fourth LP is an essay of mosh-pit guitars careening into baggy desires and stringed visions of mercy. “Romance” opens with a feeling of limitless possibility framed against a backdrop of impending doom. The ominous title track feels like a death march: Its piano melody teeters between innocence and occult, accompanied by brooding fuzz guitar and percussion that sounds like it was recorded in a damp cave.
The band switched producers from Dan Carey (Black Midi and Squid) to James Ford (Arctic Monkeys and Gorillaz), and it feels like they have shifted up a gear both musically and in ambition terms. The raw, savage songs from their first two records, ‘Dogrel’ and ‘A Hero’s Death,’ have morphed into bigger, fuller songs on ‘Romance’.
Strings, synths, and beautiful backing vocals are present, but there is also a nod to the nu-metal bands they were listening to as adolescents, most noticeably in their wardrobe makeover and in the delivery of some of the songs on the record, including the first single, ‘Starburster’.
There is a sprinkling of shoegaze on tracks like ‘Desire’ and ’Sundowner’, a touch of grunge on ‘Death Kink’, a slice of soft rock on ‘Motorcycle Boy’ and a bone fide string-laden ballad in ‘Horseness Is the Whatness’ (a quote from ‘Ulysses’ by James Joyce fact fans).
You don’t expect an album called “Romance” to open with a stalking titled track brimming with gothic vibrations and the line, “Into the darkness again.” Yet, that’s what Fontaines D.C. does so brilliantly throughout their fourth full-length in five years: subverting your every expectation, from theme to sound to the very definition of “romance.”
The Irish band uses the collection to paint a beautiful dystopia where the heart and the head battle against destruction. Epic strings and lush production from James Ford place frontman Grian Chatten’s lyrics within the cinematic heritage of everything from Akira to Wings of Desire, immediate influences on the band’s feelings-first approach to songwriting.
Tracks like ‘In The Modern World’ are as good as anything they have released and about as far from their early sound as they have been. This isn’t a criticism; it is fantastic hearing a group I love evolve and develop; it is like discovering another brilliant band – although singer Brian Chatten’s voice is so distinctive that I’m always reminded of who I’m listening to.
I reckon this is the most accessible album they have ever realised; by that, I mean it isn’t as thrashy, dark or angular as their previous releases. By accident or design, this is probably the most radio-friendly record of their career. It should see an army of new fans discover them, which will propel them into the stadium-filling bracket – they did say they would be big.
Fontaines D.C. don’t claim the label post-punk, and “Romance” defies you to challenge them. They are rock artists in the truest sense, captivating with the colours and emotions of their compositions as much as the sounds themselves. Pulling this off with a record that explores such darkness without leaving you feeling desolate is, at its core, profoundly romantic.
Waxahatchee (aka Katie Crutchfield) is releasing a new album, “Tigers Blood”, on March 22nd via ANTI-. This week she shared its third single, “365,” via a music video filmed in one continuous shot. Corbett Jones and Nick Simonite directed the video.
Crutchfield had this to say about “365” in a press release: “‘365’ is a song about co-dependency as it pertains to addiction and relationships with addicts. It’s something I’ve dealt with a lot in my life and I really wanted to distill the nerves and emotions down to their purest form in this song.
Brad Cook and I had a lot of ideas we tried for this one, but in the end, we tracked it live just him, Jake Lenderman, and myself running the song a couple of times together in the room.”
We’ve never questioned the songwriting talents of Katie Crutchfield — only a fool would. And yet, even when it seems impossible to do so, the artist continues to outdo herself. The immaculate “Tigers Blood” picks up where 2020’s “Saint Cloud” left off, with Crutchfield embracing her rootsiest, alt-countryiest of tendencies, this time with the help of rising indie star MJ Lenderman. The resulting 12 numbers boast effortless, near-flawless construction, over top of which Crutchfield delivers her abstracted, beautifully contradictory, poignant tales.
There are highs and lows, moments of boredom and burnout, and a perpetual, perhaps unspoken plea to keep moving forward. Ultimately, it’s a project that proves Crutchfield is still growing, both personally and artistically, and we’re just glad she’s invited us along for the ride.
“No Name” was almost the biggest surprise drop of 2024 (thanks, K.Dot), and Jack White’s newest collection of songs still made a huge impression. Describing his new album as “guitar-forward” feels like an understatement, as Johnny Guitar (his new persona, per Instagram) jams through these 13 tracks with something to prove about himself as an artist, as well as the power of good rock and roll.
Jack White’s back in a big, big way! Here he slides back into the raw, blown out garage rock that he’s so well known for and man does it sound good. The riffs are piled high all over this album and he’s never sounded so urgent and utterly relevant. Everything distorts in just the right places and the hooks are guaranteed to stay in your head for a long, long time. He’s stripped everything back and come back bigger, badder and better than ever. 2024 needs this man big time.
“That’s How I’m Feeling” delivers hardest in terms of rock vibes, but there’s something spiritually compelling about the very next track, “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking),” which faces down civilization’s decline with wit and positive thinking: Whatever the future might hold, unlike the rats we’re not “food for cats” — for right now, at least.
“Funeral For Justice” is the new album by Mdou Moctar. Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2019 breakout “Afrique Victime“, it captures the Nigerian quartet in ferocious form. The music is louder, faster, and more wild. The guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down. The songs on“Funeral For Justice” speak unflinchingly to the plight of Niger and of the Tuareg people.
“This album is really different for me,” explains Moctar, the band’s singer, namesake, and indisputably iconic guitarist. “Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the U.S. and Europe came here, they said they’re going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution.”
Mdou Moctar’s latest effort delivers the band’s most raw and politically charged work to date. The record took form amid Niger’s looming civil war and heightened political instability within the nation. The Tuareg guitarist and his band waste no time in addressing the violence and colonialism that have destabilized his people: “The world rises and falls, meanwhile my people’s fate remains uncertain,” asserts Moctar on “Oh France,” a poignant anti-colonial anthem.
The Fat Angel Sings 