The Fat Angel Sings

For two albums, Brighton quartet Black Honey – firebrand frontwoman Izzy Bee Phillips, guitarist Chris Ostler, bassist Tommy Taylor and drummer Alex Woodward – have been living in a glitter-specked, sepia-tinged magic kingdom of their own making. It’s undeniably served them well. Rising from cult underground favourites on their self-titled 2018 debut through to a genuine breakthrough success story on 2021’s Top 10-charting follow up ‘Written & Directed’, the band have amassed a legion of fans to their constantly shifting canon of fizzing, visceral indie and nostalgia-soaked pop – a following that, in the past year alone, has seen them handpicked to support Liam Gallagher, The Libertines, IDLES, The Vaccines and more, on top of their own sold out headline tour.

Izzy, meanwhile, has become something of a Pied Piper for life’s outliers, for the people that resonate hard with her own memories of struggling through youth and desperately attempting to find connection and understanding in an often impossible world. You can see the results in the front row of any Black Honey show; dedicated fans presenting in all forms that embrace the band’s message of acceptance. But it’s not until now that the singer has fully, 100% bared her soul herself.

There’s a disconnect on the third album by Brighton rockers Black Honey. The music is rousing post-grunge indie rock, tuneful, full of vim, but the lyrics speak of someone deeply troubled. The mood is, perhaps, best summed up by “Rock Bottom” which states, “Rock bottom – but the floor keeps dropping.” The whole album is mired in similar mind-strife.

Singer Izzy Bee Phillips has said as much of the incongruously named “A Fistful of Peaches”, stating, “Most of this record is me trying to figure out where the line is between normal mental health and when you’re having breakdowns every day that then become part of normal.” The music, on the other hand, is immediate, catchy, and bounce-around upbeat. “I disassociate from the feeling/Kick the fuck off as you try to reach me/You open my hand and my palms are bleeding/And my head’s still reeling,” runs “Cut the Cord”, but the hefty ultra-produced guitar storm behind emanates pure fist-pumping triumph.

If you’re after musical originality, this is not the place. That’s not the point here. It’s an album catering to those after a well-worn, visceral guitar kick, who are attached to the idea that “authenticity” is a four-piece rockin’ out, treading a path somewhere between L7, Garbage and The Primitives but with production that pushes their sound to the epic (drummer Alex Woodward deserves special mention as he adds real roll to the rock). Because they’re deft hands at writing catchy pop songs, it’s no bad place to be, as is demonstrated by cuts such as “I’m a Man”, “Heavy”, and the aforementioned “Rock Bottom”.

In fact, they’re rightly so confident in what they do that they save two of the best songs for near the end of the album, the anthemic “Weirdos” (“This is a song for the weirdos/The anti-heroes/Won’t fit in if you tried”) and “Tombstone”, the one song that breaks the musical mould with a touch of Nine Inch Nails about it.

Phillips has implied the unhappiness that inspired this album is a thing of the past, which is to the good, but, whether despite, or because of it, Black Honey have nailed another set of contagious festival sing-along smashers.

Folk songsmith Nick Drake (1948-1974) was/is an inspiration for many singer-songwriters. His 3 LPs “Five Leaves Left” (1969), “Bryter Layter” (1970), and “Pink Moon” (1972) were and still are widely lauded. The trouble artist died following an overdose of amitriptyline, an antidepressant, aged only 26.

“The Endless Coloured Ways” is a collection of songs by legendary singer/ songwriter, Nick Drake, performed and recorded by over 30 incredible artists from a range of different backgrounds, genres, age groups and audiences. From Fontaines D.C to Guy Garvey, and Aurora to Feist, each artist has offered their own incredible take on a timeless classic.

Also included on this magical record are Let’s Eat Grandma, Bombay Bicycle Club, Aldous Harding, Emeli Sande, and Ben Harper, just to name a few more.

The official video for ‘’Cello Song’ by Fontaines D.C.

25 covers will feature on the compilation. Involved among others are Bombay Bicycle Club & The Staves, Ben Harper, John Parish, David Gray, Craig Armstrong, Liz Phair, John Grant and Irish post-punk heroes Fontaines D.C.

British dream-pop duo Lets Eat Grandma is also part of the tribute. They picked “From The Morning”. A characteristic Drake musing. It was featured on his 1972 “Pink Moon” album.

Jenny Hollingworth from Lets Eat Grandma: “I’ve always thought of it as the most hopeful song on “Pink Moon” and listening to its lyrics about nature showing us the beauty in the light and darkness and how life and death are connected helped me to find acceptance and comfort after loss. Thank you so much to David Wrench for working on it with me.”

Over the years there have been many versions of songs by Nick Drake recorded by other artists. Some versions hold Nick in such reverence that the new rendition brings very little to the original. Some seem to treat the song like a sport with tunings and pickings conquered rather than adapted; and some – often just a few – shed new light on the song by submitting to it, after which the new keeper makes it their own and thus, perhaps, a baton is handed on.

The National have shared another new song from their upcoming album, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein”. “Eucalyptus” comes with a music video directed by Chris Sgroi. The visual was shot at Long Pond by Sgroi and Matt Berninger’s brother, Tom.

In a press statement, Matt Berninger said of the new single: “‘Eucalyptus’ is about a couple splitting up their possessions after a breakup—like, ‘What are we going to do with the spring water we get delivered, what’s going to happen to all these plants?’ It’s about all those little things you end up having to think about when you’ve become so connected to someone.”

“First Two Pages of Frankenstein” is the band’s ninth studio album. The National have previously unveiled the singles “New Order T-Shirt” and “Tropic Morning News,” which was co-written with lead singer Matt Berninger’s wife, Carin Besser. The band recently performed the latter song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The National will embark on a lengthy tour in support of the album this spring, traveling across North America and Europe. The band will stay on the road on through to October. Openers across the run include Patti Smith, Soccer Mommy, the Beths, and Bartees Strange.

“First Two Pages of Frankenstein” is The National’s ninth studio album. This 11-song collection signals a new chapter in the band’s discography. Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” finds The National sounding more creatively energized than ever and poised to earn them even more fans. The album was produced by the band at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.

releases April 28th, 2023

‘Eucalyptus’ is taken from forthcoming album ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’, out 28th April via 4AD Records.

The Heavy Heavy have released an expanded edition of their debut ‘Life and Life Only’ EP, . The physical release, pressed on coke bottle clear vinyl,  is due on May 19th.

Now spanning 11 tracks, like runaway hits “Miles and Miles,” “Go Down River,” and rapturous opener “All My Dreams,” the newly extended set also includes The Heavy Heavy’s hypnotic, harmony-laden takes on Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby,”Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Guinnevere” and a previously unheard rendition of Jonathan Wilson’s “Desert Raven,” plus a roaring live recording of “Man of The Hills” and an acoustic arrangement of “Go Down River.” 

“We’ve loved “Desert Raven” since the moment Jonathan Wilson released it in 2011. We wanted to bring it into our sonic world, adding big vocal harmonies over the choruses and expanding on the instrumentation. It evokes the feeling of a fever dream…road tripping the American desert. The guitar-monies are stunning, and something you don’t hear so much in modern music. We had a lot of fun recording this cover.”

“Desert Raven” is from the new Expanded Edition of The Heavy Heavy’s EP ‘Life and Life Only.’

5/4 – London, UK – BBC Introducing Live at the Lexington
5/10-5/13 – Brighton, UK – The Great Escape Festival
5/17 – Manchester, UK – The Blues Kitchen
5/18 – London, UK – Omeara
5/19 – Bristol, UK – Rough Trade Bristol
5/20 – Leeds, UK – Belgrave Music Hall
5/21 – Glasgow, UK – King Tut’s

The latest issue – out on Thursday – Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey talk extensively and candidly about The Who live, and their past, present and future as a performing unit. Pauline Black tells us about getting a telegram from Marlene Dietrich and an MBE from the Queen. We go record shopping with Dan from The Black Keys. Peter Perrett relives the making of “Another Girl, Another Planet”. Lewis Taylor gives his first in depth interview for years/decades. Graham Gouldman reassesses 10cc’s mid-to-late 70s output. We reflect on the contribution made by Burt Bacharach. And we review new releases from Depeche Mode and Lana Del Rey.

On the cover of the magazine this month are The Who: Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, exclusively talking to Record Collector about their history of live performance. Roger talks us through 10 of the band’s greatest, most significant gigs while Pete more generally assesses the impact of The Who’s concerts, making the surprising admission that he doesn’t enjoy being onstage, and considers the past, present and future of The Who. Finally, we have a discography covering The Who’s official live recordings. You won’t want to miss it.

There is, of course, more. Pauline Black discusses the contribution made to British pop by 2 Tone band The Selecter and considers whether it was a good idea for her to accept her OBE. We go record shopping with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Lewis Taylor, the “lost boy” of 90s psych-soul, explains where he’s been this past decade and a half. We feature an extract from a book about The Only Ones, focusing on the new wave band’s perennially thrilling “Another Girl, Another Planet“. There’s a photo special about the life and career of ELP’s keyboard supremo Keith Emerson. We pay tribute to Burt Bacharach. We spend 33 1/3 minutes with Paul Jones, formerly of Manfred Mann. John McNally of The Searchers discusses the 10 key records of his lifetime. Lieutenant Pigeon are the band Under The Radar this month, Mike Vernon is the producer in the Engine Room and we nominate 10 Of The Best Trad Jazz records. And we have a bumper reviews section: albums by De La Soul, 10cc, Pink Floyd, Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach, Depeche Mode and Lana Del Rey are under inspection.

On “Everything Harmony“, the fourth full-length studio release from New York’s The Lemon Twigs, the prodigiously talented brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario offer 13 original servings of beauty that showcase an emotional depth and musical sophistication far beyond their years as a band, let alone as young men. While they eagerly devour musical influences from everything and everywhere, they have somehow arrived at a cohesive and dynamic sound that speaks to our troubled times.

Having bounded onto the music scene with their precocious 2016 debut “Do Hollywood“, they threw caution to the wind two years later on their follow up “Go to School”. By the time of their third album, “Songs for the General Public” (2020) The Lemon Twigs had begun to pull from a wide range of multigenerational inspirations, expertly darting from twee chamber pop balladry to full on glam punk, mixing plaintive singer-songwriter confessionals with an almost Syd Barrett sense of outré pop. In an interview from the time, they expressed an interest in creating “something really beautiful sounding” based on vocal harmonies and developing their combined melodic sensibilities into a setting where “the sounds were as important as the songs” themselves.

On “Everything Harmony“, the brothers have fully realized that vision, with a unified Lemon Twigs sound” that successfully blends their distinct personalities while giving voice to their diverse and eclectic influences.

Opening the album with the unassuming acoustic folk of plaintive “When Winter Comes Around,” which echoes the sophisticated grandeur of classic Simon & Garfunkel recordings, they immediately switch things up to the sunny classic pop motif of “In My Head.” From that point on “Everything Harmony” makes it clear that the Lemon Twigs can’t be pinned down.

Having recently worked with friends like Natalie Mering, with whom they appeared on the latest Weyes Blood album, they also collaborated with classic rock hero Todd Rundgren on his most recent album, “Space Force”. Rundgren, himself no stranger to eclecticism, says he can relate to their time-tripping approach to contemporary pop.

“They started when they were five and six years old, doing TV and Broadway and things like that,” says Rundgren. “So, they have built-in appreciation for music that is of a couple of generations before theirs.

I think they were bored by the music of their own generation, and since you can’t fast forward to the music of the future, you just start going backwards to music that was made before you were born. I can empathize with that impulse, because I did that too, back in the seventies.”

Released as the album teaser track, “Corner of My Eye” channels an Art Garfunkel-like vocal melody over a moody, vibraphone-tinged backing track suggesting the chamber pop of Brian Wilson.

“Everything Harmony” was mostly written and recorded between 2020 and 2021, when tracking for the album began at a “very chaotic” rehearsal studio in Manhattan.

“It was one of the noisiest places I’ve ever been,” says Brian. “We did takes of acoustic guitar in between metal bands rehearsing next door and fire engines roaring down 8th Avenue. After months of sessions there, where we recorded the basic tracks to ‘Corner Of My Eye’, ‘In My Head,’ ‘I Don’t Belong To Me,’ ‘What Happens To A Heart,’ ‘Ghost Run Free,’ and ‘New To Me,’ we decided enough was enough and we looked into studios that had acoustic echo chambers after hearing East West’s chambers during the recording of Weyes Blood’s latest record.”

They finally got out of town, but instead of ‘doing Hollywood’ again, they took the tapes to San Francisco’s Hyde Street Studios where they added the album’s omnipresent vibraphone textures, harpsichord, French horn, strings, and many layers of vocal harmonies.

To finish up, they flew home to their brand new studio in Brooklyn to finish mixing and mastering with the help of Paul Millar of Bug Sound.

Brian D’Addario notes the influence of two late lamented artists in particular this time; Moondog, and Arthur Russell whose album Iowa Dream encouraged them to lean into their own melodic tendencies and keep the arrangements delicate.

“Their arrangements entered my head when we were arranging the strings on the album,” says Brian, “and we worked for a long time on our vocal blend. On previous records, whoever wrote the song might do most, if not all, of the harmonies on their track but not so much on this one. Our blend is a strength that we tried to exploit as much as possible.”

While they had no grand concept for “Everything Harmony“, both the D’Addarios felt a “palpable mood of defeat” prevailed while writing and recording it. “New To Me” was inspired by their shared experience with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s, “What You Were Doing” is dressed in the tortured jangle of vintage Big Star, while “Born To Be Lonely,” written after watching John Cassavetes’ Opening Night, deals with what Brian calls “the fragility that often comes with age.”

“The album cycles through moments of depression and isolation on songs like ‘What Happens To A Heart,’ or ‘Born To Be Lonely’ to episodes of dizzying euphoria in ‘Ghost Run Free’ or the title track. There’s very little middle ground. On ‘What Happens to A Heart’ we were going for a 70’s Spector vibe, along the lines of Leonard Cohen’s Death Of A Ladies Man. We tracked it with me on piano, Daryl Johns on electric bass and Michael and Andres Valbuena both playing drums. I overdubbed a fretless bass. Two pianos, two organs, harpsichord, and celeste. The basic track was done in New York, and strings and French horn recorded in San Francisco. We got the Friction Quartet to overdub themselves about 8 times to get a more symphonic sound. We also recorded about 8 acoustics and bounced them down to two tracks; we did the same with the electric guitars.”

“Everything Harmony” is a unified song cycle born of shared blood and common purpose. With two musical heads being better than one, there’s no shortage of ideas to draw on. Their only impediments are time and the challenge of keeping up with their own prolific musical inspiration.

“We share an intuition and tend to be influenced by one another,” says Brian, “so the lyrical ideas on this record tend to complement each other. Writing has never been the issue for us. It’s completing, editing and compiling that takes the time. We’re trapped in a web of songs!” 

releases May 5th, 2023

Official video for Any Time Of Day by The Lemon Twigs, from their album Everything Harmony, out May 5th, 2023.

All songs written by Brian and Michael D’Addario

The latest single from Fenne Lily’s new album “Big Picture” is “In My Own Time,” is a gentle folk track. “This song’s about the weight of stasis about time moving too quickly and too slowly and every mistake feeling both permanent and inconsequential,” she says.
“When it came to writing this video concept, I wanted it to reflect the twisted aspects of a love that’s found in the midst of chaos and the subsequent feeling of being inanimate in your own story. All that, in the style of Terminator 2.”

Fenne Lily’s third LP, “Big Picture”, is set to be among one of the best records of the year. To commemorate the upcoming occasion, Lily has gifted us “In My Own Time” a low-key but breathtaking acoustic triumph about mutual affection and reliance on others. “Write me a love song, make it all rhyme / Hold me up sometimes, we’ll be just fine,” she sings.

There are romantic undertones lingering, but “In My Own Time” is much more than that. It’s—as the title of the record might suggest—a small ecosystem gazing out at the big picture, one where Lily is reckoning with how to co-opt a space when there’s no place left to turn but into the arms of who’s closest to you. If “let’s make this house a home” was a song, look toward the lighthouse that is “In My Own Time,” one of the tenderest ballads of 2023

from the upcoming album ‘Big Picture’, out April 14th on Dead Oceans Records.

Art School Girlfriend, Aka Polly Mackey, releases her second album “Soft Landing”, via Fiction Records. The album is self-described as a series of “small euphorias”, it is an album that finds Mackey shifting her sound towards tactile electronics whilst retaining the floating melodies of her debut. 

Lead track “Close To The Clouds”, follows the success of standalone single “A Place To Lie” earlier this year. “Close To The Clouds” is an integral part of “Soft Landing“, with the central refrain providing the album with its title, and the song unfurling into climbing, arpeggiated synths amidst acid-house indebted drums. 

“Soft Landing” follows Mackey’s 2020 debut album, “Is It Light Where You Are?” an album made in the wake of a tumultuous time and released during one. “Soft Landing” feels like Mackey’s true debut, a record of curiosity and playfulness with songs that sound like they are falling effortlessly into place.

the new album, ‘Soft Landing’, out 4th August

“Bunny” is a stunning evolution of Beach Fossils’ sound throughout the years, pulling elements from the jangly melancholy of “What a Pleasure”, the lush arrangements of “Somersault” and the gritty, post-punk inspired tracks from “Clash the Truth”. The record has Dustin Payseur’s most vulnerable lyrics by far. He’s pushed himself to be honest and give insight to his emotional world. From poignant words about a family member’s cancer battle, the joy of being a father, to smoking a cigarette out of a car window with friends–it’s the band’s most vivid and personal work to date. Beach Fossils have spotlighted at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Primavera, and Posty Fest, in addition to sold-out headline dates at venues like Brooklyn Steel, The Wiltern, and Thalia Hall.

The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads hit No. 3 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums chart and the band recently cracked two million Spotify monthly listeners and seven million monthly listeners total across all platforms. “Bunny” will be released June 2nd on Bayonet Records–a genre-expansive indie label he co-founded in 2014 that has served as an incubator for a diverse roster of developing artists since its inception.

“Don’t Fade Away” off the new album “Bunny” out June 2nd, 2023