When an indie band name themselves Chime School, it’s almost like putting a “RIYL” sticker on your album cover. You know what you’re going to get and this San Francisco group don’t disappoint in that respect with their full-length debut. AndyPastalaniec knows exactly what he wants — which is to sound like a British indie band from the late-’80s or early-’90s — and he knows how to get it. We’re talking 12-string Rickenbackers with just enough chorus effect on them to make them sparkle like a prism filter on a camera. Those guitars are then layered with more guitars, for a ringing sound that will take you back to 1990 when The La’s and The Stone Roses unleashed a massive wave of jangly bands in stripey shirts who made it to the cover of the NME (while Felt’s Lawrence stood by and muttered “I did it first”).
Thankfully, Pastalaniec isn’t just a student of the sound, but also a terrific songwriter and producer in his own right. “Chime School” is packed with memorable melodies, rainbow harmonies, and unlodgeable hooks. “Taking Time to Tell You,” “Dead Saturday” and “Gone Too Fast” are great pop songs that also remind you how amazing guitars like this can sound.
Sparkling debut album from San Francisco’s Andy Pastalaniec recalls The Stone Roses, The La’s, and Felt
In 2018 Munya started creating her own music which eventually became a series of three EPs – a trilogy – each named for a significant place in her life.
Space is the place for this Montreal singer’s debut album that’s full of Frenchy synthpop and dreams of falling in love on other planets. Jessie Boivin is as serious about outer space as she is making irresistible pop music. “I love space. I love aliens. I love thinking that we’re not alone in this big strange universe,” Boivin says. “Those things give me hope.” Without a doubt, her full-length debut as Munya is the best Franco-Anglais ye-ye synthpop album about the space program and colonizing Mars to be released in 2021.”Voyage to Mars” isn’t a concept record per se, but she uses the idea of exploring other worlds and nostalgia for the golden age of the space race as a backdrop for charming, instantly hooky tracks that are also very much in the heart-on-sleeve pop tradition. “Cocoa Beach,” “Voyage” and “Perfect Day” seem to exist in the 1960s, 1980s and now all at once, while zooming from Paris to New York faster than a Concorde ever could. It’s a transporting mix that has the faith in humanity of Gene Roddenberry, and earworms Khan could’ve taken over the galaxy with.
released November 5th, 2021
All songs written, produced and recorded by MUNYA.
British sibling duo Penelope Isles (Lily and Jack Wolter) are releasing a new album, “Which Way to Happy”, on November 5th via Bella Union Records. On Tuesday, they shared the album’s fourth and final pre-release single, “Terrified.”
Jack Wolter had this to say about the song in a press release: “It’s about those days when you’re dying inside but have to pop out to the shop, bumping into someone, having to put on a magic show, pretending to appear that everything is OK. It’s a song that has such a happy-fun-summery exterior but lyrically is totally the opposite. It’s one of self-doubt, displacement and finding something really terrifying to handle. Sometimes we hide a lot behind ourselves. ‘Terrified’ was an outlet for me to be able to tackle scary thoughts and worries in more of an abstract way. Things can seem impossible to talk about and articulate sometimes. I feel that making this album has enabled me and my sister Lily to open up a lot more and be honest with our songs as it just makes them so much more real.”
“Which Way to Happy” is the band’s sophomore album and follows their debut album, Until the Tide Creeps In, released in 2019 also via Bella Union.Jack produced the album, which was mixed by Dave Fridmann. New backing band members Henry Nicholson, Joe Taylor, and Hannah Feenstra all contributed to the recording of “Which Way to Happy“, as did composer Fiona Brice.
As the pandemic took hold, Jack and Lily decamped to a cottage in Cornwall to begin writing and recording the album.
“Terrified” is taken from the Penelope Isles album “Which Way To Happy” released 5th November 2021 via Bella Union
“We were there for about two or three months,” says Jack in a press release. “It was a tiny cottage and we all went a bit bonkers, and we drank far too much, and it spiralled a bit out of control. There were a lot of emotional evenings and realizations, which I think reflects in the songs. Writing and recording new music was a huge part of the recovery process for all of us.”
Which Way to Happy is Penelope Isles’ second album, which was started at the end of a very fruitful 2019, having toured the heck out of that year’s Until the Tide Creeps In and becoming a stellar live unit. But then they were dealt a series of blows, first losing their rhythm section and then having Covid strike just as the new line-up of the band convened in a small cottage in Cornwall, England to start work. Cabin fever merged with pandemic fever. “We all went a bit bonkers, and we drank far too much, and it spiraled a bit out of control,” Jack said.
They truly came out the other side, though, as Which Way to Happy is a real step forward from “Until the Tide Creeps In”, feeling both bigger and more intimate. The anxiety they went through making the album is clearly present in the lyrics — the album opens with songs titled “Terrified” and “Rocking at the Bottom” — but they counter the mania with absolutely gorgeous melodies, and arrangements. “Play it Cool” takes jazzy R&B and applies it to a shoegazey haze; “Iced Gems” is appropriately crystalline but never shatters; and “Have You Heard” is driving guitar pop perfection. Penelope Isles excel at epic ballads and they deliver two stunners in the massive “Miss Moon,” that is heavy enough in parts to affect the tides, and the orchestral, melancholy “Sailing Still.”
The album includes “Sailing Still,” a new song the band shared in July via a video directed by Jack and starring Lily. Then when the album was announced they shared its second single, “Iced Gems,” . Then they shared the album’s third single, “Sudoku,” via a video for the track .
Earlier this year Lily (under her alter-ego KookieLou) sang guest vocals on the Lost Horizons song “Heart of a Hummingbird,” .
UK band led by siblings Lily and Jack Wolter make a big leap forward on their ambitious, beautiful second album
We’re happy to announce that our debut album, “𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞”, will be released on February 25th 2022 on Rough Trade Records. we are releasing another single from that album “IWR” with a video that we made in France and on the Isle of Sheppey.We are also happy to announce that we’ll be playing a long-duration improvised set in the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Rooms on January 15th, and will be doing a Rough Trade East instore on February 25th.The album is available on limited edition Dinked LP, Japanese import LP exclusively via Rough Trade Records website,
Caroline’s lineup doesn’t include anyone named Caroline, but it does feature Jasper Llewellyn (acoustic guitar, cello, drums, vocals), Mike O’Malley (electric guitar, vocals), Casper Hughes (electric guitar, vocals), Oliver Hamilton (violin), Magdalena McLean (violin), Freddy Wordsworth (trumpet, bass), Alex McKenzie (clarinet, flute, saxophone), and Hugh Aynsley (drums, percussion).
The band might appeal to fans of Grizzly Bear, The Microphones, Young Jesus, and Fleet Foxes.
O’Malley had this to say about “IWR” in a press release: “Jasper was sending a lot of home-recorded nylon guitar and singing ideas, and one just stuck because it was just a really beautiful vocal melody. We had an initial guitar-based idea, then we decided that on a certain chord this wall of violins should come in.”
Previously the band had shared tracks from the upcoming album “Dark blue” and “Skydiving onto the library roof.”
Debut album ‘caroline’ will be released on 25th February.
Toronto punk band PUP have promised (or threatened, depending how you look at it) that “Morbid Stuff” follow-up “The Unraveling Of Pup The Band” is “not just the next PUP record, but the *most* PUP record.” Based on what we’ve heard up to this point, they’re not lying: “Waiting,” “Robot Writes a LoveSong,” “Matilda” and “Totally Fine” see the band at their funniest and most poignant, as well as their most anthemic. Even when a song is written from the perspective of an old guitar dying from neglect or a machine that can’t stand the strain of falling in love, each song blows its subject matter up so it sounds like whatever’s happening is the end of the world. The sheer amount of energy coming off every chorus tells us we have no choice but to jump along as it all comes crashing down around us. All things considered, there are worse ways to go out than singing PUP at the top of your lungs.
PUP follow 2020’s great “This Place Sucks Ass” EP with a new two-song single, “Waiting” / “Kill Something,” produced by Interpol/National collaborator Peter Katis. “‘Waiting’ came about by smashing the heaviest riff Nestor could write with the simplest, most uplifting chorus I could write, just to see what would happen,” singer/guitarist Stefan Babcock said. “The results were very quintessentially PUP, in that the song is a flurry of darkness and anger through the joyous lens of four guys just happy to be here, four guys who don’t take themselves seriously enough to make music that doesn’t feel like fun, regardless of the subject matter.” Meanwhile, “Kill Something” is about Stefan’s dog Moose, who — according to a press release — “loves to destroy his favourite things, and then is sad that those things are destroyed.” “Waiting” does indeed nail that heavy-meets-catchy formula that PUP does so well, while “Kill Something” is a little slower and murkier, in a Pinkerton kind of way.
Pup continue to get heavier and heavier with each passing year while painting a vivid picture with their lyrics. “And in the church basement, With my anarchist leanings, I’m only there to see you” is a great line.
They say no one listens to albums anymore, it’s important to expand that life cycle in the name of content. A few weeks back Johnny Marr had unveiled plans to slowly rollout his new LP in EP-sized doses, and now Beach House are doing the same, releasing new album “Once Twice Melody” on February 18th, but not before a string of four digital chapters that begins today (November 10th) with four new songs, including the title track and the wildly magical “Superstar.”
After four years in the wilderness, this week saw the return of one of indie music’s most intriguing bands, Beach House. The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally this week confirmed details of their self-produced new album, “Once Twice Melody“, which will be released in February via Sub Pop, as well a slew of dates on both sides of the Atlantic.
Beach House formed seventeen years ago in 2004, when the newly graduated pair met on the music scene of Baltimore,Maryland. The pair began making music with almost deliberate limitations, using just an Organ, programmed drumbeats and slide-guitar to create a sound that wasn’t quite like anything I’d ever heard before. They stuck largely to those rules for both their 2016 self-titled debut and the 2008 follow-up Devotion, both released via Car Park Records.
While the band were already causing quite the buzz on internet messages boards (remember them!) at the time, their big break came in 2010, when they teamed up with both Sub Pop (US) and Bella Union (UK) for the release of their acclaimed album, “Teen Dream“. Although not exactly a chart sensation, the album took the band to a whole new level, impressing everyone from Pitchfork to musical power-couple Jay-Z & Beyonce, who were spotted at their shows. The band would go on to far greater chart success with both 2012’s “Bloom” and 2015’s “Depression Cherry“, which went top twenty on both sides of the Atlantic. Although their more recent offerings haven’t quite hit those heights, they’ve continued to be both critical darlings, and a much loved fixture of the alternative scene.
What Beach House possess as a band is a certain alchemy, an ability to take the simplest musical ingredients and turn them into audio-gold. They went from lo-fi beginnings, early single Master Of None while utterly delightful does sound a bit like it was recorded underwater, through to the most luxuriant neo-psychedelic sounds of songs like Lazuli or Wild. Beach House have never been a band afraid of stretching their sound, yet they’ve also never been one that lose any element of who they are, or what makes them so uniquely brilliant.
A welcome return for Beach House is a reason to be very cheerful, and thankfully they feel just the same, as Alex recently told Rolling Stone, “I think I’m going to weep when I’m in a crowd of people, shoulder-to-shoulder, hearing loud sound coming from astage”. A band who love music, every bit as much as you love them – now that’s something worth cherishing.
Acclaimed dream pop duo Beach House follow the excellent ‘7’ with their first double album, self-produced entirely by the band. Set for release almost four years after the psychedelic-leaning ‘7’, ‘Once Twice Melody’ hears Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand bringing in a live string section. We haven’t been given too much info on the press release, bar there’s eighteen tracks within, and Alan Moulder and Dave Fridmann are among those who have mixed it. Given it’s a double, we reckon there’s going to be plenty of their most adventurous sounds, trialling of new genres, and influences we’ve never heard in their music before.
On 2CD, 2LP, and a limited box set ft. a pair of gold/clear records, white faux leather with gold foil details, a 32-page booklet, and two pull-out posters. An 18 song double album and we are releasing it in 4 Chapters over the next 4 months. The first chapter hit earlier today at midnight, and the rest of “Once Twice Melody‘s” 18 tracks will be released monthly
As mentioned, Beach House will be sharing songs from their upcoming new album “Once Twice Melody” in monthly “chapters.” The first chapter has just dropped with the album’s opening four songs and you can watch the animated music videos for them below.
Things begin with the stunning title track that mixes low-fi electronics with baroque touches and a stirring string section. You can hear echos of Broadcast, Stereolab and Spacemen 3 (whose Sonic Boom produced their last album, 7). The hand-drawn animated lyric video, directed by Annapurna Kumar, is great too.
From there, it’s the pulsing, kaleidoscopic “Superstar” (video by Nicholas Law), the neon dread of “Pink Funeral” (full of strings right out of a horror film and a video by Scott Kiernan), and the melting arpeggiations of “Through Me” (with a video by San Charoenchai). The visuals for all four song are fantastic, very different, but majorly psychedelic.
“Once Twice Melody” is out February 18th via Sub PopRecords. You can preorder it on Gold and Silver edition vinyl and cassette; “Depression Cherry” also just got reissued on vinyl. Grab that along with the new album and others on cassette, and black and colour vinyl.
This latest effort from Beach House is the Baltimore dream-pop duo’s eighth studio album, and follows 2018’s “7″. It’s the first Beach House album to be produced entirely by themselves, and was recorded at Pachyderm studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota; United Studio in Los Angeles; and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore. It was mixed by Alan Moulder with additional mixing by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer, and Dave Fridmann.
Shauf’s ability to weave a narrative into a song or album remains almost unmatched, and although I agree that these songs are a little underbaked individually,
Whether or not it’s the intention of the creator, art can show us the rawest version of ourselves. It can peel back the layers and have us looking deeper in the mirror, past the imperfections of our reflection. Such was the case with Saskatchewan-born musician Andy Shauf and his 2020 album “The Neon Skyline”. For his fifth record, the prolific storyteller built a concept album around a local bar and a group of friends. His detailed writing created a world that was fictional yet lifelike—a commonplace background fleshed out with the too-familiar cringe scenario of encountering an ex on a night out. But chatting with Shauf it’s clear that he’s still navigating his own role within these lyrics. “I hope that people don’t think I’m narrating as myself—it’s essentially just me processing certain things and using my own lens as the filter for a reaction,” he says. “It’s me picturing myself in those shoes.”
A few weeks ago, Shauf released the follow-up to “Skyline”, which is an extension of that world. Written during the same period, “Wilds” is a batch of songs that Shauf escaped into in order to return to the concept on “Skyline”. Whereas the latter gave us a detailed look at the tension of running into an ex lover, “Wilds” is a bit less specifically focused. It both zooms in on the character of the ex, Judy, and gives a deeper context for why the main relationship from “Skyline” failed. Released the same week it was announced, “Wilds” is rawer and off the cuff. It was recorded on a small tape machine in Shauf’s Toronto studio. The vocals are fuzzier and the arrangements are less ambitious.
But it’s not only the lo-fi compositions from “Wilds” that give us the sense that Shauf is peeling back the layers a bit. This nine-track album is closing out a period that Shauf describes as “feeling pretty lost.” And it wasn’t his initial plan to expose the similarities between this narrative’s chaos and his own life. He sounds secure but still a little apprehensive of the intense vulnerability. “With a year and a half to think on, I came to the conclusion that “Skyline” wasn’t really how I wanted to leave that period of my life.” I comment that his tone suggests he’s in a much better place. “I’ve had a lot of time over this lockdown period to think and assess how my life’s been going,” he says. “I’ve started in a new direction. It’s positive. Coinciding with this release of “Wilds” and feeling like it’s time to put some of this shit behind.”
Pleased to announce that my new 9-song collection called “Wilds” is out digitally this Friday Sept 24th on ANTI- / Arts & Crafts. The album was recorded around the same time as “The Neon Skyline” and mostly direct to tape, showing new songs in their original form.
Released September 24th, 2021
A collection of 9 songs written and recorded by Andy Shauf between March and May of 2018.
Having stated in the recent box set “Think I’m Going Weird review that 1966 was a hugely important year in UK music, along comes Box Of Pin-Ups. This new 3CD set which puts forward a case for 1965 perhaps being of equal merit, offering a bright array of different sounds. Merseybeat, which had been the driving force in the UK for the early part of the 1960s, was more or less over and done at this stage, with The Beatles having moved well away from their roots by the time of Rubber Soul, their second album of 1965. This left a great number of acts who needed to piece together a new attitude in order to survive.
In addition rhythm & blues rave-ups had become a powerful force on the live circuit and US soul had also made a big impact. The mods, who with speed-fuelled energy filled the all-night clubs, also wanted edgy bands that reflected their fast moving lifestyle of ever-changing sharp fashions, scooters, pep pills and violence. Up and down the country fledgling outfits modified their approach by the day, as falling “behind the time” was tantamount to resigning oneself to the dreaded cabaret circuit. Even some pretty middle of the road pop music had give some ground to the now sound if they wanted to cut it in the wilder mid-60s. All this activity ended up instigating some exciting times and a selection of it is captured on this new collection.
As far as starting things with a bang goes, “Box Of Pin-ups” opening salvo of The Pretty Things’ “Midnight To Six Man”, an alternate take of “What’cha Gonna Do About It” by The Small Faces and The Eyes’ snotty majesty on I’m Rowed Out is hard to beat. The Pretties and The Faces of occupied positions as premier r&b punk hoodlums and mod fashion plates respectively, something that is borne out by Midnight To Six, one of the great moments of rock & roll attitude and the sawing pop art feedback antics on a wild take of What’cha Gonna Do About It. The Pretties also crop up later on disc three with an exuberant “Get A Buzz”. Ealing’s own The Eyes were also important in their own way, perfecting a sound that would be retrospectively termed freakbeat on “I’m Rowed Out“.
Donovan’s work tends to polarise attitudes, but his Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) surely must have influenced a young MarcBolan and Lulu & The Luvvers’ sparky soul number Surprise Surprise follows on with a bundle of youth vim. Belfast band The Wheels’ rough and ready version of garage standard Gloria speeds gloriously towards its dénouement and beat veterans Brian Poole & The Tremeloes attempt to jump into the future in similar style with their take on The Strangeloves’ I Want Candy. The Poets, from Glasgow, furnish us with a genuine cool 1965 classic in That’s The Way It’s Got To Be, with the dramatic and energetic “Unto Us” by The New Breed, a Hampstead group previously know as Thee (featured on disc two of this set with the poppy There You Go!), also impressing. Then a young Ron Wood pilots The Birds to freak heaven on a mean and moody “Next In Line”, full of chilled guitar brutality and fluid drums.
Paul Jones was near the end of his stint in Manfred Mann by EP track “Tired Of Trying, Bored Of Lying, Scared Of Dying”, but this is a tough and enjoyable slice of blues with a nice rolling piano sound and great guitar fuzz. Dave Berry weaves a more measured web on an alluring This Strange Effect, written by The Kinks’ Ray Davies and there are early sightings of Elton John and Rod Stewart. The former features in recognisable vocal fashion on Bluesology’s soul-flecked “Come Back Baby” and Rod on a solo “Why Does It Go On”. Brian Auger had previous with Rod The Mod and his Trinity and their Fool Killer positively reek (in a good way) of exciting and hot dance all-nighters
Vashti (Bunyan) is now better-known for Just Another Diamond Day, but Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind is ice-cool folk pop and The Searches jangle as only they knew how on I’ll Be Doggone. It is a shame that not long after this they were left behind by the changing times, despite their obvious performing talents. A busy r&b number called “Done Me Wrong” by The Couriers is enjoyably frantic and mod band The Frays contribute a punchy “Keep Me Covered“, with their singer eventually going on to front Canadian new wave band Battered Wives. The punky lurch of Glenn Athens & The Trojans’ Let Me Show You How” is a real bolt of pure 1960s sneering attitude, it is an absolute gem. This disc concludes with the crunchy rave-up of I’mLeaving by The Mark Four, who would soon mutate into The Creation and The Syndicats’ much heard but still fab “Crawdaddy Simone”.
Disc two Of Box Of Pin-Ups begins with the garagey rumble of The Yardbirds “Evil Hearted You” and Coventry freakbeat kingpins The Sorrows with “No No No“. Mod heroes The Action bring Land Of One Thousand Dances vividly to life and “I Can’t Get Any Joy” by Rolling Stones proteges The End packs a neat pop punch. The Hollies often showed they had all the tools to be major players, when they finally managed to assert themselves as self-contained unit not dependent on outside writers. “Their Put Yourself In My Place” is the kind of beat pop nugget The Beatles had specialised in, but has a charm and gusto of its own.
The Afex hailed from Dagenham, but were sadly not due any real success with only a couple of singles by them emerged. However their freewheeling, youthful-sounding “Too Many Things” is a tonne of fun and the echo-laden with slightly surf drums You Got What I Want by Boys Blue is chaotic enough to start a riot of its own. Having checked in with Ron Wood on disc one, brother Art’s band The Artwoods strut into view here with the cool r&b of “She Knows What To Do”. The Graham Bond Organisation follow in a similar mode with Neighbour Neighbour and while it is very tempting to mention a certain contemporary garage rocker when talking about The Downliners Sect, I won’t and will just say their “Leader Of The Sect” is simply enjoyable silliness of the first order.
I’m a big fan of Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band and brassy, live feel of I’ll Go Crazy is the perfect fit for the keyboard Lord of Looning. Harrow’s Bo Street Runners had a brush with success when they won a Ready Steady Go TV competition to find the new Beatles. With that weight on their shoulders they didn’t have much chance, but their “Get Out Of My Way” is a decent and fast tune with a marked soul influence. Having mentioned Marc Bolan earlier, the bopping elf is present on this disc with the 1965 single version of “The Wizard“, which shuffles along enigmatically and even though The Uprooted were in truth an amateur school band, they sound pretty cool and sharp on “It’s Just You“.
Diamond Girl by The Kingpins is a real powder-keg of 60s punk excitement and The Ugly’s were an early vehicle for Brum rock & roll legend Steve Gibbons. They are represented here by “It’s Alright”, a proto-psych pop breeze. A fast version of the Chuck Berry standard Don’t Lie To Me by Four + One featured one Keith Hopkins aka Keith West and it’s fun to hear The Moody Blues in pure soul mode on “And My Baby’s Gone“. The bluesy beat of Reelin’ And Rockin’ by The In-sect seems slightly anachronistic but is still quite good and “There You Go” by Thee finishes off this section of Box Of Pin-Ups.
The third and final part of this set ensues with The Animals’ tough as nuts “It’s My Life” – if you wanted the hard-boiled North East attitude in one addictive musical hit, here it is. The ultra fuzz of Jump And Dance by The Carnaby has been often compiled, but in order to give as clear a picture of 1965 as possible I suppose a few familiar items have to be included. An excellent Bring It To Jerome, a Joe Meek production by David John & The Mood, acts here as the perfect prelude to The Pretty Things’ fine Get The Buzz. Breakneck r&b is also the order of the day on The Primitives’ You Said.
A more ornate pop approach is displayed on Robb Storme & The Whispers’ Where Is My Girl and John Bryant’s gleaming sound “Tell Me What You See”. But of course St Albans’ favourite sons The Zombies were masters at that game and their piece included on Box Of Pin-Ups “Tell Her No” is as smooth a slice of mid-60s pop that one could imagine. Of course The Hollies were no slouches in that particular field either. Their second contribution “I’ve Got A Way Of My Own” is a real charmer of rough harp blowing and harmony vocals and James Royal & The Hawks’ Doug Sahm cover “She’s About A Mover” follows with a solid dance groove.
The moody, sorrowful blues of “I Found Out” by The Cops ‘N’ Robbers overflows with lowkey menace and Leatherhead combo The Silence, soon to become psychedelic act John’s Children, inject the lo-fi sound of Forgive Me If I’m Wrong with a churning but agreeable fuzz. A rough audio quality also marks Arthur Brown with The Diamonds’ “You Don’t Know”, but even so it underlines Art’s prowess as a soul shouter. The Sheffields’ Plenty Of Love is lively and explosive and we find ourselves back firmly in rhythm & blues rave-up country with The Betterdays’ hard driving “Honey What’s Wrong” and the organ glide of “Stupidity” by Guy Darrell. This set reaches its finale with The Kinks’ peerless “Where Have All The Good Times Gone”, which is a hell of an evocative way to go out on
Box Of Pin-Ups is, for the vast majority of its running time at least, an invigorating and entrancing listen which reflects the rapidly changing times it documents. This set comes with the usual very thorough sleeve notes that give you the full S.P. on each of the acts famous or obscure and the whole thing is pretty well packaged. 1965 seemed to me to mark the end of beat and the beginning of something new in UK music – a voyage of adventure was ahead and among the 92 tracks here you can hear the storm approaching. But even at this stage of development, there is much to delight.
“On “Imposter“, multi-platinum selling Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted recording artist and songwriter Dave Gahan, along with long time musical partner Soulsavers (Rich Machin), take listeners on a personal journey of 12 meticulously chosen reimagined songs from across genres and time periods, including selections from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey, Charlie Chaplin, Cat Power and Mark Lanegan, among others. “When I listen to other people’s voices and songs — more importantly the way they sing them and interpret the words — I feel at home,” Gahan confesses. “I identify with it. It comforts me more than anything else. There’s not one performer on the record who I haven’t been moved by. I know we made something special, and I hope other people feel that and it takes them on a little kind of trip — especially people who love music and have for years.”
It comes after the pair recently shared the song, ‘The Dark End Of The Street‘ from the forthcoming album, which was originally written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn in 1966, and has been covered by Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Elvis Costello and Frank Black over the years.
Recorded at the legendary Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, these versions of songs you know & some you may not, range from sparce to lush, sombre to joyful. The choices and the sequencing were deliberate & meaningful. It shines a light on the enduring strength of poignant lyrics and well executed melodies.
Imposter is a reflection of Dave’s life, a story told by others, but in his own distinct voice.
“Living among uncertainty can make you forget that certainty is everywhere, all around us. Courtney Barnett’s first two albums told stories of the tiny splinters that pull on the very fabric of the world: The way panic attacks and unmoored comments and unsightly, unseemly vistas can make knots and tears that are impossible not to fixate on. Her third album steps back, takes a breath, takes a beat, asks you not to fixate on the little things.
It’s quieter and smaller than you might expect from Courtney. If you don’t like it — although you probably will — it’s no big deal; just give it another go tomorrow. “Things Take Time, Take Time”is finely woven, soft to the touch; spanning 10 wide-eyed, open-hearted vignettes, it traces the gentle arc of a life, forgoing pithy detail in favour of generous scene setting and graceful character development.
It’s an object of beauty made for everyday use and, like most things of that ilk, a lot of work went into it, emotionally and physically. My new song If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight is out now! The video clip was directed by Claire Marie Vogel and filmed in Landers. Thanks to Stella Mozgawa and Cate Le Bon who played on this song and appear in the video clip.
Things Take Time, Take Time is an assured leap forward for Barnett; a breakthrough really. This is Barnett at her most relaxed, creative and joyful. An exquisite look at the intimate, private world created by Barnett and her producer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile). It’s consequently her most beautiful and intimate record to date.
the new album ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ released 12th November 2021
