Making her stage debut in April 2019 and selling out her first headline show at London’s prestigious Southbank Centre less than a year later, A.A. Williams has hit the ground running. Similarly, the acclaim for her performances and her music has been unanimous from the start. After one self-titled EP and the 10” vinyl collaboration “Exit in Darkness” with Japanese post-rockers MONO, the London-based singer-songwriter has signed to Bella Union and made a stunning debut album, “Forever Blue”.
A rapturous blend of post-rock and post-classical, Forever Blue smoulders with uncoiling melodies and haunted atmospheres, shifting from serenity to explosive drama, often within the same song. Williams is a fantastic musician as well as songwriter, playing the guitar, cello and piano, and her voice has the controlled delivery of a seasoned chanteuse whilst still channelling the rawest of emotions.
Forever Blue is named after a song that didn’t make the album’s final cut, “but it still encapsulated these songs,” Williams explains. “It sounded timeless and in the right place.” The album’s threads encapsulate the anxieties and addiction of love and loss with haunting detail, for example ‘Glimmer’(“I wasn’t meant to see the sun washed out and pale / I wait undone / I wasn’t meant to be the one hollow and hurt and meant for none”), though Williams admits the theme was shaped more by her subconscious than any grand plan.
Therapy is intrinsic to Williams’ approach: to not just express and unpick her feelings of longing and loss but to work through them. “Verbalising something, you feel a weight has been lifted,” she says. The transition can be mirrored in the dynamic shift from ‘quiet’ to ‘loud’, as on ‘Glimmer’ and arguably at its most euphoric on ‘Melt’. “There’s something very satisfying and elating about songs that have that drop in them, to stomp on the guitar pedal on and let it all out.”
Forever Blue will spread the news of A.A. Williams’ extraordinary talent far and wide – and once lockdown is over, she and her band will be taking the next steps on her journey by touring the record. She’s already come so far but this story is only just beginning. For the past year or so, dark singer/songwriter A.A. Williams has been releasing gloomy, minimal covers that put a hauntingly beautiful spin on the originals, and here’s another great one. She makes the ’60s prog-pop hit sound like something that could’ve come out on ’80s 4AD.
Taken from the album ‘Songs From Isolation’ by A.A. Williams
Supergroup “Halloween Jack” is set to release “Trash”, a cover song video by The New York Dolls as a tribute/ token of love to the glam/punk band’s Sylvain Sylvain who died last month after losing his battle with cancer.
The New York Dolls, known for their glam rock androgyny and their signature attire including women’s makeup and frenzied, bizarre fashions, revitalized the New York City underground music scene in the 70s foreshadowing punk by half a decade. The Dolls were an anomaly, considered to be one of the most influential bands on the planet with their unpolished, chaotic music expression that combined British invasion-influenced rhythm and blues with the guitar distortion and booming backbeat of proto-punk bands such as Iggy and the Stooges.
Halloween Jack combines the talent of Stephen Perkins, drummer of Jane’s Addiction, Gilby Clarke, former guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, Dan Shulman former bassist of Garbage, Eric Dover guitarist from Jellyfish, and guest guitarist Steve Stevens of Billy Idol, a huge fan of the Dolls.Halloween Jack’s “Trash” video is filled with a texture and colour completely reminiscent of the orgasmic, sophisticated anarchy that captured the essence of the kaleidoscopic vibrancy transmitted by the original New York Dolls. Halloween Jack wished to celebrate the memory of Sylvain using the video as a token of love to the fallen Icon.
Sylvain Mizrahi, best recognized by his stage name Sylvain Sylvain, was the guitarist for The New York Dolls. One of the key architects of rock music, Sylvain was the driving force behind the band and the soul of the clothes, style and thrilling guitar combinations that would be such a profound influence on punk rock. As a precursor to the dolls, he created the band Actress from a bunch of guys that hung around his clothing store that would later give birth to the Sex Pistols. In 2019, Sylvain announced that he had cancer and he died in his home on January 13th, 2021.
The Pet Parade marks a milestone for Eric D. Johnson, who celebrates 20 years of Fruit Bats in 2021. In some ways still a cult band, in other ways a time-tested act, Fruit Bats has consistently earned enough small victories to carve out a career in a notoriously fickle scene.
While many of the songs on The Pet Parade were actually written before the pandemic, it’s impossible to disassociate the record from the times. As an example, producer Josh Kaufman (The Hold Steady, Bob Weir, The National, and Bonny Light Horseman, in which he plays with Johnson and Anaïs Mitchell) was brought in for his deep emotional touch and bandleading abilities. However, Johnson, Kaufman, and the other musicians on The Pet Parade—drummers Joe Russo and Matt Barrick (The Walkmen, Fleet Foxes, Muzz), singer-songwriter Johanna Samuels, pianist Thomas Bartlett (Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens), and fiddler Jim Becker (Califone, Iron & Wine)—were forced to self-record their parts in bedrooms and home studios across America.
“This was definitely not a coronavirus record,” Fruits Bats’ Eric D. Johnson says of “The Pet Parade”, his indie-folk project’s ninth album. “What I mean by that is that I think everyone who writes songs is going to be coming out with a quarantine record at some point in the next five months, but about half of these songs were written before the pandemic. Then again, the record couldn’t not be informed by what was taking place, and a few of the songs I had already completed were weirdly prescient.”
Beyond colouring Johnson’s lyrical content, the pandemic certainly played a role in the process of creating the album. In early March, producer Josh Kaufman visited Johnson in LA for prep work, and the pair planned to re-group for some more formal sessions a few weeks later in Kaufman’s native New York. However, COVID-19 scuttled those plans and, when the two resumed work on the album, they did so remotely, enlisting drummer Joe Russo, The Walkmen/Fleet Foxes drummer Matt Barrick, singer Johanna Samuels, keyboardist Thomas Bartlett and bassist Annie Nero, who is also Kaufman’s wife, to record individual tracks from their home locales.
Though “The Pet Parade” marks the first time that Kaufman had produced a Fruit Bats record, the project immediately proceeded their collaboration with Anais Mitchell as Bonny Light Horseman.
Johnson is quick to note that while Thom Monahan had served as producer of his three previous Fruit Bats albums, 2011’s Tripper, 2016’s Absolute Loser and 2019’s Gold Past Life, that “Thom had gotten really busy as of late.”
“We’re always going to work together; he’s one of my closest friends and we already have plans for other stuff,” he continues. “So when I finished the Bonny Light Horseman record, I was like, ‘I want to keep living in this world. I would love to see what Josh does with some of my other original songs.’ I just wanted to see what his touch would bring.”
As for working with the personnel on The Pet Parade, Johnson likens the experience to “hiring a film director who has his own cast of actors. He brought in the Josh Kaufman Players, all of whom are friends of mine or became friends through Josh. Everyone was in a different room in a different city but, thankfully, all of them had home setups. Then there’s Josh himself. Some of the songs are just the two of us playing everything, which was fine by me because I adore the guy and he is an absolute monster of a multi-instrumentalist.”
The Pet Parade
Josh and I both independently had this idea that we should do a song that was a hypnotic invocation of some sort. We were thinking about Astral Weeks. Now I don’t think it sounds like that album, but the idea was something with two chords that we could float over the top of in some way. The song was originally conceived like that, and then it became something else.
Josh pushed to open the record with it, but that was a scary decision for me to make. I’m a guy who wants to top[1]load the record—not because it’s some Spotify thing but because, going back to The Beatles, that’s just what you do. So even though I think it’s a wonderful song, it’s seven minutes long, it’s slow, you can’t dance to it and it has two chords. But Josh was like, “During this moment in time, you can’t write a song where the first line is, ‘Hello from in here to all you out there/ It feels like it’s been years’ and not open an album with it.”
I realized he was right. With this record, I’m inviting people to be patient rather than giving them a two-and-a-half-minute banger at the start to suck them in. It’s kind of like telling people: “Do you trust me? Come on in.”
One of my great musical mentors, Jim Becker, plays fiddle on the song, which was a real joy. He’s an old Chicago pal of mine and probably best known these days as a member of Iron & Wine. He’s played on records of mine in the past, but he’s somebody that I hadn’t made music with in a long time. That’s him playing those gorgeous Cajun-y fiddles.
Cub Pilot
This is one of the earlier demos that I had written. I guess you could say it’s a pre-quarantine song. Originally, in a way, it fell into the lyrical thematic territory that I dug into on Gold Past Life, which was kind of like talking to someone and being encouraging to that person. In this case, it was kind of a love song, and as I was writing it, I was either going to be singing it to someone, to you, or I was going to put it in the third person. But when we were putting the song together, all the stuff was going down with the George Floyd protests. Now for better or worse, I’m not a topical songwriter. I love that other people do that and, although my music is on the side of righteousness, it typically exists outside of that in a different world.
So while this song is in no way about the protests, I changed the lyrics from “you” to “we” so that it became sort of a love song to the world. That sounds very grandiose but it felt weird, at that moment, to be writing to an individual. I didn’t want to be talking to just one person.
Discovering
This is the oldest song on the record. A few years ago, before we had even conceived of Bonny Light Horseman, I went out to New York to work with Josh. I wasn’t really thinking of him as a producer. It was just an excuse to hang out and write something together. We did this song and it had mumble lyrics on it, which happens sometimes. I put it aside for several years but once Josh agreed to produce this record, I was like, “Oh, we should do that one,” because I always really liked it, although it was never finished.
Now, sometimes, mumble lyrics can be actual gibberish but, in this case, it was real words and the first line was “He has lived through another night and is quite likely to wake up again.” It seemed weird to have that first line in this moment with the spectre of death feeling close.
“Discovering” is kind of a song about isolation, but isolation in which you can take yourself outside. So it’s about walking around alone outside. I’m not trying to write about it in a romantic or starry-eyed way; it’s a little more like a neutral Zen song about just getting yourself outside and breathing in the air.
The Balcony
This song is about a dream location, which is the balcony of my grandmother’s apartment. We moved around a ton as a kid, but my grandma lived in the same place. She’s no longer with us but my aunt lives there now.
It’s an apartment on the ninth floor and it’s been in my life forever. I often dream about the balcony there, which overlooks a very mid-century stone rec centre. There’s an outdoor pool that is sometimes this lonely, drained thing in the Chicago winter, and then off in the distance is a sliver of the Chicago skyline. I found it to be a very evocative place when I was a little kid for a million reasons, and it exists in my dreams forever.
The song is not really about that, but somehow it just worked its way into the song. It’s a song about patience and it’s probably informed by the quarantine. We almost left it off the record but it’s the most legit up-tempo song we had. So it ended up getting back in, and I’m glad it did.
Here for Now, for You
“Here for Now, for You” is a pretty sad song with some references to suicide, having lost a few friends like that. It’s another one where I kind of spit out the first line, sort of as a mumble off the top of my head. It was, “I feel sometimes like I want to get off the ride, like, you know, that I’m getting called home,” which is a pretty dark line.
I wrote it a long time ago. The music portion of the song has gone through a lot of permutations. At one point, there was a crazy ‘80s pop jam in there, with Joe Russo shredding on drums, but it continued to evolve. It’s a sad song but it’s also about devotion.
On the Avalon Stairs
“On the Avalon Stairs” is probably my favourite vocal performance that I’ve ever done for one of my own records. Singing is always the most intimate and strange part of record-making. I’ve produced other people’s records, I’ve guested and I’ve been there for other people’s processes. It can be hard and I can be very self-critical about it.
I was a singer before I could play any instruments and I’m aware that it’s probably my strong suit. I’m not going to come guest on your record and shred lead guitar—that’s just not what I do. But I can come and sing harmonies and maybe something good will come of it.
In this case, it was very strange being in a room alone, kind of comping my own vocals. That’s the easiest way to get into a wormhole of your own brain; those sounds are coming from close to your brain. I did a couple of takes and I wasn’t feeling it, but then I did one take that was a breakthrough moment. I remember being happy with that vocal take and I don’t usually feel that way.
Eagles Below Us
This is a song about wanting to climb in someone’s head, which is something that we all believe we can do. It sort of sounds like a love song, and it is in some ways. But it’s also a platonic love song, which all of my love songs are—you can sing them to a friend. The great Annie Nero is on bass and Joe Russo is on drums.
When we were on the Bonny Light Horseman tour, we were driving somewhere in the mountains. There was a cliffside to the right and, when I looked down, there was an eagle flying 20 feet below us. I thought it was such a great image.
“Eagles Below Us” was also the working title for the album because I really like that notion. However, it ended up losing out to The Pet Parade, which kind of came in at the last minute and was more elemental sounding.
Holy Rose
“Holy Rose” might be the most direct song on the record as far as being about something. I wrote that one about the 2017 Sonoma County Tubbs Fire. It was one of the first songs we worked on and, as we continued from summer into early fall, these fires started happening again. My wife is from Sonoma County and it’s about her experience watching her childhood burn away.
I realized, after the fact, that each verse and chorus is written from a different character’s perspective. Some of the song is saying, “Get out of there,” and some of it is saying, “I’ll never leave.” I’ve seen the heartbreak of native Californians watching their lives burn. There’s a symbolic notion in the line about “the ghosts of everyone you’ve ever known.”
The original arrangement was going to be a soft sort of waltz, but Josh and Matt Barrick interpreted it as very angry, which I thought was cool. So it’s still a waltz, but it hits hard and kind of feels like a fire.
All in One Go
“All in One Go” was a late add. I wrote it all in one blast— which I may have had in mind when I was working on it—and then named the song.
It seems like all my records always have a song toward the end that takes the form of a gentle acoustic guitar track. I’ll sit down with an iPhone and an acoustic guitar and do something that’s sort of informed by the record as a whole. It’s a little bit of a denouement, which is how “All in One Go” ended up in that position as the third to last song.
Gullwing Doors
Sense of place is huge for me. In fact, that was one of the working titles for Gold Past Life and the original theme of that album. I’m nomadic. I kind of live everywhere and nowhere, too, but for the past 15 years, it’s mostly been back and forth between LA and Portland. When I leave one city, I always write a love song to the other.
“Gullwing Doors” is somewhat about the back[1]and-forth drive up Interstate 5 between LA and points north, which can be the world’s longest and bleakest drive. It’s a driving song, like my song “Absolute Loser” [the title track to his 2016 album], although that one was about driving between Portland and Seattle in the rain. This one is more about driving around Stockton at dusk.
There are also some thematic tie-ins to the other songs on this record. It has a similar theme to “Eagles Below Us” in that it’s a song about human connection. It’s also a little bit related to “Holy Rose” with that sense of deciding between letting go of a place or holding onto a place.
Josh brought a lot out of this one. At first, it was more of a double time, almost disco-y song, but he saw it as a half[1]time kind of epic thing. Josh laboured over all these songs, but I have good memories of him being excited about this one. He did a number on it in a good way.
Complete
Here’s my theory about the last three songs on a record. It’s different than the first couple songs on a record because there are a lot of different ways to look at those. You might put a couple of super jams up front to get people invested or, like in this case, put a floaty song up front so that you can get people in a meditative mood.
But while there are a few ways that you can treat the beginning of an album, I always see the end the same way. I feel like the second-to-last song is the last song because the last song is kind of like the epilogue. The album is done and now you’re watching the closing credits. So that makes the third-to-last song really the second-to-last scene. That’s how I’ve always envisioned it. The second-to-last song is really the end, and the last song is the closing credits.
“Complete” is just me singing and playing guitar at the same time in a room. There are no overdubs, I’m just playing to a click track. I tried to make it an invocation, a little bit of a prayer and a wish for everyone: “You shall be complete.” I know we’re all feeling like there are holes in us right now, so it’s a prayer for good, as best as I can say it.
Fruit Bats is back with their second studio album on Merge Records,The Pet Parade, out March 5th.
Lana Del Rey revealed news of her Norman Fucking Rockwell! successor “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” in May, announcing it along with her first published collections of poetry. She teased one unreleased song called “Tulsa Jesus Freak,” tagging frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, before sharing the new track “Let Me Love You Like a Woman” in October. On January 11th, she’ll share the music video for the Chemtrails title track, and she’s said to expect the whole album some time in March.
No stranger to vintage cinematic flair, Lana Del Rey reaches for both sumptuous glamor and retro horror in her latest video. Bedecked in pearls and lace, the singer and her friends lounge by a pool, watch old home movies, and ride around in a candy-apple-red convertible (where she also shows off that infamous bejeweled mask). A darker theme tugs at the corners of the relaxed scenes when a Wizard of Oz-style tornado sucks up the titular country club. Suddenly, Lana and her crew turn into werewolves and dance around a crackling bonfire, flipping this moneyed portrait into a decadent nightmare.
Since releasing Norman Fucking Rockwell! (among our favourite album’s of 2019), Lana Del Rey did some side projects, but 2021 will be the year Norman finally gets its highly anticipated followup, Chemtrails Over The Country Club (which, like Norman, was produced by Jack Antonoff). “I love it. It’s folky. It’s beautiful. It’s super different from Norman,” Lana said.
The New Album ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’ – Out March 19th
The awesome debut EP from Spielbergs, fully-loaded with post-punk, celebration rock and noisy indie tunes. If you’re into the likes of Japandroids, Superchunk or Gang Of Youths then give this a listen.
The duo started an “adult youth club thing” where they’d meet every Friday night in a rented rehearsal space, workshopping jams over beers with no operating principles other than (a) it had to be fun and (b) there had to be no expectations attached to it. What a triumphant and life-affirming debut! amazing artwork and incredible production to match.
Snacking are an indie-rock quintet out of St. Petersburg, Fla., Snacking will release their new EP “Painted Gold” on February 8th via Chillwavve Records. The lead single “Blacked Out on a Train” is a song of transition, taking liminal space—like the titular train car moving from a dark past to an uncertain future (“We’re leaving town alive / Without saying goodbye”), or the stylistic space between Minus the Bear-style math rock and emo revival—as its setting. Snacking show off effortlessly melodic guitars, forceful low end and emotionally complex lyricism, building “Blacked Out on a Train” up into an invigorating instrumental firestorm. “We chose ‘Blacked Out On A Train’ as the single because it’s a step in a different direction for us,” the band said upon the song’s premiere. “It’s more dissonant and hectic than anything we’ve written previously. We thought it would do a good job of attracting new listeners and hopefully surprise those who are already familiar with our prior material.
“Blacked Out On A Train” on Chillwavve Records Released on: 22nd January
“You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever” is the debut album by Orange Juice, released on this day (February 1st) in 1982. After leaving Postcard Records and convincing Rough Trade to finance the sessions, Orange Juice ended up signing to Polydor for their 1982 debut album, You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever. Made up of a couple re-recordings of brilliant songs from early singles (“Falling and Laughing,” “Felicity”), cleaned-up versions of songs from the demo, and a few new tracks, the album is a slick, tuneful slice of early-’80s pop that’s catchy and bright, and only slightly overcooked.
Both Edwyn Collins and James Kirk could have retired after this album and been secure in the history books as two of the finest songwriters of the era. Kirk’s “Three Cheers for Our Side” and “Felicity” are brilliantly odd and hooky songs that sound unlike anything anyone else was doing at the time; Collins’ songs are reliably witty, cutting, and romantic with lovely choruses. “Falling and Laughing” is timeless pop, “Tender Object” is a rippingly good dance-punk, his ballads are heartbreaking (“Untitled Melody,” “In a Nutshell”), and “Consolation Prize” takes the prize for hilarity (“I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn’s/I was hoping to impress/So frightfully camp it made you laugh/Tomorrow I’ll buy myself a dress”).
Not too many other folks were writing songs like these, either. Add some excellent guitar interplay between Kirk and Collins and a strong rhythm section to the mix and you’ve got something that seems hard to mess up. Unfortunately, some of the production choices come close to wrecking things, as the tinkling pianos and backing vocalist can come on a little strong at times. The glossy finish given to the album is also a giant leap from the scrappiness of their early sound, though its effects are lessened by the exuberant energy the band plays and sings with at all times.
These criticisms aside, once one accepts that the arty punks Orange Juice started off having fully embraced the sophisticated pop side of the world, then it’s easy to see that You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever is one of the best examples of early-’80s pop there is. That it’s the one and only album the team of Collins and Kirk made before splitting only makes it all the more essential to own.
Colossal Youth is the legendary debut album by Young Marble Giants; an album that has influenced the likes of Nirvana and Belle and Sebastian with its paradoxical combination of abstract, sparse electronica and warm, intimate introspection.
Comprised of guitarist-songwriter Stuart Moxham, brother and bassist Philip, and singer Alison Statton, Young Marble Giants emerged from the punk and post-punk landscape with a sound like no one else. Recorded in five days, Colossal Youth went on to influence whole legions from Sheffield to Seattle, looking to de-grungify gangs of four or more. They found fans in the likes of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Belle & Sebastian, David Byrne, Sonic Youth, The Magnetic Fields.
Cited as one of the most definitive records of the post-punk era, there is something almost canonical about the album’s use of voice, muted instruments and space. Colossal Youth’s attention to sparse detail is now a modus operandi for haunted electronica auteurs and spectral singer-songwriters alike, but ultimately, only the Young Marble Giants sound like Young Marble Giants.
Young Marble Giants ‘Colossal Youth: 40th Anniversary Edition’ includes the titular album as well as songs from ‘Salad Days’, ‘Is The War Over?’, the ‘Final Day’ single and their ‘Testcard’ EP, plus a live DVD of their last ever US show at Hurrah in New York in 1980. Indies exclusive clear vinyl.
Colossal Youth is the opposite of ‘Anarchy In The UK’ or ‘Clash City Rockers’, [but] every bit as good.” – Dave McCullough, Sounds 17/05/1980
Young Marble Giants (YMG)’s one and only album Colossal Youth celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the Cardiff trio are releasing a special edition reissue. Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth 40th Anniversary Editionincludes the titular album as well as songs from Salad Days, Is The War Over, the “Final Day” single and their Testcard EP as well a live DVD of their last ever US show at Hurrah in New York in 1980.
Alongside the announcement, the band have shared live footage of them performing “Final Day”, taken from the DVD.
Neil Young is continuing his dive through his vast archives with the release of another “lost” album, 1982’s “Johnny’s Island”.
The musician has announced the release on his website, Neil Young Archives, and noted that it will be available “soon.” This latest announcement follows the other archival releases, including his most recent release the Box Set “Archives Vol. 2: 1972—1976” which hosts a trove of unreleased material from a pivotal period in his career. “Johnny’s Island” was recorded at Commercial Recorders in Honolulu, “Island in the Sun” was recorded in 1982 by the same creative team but rejected as his first LP for Geffen Records. He went on to deliver the controversial “Trans” instead, which featured three tracks that started life on its shelved predecessor with the same group of musicians that helped produce “Trans”, released that same year. A few of the songs originally recorded for Johnny’s Island ended up on “Trans”, including “Like An Inca”, “Hold On To Your Love”, and “Little Thing Called Love”. A note on the Neil Young Archives about Johnny’s Island states,
‘Johnny’s Island’ a complete album now being prepared for release at NYA, includes a majority of unreleased tracks including ‘Big Pearl,’ ‘Island In The Sun,’ and ‘Love Hotel,’ plus others you may have heard before.. it’s a beautiful record coming to you soon.
In 1995, Young discussed the lost album—which had been tentatively titled Island In The Sun—in an interview with Mojo, saying, “It was a tropical thing all about sailing, ancient civilizations, islands and water.”
Additionally, Young has shared a new animated video for “Computer Cowboy”, originally released on Trans. The new video, directed by Willie Nelson‘s youngest son Micah, is set to appear on another project called Trans – The Animated Story. Though Young didn’t go into too much detail on The Animated Story, he did state that it “includes all of the Trans music and characters, telling their whole story.” The project is expected to arrive at some point this year on DVD, Blu-ray.
This latest “lost” album announcement follows the 2020 release of 1972’s Homegrown which was also rescued from the archives. In addition to Johnny’s Island, Young still has plenty of other projects in progress including his 1990 Crazy Horse concert film and live album Way Down In The Rust Bucket due out on February 26th, a bootleg of his solo debut at Carnegie Hall on 12/5/70 available on May 7th, and many more.
Released in December 1982, Trans was the 12th studio album of Young’s career. It began a series of records thathave beendescribed as “puzzling at best,” as Young indulged in the complete artistic control he’d been granted by his new label, including experimenting with synths and vocoders. Geffen sued him after the release of the 1983 follow-up Everybody’s Rockin’, claiming he had delivered “unrepresentative” and “uncharacteristic” albums.
“They told me they wanted me to play rock ‘n’ roll and told me I didn’t sound like Neil Young,” the singer recalled. “So I gave them Everybody’s Rockin’ and said, ‘This is a rock ‘n’ roll album by Neil Young after someone tells him what to do. This is exactly what you said you wanted.’ And we got way into it.” The label eventually apologized.
A psychotherapist by day, Laura Fell’s upcoming debut album, ’Safe from Me’, is a search for answers from a woman always expected to have them to hand, and the self-punishing frustration that assumption brings.
A sleeper hit of an album – we’re sure of it, on an exciting brand new label named after a line in a Big Thief song. We’re in good company. Pressed to vinyl exclusively for recordstore as part of their Albums of the Year 2020, and barely a day has gone by where we haven’t given it a spin. Fell’s dedication to this journey of self-discovery was unquestionable from the off, so much so that her peers questioned her sanity. Holding down three jobs to fund the record, Fell was determined that the songs would go far beyond their acoustic guitar genesis, assembling classically trained musicians to fully realise her vision.
London-based, Laura Fell only started playing music at 25 when the poetry she had been writing for almost a decade began to feel more like songs. This talent stretches throughout ‘Safe from Me’; Fell invites you to claw at the soil until you strike gold, and the meaning eventually becomes unearthed.
‘Safe from Me’ will be released on 20th November through Balloon Machine Records.
All music & lyrics by Laura Fell (excepting Track 4 – Left Foot Right Foot – co-written with Gus White) Laura Fell – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar (Track 8) Chris Hyson – Electric Bass, Piano, Synths, Vocals Alex Haines – Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Vocals Lloyd Haines – Drums & Percussion
Essential new music for fans of Aldous Harding, Laura Marling, PJ Harvey.
Recordstore Exclusive Seafoam Green Vinyl LP, album sleeve signed by Laura, strictly limited to 250 copies worldwide.
