Sivan Levy is a multi-faceted Israeli artist currently based in Tel Aviv, who’s not only a successful actress and filmmaker, but also a talented singer-songwriter and musician. She’s starred in several highly acclaimed films and television series, earning multiple awards for her exceptional work. Her latest film, My Daughter My Love, written and directed by Eitan Green, was screened last month at the prestigious Jerusalem Film Festival.
Photo by Alon Shastel
In June, Levy released a beautiful EP side:s, her first music release since her self-titled three-song EP in 2015. Featuring six captivating tracks written and sung by her, side:s was recorded and co-produced by Levy and Yoav Rosenthal, who also played guitar and bass, and sang backing vocals. Levy played piano and keyboards, Giori Politi played drums and programmed beats, and Maya Belsitzman played cello. Mixing was done by Nicolas Vernhes. One of the songs from the EP, “Swimming Backwards”, has already been streamed over 400,000 times on Spotify alone. Another track, “Jacaranda“, is now the subject of a special live performance filmed and recorded by Levy and her supporting musicians, released as a video premiering on August 4th.
One of the standout tracks on the EP, “Jacaranda”, is named for the Jacaranda mimosifolia, a type of tree that produces huge clusters of purplish-blue flowers in mid-to-late spring. Native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, they also thrive in Mediterranean climate regions like Spain, Portugal, Italy, Israel and Lebanon, northern Africa, Australia and California. They even grow in the hot desert climate of the Coachella Valley where I live.
The jacaranda tree has a special meaning for Levy, who says her song “‘Jacaranda’ isa love song for my childhood jacaranda tree. It was my favorite place to climb and sleep and hide. On my birthday, the 4th of June, I would wake up every year to a yard covered in a purple carpet. A gift from the tree.”
The live performance of the song, filmed by Eric Raphael Mizrahi, is an acoustic reimagining of the original studio version found on the EP, which features lush atmospheric synths, shimmery guitars and feathery percussion. Yet it still retains its enchanting vibe, with Levy’s lovely piano work, accompanied by Yoav Rosenthal on bass and Giori Politi on glockenspiel and gentle percussion, all of which create a stunning backdrop for Levy’s bewitching ethereal vocals, transporting us to a beautiful and dreamy world.
Wild Horse is a talented, hard-working and charismatic indie pop-rock trio based in East Sussex, England, and comprised of brothers Henry and Jack Baldwin and Ed Barnes, their long-time friend since primary school. Now in their early 20s, the guys are seasoned musicians who’ve been writing and recording songs since forming in 2013, when they were barely teenagers. Both Henry and Jack are multi-instrumentalists who play guitar, bass and keyboards, as well as sing vocals, while Ed plays drums and percussion, sings backing vocals and plays guitar on a few tracks.
The Baldwin brothers are also prolific songwriters who’ve penned hundreds of songs over the years, and since 2017, Wild Horse has released five albums, three EPs and scores of singles. On the strength of their music and energetic live performances across England, they’ve built an ever-expanding fan base and garnered praise by music writers (including yours truly) and broadcasters, with their songs being regularly played on numerous FM & internet stations around the world, as well as mainstream radio programs BBC Introducing and BBC Sussex, Surrey & Kent. In June, they were even mentioned during a hearing in the British Parliament on funding to support struggling music venues.
I’ve been following them for over five years, and it’s been a pleasure watching them mature and grow as both musicians and gentlemen. I’ve reviewed two of their albums, DANCE!! Like An Animal, in 2019, and When the Pool Is Occupied, in late 2021, as well as their singles “Bitter” (which spent two months on my weekly top 30 in the fall of 2021) and “Cougar” this past January. Those two songs have been among a string of singles they’ve been dropping at the rate of roughly one every two months beginning in June 2022. Their seventh and latest single is “Do You Wanna Talk“, a song they describe as “a summer anthem about an on-off relationship and all that comes with it.”
Released through Animal Farm Songs, “Do You Wanna Talk” was written by Jack and produced by Mat Leppanen. Over a bouncy, toe-tapping groove, courtesy of Jack’s warm bassline and Ed’s thumping drumbeats, Jack layers beautiful jangly guitars, accompanied by his and Mat’s sparkling keyboard synths. It all serves as a sunny backdrop for Jack’s endearing vocals as he earnestly sings to a romantic partner with whom he has a precarious hot and cold relationship, neither of them wanting to fully commit nor break things off: “I don’t wanna see you no more, but stay by my side. And ooh, I don’t think about you, but my head shines you in a spotlight.Do you wanna talk? Do you wanna talk about it?/ I don’t wanna know, but I can’t stop thinking of it. I think we’re both as bad, we’re going round in circles.”
“Do You Wanna Talk” is another strong link in an unbroken chain of wonderful songs from this talented young band.
Named after his childhood imaginary friend, Eleanor Collides is the solo music project of London-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Nick Ranga. The talented artist melds alternative, indie and dream rock with synth pop to create his distinctly melancholic, yet beautiful sound. I love how he’s described his influences: “I find inspiration in the cathartic vulnerability of Low, the poetic storytelling of R.E.M., the passionate anthems of Manic Street Preachers, the genre-defying artistry of Orville Peck, and the darkly captivating electronica of Depeche Mode. These influences, among many others, have shaped my artistic vision, allowing me to carve out a unique sonic identity.”
Though he’d been writing songs for many years, he finally started recording and releasing music in the summer of 2021, beginning with a four-track EP How to Make Friends. He followed up with a couple of singles, then in March 2022, he released his debut album People are Taller in Real Life. Since then, the prolific artist has dropped eight more singles, one of which, the hauntingly beautiful “Pantomime“, I featured in a Fresh New Tracks this past April. Today he’s back with his latest single “Daydreams and Algorithms“, another outstanding track. All eight singles will be included in his forthcoming second album, due for release later in the year.
For the recording of the song, Nick sang lead vocals and played guitars, bass, piano, drums and strings, and Charles Connolly, who mixed and mastered the track, played marimba and sang backing vocals. Though “Daydreams and Algorithms” starts off slowly, with just a simple, rather melancholic strummed guitar, it soon becomes clear that there’s a lot going on musically. As the song progresses, the instrumentation expands into a captivating soundscape, with added guitar, piano and warm strings, accompanied by Charles’ enchanting marimba and Nick’s steady drumbeats and moody bassline. Nick’s pleasing, low-key vocals have a comforting, almost sensuous quality, nicely complemented by his and Charles’ ethereal backing harmonies. It’s a stunning song.
As to the song’s meaning, Nick says it’s “about longing and obsession in the age of social media, about falling in love with someone through a screen who may or may not be real.”
I can hear the sound of dreams The cigarettes and faded blue jeans The photographs and played back scenes Never knowing what they mean
I can see your days collide The indecision codified The fantasies and rising tide History happens in real time
ooh ooh ooh
You could be my daydream My landslide, my slipstream My devil chasing moonbeams Intention lost to the mainstream
I could be your joyride Your agent on the outside Your lowest low and highest tide Watch as I revert to type
In late May, I featured the poignant song “Better Daze” by Canadian alt-rock act Western Jaguar, the music project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Trainor, on one of my Fresh New Tracks posts. Though I generally prefer to not write about an artist or band again so soon, I like his new album Oblivion so much that I just have to share it with my readers. Besides, I know the album means a lot to him, marking a return to making music after a two-year hiatus during which he’d all but given up on it, so it means a lot to me too.
Hailing from the picturesque Fraser River Valley of British Columbia east of Vancouver, Western Jaguar was born in 2012 when Trainor turned to music to get him out of a low point in his life. With the help of an evolving lineup of musicians, he released three stellar EPs and several singles between 2013 and 2019, including the excellent “Disappear”, which went to #1 on my Weekly Top 30 in 2019. Despite his prior accomplishments, when the pandemic hit in early 2020, bringing things to a halt for just about every musician and band, the social isolation allowed him to reflect on how unhappy he’d become as a musician. He says he’d become fixated on “likes, a following, positive feedback…and making music other people liked.” By the end of 2020, he decided he didn’t want to make music anymore, essentially walking away from Western Jaguar, which he conveniently blamed on the pandemic.
Thankfully, after a long break he came to realize that, just like in 2012, music could once again lift him out of his slump. He decided to restart Western Jaguar as essentially a solo act and went to work resurrecting a few previously-written songs and writing and recording new ones for what would become his latest album Oblivion, which he released on July 7th. For the recording of the album, Trainor sang vocals and played most instruments, though his former Western Jaguar bandmates Davis MacKenzie Zand played bass and AJ Buckley played electric guitar and drums, and sang backing vocals on two tracks, and musician KC Roces played electric guitar on “Daydreaming”. Trainor produced and mixed two of the tracks, with the rest produced and mixed by Zand, and mastering was done by Jordan Koop.
The album opens appropriately with “Start Again“, a lovely 57-second-long instrumental piece with guitar and gentle synths that serves as an intro to the bittersweet song “Milwaukee“. The instrumentals gradually build with the addition of beautiful jangly guitars, organ, swirling synths and spirited drums, turning the song into an arresting anthem by the final chorus. Most of the songs on Oblivion deal with aspects of love and loss, and “Milwaukee” touches on both, as expressed in the lyrics “Now my patience is strained, and my love has gone away. There’s nothing left of me, and I’m out on the streets of Milwaukee.“
Continuing on a similar theme, “Matador” speaks to regrets over allowing a love to slip through his fingers, and willing to do anything to get her back: “I loved her with all of me, you better believe that I had hoped to one day get down on my knee. But I was dumb and she left me, you better believe that I would do anything.I’d bury my heart in the depths of hell. Drive my car at the speed of sound. Get bucked off a bronco’s back just to have a chance at bringing you back.”
Like “Matador”, “Doomsday” was actually recorded pre-pandemic by the previous Western Jaguar lineup that included Davis MacKenzie Zand on bass and AJ Buckley on guitar and drums. Originally slated for release in June 2020, the song features fantastic watery guitar work by Buckley, while he and Zand keep the rhythm on solid footing with their masterful drumming and thumping bassline. The lyrics are directed to a lover who’s abandoned the relationship, despite the singer’s attempts at redemption, which Trainor sings with heartfelt conviction: “You packed it up and left while I was trying to make amends. This is something I won’t forget, though I still don’t comprehend.“
“Better Daze“ is a melancholy but pleasing song about going through hard times after a tragedy and trying to get back to better days. Musically, the song has an upbeat dream pop feel, with a breezy melody, beautiful chiming guitars and snappy drums that contrast with the darker subject matter. Trainor’s clear, pleasing vocals have a hint of sadness as he sings the lyrics telling a story about a woman named Suzie, whose fiance Harold died suddenly after a fall in the shower just before they were due to be married. Suzie falls into a deep depression, and with the best of intentions, her father insists she take medication to help improve her mood. Unfortunately, the drugs only make her feel worse: “Suzie’s felt worse since the medicine. Her lungs are burning and she can’t breath in. Her father insists on the vice, it’s the only way for a normal life. But a normal life was lost last June when Harold fell in the bathroom. She hasn’t taken them for 6 weeks. If only it was that easy. Her father asks if she’s feeling well. She gives him a smile though she feels like hell. She wants him to think that she’s okay, even though she’s thinking of better daze.”
On the beautiful and bittersweet “Daydreaming“, Trainor laments of a love that wasn’t meant to be, due to his partner’s emotional struggles and inability to commit to the relationship: “There was a time for us to move into oblivion. But you were daydreaming, just lost in your mind, leaving me behind.” The gorgeous shimmery guitars are played by KC Roces.
Though most of the songs on Oblivion deal with loss, Trainor is in fact a happily-married man, which he celebrates on the sweet love song “Darling“. Calling it the poppiest song he’s ever written, it’s definitely the most upbeat track on the album, with a bouncy melody, sunny guitar lines, plucky bass, cheerful xylophone and exuberant hand claps. The charming lyrics express the love he feels for his wife: “I’ve been waiting all my life for you, my lovely darling. I’ve been waiting all my life I’d say, it’s worth it darling. And I know you don’t prescribe to lovesick lullabies.”
Trainor turns philosophical on “Just Racing“, contemplating the rapid passage of time and the attendant challenges of making sense of the never-ending barrage of information and changes thrown at us: “It’s all moving way too fast. It’s not too much to ask, just slow it down so I can breathe. Help me take apart my enemies. /So won’t you pick me up and take me home. I’m only 25 but I feel so old. Caught up again in the cracks of my brain, racing to the end like a bullet train.” Musically, the song has a languid, introspective feel, featuring just his strummed acoustic guitar, backed by a lovely organ synth.
Similar to the opening track “Starting Again”, Oblivion closes with a simple but stunning atmospheric instrumental composition “Phases“. Consisting of a delicate piano movement accompanied by airy synths, the track nicely brings this outstanding album full circle. Trainor’s a talented, earnest and thoughtful guy, and I’m happy he resurrected Western Jaguar and gifted us with these deeply moving songs. It’s a triumphant return, and I hope we’ll continue to hear more from him in the future.
My favorite Welsh songstress Caitlin Lavagna is back with a marvelous new single “We Lost Track“, and I couldn’t be happier! I adore her powerful, vibrant vocal style and honest, relatable lyrics drawn from personal struggles and heartache. Released today, “We Lost Track” is her third single, following last year’s “Night Bus” – a fantastic song that spent 20 weeks on my Top 30, peaking at #2 – and her 2021 debut single “How Not To Start A Fight”, which also spent several weeks on my Top 30. (You can read my reviews of both songs by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post.)
Born and raised in the picturesque South Wales Rhondda Valley, with strong Gibraltarian roots, the multi-talented and lovely singer-songwriter, musician and actress has had a life-long love for music and the arts, with a special passion for percussion and drums, as well as singing and dancing. Her music and vocal styles are heavily influenced by some of her favorite artists like Sting, Biffy Clyro, Stevie Nicks, Florence Welch, P!nk and Adele. In addition to writing and recording music as a solo artist, Caitlin has also performed in numerous stage musicals, and while in college, was part of the indie folk duo Only The Reign, who released two self-recorded albums.
About her latest single, Caitlin explains: “This is my first ballad and I’m so proud of it. I wanted the song to represent losing something “perfect”. It’s a reflective song about how I gave too much of myself to someone, not realising I was worth more than how I was treated. It’s about friendship, love and pain. I hope people connect to the song whilst enjoying its subtle but rhythmic shifts and euphoric string arrangements. I have challenged myself and I think the track is beautiful. I am so excited to see the work of myself and my friends (some of whom I met touring the UK with ‘Fisherman’s Friends the Musical’) come to life. They’re incredible musicians and close friends who have absolutely nailed it.”
For the recording of “We Lost Track”, Caitlin sang vocals and played drums, Hannah Cumming and Hazel Simmons played strings, Charlotte Ware played saxophone, Joseph Rodwell, who also produced and mixed the track, played keyboards, and Georgina White and Jennifer Glatzhofer sang backing vocals. The track was recorded at New Cut Studios in Bristol, and mastered by Nick at Old Cottage Audio.
It’s a beautiful, flawlessly-crafted song, with colorful piano keys and melancholy strings, accompanied by gentle bass and Caitlin’s restrained drums and percussion, all of which rise to a dramatic crescendo in the choruses. I particularly love the enchanting rhythmic downshift in the bridge when she sings “I didn’t want to believe it’s true. Now there’s no one left To say ‘I love you’ to“. But the real highlight for me are Caitlin’s heart-wrenching vocals that elicit chills when she passionately wails with raw, heart-wrenching emotion “Ooo – Ooo – Ooo I want you back Ooo – Ooo – Ooo It makes me look bad Ooo – Ooo – Ooo We lost track Ooo – Ooo – Ooo Don’t look at me like that“.
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
I want you back
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
It makes me look bad
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
We lost track
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
Don’t look at me like that I bought you those bed sheets
I bought you that light
I laid next to you almost every night
I wore what you wanted
I gave you my time
You were so cruel at the end of the line
You were so cruel I thought you’d be kind I told you’re perfect
I told you you’re cool
You even let me redecorate your room
You wrote songs with lyrics that made you look smart
You weren’t that clever when it came to my heart
You weren’t that clever when it came to my heart
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
I want you back
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
It makes me look bad
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
We lost track
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
Don’t look at me like that Gave you a piece of me
I regret that
Gave so much more to you
Than I got back
Told you secrets through panic attacks
My friends told me I could do better than you
I didn’t want to believe it’s true
Now there’s no one left
To say ‘I love you’ toOoo - Ooo - Ooo
I want you back
Ooo - Ooo - Ooo
We lost track
I bought you that jumper
You gave it away
Had tears in my eyes
When you laughed in my face
You changed your number
So I changed my tone
Thank you for nothing
I’m fine on my own.
Today I’m pleased to showcase the enchanting collaborative single “Illuminate“, by Irish singer-songwriter and electronic music producer BENJAMYN (aka Ben Hogan) and Irish singer-songwriter Brí (aka Briana Horan). I’ve previously featured Brí twice on this blog, whereas BENJAMYN is new to me.
For a bit of background on the two artists, both of whom are based in Dublin, BENJAMYN is a multi-instrumentalist who’s been performing since he was a child, experimenting with musical genres ranging from indie rock and acoustic folk to funk and hip-hop to create his own distinctive blend of indie, dance, and electronica. His songs have received coverage from radio stations, blogs and playlists across Ireland and beyond, and he’s played numerous shows around Dublin since launching his music project in 2018. This past February he released his marvelous debut album FLOW to both critical and fan acclaim.
Bríis a lovely and talented singer-songwriter with the voice of an angel, creating hauntingly beautiful and emotionally compelling indie pop with folk and electronic overtones. In the summer of 2019, she began dropping a series of singles that culminated in the release of her excellent debut album Hide, in October 2021. Her music has garnered radio airplay and received high praise from numerous music writers, me included (I wrote about two of her singles, “More Than” and “Time”, which you can read by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post.) She’s performed at Beatvyne’s Music X Tech Experience, Whelan’s Ones to Watch, The Ruby Sessions, and headlined The Sound House in Dublin and Spirit Store in Dundalk.
Released through BlueTide Music, “Illuminate” was co-written and recorded virtually by BENJAMYN and Brí, produced by BENJAMYN (who also created the striking artwork for the single), mixed by Michael Heffernan and mastered by Peter Montgomery. About their first collaboration together, Brí commented “I heard the early beginnings of Ben’s beat on Instagram. I was so compelled to write a song to it that I messaged him straight away; luckily he was up for a co-write. Both of us were going through our own ‘uphill battle’ at the time. ‘Illuminate’ fueled us to overcome those struggles and we hope it does the same for you.” BENJAMYN added “I was buzzing to work with Brí on this track. It all came about so naturally after she heard an earlier version of the beat, and when we spoke I knew she would be perfect for it. Once we started writing the song together it really came into its own. I think we both felt the same vibe from the beginning, and I leveraged our ideas with the production as best I could. I can’t wait for people to hear it and feel like they’re lighting up.”
The song is gorgeous, featuring an intricate mix of shimmery and skittering percussive synths layered over a deep, pulsating synth bass beat, creating a captivating atmospheric soundscape that conveys feelings of enlightenment, of emerging from darkness into the glorious light.
The lyrics speak to addressing our challenges head-on, learning to overcome them, or at least accept them and not allow them to defeat us, in order to live a brighter existence. I like how Brí sings the first two verses, with BENJAMYN joining her at the end of the second verse “Shedding my skin, it’s paper thin, body twitching, I’m itching. Problem, it’s time to fix it. I’m reaching in, I’m healing all of my feelings. Feeling good, good. Pick myself up off the floor, I can do what I want.“, then singing the third verse: “I’m fighting on an uphill battle, but my wounds are only small and shallow. I move with greater purpose filling me, my shine is light a starlight shimmering. If I could take the world into this fight, and turn all of the darkness into light. Then maybe they would stop prohibiting, and we could all begin envisioning a brighter way.” He’s a fine singer too, and his warm vocals complement Brí’s lilting ethereal vocals quite nicely.
One of the brightest spots on the British music scene today is Callum Pitt, a thoughtful and immensely-talented singer-songwriter based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Inspired by such esteemed artists as Elliott Smith, Julien Baker, Adrianne Lenker, Sufjan Stevens, The War on Drugs and Fleet Foxes, he creates, in his own words, “indie-folk with a grand, orchestral, chamber pop sensibility plus an alt-rock edge”. I say that’s a pretty accurate description of his beautiful music, which is characterized by lush harmonies, captivating melodies, and honest, meaningful lyrics touching on subjects like depression, anxiety, and social and political unrest, expressed through his emotive pleasing vocals that nevertheless manage to instill feelings of optimism and unity.
Since 2017, Callum has released an impressive number of singles as well as a four-track EP Poisoned Reveries in 2019. His second single “Least He’s Happy” has been streamed more than two million times on Spotify, with several other singles garnering well over 100,000 streams. He’s also earned accolades such as the Alan Hull Songwriting Award in 2019, and the Fender Player Plus competition in 2021. I love his music, and have previously written about four of his songs, two of which – “Fault Lines” and “Mayfly” – made my Weekly Top 30 chart, with “Fault Lines” ranking #84 on my 100 Best Songs of 2020 list, and “Mayfly”, which peaked at #8 earlier this year, guaranteed to rank even higher on my 100 Best Songs of 2023 list. (You can read some of my previous reviews by clicking on the ‘Related’ links at the end of this post.)
Photo by Daniel Stark
Now Callum has just dropped his long-awaited debut album In The Balance, and it’s a real stunner! The culmination of nearly three years of work, the album’s nine songs were informed by a number of events that prompted him to explore questions of existentialism and fate, including a vehicle accident that could have killed his parents and brother, a close friend almost dying of a drug overdose after leaving a party at his house, and the death by suicide of a childhood friend. Remarkably, he wrote and recorded the album while also working at a job and studying for his masters degree in Occupational Therapy.
He wrote the album in his bedroom, using only a nylon-string guitar and cheap 90s keyboard. He then took his demos to the studio, where he worked with long-time producer John Martindale to turn them into rich recordings, featuring a string quartet, and trumpets by James Leonard Hewiston and saxophone by Alex Saxon. Callum sang lead vocals and played acoustic and electric guitars and keyboards, Luke Elgie played bass, Gavin Christie played drums, and John Martindale played percussion, with Ada Francis and Jodie Nicholson on backing vocals
The album kicks off with “I Feel a God and Devil in This Room“, in which Callum explores how both good and evil are present in human experiences more than in otherworldly realms like heaven or hell, and that we should embrace our lives here and now, rather than wait for a theoretically better afterlife: “I feel alone, but I feel in my bones tonight, something bigger moving like a tidal wave, a wilting bouquet, on fire. I feel a God and devil in this room.” The song is enchanting, opening with delicate guitar, piano and strings, then gradually building to a dramatic crescendo with added saxophone, heavier percussion and gorgeous harmonies. The lovely video, filmed and produced by Gareth Williams, features Mia Fuller dancing to the song in an empty church.
“Black Holes in the Sky” addresses the aforementioned close friend that almost died from an overdose of acid after leaving a party at Callum’s house, and was thankfully saved by a passing dog walker at dawn: “You left our party, the last one to go / I heard that a stranger found you laid down, blue in the lips and frost upon your clothes on the edge of town.” The song starts off with an almost gospel-like feel, but transitions into a stirring anthem, with emphatic piano keys, bold guitar notes and blaring trumpets. On the hauntingly beautiful and contemplative “Crow“, Callum speaks of his struggles with depression and anxiety: “There’s something in the leaves reminding me there’s no light without dark.” His piano and guitar work are particularly stunning here.
“Fraction of a Second” was inspired by a night in 2019, in which Callum was reminded of how a change of a mere second of time could have resulted in a life-altering outcome. Minutes after he waved goodbye to his brother and parents as they left his house, a fire engine hit the back edge of their car. They were all unharmed, but had their car been in the engine’s path a fraction of a second later – if he’d said one more word to them at the doorstep – it would have slammed directly into the drivers’ side. Musically, the song has a melancholy yet hopeful feel, and features a buoyant drumbeat overlain with delicate sweeping synths, beautifully-strummed guitar notes, lovely piano keys and vibrant strings. As always, Callum’s smooth vocals are comforting and warm as he sings of his gratitude that his family safely survived the crash: “And I don’t know what I’d do, if that truck had taken all of you, I think the moon may disappear. But a fraction of a second kept you here.”
On the piano-driven “More Than This“, Callum touches on the impermanence of life and worldly beauty: “And no one ever said there would be more than this, but I feel it turning golden in the fall. Everything must go, it’s an angel in the snow. And I will never ask for more.” The moving video was directed by Sel MacLean and filmed by Ross Marshall, and shows Callum singing the song in an empty theater as he watches a couple, played by Igor Tavares and Laura Alise do an interpretive dance.
One of my favorite songs on the album, “Mayfly” is essentially about adulthood, and speaks to Callum’s feelings of apprehension over the responsibilities he’ll face as a potential parent, fearing he might not be up to the task: “I don’t deserve the love that I am shown, but someday I will. ‘Cause I, I need time, so I can be, who you need me to be. So hold out please.” Musically, the song has a lively, upbeat melody that contrasts with the poignant lyrics. I love the perfect melding of acoustic guitar notes and delicate piano chords in the verses, and how the drums become more intense in the choruses, accompanied by glorious exuberant riffs and swirling keyboards. Callum’s smooth vocals are both comforting and heartfelt, backed by Ada and Jodie’s lovely harmonies, and Alex’s bold saxophone in the final chorus is wonderful.
On “Moths and Butterflies”, Callum speaks to the value of expressing one’s emotions in a society where the expectation is for men and boys to suppress their feelings. Though still essentially a folk song, it has more of a rock vibe, with heavier guitars and drums, especially in the bridge. The enchanting “Uncanny Moon” features delicate guitar notes, stirring strings and gorgeous soaring harmonies.
Album closer “The Will of the River” is a beautiful, cinematic anthem in the vein of Sam Fender’s “Seventeen Going Under”, which means I love it! The combination of gentle acoustic guitar notes with more resonant jangly chords and fuzz-coated gnarly riffs, layered over an exuberant stomping groove, make for an exceptionally impactful track. The poignant lyrics speak of the childhood friend who took his own life, leaving him wondering if there might have been something he could have done to prevent it: “I’m so sorry for how we drifted, maybe I knew you too soon. It’s darker now. You’re now away, but my memories are so clear. We move at the will of the river, but you’re ringing in my ear.”
I’m not sure what more I can say about In The Balance, other that to state with confidence that it’s a gorgeous little masterpiece. Mr. Pitt and company have gifted us an impressive, flawlessly-crafted work, for which they should be quite proud.
For my latest Fresh New Tracks installment, I’m once again featuring for my readers’ listening enjoyment three great new releases by acts who couldn’t be more different from each other. They are, in alphabetical order, Michigan-based singer-songwriter Au Gres (who I’ve previously featured three times on this blog), British alternative grime rock band DeadWax, and German atmospheric rock band gimbal.lock (with the latter two acts being new to me).
Au Gres – “leaving”
Photo by Bryan Hugo Iglesias
Au Gres is the music project of talented and affable Michigan-based singer-songwriter Joshua Kemp. (He named his act after the small town of Au Gres in rural northern Michigan where he vacationed as a youth with his family, and holds special meaning for him.) Influenced by such acts as Dayglow, COIN and Hippo Campus, he blends elements of indie rock, lo-fi and synth pop to create pleasing songs that he records in his little DIY home studio. I first learned about him in the fall of 2020, when he released his sweet debut single “Nervous”. He followed in February 2021 with the beautiful “At Home in the Dark”, then a year later with “do you think we’re old enough”. I reviewed all three songs, with the one for “Nervous” garnering 1,162 views thus far. In just a year and a half, he’s become quite a successful artist, garnering impressive numbers on many of the streaming platforms; “do you think we’re old enough” has earned more than 365,000 plays on Spotify alone, and “Nervous” over 208,000. He dropped his fourth single “used to be” in November 2022, and on March 29th, he released his fifth and latest single “leaving“.
With its dreamy melody, sparkling synths and exuberant guitars, Dayglow’s influence on “leaving” is strongly evident, and in fact, Au Gres’ vocals even sound like Dayglow front man Sloan Struble here. In an article premiering the song on Atwood Magazine, Au Gres discussed his inspiration behind “leaving”: “I went through a lot of changes this year and I noticed the way I started to feel about myself was changing too. I wasn’t able to identify it at first, but retrospectively, I was putting a lot of my identity in things that actually had very little to do with me. Things like my career or friends or how much money I had saved. I guess the message here is to not define yourself by external, ever-changing things. Instead, figure out who you are at a core level so you’ll be better equipped to deal with change.” It’s a gorgeous song, and just might be my favorite by him yet.
I haven’t come across an act that calls their sound ‘alternative grime rock’ before, but after listening to the music of northern English four-piece DeadWax, I think it’s the perfect descriptor. Comprised of frontman Jake Milburn (lead vocals), Solomon Price (bass), Henry Skinner (guitar) and Ben Millington (drums), together they make raw, in-your-face musical mayhem drawn from alternative rock, rap rock, hip hop, funk and hardcore punk, to name but a few of the influences I hear. Their music calls to mind such legendary acts as the Beastie Boys, Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine, though their sound is uniquely their own. They’ve released only a handful of singles, starting with “Heavy Temptation” in 2019, but have gained a reputation for their explosive sound and high-energy live shows.
On March 30th, DeadWax dropped their latest single “Northern Behaviour” a stupendous little blast of dynamite they call “A lil homage to how we grew up together in the North, grafting on building sites n laughing at each other in the pissin rain.” Jake elaborates: “The track is born from our time working as labourers on a derelict building site in Holmfirth. Sol and I worked there for about 2 years, doing anything from putting up scaffolding to moving literally tons and tons of dirt by hand.Doing that job,we always used to say it was ‘character building’ and in fairness, it gave us some serious motivation to get out of it. I wanted to pay homage to where we came from and how we got there, and taking the idea of ‘northern-ness’ and saying, yeah it might be gloomy and rough sometimes, but its fuckin’ great here, and we wouldn’t have changed anything about how and where we grew up together.” Well, I must say the song’s fuckin’ great too, a maelstrom of combustible rhythms, raging riffs and Jake’s furious vocals, fueled by a healthy dose of bravado.
DeadWax have a number of shows scheduled this month, so click on this link for details.
The curiously-named gimbal.lock is a fairly new German atmospheric rock act located near Munich. Comprised of Ralph Bayer (guitar, lead vocals), Tom Geissler (drums) and Zsolt Themes (guitar, backing vocals), all are seasoned musicians who’ve played in various bands for several years. I asked Ralph about their unusual name, and he told me ‘gimbal lock’ is a technical term for the phenomenon that occurs in a three-dimensional rotation system where the rotation axes unexpectedly align, causing the system to lose one degree of freedom. He’s a mechanical engineer working in the field of space robotics, and decided upon the name to reflect their music’s singularly unique and unexpected sound.
On February 24th, they released their debut single “Fantasy“, a beautiful song the band says “is meant to inspire the listener to let their imagination run free and escape reality with all its obstacles for a short time.” The guys recorded, produced and mixed the track themselves, with mastering done by Charles H. Root, III at Electric Owl Works in South Wales, New York. The song opens with soothing sounds of waves gently breaking on a beach, which are soon joined by strummed acoustic guitar notes. The music gradually expands to include a bold bass line, thumping drumbeats and glittery synths as Ralph beckons us to let our minds embrace a sense of euphoria and joy: “Close your eyes and follow me. Use your fantasy and free your mind. Forget your pain and touch the sky.” For me, the musical highlight of the song is its enchanting Middle Eastern flavor, thanks to the use of exotic instruments like the buzuq, a long-necked Arabic fretted lute, and the santoor, a trapezoid-shaped Indian hammered dulcimer. “Fantasy” is a promising debut from gimbal.lock, and I’m eager to hear more music from them!
In the space of only six months, alternative pop-rock trio Beach Weather have become one of my favorite bands. I first learned about them last summer when I heard their song “Sex, Drugs, Etc.”, which I loved at first listen. Though the song was originally recorded in 2016, and included on their debut EP Chit Chat, it wasn’t released as a single back then, and largely went unnoticed. After releasing a second EP What a Drag, the band went on hiatus as the three members, Nick Santino, Reeve Powers, and Sean Silverman, relocated to different cities and began working on their own solo projects.
As luck would have it, they decided to reunite in late 2021, and began work on their forthcoming debut album Pineapple Sunrise, due for release on March 3rd. In the meantime, “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” went viral on TikTok in the summer of 2022, and started getting airplay on AltNation and many alternative radio stations. The song eventually went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. It’s also spent 20 weeks and counting on my own Weekly Top 30, three of them at #1, and ended up ranking at #3 on my 100 Best Songs of 2022 list.
They released “Unlovable” last August, their first new release in five years. They followed in November with the melancholy but beautiful “Trouble With This Bed”, which just entered the top 10 on my Weekly Top 30. Today they’re back with their latest single “Homebody“, and I love it aleady! It’s more upbeat than their two previous singles, with a sunny vibe and infectious toe-tapping groove. Like all their songs, though, the instrumentation, musicianship and production values are top-notch, particularly the breezy synths and lively percussion. And lead singer Nick Santino’s vocals have an earnest, yet casual quality that’s incredibly appealing. All four singles will be included on Pineapple Sunrise.
About the song, Santino told Substream Magazine: “Homebody is a song about being a homebody. That’s about it. Who wants to go out and see people you don’t really like when you could just have your own party for one, roll a joint, order some tacos and watch YouTube all night. We think people are really going to relate to this one. It’s one of our new favorites.”
Been a downer for a minute
Sunshine in my eyes
Got me blurry all the time
Primadonna in my feelings
Just a kick back kid in the low lightsHomebody
Just a homebody
Let me slide for a while
It’s my own party
Homebody
Just a homebody
Let me slide for a while
Slide for a whileI can take it I can leave it
Cause I’m already bored
And it’s seven in the morning
Burning messages I
Can’t remember if I
Forgot or I’m ignoringThese days
I been fading away
And I wanted to stay
Don’t keep calling me, calling me nah ah
These days
I can dream out the day
In a lavender haze
Don’t keep calling me, calling me nah ah
Beach Weather have also released a delightful video to accompany “Homebody”, directed by L.A.-based photographer and content creator Guadalupe Bustos. With a nod to the 60s, the video shows the guys cavorting around the house in vintage robes as they go about their day as homebodies.
Burn The Louvre are a Canadian indie rock duo based in Hamilton, Ontario, and consisting of Jordan Speare (vocals, guitar, ukulele, drums & percussion) and Sean Cooper (guitar/vocals). I first featured them on this blog this past April, when I included one of their songs “Driving in the Rain” in a Fresh New Tracks post. I provided some background about how the act began as a duo consisting of Jordan and his brother Dylan, and released two EPs in 2014 and 2017, But by 2018, Burn the Louvre became Jordan’s solo project, at which time he began work on a full-length album Silhouettes with the help of his friend Andrew Billone, of indie rock band Silvertone Hills, on lead guitar and bass. The album was recorded, mixed & mastered by engineer/producer Mickey Ellsworth, who also played synthesizers and additional percussion, and sang backing vocals.
Rather serendipitously, after he and Mickey finished recording Silhouettes in late 2018, Jordan received an email from guitarist Sean Cooper, in response to an old “musicians wanted” ad he’d forgotten to take down. The two immediately hit it off, and began jamming together on the already-recorded songs. Jordan recalls “The way he was able to come up with his own unique leads to songs that were already recorded, giving them different nuances while maintaining the vibe of each song…I mean, I don’t think we’ve ever had a bad practice. I felt this was a perfect opportunity to re-imagine Burn The Louvre as a duo and I am very happy he wanted to be a part of this.”
Photo of Jordan and Sean by iamnenkan
In early 2022, they decided to finally release Silhouettes, initially as 11 separate singles at the rate of one song per month over a period of 11 months, beginning in January with “Wish We Were”. They ended with “Honolulu”, which dropped simultaneously with the full album on November 29th. The songs, all of which were written by Jordan, explore the emotional minefield of young romantic love and relationships with extensive, relatable lyrics, delivered in his laid-back conversational singing style, and accompanied by catchy melodies and fine guitar work. Burn the Louvre’s music style is hard to classify, but can best be described as a pleasing and eclectic blend of punk, pop, rock’n’roll, singer-songwriter and folk.
The title track “Silhouettes” is one of more melodically interesting, starting off with an energetically-strummed folk guitar that’s soon joined by a tasty bass groove. The song seems to end at around 1:46 minutes, then starts up again and continues for 30 seconds until it seems to end yet again, only to start back up at a slightly slower pace. Jordan has an interesting sing-song vocal style, with an offbeat sensual drawl that’s quite endearing. Here he emphatically croons the lyrics about a doomed love affair: “Silhouettes in the yellow moon. Fell a little too hard and they split in two. Raw, a little out of tune. Beautiful and broken, but try not to swoon. Oh you…was disinterested until I heard her say ‘So nice to finally meet you’. Autumn eyes and sweet perfume. My heart might’ve skipped just a beat or two. That little black dress and those ruby shoes. Okay…was all that I could say. I sense there’s heartache on the way.“
On “Wish We Were“, Jordan wistfully sings of a simpler, more innocent time when he was younger and things didn’t seem so heavy and problematic: “Well sometimes, I wish that we were younger. Turn nineteen in the early summer, with nothing but blue skies and moonshine spilling outside on a Wednesday night. Alone in the dark, such a beautiful sight. If only sometimes. But if we’d met before. Would you still be knocking on my door if you lived down the street? Would you just want to be friends with me? I’m wishing I could have the time back that I borrowed. Yesterdays are overrated, show me the tomorrows.” I love the song’s upbeat bouncy groove and jangly guitars.
On the lovely ballad “Driving In The Rain”, Jordan sings of driving through a rainstorm to see his girlfriend, with whom he has a troubled relationship: “I’m 15 minutes out, the sky is darker than her hair. And all Beck’s “Modern Guilt” has got me way too self-aware. The weather’s getting worse, man it’s really coming down. It’s just the second verse, but I think I’m gunna drown. Conventional conversation is ringing in my ears. I want to kiss her in the rain, so I can’t see the tears.” And “Lost With You” has a retro early 60s “malt shop” vibe, with a fun rockabilly quality in the guitars.
One of my favorites is “Nice Guy“, a lively post-punk rocker that has Jordan lamenting about how his good manners seem to go unappreciated by a girl he likes: “Really think that you don’t like me. Well, I’m sorry if I’m just too polite. Really wish that I could be an asshole. Blame my Mum, she’s the one who raised me right. But I’m sick of being the nice guy. I’ll give you my coat when it’s cold outside. Yeah, I’m so sick of always being the nice guy. It’s a phase I still haven’t got over, I’ll try, yeah I’ll try.”
His clever songwriting is strongly evident on “Easy“, a song about how love and relationships could be easy and stress-free, but we often have a way of over-complicating things: “Well, it could all just be so easy. Uncomplicated, apparent, simple too. It could all just be so easy. I’m so easy, yeah but so are you. Open my mouth, make a fool of myself. Could almost hear her falling back in love with someone else. You’re my last cigarette, it’s too bad for my health. Your love is cancerous and I’m just trying to kill myself.” The jangly and shimmery guitar work is terrific, accompanied by nice bass groove and subtle keyboards and percussion.
“Dumb” is a rousing rock’n’roll gem, with twangy guitars and a catchy, toe-tapping beat. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics speak of wishing his ex-girlfriend ill: “I’d rather see you under the sea than see those big green eyes staring back at me. I’ll give your best to your new boyfriend, and let him know that he won’t ever see your face again“, but then admitting his threats were meant in jest: “I’d never hurt you, honestly. I’d never hurt you purposely, You’re lucky I’m not as dumb as I thought I was.” And on the sweet jangle pop song “Hey Stacey“, he sings of how he loves and misses her: “Hey Stacey, is there something wrong? You know I’d do my very best to make it right. I really thought that you might like this song. It’s kinda dumb, but it’s the best I’ve got tonight./ Trying so hard not to blow it. But has anybody ever told you you’re beautiful, but you don’t even know it?“
“Alison” is another sweet tune, this time with a bit of a doo wop vibe and featuring added vocals by Stephanie Deshane. The poignant lyrics speak of two wounded souls, seeking a bit of love and solace in each other’s arms, even if only for a night: “And Alison, you know I’ve been struggling trying to put my life together. She laughs and says, ‘mine’s not much better’. But Alison, I want to thank you for listening. Now, she’s not likely to stay, but I know I won’t soon forget her.”
The final track “Honolulu” is a deeply personal one for Jordan. He explains: “‘Honolulu” is a song I wrote for my first girlfriend Gillian for her birthday. We’d always joked about running away to Honolulu one day, so I wrote this song about the idea of doing just that. To be honest, I really wasn’t the best boyfriend, but I did some things right and this song is definitely one of them. After opening the album with ‘Silhouettes’, which is a song about the aftermath of our relationship from my perspective, I felt it was fitting to close the album with ‘Honolulu’, a song about when times were great.” Appropriately, the song opens with a Hawaiian ukulele riff, accompanied by subtle bass notes. Halfway into the track, the tempo ramps up to a jaunty, head-bopping groove, with a strummed guitar joining the ukulele and bass while Jordan croons “Well I can’t say, I’ve felt this way before. My heart is on fire, yeah. It’s not a holiday, this is a getaway. Gill, hop on the plane and we’ll leave right now for Honolulu… feels so far away.”
Silhouettes is an enjoyable album from start to finish, filled with charming songs dealing with the ins and outs of love in a lighthearted, realistic way. Jordan and Andrew’s guitar work is terrific throughout, and the songs are all expertly-crafted and engineered, giving the album an outstanding quality of sound. Nice work guys!
ECLECTIC MUSIC LOVER 