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
I seem to be focused on Canadian artists lately, as there are many who are making some great music that I also happen to be fond of. My latest is JEEN (Jeen O’Brien), a creative, talented and hard-working singer-songwriter and musician from Toronto, Canada. She creates a melodic brand of alternative pop-rock that’s alternately pleasing and edgy, delivered with her distinctive vocal style that reminds me at different times of singers Meg Myers. K. Flay and Lana Del Rey.
The prolific artist has quite an impressive resume; over the past nine years, she’s released an astonishing six albums and scores of singles, one of which, “On and On”, I reviewed last year. Her songs have been used in commercials for such companies as Google, Panasonic, Estée Lauder, Kraft, BlackBerry, KIA, Rogers, MasterCard and Molson, as well as various movies and television programs, including Cook Off, Republic of Doyle, Instant Star, Ruby Gloom, Degrassi, Killjoys, Hockey Wives, Workin’ Moms, MTV Catfish, and MTV Are You the One.
On July 7th, she dropped her latest single “Just Shadows“, which she says she wrote after “thinking how the darker parts of everything can snuff out some of the best people’s light. It’s about trying to get out from under it so we don’t just become casualties of our shittiest days.” The song is the first single from her forthcoming seventh album Gold Control, which she’d began working on last year after the release of her previous album Tracer, in October 2022. Unfortunately, due to what she calls a ‘massive computer failure’, she lost all the demos for Gold Control, sending her back to the proverbial drawing board. “My long time co-producerIan Blurtonsuggested we just go in and jam the songs a bunch top to bottom and re-demo them before we started tracking for real. We had never done it that way for the previous albums; always just worked off my home demos as opposed to rehashing the songs prior with the full band. Anyway, it was super fun to go a little deeper on these songs at that early stage, and I think the whole LP is better for it.”
For the recording of “Just Shadows”, JEEN sang vocals and played rhythm guitar, Ian Blurton played lead guitar, Ben O’Brien played bass, and Stephan Szczesniak played drums. The song gets right down to business with an opening burst of grungy guitars, humming bass and powerful thumping drumbeats, ultimately exploding into a full-blown rocker in the choruses with raging riffs and thunderous drums. It’s one of the hardest-rocking songs JEEN’s put out yet, and I love it. She has a somewhat mumbled drawl-like singing style that’s quite appealing to my ears, backed by her own soaring harmonies as she passionately urges someone in deep emotional pain to not allow their sadness to take over: “He looks so sad he looks so sad, yeah he looks so sad to me. You look so sad you look so sad, you look so sad to me. It’s just shadows just shadows just shadows.”
Many singer-songwriters tend to write from their own personal experiences, and oftentimes, some of the best and most compelling songs are born of pain and trauma. Such is the case with Canadian artist dwi and his new album Zoo Life. About the album, he states “This is the first time in my life where the story of the songs came first before the music. Some of the songs break my heart, and I’m not just poetically saying that. I went to very uncomfortable, dark and painful places to find these themes. And now a year later, I realize that I’ve learned so much about myself and why I’ve done the things I have, and why I have prevented myself from healing. You can survive trauma. But you always have to live with it. So you might as well turn it into art.”
Based in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia, dwi is the music project of singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Dwight Abell, who’s also the longtime bassist for Canadian alternative/power pop band The Zolas. He’s an immensely creative, talented and imaginative guy, with a totally original sound and an endearingly quirky vocal style that make his music so uniquely distinctive. I think he’s one of the brightest stars today in the Canadian music scene, or anywhere really, and I’ve grown quite fond of him.
In October 2021, dwi released his brilliant debut album Mild Fantasy Violence (which I reviewed). Written during the Covid lockdowns, the album explored feelings of disconnect from the everyday normalities of relationships and society, touching on such topics as childhood, friendships, addiction, politics and environmentalism. One of the album’s tracks, “Good Friend”, spent four months on my Weekly Top 30 chart, going all the way to #1 and ending up ranking #16 on my Top 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. He followed in August 2022 with a marvelous single “Party4One“, accompanied by a delightfully zany video. That song also went to #1 on my Top 30 chart, and ranks #24 on my Top 100 Best Songs of 2022.
Since then, he’s dropped a number of singles, several of which, including “Party4One”, are featured on Zoo Life, which dropped today. Many of the songs address Dwight’s childhood experiences in foster care, which he equates with being “taken away to a zoo”. He explains “I actually did research about my time in foster care for this album and requested all the documentation of it (900 pages) from the ministry. I discovered that I was abused in one of the homes I was in, and there were photos taken of me. That’s where the album cover came from. I’ve also realized that I’ll probably go back to the old way of conceptualizing songs, because this process emotionally wiped me out. But I’m glad I touched on it as much as I did.”
For the recording of Zoo Life, dwi sang all vocals and played all instruments, except for drums, which were played by his childhood friend and fellow Zolas band member Cody Hiles. The album was produced by Ryan Worsley, and released via the label Light Organ Records.
The album opens with the title track “ZooLife“, on which dwi addresses the lingering trauma from his foster care experiences: “Standing on the edge of my life. On a perfect Friday night. I don’t know if I can take this. Zoo life, zoo life I’m breathin‘”. Fueled by an emphatic beat overlain with wobbly psychedelic synths, a deep bass groove and stabbing guitar notes, the song has a melodic but rather ominous vibe, ending with a lovely instrumental fade-out. The song’s video, showing scenes of dwi lying backwards on a stairway in front of a church and singing on what appears to be a city street, conveys a strong claustrophobic feel.
“Get Me” opens with a blast of drum fills and bass, then settles down somewhat in the melancholy verses, Cody Hiles’ aggressive drums still dominant throughout. I really like the melodic piano-driven interlude in the bridge before everything ramps back up to a dramatic crescendo as dwi remembers past traumas he’s long tried to suppress: “Pool of blood on the bathroom floor. Wait, who is that on the bathroom floor? From the other side, wake up. On the other hand, shake it off. Don’t look at that void, it’ll crush you.”
The wonderfully wacky “Party4One“ is the one moment of levity on the album. In dwi’s own words, the song is “about falling in love with yourself during an intense state of cabin fever. Love yourself, make out with yourself, and for the love of gawd, scare yourself. The weirdos are in charge now!” It’s a riotous blast from start to finish, and dwi’s quirky vocals are relentlessly endearing as he sings “Hey reflection, I really like you. Don’t want your friends. Hey man, I think it’s pretty funny given who I am. Nothing can stop me, I’m living in a single player game. You can’t stop me, it’s a party for one.“ The hilarious video shows dwi dressed in goth-punk black leather and a plaid skirt, with his hair styled to feature two devil-like horns. He enters an old house and proceeds to indulge in all sorts of childish antics, including playing video games with a giant stuffed teddy bear, overdosing on bowlfuls of Froot Loops, covering his face with lipstick in front of a bathroom mirror, and engaging in S&M pretend with the aforementioned teddy bear.
On the darkly beautiful and cinematic “Fear Of Forever” – which would make a terrific James Bond movie theme – dwi passionately laments of his lingering bitterness and feelings of abandonment to those who hurt him: “Don’t ever trust a god who leaves you all alone / And don’t ever send a boy to do a man’s job / I’ve got the fear of forever“. The song includes sweet vocals from what I’m guessing are one of his little son’s. And on “Phony“, with its glorious Britpop-inspired soundscapes and soaring choruses, he sings the poignant lyrics that seem to be about how we try to hide our pain and aching need for love and acceptance by being other than who we really are: “I never wanted purpose. I only wanted you. And all good things must end here.”
One of my favorite songs on Zoo Life is “Overrated“, as I can’t get enough of its powerful, foot-stomping groove, gnarly bass, spacey synths and dwi’s wonderfully-crazed vocals as he ticks off a number of popular things in culture (VR, licorice, Top Gun, 69, as well as passion, anger and temper) he feels are overrated. A lifelong lover of video games, dwi’s shown as a kind of gaming character in the surreal video.
“Marker“, recorded with his band The Zolas, has a bit of a Psychedelic Furs feel to my ears. The lyrics seem to speak of coping mechanisms children of trauma engage in to survive: “I imagine you as a child tempted to steal a marker. You’ll get caught red-handed when you get creative.” Here’s a live performance of the song by dwi and The Zolas:
“Uncle Uncle” touches on dwi’s ongoing PTSD from witnessing his young son getting hit by a car (thankfully he survived and is doing well): “Take me to a shrink and change my medication / Hypnotize me till I turn blue / I hear a car crash in my mind, kids crying all the time / There is a demon in my mind, throwing parties all the time. I say ‘I’m cool, I’m cool’. But there’s one problem, it never quits.” In addition to the great lyrics, I love the song’s driving beat and that wonderful jangly guitar riff between the verses.
“Day By Day” is a jaunty punkish tune with more of those terrific head-bopping rhythms, psychedelic synths and exuberant jangly guitars. As the title suggests, the lyrics speak to the ongoing work required to keep one’s sanity and deal with adult problems on a daily basis. “Where’s the spark that I had as a kid back in the day. All those dreams sure felt like they would stay. Now it seems that simple stuff ‘s getting in, in my way. Guess I’ll have to take it day by day.“
dwi taps into his inner beast on the bombastic tour de force “Hypocrite?!“, unleashing a torrent of jagged buzzsaw riffs bathed in feedback and fearsome impassioned screams, nicely accompanied by Cody’s explosive drums. The furious instrumentals gradually fade and are replaced with lovely contemplative piano keys and dwi’s haunting vocals for the final minute of the song.
The heart-wrenching and powerful album closer “Holes In My Story” deals with dwi’s coming to terms with having been abandoned by his birth parents and the abuse that followed as a foster child: “I guess I’m staying at someone else’s house again; wait out the storm. / The strangest part I don’t recall you leaving me at all./ I guess I’m putting on a brave face again. These masks are worn. I’m sitting in a cage with my family. What did we do wrong? The hardest part, I don’t recall you needing me at all. Well that was fun, and thank you for creating me, but it’s time to go. / Don’t you dare go feed those animals; they’ll never get trained.Holes in my story, holes in my story. I shine a light on it, but still feel misplaced.”
By song’s end, I’m left emotionally drained and nearly in tears, not only from the lyrical content, but also from dwi’s truly breathtaking creativity, talent and musicianship. Despite it’s dark, often disturbing subject matter, Zoo Life is a magnificent and gorgeous work nevertheless. He’s outdone himself yet again with this album, and I remain a loyal and devoted fan.
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Beck Black is a veritable dynamo, possessing immense quantities of imagination and creativity, with a colorful persona to match. She’s been releasing music since 2014 (including a terrific album Hollywood Blvd in 2021), both as a solo artist and as a band under the Beck Black moniker, with the help of drummer Adam Alt and guitarist Mo Matatquin. Her music spans across multiple genres ranging from alternative, rock’n’roll and punk to country and pop, and everything in between. Listening to her music catalog, I’m struck by the fact that no two songs of hers sound alike (I adore her 2019 country song “Don’t Call Me Darlin'”). In addition, with her love of make-up and dressing up, she’s continually changing her style, such that she looks vastly different from one photo to the next, and I love it!
Beck has recorded songs with Ringo Starr (“Who’s Gonna Save Rock & Roll” in 2020) and Tony Valentine of The Standells (“Another Dimension” and “You’re Never Gonna Stop Me!” in 2021), and is also is part of the duo JYNX, with two songs licensed to the Netflix film Dumplin. She and her band have played some of L.A.’s most iconic venues like the Troubadour, The Echo, Whisky a Go Go, The Viper Room, and The Satellite. Besides making music, she has appeared on TV, films and many online shows including S.W.A.T., Grey’s Anatomy, and Ruth & Lori.
Photo, makeup and styling by Robert Hayman Flores
I first learned about Beck last month when I heard her marvelous cover of David Bowie’s song “Aladdin Sane”, which she recorded for the album Forget That I’m 50, a magnificent cover of Bowie’s entire album Aladdin Sane, produced by Julian Shah-Tayler. Now she’s back with a delicious new single “Puppet Show“, accompanied by a delightful video. Written and produced by Beck, the song is originally from the album Hollywood Blvd, but has now been released as a single. Beck sang vocals and played keyboards, Mo Matatquin played guitar and Adam Alt played drums. The track was mastered by Magic Garden Mastering.
It’s a lively banger, with an emphatic foot-stomping groove overlain with swirling cinematic synths, intricate edgy guitars and thunderous percussion. The infectious synth-driven melody reminds me a bit of the great 1982 song “Wishing” by A Flock of Seagulls. Beck’s vibrant lilting vocals are wonderful as she sings the lyrics that seem to be telling us that life is like a puppet show, with some people trying to control or influence our thoughts and actions, but we can choose to cast off those strings and life on our own terms: “Telegram the words to me, a puppet sings. People pulling at your strings and other things. Dancing with a back and forth motion, to and fro. Wearing shiny, sequin clothing a puppet show. Chances are interesting a puppet dreams. Reality is what you make it wearing strings.“
The brilliant video for the song, created and produced by Beck, co-directed with Justin L. Smith, and filmed by Eli Wallace Johansson, is utterly charming. It features Beck as a human marionette, along with a marionette miniature of her, created by Rasputin Marionettes. Both Beck and her marionette doppelgänger are dressed in matching hot pink sequined dresses and wigs. Beck is shown singing the song and playing her keytar in a vast outdoor field while the marionette acts out the lyrics. Eventually freed from their strings, they both jump into a lake, where they savor their newfound independence “Swimming in a deep blue ocea, ebb and flow. Life can be your pearly oyster, a puppet show.”
Wise John is a talented, amiable and relentlessly charming singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who’s originally from Southern California and now based in Brooklyn, New York. I learned about him last fall when I read a post on the Audio Mirage Studios blog about his wonderful song “Marry Another Man”, and became in instant fan. I love his pleasing, laid-back style of soulful folk-rock, characterized by memorable melodies, colorful instrumentation, and intelligent, relatable lyrics delivered with his beautiful warm vocals.
Though he’d long had a love of music in his veins, Wise John pursued a career as a computer/aerospace engineer. He still kept one foot in music, however, and in June 2021, released his terrific debut album A Wonderful World. The following January, finally realizing that the life he’d planned out for himself and worked so hard to achieve was making him miserable, he took a leap of faith and quit his engineering job to pursue music as a full-time career. Since then, he’s released more music, played gigs around the New York area, and has continued to build a base of loyal fans.
On May 5th, he released a delightful EP The Mr. Love Sunset Show! which he calls “a retro love song EP designed to heal your heart and sharpen your soul, rendering the feelings, failings, and fallings of romance from four very different angles.” Featuring four tracks, the EP was written, composed, and performed by Wise John with the help of producers Quinn Devlin and Alex Strahle, mixed by Sahil Ansari, and mastered by Joey Messina-Doerning. The various songs feature contributions from an array of guest musicians and vocalists, including Elise Trouw on vocals and drums, Daniel Chae on strings, Kumara Robideau on bass, Shaun Valentine on drums, Quinn Devlin on bass, drums, piano, electric guitar, alto saxophone and percussion, James Wyatt Woodall on pedal steel, Andy Shimm on bass, Dylan DeFeo on organ, Justin Garcia on guitar, and Keara Callahan, Berit Bassinger, Daniela Silva on backing vocals.
The first track “Afterglow” is a lovely but sad song, with bittersweet lyrics about falling for someone who’s not interested in becoming involved in a committed relationship “You made me say I wouldn’t get confused. It’s only play, I shouldn’t feel so used. A love vacation, a toy you didn’t choose to sleep with. Feeling sick in the afterglow.” The arrangement and instrumentation, highlighted by Daniel Chae’s achingly beautiful strings, create an enchanting backdrop for John’s incredibly vulnerable croons.
“Atlanta“, with captivating dual vocals by Wise John and Elise Trouw, tells the true story of how John’s parents got married. Elise sings from the perspective of John’s mother who, frustrated by his father’s (who was then her boyfriend) inability to commit to her, leaves him “I got way too much to lose to let you walk on me that way. So now I’m ridin’ down the road to Atlanta, Georgia towards my peace of mind. Oh I’m ridin’ down the road to Atlanta, Georgia, to leave your halfway love behind.” John sings from his father’s perspective, who after two years has a change of heart: “I’ll speak honestly and tell you I can’t stand being left behind. So now I’m ridin’ down the road to Atlanta, Georgia towards my peace of mind. Oh I’m ridin’ down the road to Atlanta, Georgia to leave my halfway loves behind.” Musically, the song has a soothing guitar-driven melody, and the marvelous pedal steel by James Wyatt Woodall gives it a lovely country folk vibe.
My favorite song on the EP, “Marry Another Man” is a poignant and beautiful love letter to the one that’s getting away. Wise John implores his girlfriend to reconsider her plans to marry someone else: “We could get married in the springtime, or tonight for all I care. Long as I have you for a lifetime. I would speak the vows in city hall with no one there. All that matters is I’m the one to take you home. I’m the one to hold you when we’re finally alone. So please darlin’ don’t marry the other man.” The official video shows Wise John performing the song in Quinn’s living room along with Elise Trouw on drums, Andy Shinn on bass, Dylan DeFeo on organ and Justin Garcia on guitar.
The wonderful lyric video for the song, filmed by Berit Bassinger, shows John as Mr. Love, forlornly walking the streets of New York at night.
The final track “Mr. Love” is a delightfully upbeat ode to Wise John’s alter-ego that, in his own words, “offers a bird’s eye view of the landscape of love from the pits of loneliness to the sunny meadows of romance.” The song is pure pop goodness, with a breezy melody, sunny instrumentals, exuberant vocals and hopeful lyrics: “Who ate all your sad day sorrows? Only Mr. Love can do. Took an endless tune of blue tomorrows, wrote the hook to a dance for two. When it’s cold outside, you’ll feel warm in the light.”
The lyric video, also filmed by Berit Bassinger, shows Wise John as Mr. Love, walking along the seacoast and spreading his positive love vibes.
I could keep gushing about this great little EP, but since I’ve already overused the words ‘wonderful’, ‘marvelous’, ‘beautiful’, ‘delightful’, etc., just give it a listen and hear it for yourselves. Better yet, fork over a few dollars and buy it on Bandcamp!
Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri is a delightful band with an equally delightful name, Eggs on Mars. I recently learned about them when their front man Brad Smith reached out to me after having seen my review of Kevin Robertson’s album Magic Spells Abound, asking if I’d be interested in reviewing their latest album Warm Breakfast. Well, I gave it a listen and like it so much, I’m happy to share it with my readers. Featuring 10 tracks, the album serves up 26 minutes of wonderfully pleasing jangle pop.
From what I can tell, Eggs on Mars began as a three-piece and has been around for at least 10 years. Like many a band, they’ve undergone a few changes in lineup, and now consist of the aforementioned Brad Smith on guitar, lead vocals & keyboards, Mason Potter on drums, percussion & backing vocals, Doug Bybee on bass, keyboards & backing vocals, and Joel Stratton on keyboards & backing vocals. They describe their sound as “informed by our love of 1960’s pop groups like the Lovin’ Spoonful and Buffalo Springfield, as well as guitar-based 1990’s groups like Built to Spill. We’re kind of like Guided by Voices, and the voices guiding us might be the Beach Boys.” After hearing their music, I’d say that’s an apt description, as I immediately recognized strong Lovin’ Spoonful and Beach Boys influences.
They’ve released a fair amount of music over the past nine years, including seven albums and an EP, their latest of which, Warm Breakfast, was released March 21st. Listening to some of their back catalog, I can hear how the quality of their songwriting and musicianship have steadily improved over time. Their early albums have a lo-fi garage rock feel, whereas their more recent works feature stronger arrangements and sound more polished and well-crafted. Eggs on Mars have this to say about WarmBreakfast: “On this new album we wanted a warm, textured sound and so you’ll find doubled guitars, electric piano, measured guitar lines, and vocal harmonies. These all accompany lyrical themes of finding joy in life’s simple pleasures as a means to deal with its inherent chaos and disappointments. It’s a happy record with sad songs, or maybe a sad record with happy songs. It’s genuine Midwestern somber pop.”
The album was recorded, engineered and mixed by Rodd Fenton at Solstice Audio, and mastered by Josh Johnson. For the album’s recording, additional guitars were played by Austin Smith, with additional backing vocals sung by Sam Smith and Rodd Fenton (I’m guessing Austin and Sam are related to Brad). The colorful painting used for the album’s cover was done by Shannon Brouk, with photography and album layout by band bassist Doug Bybee.
Warm Breakfast opens with “Especially Now“, a 52-second-long introductory piece that establishes the album’s overall theme, with simple lyrics advising us to be better to one another: “Be kind, especially now. There’s signs, you can tell.” Next up is “No Problem“, a short, catchy song that perfectly encapsulates my experience as a music blogger: “Giving, giving more. Much less than there was before. Falling, feeling drained. Little left and deeply strained.It’s no problem, I can handle this all fine. It’s no problem, I will make all of this right. It’s no problem, I’ll take it on.” The jangly guitars and lovely harmonies are wonderful, and the sweet accompanying video, created by Blane Worley, features both animation and claymation.
Gorgeous, reverb-drenched shimmery guitars are a highlight on “Wrong Way“, which seems to be about self doubt and inner conflict, feeling unsure of who we are or how we should act: “Just like a child I can’t decide what it is I should be.” It’s a beautiful track, and one of my favorites on the album.
“Every Day I Cross the River” speaks to the daily drudgery of going to work every morning “Every day I cross the river, debating just what is earned. Weigh its worth against what’s lived for. Navigate through twists and turns.“, but thankful for having a loved one to come home to in the evening: “You don’t have to ask about my day because I’ve already lived it. You don’t have to ask about my day because you’re the best part of it.” The song starts off which just acoustic guitar, then the music gradually builds into a lovely soundscape of jangly guitars, sparkling synths and gentle percussion. Brad’s smooth vocals are sublime, rising to a falsetto in the choruses.
Keeping with a similar theme, “Never Change” is about how, despite the day-to-day worries and demands of life, your love and devotion remains steadfast: “Overworked, you help ease it, so I will not quit. I’ll never change, won’t change my mind.” The song has a mellow, catchy vibe, highlighted by a terrific organ riff. “All’s Well Elsewhere” features a languid, guitar-driven melody, exuberant percussion and beautiful Beach Boys-esque harmonies. I’m not sure, but the lyrics seem to speak to not dwelling too much on things over which we have little control: “All’s well it’s a fairytale. All’s well it’s not bad at all.” The video, created by Jesse Banion from vintage 70s footage of a beauty pageant, represents a kind of fairytale.
Eggs on Mars turns more serious on “Nameless Headline“, using the story of a man killed in a car crash to signify the randomness of life, and how those of us who didn’t know him might have a brief passing thought over his misfortune, whereas those who were close to him are much more deeply impacted: “That could have been me. Another nameless headline to most. That could have been more than it would seem. Certainly to those who were close.” The bouncy “My Words” seems to touch on the old adage “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, also pondering whether some do good out of their own sense of altruism, or simply because they want praise: “My words, my words, can’t hold their weight. Demonstrations of compassion give me hope that there’s still something to believe in. My good intentions don’t redeem me. Are you fine with helping if there’s no acclaim?“
Another favorite of mine is “Earthwormin‘”, both because of its marvelous jangly guitars, warm keyboards and lush Beach Boys-like harmonies, but also for its lyrics that once again speak to my own challenges as a music blogger: “Balancing is challenging to do now. Everyone expects something from you now. Day in, day out struggling get through, how?” Album closer “Whose Plans?” is a pleasing, mostly acoustic song, accompanied by what sounds like children playing in the background, and trailing off with ambient sounds of crickets at night. The spare lyrics ponder the concept of how our lives seldom go as planned: “All the things we rearranged, yet so few left unchanged. When we look at ourselves, has all this been done well?“
Warm Breakfast is the perfect title for this album, as its pleasing songs are like comfort food for the ears, delicious with every listen.
Pylon Poets are an alternative indie rock band from the southwestern England town of Torquay, Devon. Consisting of Dan Hughes (lead vocals, guitars & synths) Nathan Hughes (bass, backing vocals) and Sam McIver (drums), Pylon Poets have been putting out high-energy melodic rock for several years, with relatable lyrics touching on such issues as pop culture, love and politics. They’ve toured extensively and have played several music festivals throughout the UK, sharing the stage with such artists as Reef, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Scouting For Girls, Republica and ASH.
Photo of Sam, Dan & Nathan by Amy Stanford
Beginning with their debut album Spirit, Love & Higher Meanings in 2016, they followed two years later with a five-track self-titled EP, and since then have dropped many more singles, including a second EP Lucid Hallucinations in late 2020. Today, they release their latest single “In The End“, about which they say “focuseson the battles of mental health, and the feelings and thoughts that accompany it whilst keeping an optimistic outlook on the future.” The track was engineered, recorded and produced by Sugar House at Catalyst Studios, and mastered by Fluid Mastering.
Pylon Poets get right down to business, opening “In The End” with a blast of reverb-drenched guitars and shimmery synths. The music then settles into a strong thumping groove, accompanied by some nice guitar noodling in the verses as Dan calmly sings “In the end, there is a new beginning. There is a time for living. In the end, there’s something beautiful. A godsend or something cynical. In the end, it’s all collateral. In the end.” As the song continues, the gentler verses alternate with exuberant choruses, in which Dan’s vocals turn more impassioned as he sings of struggling with his conflicting emotions: “Losing control, taking the reigns, fighting the tide inside my mind. Burning alive, breaking the chains, one by one nothing remains.” It all serves to create a contrasting sense of excitement and tension, making this a terrific rock song.
Pylon Poets have lots of tour dates planned, so click here for details.
Kewen is the solo music project of British singer-songwriter Callum Kewen, who plays a pleasing style of folk rock inspired by such acts as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen. Based in Northeast England, the busy young musician is also frontman and lead vocalist of soft rock band Kewen & The Crosswalks, and does oral music reviews of local artists on his Facebook page.
He’s been releasing music as a solo artist for six years, beginning with his debut singles “This Feelin’” and “This April Day” in April 2017, followed that September by his first EP Chimes. He followed that EP with more singles, culminating in the release of his second EP A Little Bit of Magic in 2019. He dropped a lockdown single “Freedom” in 2020, then a single “The Line” in 2021. Since then, he’s been working on his debut album Chapters, due for release in September. He just dropped the album’s title single “Chapters“, an upbeat song of optimism and hope for a better future.
Kewen elaborates on his inspiration for writing the song and album: “This album has been 2.5 years in the making and I’ve put my heart and soul into it. I wrote ‘Chapters’ not long after I went through a breakup in my personal life. I took myself off to the Lake District in the UK for a night of wild camping on the mountain side, and wanted to get into a different frame of mind which is something I had never done before. This was one of two songs I wrote up there that day, and I think they may be some of the best stuff I’ve ever written. I very much felt at that time in my life that I was moving onto the next chapter in my life and I knew I wanted to title my next project in relation to that. The song started writing itself once I got pen to paper and it was probably done within the hour.“
For the recording of the song, Kewen played acoustic rhythm guitar and sang lead and backing vocals, with additional contributions by several of his fellow musicians: Oliver Cobb, who produced the track, played electric rhythm and lead guitars, Kewen & the Crosswalks bassist Hannah Ward played bass and sang backing vocals, Jack Herron played drums, and WayneOnSax played the wonderful saxophone. Primary backing vocals were sung by Teah McCafferty, along with Hope Laverty, James Brown and Eddie Hogg.
I really like the song’s bouncy melody and infectious toe-tapping groove, highlighted by lots of cheerful guitar noodling, exuberant percussion and that marvelous wailing sax. Though he strains a bit on the higher notes, Kewen’s plaintive vocals are pleasing as he fervently sings “I can feel the chapters closing in, I can feel the chapters of life. I can feel the chapters, and everything’s alright. I can feel the pages of this worn-out book, I can feel the new pages rise.” The delightful backing vocals, especially those of Teah McCafferty, nicely complement his. “Chapters” is a fine single, and a promising glimpse of what we can expect on the forthcoming album.
Kevin Robertson is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Aberdeen, Scotland who makes a very agreeable style of jangle pop. His music is strongly influenced by a range of influences, including 60’s pop, classic and psychedelic rock, 80’s jangle music and 90’s Brit pop. He’s been actively recording and releasing music both as a solo artist and as a member of Aberdonian (I love that word) jangle pop five-piece The Vapour Trails since 2019.
In a short period of time, Kevin has released a sizable amount of music under his own name, beginning in 2021 with his debut album Sundown’s End, followed by Teaspoon of Time in 2022, as well as a number of singles, demos and session recordings. On March 31st, he dropped his latest album Magic Spells Abound, an aptly-titled collection of nine exquisite songs. Recorded by Kevin with the help of musical friends who have appeared on his releases over the years, the album was produced by Nick Bertling, and released by the Subjangle label in conjunction with Futureman Records.
Listening to Magic Spells Abound calls to mind the music of so many great acts of the 60s, 70s and 80s, yet Kevin’s beautifully-crafted songs are thoroughly original. The album opens with “As the Crow Flies“, a charming and hopeful song that immediately makes me think of the beautiful melodies and harmonies of the Traveling Wilburys. In fact, Kevin’s pleasing vocals even remind me of the late George Harrison on this track as he sings “Don’t be afraid of the sunshine. Don’t cause alarm. Don’t be afraid of this darkness. It means you no harm.” So, too, with the mysterious and lovely “Candlestick Morning“, where his vocals and intricate guitar work seemingly pay homage to Harrison, at least to my ears.
On “Make Believe” and “Autumn Brings“, with their captivating melodies and infectious, foot-stomping grooves, both his stunning jangly guitars and vocals seem to channel the Byrds. Kevin’s skill for writing beguiling melodies is beautifully showcased on the winsome “The Crest of a Dream“, highlighted by an enchanting hook and some fine harmonica work. And on the breezy, uptempo “Cloak and Dagger“, Kevin and company nicely capture the glorious harmonies of Crosby, Stills & Nash.
One of my favorite tracks is “WanderOn“, with it’s catchy toe-tapping beat, colorful array of jangly and fuzzy psychedelic guitars, and buoyant Beatles-like harmonies. The lovely, folk-tinged “Sunset” is yet another terrific song, with it’s bewitching twangy guitars and sublime harmonies. And on the final track “Equilibrium Blues“, Kevin blends pleasing folk rock with spacey psychedelia to create a fascinating and compelling song that’s part Crosby, Stills & Nash and part Electric Light Orchestra. The lyrics seem to speak of evil forces at work to create uncertainty and chaos around us: “They’re coming from the gutter, to destroy your equilibrium./There’s not enough love in the sky to bring such a tear to one’s eye.”
I like everything about this album – the masterful arrangements, gorgeous guitar work and myriad instrumental touches – but it’s the marvelous harmonies throughout that really make Magic Spells Abound such a great record for me. Kevin is a very talented singer-songwriter and musician, and has much to be proud of with his latest work.
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