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What Goes, Let Go. De Staat
De Staat was on this blog and the magazine before that since its first album and yet, it seems like I missed a whole host of releases. Songs that are related to colours. This is the most recent one, in the colour blue. It is miles removed from what I'm used to and it is so exciting. What Goes, Let Go is, in my ears, the perfect mix between David Bowie and Elbow that I've ever heard. It is a slow song, a modern kind of ballad, electronic, effect laden but above all impressive. De Staat is doing a total reinvention here it seems. As I wrote, I've missed all the releases so far, but if this single is the standard, I have a set of wonders to catch up on. Yes, De Staat reaches back in time, more than ever before perhaps, but without a doubt this song is extremely modern as well, due to the sounds, the electronics. Deep and dark, yet with subtle frivolous parts that create a nice balance. In mood and in music as the old and new meet successfully as well. I'm thrilled and surprised all in one.
Judy Blank's mini album starts with 'I'm A Mess'. She sings "Lately I've not been myself". A Covid pandemic song if I've heard one. "Crashing into walls", a feeling many may recognise. Her new album can be called a lockdown album. It was not only made during the pandemic, its mood is fully like it as well. Introspective songs that get the treatment they deserve. A full sound but fairly modest accompaniment. Keyboards, some strings or a guitar is enough to make an impression. "Dreaming of danger" and "Wouldn't it be nice to do some living before I die", she sings in "Karaoke". Dreaming of everything we could not do. Judy Blank does a full Chris Bell/Big Star here and that is meant as a big compliment. She catches that mood Bell was able to create on the first Big Star album perfectly. It seems like due to the pandemic and lockdown Judy Blank found a new voice and was able to reach deeper and come up with a bunch of beautiful songs. If so, I can only assume from the outside, the situation nobody wished for and will never want to see again, has led to another beautiful record the world perhaps would never have heard. Like Johan Cruyff once said: "Ieder nadeel heb zijn voordeel", and is that the right sort of truth in the case of Saddies. With a jazzy cover of The Cure's 'Boys Don't Cry' as a little extra.
The world already has a Patrick Watson, his latest album was on this blog a few days ago. With Hazlett it can easily adopt one more singer-songwriter who sings a dreamy song. A guitar and voice at its heart, the soft electronics and atmospherics making up the breadth and depth of the song. Please Don't Be is Hazlett's debut single on the V2 Records label. Having moved from Brisbane to Stockholm, in a few ways the two cities can hardly be more contrasting, Hazlett started writing new songs and worked on them with producer Freddy Alexander in his new home city. The result is a song that is in the face of the listener because of the way Hazlett's voice is mixed up front, drenched in echoes. The ballad changes to a modern folk tempo, i.e. of the "Hey-Ho" kind, except that the mystery remains very present. Here's the Patrick Watson connection, where Hazlett remains far more down to earth. His voice does not seem to disappear into thin air together with his music. Please Don't Go is very present and very worthwhile listening to. An artist to watch.
With Wait And See L'Asset releases her third single through Rotterdam label Gentlemen Records. When the single started playing I knew for certain this was not for me. A little patience goes a long way, as before too long I started to notice the strong drive L'Asset was putting into her new single. There's also a strong kinship to the music of Elenne May. Do away with the strong beats and you have that fairytale atmosphere and singing about empowerment. L'Asset sings a life's lesson to herself, something to strive for. Literally to wait and see. Not everything in life has to go as fast as possible, with the biggest steps possible, to not reach for the stars but to be "okay with where I am now". And just listen where that attitude brought her. A tough beat propels her forward, leading her to that strong 80s chorus, as an aside making alright everything that musically, mostly miserable decade brought. L'Asset took out the best and made it better. It slowly dawns on me that by standing in place, she reached for the stars and perhaps even beyond. A perfect pop single Wait And See is.
More singer-songwriter pop from New Zealand. Is there a young woman there who doesn't make music and releases songs? Wiri Donna is working towards her debut EP, 'Being There'. Listening to this single for the first time and I guarantee you will, you go from one surprise into another. If anything Bianca Bailey, as Wiri Donna is known to her parents and friends, has two faces. On the one side she's a slightly alternative pop singer-songwriter. There are two electric guitars involved with a bass and drums, playing sparse chords on one side and notes and melodies on the other. On the other side there's this loud rocking, grungy rock chick that does not hold back for a second. Towards the end a blistering guitar solo is shredding No Follow Through in two. The band pushes Wiri Donna's voice back into a corner, struggling to get heard. Rock and roll in 2022 alright. Both sides of Wiri Donna work by the way. It's just that the surprise nearly rocked me off of my chair. An almost impossible divide. I can only muse about the quality of the EP. How does a singer-songwriter/rock chick top this? Follow this blog, is the answer in between.
Two years ago, my birthday present gift by my son was cancelled, like everything else was cancelled. A year later the tour was cancelled again and now there's a new The Hackensaw Boys single with an album announced for June. Mary Shelley is of course the 19th century novelist who wrote 'Frankenstein'. She is damned "because now we are living it". The song is a strong one. In part because it is far more traditional than the average The Hackensaw Boys song of the past. All the instruments are instantly recognisable. The strong fiddle, banjo and mandoline, acoustic guitar. It may be a regular drum kit involved, I'm not certain here. I even hear some handclaps and tambourine, it seems. The result is a beautiful subdued song of the kind David Sickmen is know for decades to be able to write. 'Charismo' lies half a decade behind us, it's time for more new songs. 'Mary Shelley' is an oh so nice start towards them.
With album 'Dark Roses' only three weeks away, it's time for another single by Donna Blue. If anything, A Lover In Disguise shows the suaver sound of the upcoming album. The 1960s are still over the place. It is easy to compare Donna Blue to the way The Kik started its successful career ten years ago. More pop oriented than Donna Blue but totally 60s in sound and mood. Donna Blue combines obscure film soundtracks, with a surf guitar and French sigh girls of the yé yé era. A combination that is hard to beat; if the songs match the level of ambition. The result is a far more jet set kind of sound. Gone is the almost sole surf guitar. It has become a part of a whole. Behind Danique van Kesteren's voice a band sound crops up as if John Barry has composed a new 'The Persuaders' theme and Tony Curtis and Roger Moore will ride Monte Carlo's or Nice's streets once more in their Ferraris. A world of mystery, barely veiled sexuality and longing. It is all captured in the wah wah rhythm guitar, the thin little organ and of course that surf guitar in front of the band. A Lover In Disguise is a beautiful song deserving to be noticed around the world. Anachronistic? Yes, very much so. Beautiful? Undeniably so as well.
And now for something completely different. The Vices return with a ballad of the quietest kind. The band's debut album, 'Looking For faces', was one of the kind containing great songs but also making me wonder what the band really wants to be. Musical styles were all over the place. A ballad like this does not necessarily totally surprise me because of it. The Vices present a piano playing elementary chords, a synth joins in later. Singer Floris van Luijtelaar reaches for the highest notes easily. He sails over Tomorrow I'll Be with the greatest of ease, showing the good singer he is. When Van Luijtelaar starts playing his guitar, it is hesitatingly, almost as an afterthought. As if the band remembers all of a sudden its description is "a garage rock band", to realise that the guitar can never be played that way in Tomorrow I'll Be. The Groningen band shows yet another side to itself. Closer to an artist like Duncan Lawrence than The Thermals, to name one example. It works though.
The Riven finds itself for the second time on this blog. It's new single with the extremely uplifting title, is as dark as death suggests. There's enough for rockfans to enjoy though. The Swedish The Riven brings back memories of bands from long ago. With the previous single, 'On Time', my thoughts went back to classic rock giants Jefferson Starship of the early 80s. Death brings together darker rock of the 1970s, a time when guitar solos were allowed to be huge and all consuming. A sound like hellfires burning. Singer Tote Ekebergh appears to be singing slightly outside of her comfort zone in a mix of 70s hardrock and early 00s goth rock singers. The band behind her combines elements form hardrock to symphonic rock. Mastering dynamics to great effect, as the middle part of Death really builds up the tension. Slowly but surely towards a grand finale.
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With Liar Thief Bandit we have two Swedish rock bands in a row. That is one coincidence. The second, the short, sharp chords played by Liar Thief Bandit is classic Jefferson Starship. I had never expected to ever be referring to this almost forgotten band twice in one blog post. This band truly lives in another age where its music is concerned. Everything about this single is from an era long gone. In other words Diamonds (Are Made Under Pressure) prickles almost gone memories and brings long time favourites to mind. The guitar playing, the sound of the solo guitar, the drums, the pumping bass, the melodies it all fits songs like 'Jane', 'Out Of Control' and others. It's been a while since I last played an album by Jefferson Starship, although I did see a dvd recently. If Diamonds (Are Made Under Pressure) does anything, beside enjoying this song for what it is, is making me reach for one of those 40 year old LPs. "Stranger", I can already hear Grace Slick sing.
Wout de Natris
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