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Faithless Lover. Reb Fountain
With
'Iris' behind her, including an international tour of which I was able
to see the Amsterdam/Paradiso show, New Zealand singer and songwriter
Reb Fountain returns with a new and majestic single. Unsurprisingly so,
as majestic must be her middle name. Faithless Lover is a ballad of the
kind Ms. Fountain is an expert at but also one that keeps growing in
passion and conviction. It starts ever so small. Just her voice and an
organ playing long held chords. From there the song is built up, slowly
but surely. Drawing the listener in ever closer. Although there is a
slight resemblance to Adele's 'James Bond' theme song, it happens to be
my favourite Adele song, so double points as far as I'm concerned.
Faithless Lover takes another turn in time and grows into an epic, if
modest one, ballad. The strings are let loose, digital and real if my
ears are not mistaken. In the end it all winds down once again but by
then Reb Fountain has long made her point to this faithless person. She
has found her words, as she shares them with us. A great new single.
You
can find Dream Wife on this blog since the release of the band's first,
self-named album in 2018. Orbit is a single from the upcoming album,
'Social Lubrication'. Not that much has changed. Although I'd say that
Dream Wife's members have become better players and arrangers. The
combination of infectious punkrock and -pop is still there. The band
simply makes better use of the options this music offers. Listen to how
dynamics are used in the verses. Just bass and drums supporting the
singing, joined by a muted guitar sound. The chorus lets it all rip with
a great riff and harmony and background shouts. Icelandic singer Rakel
Mjöll really goes at it here, showing the different sides to her voice.
Her bandmates Alice Go (guitar) and Bella Podpadec (bass) fill up all
(and there must be a hired drummer involved). June 9 the album is
released. In the meantime we'll remain in orbit thanks to Orbit.
Are
you ready for a time machine experience? With Let's Talk About It you
are about to undergo one. Angela Tini makes music of the kind they used
to make a long, long time ago. As in the kind of music my mother may
have listened to in her years in Canada before she got married. Angela
Tini and band seem to come straight out of the fifties, from before rock
and roll even or at best the kind Pat Boone played. When all that has
been said and done, this duet with singer Big Sandy is great fun, if
totally outdated for 2023. The pleasure of playing and singing together
simply jumps out of the song. The band has this obvious swing, without
having to lay it on in a thick manner. It's simply there. The saxophone
solo is one out of the Cookie and The Cupcakes songbook. A rolling piano
is what provides the icing on the cake. Will I make it through a whole
album? Probably not, in the meantime I'm enjoying Let's Talk About It
thoroughly.
From
the darkness of an inner hell to a new single. That description serves
Killing Time well. Started in 1996 as Reach 454, the band released its
first album in 2003, to play its last live show in 2004. Reach NYC
circled around better known bands like Linkin Park and Papa Roach but
never made it to the same level. Some 20 years later the band, in a
partly new line up resurfaces with a potent rock single, like they used
to make them a few decades ago. The energy is there and the riffs are
convincing. Showing that writing a good rock song has little to do with
age. "Taking drugs is how I'm killing time", René Mata sings. Let's hope
that playing music is his new way for killing time. It will surely
allow Reach NYC to have a chance of making it, with the assistance of a
record deal in Germany. Fans of the afore mentioned bands should pay
attention.
An
instrumental. For me at least, this is the hardest to write a review on.
Strange in a way, as I do not really pay attention to the lyrics at
first and more to the melody. Now let this be where Evidence of Struggle
delivers with ease. There's no singing on Alan's Song but there's no
doubt what the vocal melody would be here. The guitar leads the way and
this amounts to the first impressions I would have had, had there been a
singer. Evidence of Struggle is William P. C. Simmons V a.k.a. Rev.
Billy Simmons. The multi-instrumentalist plays all on this song himself.
Being instrumental and rock the epitaph postrock is usually glued to
the music. It's a term that does not help me a lot. Alan's Song,
inspired by a conversation Simmons had with a friend called Alan, is a
rock song, yet extremely melodic. No one is doing extremely difficult
things here. If anything, I would call in progrock as Alan's song has a
few distinctive parts and tempo changes. Most importantly, the song
rocks.
Driving cars down by
the Mediterranean always brings to mind the Tony Curtis - Roger Moore
series 'The Persuaders' from the early 70s. The reason I bring this up
is because Bianca James uses the image to describe her new single
Monaco, the small princedom on the Mediterranean. The description works
double, as Monaco does evoke the pop feel coming with the 'The
Persuaders' soundtrack. That 60s b-movie music with a little organ and
girls dancing to pre-disco beats, in the dancing. Where the sound is
concerned Bianca James' single is far more modern. A song could not
sound this way in 1966. She catches the vibe of old quite good though.
Bianca James dreams big. Coming from Montreal in Canada, Monaco and
surroundings is where she would like to be. It will be several months
before we are allowed to hear more. Her album is released after the
summer. Monaco is a nice, extremely retro-poppy introduction.
A
solo album by Fontaines D.C. singer Grian Chatten? Isn't that a bit
early in his career with the band going so well? Perhaps. Fact is, if
The Score is anything to go by, his solo album 'Chaos For The Fly', out
on 30 June, is totally different from his band. The motivation he
provides is a sound one. "I have songs that do not fit the direction of
our new songs and I do not want to force a direction on the other
writers in the band". The Score reminds me in a way of Kaizers
Orchestra's singer Janove Ottensen's solo album after three albums into
that band's career almost 20 years ago. Far more subdued,
singer-songwriter kind of music and not the big band outing. The Score
has the same dreamy atmosphere 'Francis' Lonely Nights' has. An acoustic
guitar drives the song. Chatten is singing, yes, with his softest voice
and together with producer Dan Carey decided what else could fit in
there and is, sparsely, used. The result is a track full of modesty,
that leads up to a song that is worth paying attention to. If you do
not, you could easily miss it coming by. Yes. I'm curious for more.
I
missed out on all early and mid albums of Polly Jean Harvey. There was
no space where I could relate with them in the 90s and 00s. Something
changed with the newer albums and here is the announcement of the
optimistically titled (not), 'I Inside the Old Year Dying'. The first
single Ms. Harvey releases in 2023 is a mysterious one. Almost as if a ghost
found a way to record and release a song. At the same time PJ Harvey
sings in a way that I can only call childlike, naive, while daring to go as
deep as she is physically capable of. 'I Inside the Old Year Dying' will
be her first album since 2016. In the years in between she doubted her
will to continue as a musician, getting fed up with the cycle she was
caught up in. The inner struggle has led to this mysterious music. A
Child's Question, August is ethereal. There's music, there are
instruments but besides the drumming, it could be anything that is
being played. With that voice soothing and alerting at the same time. I can't
tell yet, but this might just become one of the important releases of 2023.
It's
six years ago already that I was introduced to Justine Covault and
band. In the mean time she became a record label boss, releasing many-a
great band from Boston and beyond. Finally she has found the time to
treat us to some more music with The Unclean. Expect some good old
garage-powerpop rock. After a soft intro, the band goes at it. There's
no stopping the drummer, while the bass player went into the studio with
the assumption she's the lead guitarist. Just listen to the fantastic
melodies coming out of her amp. One of the great features of The Chasm.
Of course there's a real blistering solo as well, reminding me of many
great rock solo's from the past. Over it all, Justine Covault only has
to do what she's good at, singing a pop-rock song in the style of
Blondie at the time of 'Plastic Letters'. The Chasm is a nice warm up
for things to come.
To finish this week, I have a blast from the past. I was still at university when Texas entered my life. Not that I became a fan. The band was usually somewhere at the side of everything I liked. Whether the band released anything since the 1990s, I couldn't even tell you. For 2023 a greatest hits compilation is announced and this single. New, old, remake? It doesn't matter. Sharlene Spiteri is as charming as ever, her voice a little deeper than I remember. After All is a pleasant song with a nice drive. If anything the song reminds me of the better The Pretenders songs. That may be an explanation why I like After All. Spiteri's voice comes close to Chrissie Hynde's in 2023. The musical details in the song give it a nice finish. Little melodies, extra instruments, they are all there demanding attention for a short while. I have not listened to any Texas song, consciously, for at least two decades, but this may become my all time favourite. Who said that miracles no longer exist?
Wout de Natris
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