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Earthstar. Hannah Cohen
Singer-songwriter Hannah Cohen may release her fourth album in March, she makes her debut on this blog with the relaxed single Earthstar. The song has this modest yet compelling rhythm around which the different instruments meander. There are ever more to discover, while they seem to come to me like waves on the beach. Ever coming and going.with the difference that waves can be extremely dangerous (the undertoad, Garp fans!), Earthstar is everything but. It presents a softly plopping Air bass way of playing. Hannah Cohen sings over it with multiple voices. The many instruments cascade over me, one after the other with the synth as the waves. And then she sings about waves as well, I notice when I start listening to the lyrics. Can you really know another person?, is the question Hannah Cohen asks herself. I doubt it, as it is impossible to look into another mind. That said, Earthstar is a beautiful and surprising single. Album ' Earthstar Mountain' is available on 28 March.
Met Hiigo is er een nieuwe Nederlandstalige band op de radio te horen. Opgericht in 2021 en na een aantal singles in eigen beheer te hebben uitgebracht, zorgde single 'Tankstation' vorig jaar voor de radio doorbraak. Op weg naar LP ‘Leven In De Leegte’ die verschijnt op 14 maart, is er nu Alles Wat Ik Zoek. In de bio wordt een vergelijkend lijstje gemaakt met Nederlandstalige bands die in vorige decennia doorbraken met namen als Doe Maar, Blöf en Typhoon daar in. Dat getuigt van een hoop lef en branie, maar hoe goed is Alles Wat Ik Zoek? Wat ik hoor, is een modern pop geluid met een zanger die inderdaad in een lange traditie valt. Het refrein is zeker catchy, maar ook wel overbekend qua geluid. Blöf is zeker een referentie hier. Dat is hier zeker prima te noemen. Of Hiigo een plaats in een rijtje zoals hier boven genoemd gaat passen, kan alleen de tijd ons leren. In de tussentijd is Alles Wat Ik zoek zeker een zeer onderhoudend nummer.
Unbroken's opening track 'A Drink Before The War' may start extremely modest. Not too long after the band kicks in and we are off. The track is a stark rocker with just the right focus on melody to make it very pleasant to listen to as well. The song was reviewed, as was 'Witches', as a single in 2024. Unbroken is a five song EP, so a significant part was already discussed. To focus solely on the three new tracks, dismisses the whole overview, so let's take it all into account. Falsely Accused is a band from New England, Mike Azzolino: drums, percussion, and backup vocals, Matt Tavano: bass and lead vocals and Mark Young: Guitar and backup vocals, and rocks in a way that was popular in the post-grunge period, so around 2000 with bands like Staind and Creed, but add to that a lighter touch that for a better word in this context I opt to call pop. The band also presents melodies many people will be able to digest more easily than anger. Riffs fly round, the rhythm sections lays down a great foundation, while Matt Tavano's voice has that anger and despair deepness of post-grunge but also a side that makes it more pleasant to listen to. Looking at the band picture, the members may have played in a post-grunge band at the time. Twenty plus years down the line they decided to start all over again and add everything they've picked up along the way. Take 'Drifting'. This song definitely has a Jefferson Airplane touch to it. With final song 'Soul Crush' Falsely Accused spreads the song out and moves a little into psychedelic spheres. It's not the strongest song of the five but definitely an impressive ending. With the two singles the band gave off a promise and delivers on it with Unbroken.
A debut single from California band 20th Century Boys. The name sounds like a declaration and the music only underscores this. Suzy, who has a boyfriend, as we learn from the single, is a song that owes everything from the final decades of the previous century. Punk meets glam and rock. The band's introduces itself with four hits of the drumsticks and off we go into nostalgic territories. From The Kinks in the latest 70s, to U.S. powerpop bands and punksingles from the likes of The Knack and The Romantics, you can find it all in Suzy. Trio Jeff Moses, lead vocals & guitar, Rocko Occhiato, bass and Jasson Hubbard, drums know where Abraham found his rocking mustard. We have wait for the snow and ice to thaw before we are going to hear more. In the meantime let's rock some more with Suzy.
Blaudzun left his record company (or the other way around, I don't know) and then it happens that he released a new record without me being aware of it. People following this blog, know that Blaudzun had a spot reserved for him in the past thirteen years. And then this. Luckily, Kayo came by on the radio, I thought as a first single. The song brings everything together what makes Blaudzun so good. I notice a few things though. Kayo has a far lighter touch then his previous work and seems to want to please too much. This makes the song a Blaudzun light song. This is compensated by the fact that Kayo pleases instantly, which is its intent to do. In this sense the song doesn't take time to get used to. More in general it does a little. Time will tell how the song will stick with me. In the meantime I have a whole album, 'Latter Days', to catch up on. The first introduction works well enough.
With EP .Here And They Spoke In Anthems' singer-songwriter Arne Leurentop closes a period in his life that reflects on moving to and living in New Zealand and back to Belgium, as reflected on in 'Afterglow'. In that period two very good friends of Arne Leurentop died. The fourteen songs on 'Still.' and .Here reflect on that special but also dark period. I have not reviewed 'Still' I notice but did review two of its singles and album 'Money Time' in 2019. .Here is a close fit to what I already know. And They Spoke In Anthems plays the kind of songs that command listening. Without doing so, it does not make a lot of sense to put .Here on. And They Spoke In Anthems is a band, but a modest and quite one. Leurentop's voice leads the pack. Under it an acoustic guitar can be enough and sometime other instruments are added. Always softly. And yet in 'Dry' the song is slowly build up and fleshed out. There's an inner tension that is never fully released, making 'Dry' ever more interesting to listen to. To think that the album opens with 'Still', for not even a minute, after which .Here really starts. A period is closed. I'm looking forward to the next step.
Time to do some dreaming. Like the band sang before "I was dreaming about the future, I forgot about the present." With a song like Angels, the band hits the nail on head ever so delicately, so not to wake anyone. New Zealand trio Cello Forrester (vocals, guitar, strings), Haz Forrester (synth, guitar) and Georgette Brown (drums) will release its new album 'One Is Always Heading Somewhere' on 14 March through the Flying Nun label. Angels is so soft that it seems like Womb is doing everything not to be noticed. If so, its plan failed, as I picked the single up and want to point you to it. This song is filled with atmosphere. It makes you want to cuddle up to it and relax together under the soft, warm blanket Angles is. The swaths of sounds within the song gives it a psychedelic sheen accompanying the dreampop. I can't tell you about the album. If it is filled with "Angels", it may become a bit much. As a single Angels totally convinces.
It
was 2019 already that Para Lia debuted on this blog. Three albums and
an EP further Para Lia releases a stand alone single, Mind Song. In a
way it is a debut any way, because this is the first recording of Para
Lia, the band, opposed to the "bedroom project" of René and Cindy
Methner. The band has been playing live for some time. This doest come
with a change in sound. What stayed is the sound rock music, what came
in is a more direct sound and an equal division between guitars and
synths. In that sense Mind Song is a more average song than Para Lia's
best songs, in another sense it is far more organic in sound. One song
in, it is impossible to tell what I prefer. Fact is that I am surprised
and after the first listen session, always a dangerous one for familiar artists,
pleasantly as well. So, let's see what the future brings and in the
meantime I'm enjoying Mind Song.
Reb Fountain's music always contains a touch of mystery. The suggestion that there's more between the recording and my ears. Her new single is called Nothing Like and that title is appropriate, as the song is nothing like what came before. Nothing Like is more electronic (irregular percussion), so empty in a totally different way than before. The strings are slow and sparse, just like the piano. Behind it there are all sorts of atmospherics that come in and go out of the song. The common denominator is Reb Fountain herself of course. Her voice and her use of it, is very familiar. I'll admit that it took me more than one listening session to get the drift of Nothing Like. If this had been someone I'd never heard of, I would probably have given op, as there are so many singles to consider. Luckily, I did not. Another great song by Reb Fountain is the conclusion.
One and a half month to go before 'Time Drifts' is released but we are warmed up by Thijs Kuijken with the slow pace of single Dreamt Of You. Nearly all I Am Oak's songs are slow paced and yet Dreamt Of You stands out because of the use of a banjo. Dreaming is something that certainly is a good description of the band's work. Dreampop mostly has female singers, not with I Am Oak. On the face of it, nothing happens in Dreamt Of You and yet it totally works. Just listen to the harmony singing and how the female voice of Clasine Haringsma moves in and out of the whole. Play the song a few times and it becomes hypnotic. For a song that will be totally ignored when played in the background, it is a sort of force that grabs you when you pay serious attention. Addictive is the right word here.
As
principal writer and editor of this blog I am allowed to break my own
rules. One of them is never write a single review after the release of
an album, as to provide room to new stuff. Another is 10 singles per
week. Ha, I get to break both today.
Monsieur Valentine. The Shang Hi Los
'Aces Eights & Heartbreaks' was released early in 2023 and remained my favourite album of the year until 'Hackney Diamonds' was released. Recently a new single of the album was released by Rum Bar Records. I suppose for the over here fairly irrelevant Valentine's Day. It allows me to put some attention on The Shang Hi Los fantastic album. Monsieur Valentine is a rock song in the early sixties girl group tradition. The guitars and drums are tougher than in 1963 but the rest is certainly on cue. For a European the pronunciation of U.S. Monsieur is a mystery, the song is not. It's like the ringing of a bell, so clear and nice. Jen d'Angora is at her sweetest here. It remains a mystery to me how little people seem to know this album exists, as I wrote, they didn't come much better in 2023. So, folks, give the album a chance if you haven't yet!
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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