Points Of Origin. Will Stratton

The Changing Wilderness was bijna vier jaar geleden mijn eerste kennismaking met de muziek van Will Stratton, die deze week met het prachtige Points Of Origin nogmaals laat horen dat hij een groot singer-songwriter is.

Luister naar de muziek van Will Stratton en je waant je even in de jaren 70. Ook zijn nieuwe album doet weer denken aan een aantal grote singer-songwriters uit deze periode, maar de Amerikaanse muzikant is zeker niet blijven steken in het verleden. Wat opvalt bij beluistering van Points Of Origin is dat de muziek van Will Stratton aan de ene kant een tijdloos karakter heeft, maar zijn songs misstaan ook zeker niet in het heden. Ook Points Of Origin is weer voorzien van werkelijk prachtige klanken, staat vol met ijzersterke songs en mooie verhalen en dan is er ook nog eens de stem van Will Stratton, die je definitief de wereld om je heen even laat vergeten. Wat een prachtalbum weer van deze Amerikaanse muzikant.

De Amerikaanse muzikant Will Stratton bracht tot 2017 zes albums uit, maar ik ken hem alleen van het in de zomer van 2021 verschenen The Changing Wilderness, zijn zevende album, dat ik echt een prachtig album vond. Het is een album dat het geweldig deed in een zomer die werd getekend door de covidpandemie en die deze wat troosteloze zomer voorzag van mooie en vooral ook zorgeloze klanken.

The Changing Wilderness van Will Stratton werd in 2021 in het hokje folkje geduwd, maar ik vond het zeker geen typisch folkalbum. Bij folk denk ik aan vrij sober ingekleurde songs, maar Will Stratton kleurde zijn songs op The Changing Wilderness echt prachtig in. De Amerikaanse muzikant combineerde dit met een prachtige stem, die de songs op het album voorzag van heel veel warmte.

Nick Drake werd meer dan eens aangedragen als vergelijkingsmateriaal voor het album van Will Stratton, maar zelf hoorde ik wel wat van Don Mclean, wiens album American Pie op een of andere manier de klassenavonden op mijn middelbare school domineerde en dat ik ondanks het feit dat ik er hierna nooit meer naar heb geluisterd noot voor noot ken.

Will Stratton keert deze week terug met zijn nieuwe album Points Of Origin en ook dit is een album dat zich direct als de spreekwoordelijke warme deken om me heen sloeg. Het album klonk ook direct vertrouwd, want Will Stratton vertrouwt op zijn achtste album op dezelfde sterke punten als op The Changing Wilderness.

Ook Points Of Origin is een album dat een folkalbum kan worden genoemd, al vind ik singer-songwriter pop persoonlijk net zo treffend. Het is wederom een album dat veel voller en smaakvoller is ingekleurd dan een standaard folkalbum. De Amerikaanse muzikant kan zelf op flink wat instrumenten uit de voeten, maar heeft ook nog flink wat gastmuzikanten uitgenodigd, die het klankenpalet op het album nog wat verder verrijken met onder anders blazers, strijker, extra gitaren en de pedal steel.

Het klinkt allemaal zo aangenaam dat je direct tot rust komt wanneer je het album hoort. Die rustgevende werking van Points Of Origin wordt versterkt door de bijzonder mooie stem van Will Stratton. Ook dit keer komt de stem die ik ken van de klassenavonden voorbij en hoor ik meer Don McLean dan Nick Drake in de zang van Will Stratton, wat ik zelf zeker geen minpunt vind.

De muziek van Will Stratton heeft absoluut een jaren 70 vibe, maar ik vind Points Of Origin ook absoluut een album van deze tijd. Zowel de muziek als de zang op het nieuwe album van Will Stratton zijn van een bijzonder hoog niveau, maar de Amerikaanse muzikant maakt wat mij betreft de meeste indruk als songwriter. Ook het nieuwe album van Will Stratton staat weer vol met songs die je bij eerste beluistering al jaren lijkt te kennen en ook al jaren lijkt te koesteren.

Het zijn niet alleen songs die bijzonder aangenaam klinken, maar het zit ook allemaal knap in elkaar, waardoor Points Of Origin me vooralsnog bij iedere nieuwe beluistering weet te verrassen, zeker ook met de prachtige verhalen die worden verteld.

Ik ken Will Stratton pas sinds zijn zevende album, maar dat albums was zo goed dat zijn nieuwe album voor mij verplichte kost was. Het leek me op voorhand niet zo eenvoudig om in de buurt te komen van het prachtige The Changing Wilderness, maar Points Of Origin doet er echt niet voor onder. Een van de mooiste soundtracks van de lente van 2025.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Points Of Origin hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://willstratton.bandcamp.com/album/points-of-origin-2

Get Sunk. Matt Berninger

Where Matt Berninger's solo debut 'Serpentine Prison' became the entrance to the later albums of The National (I still haven't got around to the band's 00s output), his second solo album is the confirmation that I have slowly but surely become a fan. His dark, slow voice is soothing and extremely pleasant to listen to. The songs he sings may have very serious topics, they caress the listener and lets them know that everything will be alright.

After the release of his solo album in 2020, Berninger went through a dark patch in his life, battling a writer's block. Things came out alright with two The National studio albums in 2023 and now a solo album. All three attesting to the fine form Berninger is in.

For Get Sunk Matt Berninger worked with producer Sean O'Brien, who also co-wrote most of the songs.
What is very noticeable, is that, his typical voice apart, Get Sunk is a different album than 'Serpentine Prison'. Get Sunk holds elements of lightness and light, that reaches me easily. Both shine through in the arrangements and the mix that leaves everything open and wide. Where the singer is often melancholy in sound, despite the music following his voice and tone, there's always this silver lining. Of course, Berninger's voice makes everything sound serious. The point is that 'Serpentine Prison' is a far more serious album than Get Sunk is. The sound of the latter album is the cause of the distinction.

Matt Berninger as a singer is most at home in mid tempo songs that move like a big river in the Low Lands. Moving slowly but surely to the sea, while taking its time to get there. Songs in which he is able to take his time to sing the words. It's where his voice and dark timbre excel. The album is filled with several of them, warm and all enveloping, assisted by female voices that sing with him or behind him. They give another touch of light to the songs.

Photo: Chantal Anderson

In the uptempo songs an influence like The War on Drugs comes by, like in single 'Bonnet Of Pins'. Even when the band plays faster, Berninger manages to find the time to deliver his lyrics. Chris Eckman of The Walkabouts and solo is another master at this. The only downside is when Berninger speaks fast, almost mumbled lyrics over the music. I would have preferred singing instead, but if this is the downside of an album, an occasional spoken word here and there, there's not a lot of criticism that really sticks. To return to 'Bonnet Of Pins', fast-paced and rocking, it is my favourite song of the album.

Booker T. Jones, who produced 'Serpentine Prison' is present as a musician on the new album. You can hear his Hammond organ all over the album. One constant in the sound of the backing musicians. Warm, soft and in the background. With O'Brien as a producer Get Sunk is more varied in the sounds it presents. Guitar solos, trumpet solos, meandering pianos, wandering wide ranging music and background vocals in general. It all leads to that light and lightness. With Get Sunk Matt Berninger has a second very good album to his name. Time will tell which one I like best. One thing's for certain, the title of the album is uncalled for.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Get Sunk here:

https://mattberninger.bandcamp.com/album/get-sunk

Saya. Saya Gray (2)

A while back a packet of cds landed on my hallway carpet and one of them is a new record that I have kept playing since that day. As Erwin Zijleman had already reported on it, I had kept it aside, but after a while decided that I liked SAYA too much to ignore the album.

SAYA is a record that combines the old and the new. Some elements are totally new in sound, others sound like songs I've been playing for decades, while on top of it all in this amalgam of sounds, Saya Gray manages to rock a little as well.

Within the different songs on her first album the young singer-songwriter dares to vary a lot as well. Just listen to the difference between opening song '..Thus Is Why (I Don't Spring 4 Love)' and the second one 'Shell (Of A Man)'. Where the first is full of modern effects, in the second she sounds like an alternative  K.T. Tunstall from 2005 and allows country elements into the song to top things off. Song three 'Line Back 22' is once again a very electronic song, that mostly seems to come from a box, and then an electric guitar and a harp pop up. At the same time there are some Philly soul points of reference as well. You can expect that sense for adventure to continue all through the record. And yes, I have to get through some very modern sounding effects all through SAYA. It's more than worth it, I assure you.

As you will have noticed, modern pop heroes like Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Charlie XCX and what not have either totally passed me by or I do not like what I hear (enough to pursue). For Saya Gray that changed. I have no clue how she compares to the names I mentioned just now, so have nothing to add on the topic.

What I want to share, is that Saya Gray dares to experiment on her debut record. With sounds, by blending genres, lending familiar elements from a genre like country or famous 70s pop songs to incorporate into a total modern song. To play with her voice, providing all sorts of unexpected changes in her voice, that at times becomes another instrument in the whole by looping little vocal sounds.

Reading the bio on her Bandcamp page, she's incomparable to anyone else. I believe it, but there is a new artist who is just as unpredictable if not more so, Mei Semones. In their own way, they both do things that you do not see coming, while both presenting songs you just want to keep listening to.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order SAYA here:

https://sayagray.bandcamp.com/album/saya

Beat Revolution. Muck and The Mires

Muck and The Mires is a band that can be found on this blog for several years now. Always it is a question whether the band should be taken seriously or seen as a pastiche playing nice to things that have come and gone by now for over 55 years. With Beat Revolution it is exactly the same. The band plays into rock songs from 1965-1969 and incorporates familiar sounds and riffs from the era into its originals. But like The Kik's best songs here in The Netherlands, Muck and The Mires add a lot to a familiar genre.

For one, the quality of the songs on Beat Revolution is simply so good. So, it may be more in the costumes the band tends to wear, this time pirate costumes, that ideas of a pastiche come to mind. This distracts from the music Muck and The Mires presents. From the title song onwards, the beat pedal is kicked in hard. This album rocks alright. Blending garage rock, beat and a little punk rock, Beat Revolution is one tough album. Subtlety has been shoved aside. On its previous albums the pop element in beat was laid on thicker. Not on the band's seventh album.

Sure, there are backing vocals that provide a pop feel under Muck's well worn in voice. It's not the kind of pop girls loved coming from The Beatles before the boys got really attracted from 1966 onwards. This is more like the early The Kinks, The Who and even a little The Monkees where the adorning notes in a chord's inner variations are concerned. In the U.S.A. that would be what we can hear on the famous 'Nuggets' box set from loads of more or less obscure bands and an occasional better known one.

Photo: Mari Tamura

By playing Beat Revolution more often, its songs will get the same sort of familiarity 'Nuggets' has for me. The album is of a kind that deserves this level of attention. Pointed songs, with fiery guitar solos, a sleazy little organ in between it all and a rhythm section that is so tight.

Summing up, I tend to go with the title of The Jam's last charting song over here, 'Beat Surrender', to describe the album in two words. 

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Beat Revolution here:

https://muckandthemires.bandcamp.com/album/beat-revolution

 

Forever Is A Feeling. Lucy Dacus

Lucy Dacus levert na het prachtalbum van boygenius met Forever Is A Feeling alweer haar vierde soloalbum af en het prachtig geproduceerde, zeer persoonlijke en uiterst veelzijdige album is haar beste tot dusver.

Direct vanaf de eerste noten van Forever Is A Feeling is duidelijk dat Lucy Dacus op haar vierde album nieuwe wegen in slaat. Het geluid op het album is meer gelaagd en veelzijdiger, de songs zijn persoonlijker en intiemer en de stem van Lucy Dacus klinkt mooier. Samen met topproducer Blake Mills tekent de Amerikaanse muzikante voor een prachtig geluid, dat haar songs voorziet van nog wat meer glans. Bijgestaan door een aantal gasten van naam en faam, onder wie uiteraard haar boygenius collega’s Julien Baker en Phoebe Bridgers, heeft Lucy Dacus een prachtalbum gemaakt, dat de lat hoog legt voor de andere vrouwelijke muzikanten uit de indie scene van het moment.

Lucy Dacus stond lange tijd wat in de schaduw van haar boygenius collega’s Julien Baker en Phoebe Bridgers, maar met het deze week verschenen Forever Is A Feeling stapt de Amerikaanse muzikante wat mij betreft definitief uit de schaduw van haar medebandleden. Lucy Dacus heeft na de release van haar nieuwe album niet alleen meer soloalbums op haar naam staan dan Julien Baker en Phoebe Bridgers, maar heeft bovendien een album afgeleverd waarop menig indie muzikant dit jaar de tanden stuk zal bijten.

Dat Lucy Dacus een geweldig album heeft gemaakt is op zich natuurlijk geen verrassing, want met No Burden (2016), Historian (2018) en Home Video (2021) leverde ze al drie geweldige albums af. Het zijn albums waarop ze zowel uit de voeten kon met ingetogen folksongs als met lekker stevige indierock, wat de albums voorzag van flink wat dynamiek.

De muziek van Lucy Dacus klonk in het verleden redelijk basic, maar op Forever Is A Feeling laat ze een wat voller en rijker geluid horen. Lucy Dacus produceerde haar nieuwe album samen met de geweldige muzikant en producer Blake Mills (Feist, Laura Marling, Jesca Hoop), die ook al schitterde op het vorige week verschenen album van Japanese Breakfast. Blake Mills heeft het album voorzien van een mooi maar ook avontuurlijk geluid, waarin steeds bijzondere klanken opduiken en waaraan af en toe fraaie strijkersarrangementen zijn toegevoegd.

De naam van Blake Mills is niet de enige grote naam op de gastenlijst, want ook Madison Cunningham, Phoenix Rousiamanis, Bartees Strange, Hozier en Melina Duterte (Jay Som) zijn te horen en uiteraard zijn ook boygenius collega’s Julien Baker en Phoebe Bridgers van de partij.

In muzikaal opzicht is Forever Is A Feeling wat mij betreft een stuk interessanter dan de vorige drie albums van Lucy Dacus en ook haar zang vind ik nog een stuk overtuigender. De stem van Lucy Dacus vond ik in het verleden minder dan die van Phoebe Bridgers en Julien Baker, maar de zang op haar nieuwe album is echt heel mooi.

Lucy Dacus worstelde op haar eerste drie 'coming of age' albums nog vooral met het volwassen worden, maar op Forever Is A Feeling omarmt ze de liefde, die ze inmiddels deelt met haar boygenius collega Julien Baker, wat een aantal zeer persoonlijke beschouwingen oplevert.

Lucy Dacus werkte op haar vorige album Home Video al aan een meer eigen geluid en dit heeft ze gevonden op haar vierde album. Het album bevat een aantal behoorlijk vol klinkende songs, maar met een intieme folksong als For Keeps maakt de Amerikaanse muzikante net zo makkelijk indruk.

Lucy Dacus maakt ook op Forever Is A Feeling de indiepop en indierock van het moment, maar meer dan op haar vorige albums kunnen haar songs dit keer ook nostalgisch klinken. Het levert een verrassend veelkleurig album op, maar alle songs bevatten de karakteristieke handtekening van Lucy Dacus, die zich nog wat meer bloot geeft dan op haar vorige albums, wat van Forever Is A Feeling een intiem album maakt.

Het is een album dat enorm profiteert van het vakwerk van Blake Mills, die weer eens laat horen hoe belangrijk een goede producer is. Ik was al zeer gecharmeerd van de eerste drie albums van Lucy Dacus en zeker van haar vorige album Home Video, maar op Forever Is A Feeling zet de Amerikaanse muzikante wat mij betreft een enorme stap. Wat een prachtalbum.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Forever Is A Feeling hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://lucydacus.bandcamp.com/album/forever-is-a-feeling

Lucius. Lucius

Lucius can be encountered on this blog for the first time in 2014 when I wrote on the duo's debut album, 'Wildewoman'. Except for mentioning the band's two singers as part of Roger Waters' backing band in 2018, all Lucius albums were reviewed by Erwin Zijleman. Until today that is.

Since 2014 many female duos have stepped up, from Wet Leg to Ohmme/Finom and The Secret Sisters. For me they sort of eclipsed Lucius. Also 'Lucius' slipped past my attention in the host of albums released earlier this month. Looking back, I decided to give the album a try and see.

It is an album that surprised me. Not at the beginning. 'Final Days' more or less sounded like what I expected from Lucius, besides being attracted immediately. From there the trip started. Lucius is band but foremost Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe draw a lot of attention to themselves through the interaction of their voices. They sing together, weave around each other, step in and step out of a duet time and again, making an intricate pattern of their voices that through the host of overdubs can go everywhere. Voices that made Roger Waters' Pink Floyd songs and the songs from his solo album 'Is This The Life We Really Want? 'come alive no little, not speaking of the duo's theatrical presentation supporting the live show. (Of all the artists mentioned the duo collaborated with, Waters is not mentioned in the album's bio. Too much recent upheaval?)

The music on 'Lucius' is extremely varied. Where 'Old Tape' is an alternative rocker featuring Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs, other songs are quiet and solitary. What 'Lucius' does foremost is invite listening. Not knowing what will happen next, while delivering a constant level of quality, keeps the listener in front of his speakers (or glued to his headset).

promo photo

For 'Lucius', the band, which includes Dan Molad, who also produced the album and Peter Lalish, went back to its beginning and took the helm into its own hands. Colleagues came out to assist in specific roles but what we hear is Lucius' essence. This includes a song like 'Orange Blossoms' that allows Laessig and Wolfe to meander over the music into one of the more beautiful songs of 'Lucius'. Their voices soar to great heights to land safely in the quieter parts.

Over the past years, I had sort of forgotten about Lucius. Except for the gentle reminders of Erwin, things were quiet here. Thanks to 'Lucius' the band is back in my musical universe with an album that is as subtle as it can be wild(e).

Except for the hideous cover art, I have nothing to complain about.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Lucius here:

https://ilovelucius.bandcamp.com/album/lucius

2025, week 21. 10 singles.

Believe it or not, I've heard and seen it rain last night and this afternoon. I can't remember having seen rain for weeks if not well over a month. Sure, when we were hiking in the south-east of the country over three weeks ago, we saw evidence of recent rain on the trails but it had not rained in the west. Despite the rain, the fields were still so dry. It's only May and we are on route to having the driest year in recorded history. The weather in the previous one, 1976, was a lot better and warmer I remember. A summer that did not end. And, of course, there's nine recent singles and one EP. Enjoy!

Supernature. The Gold Needles

We kick off this week with a nice ballad that could have been made in the late 70s. Someone like Rupert Hines who discovered a lead guitar. Yes, Supernature is a slick affair but not just that. Like the better AOR bands of old, The Golden Needles add some lively guitar solos and lead lines and not to forget a big drums sound. That brings me to my favourite later The Moody Blues album 'Long Distance Voyager'. Supernature almost could be a track on that album, just like on a Little River Band album of the time. The result is a song very much worthwhile listening to but not just for nostalgic reasons. The song is too nice for that. Looking at the picture of the band, the members were around at the time I'm referencing, perhaps even as musicians already. For an album it's too early. Perhaps in the fall.

Stuck In Reverse. The Swell Season

And here's ballad number two of the week. A totally different one, tougher in a folky, Van Morrison kind of way. The Swell Season is Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and is releasing its first song in sixteen years. The beauty and the beast where there voices are concerned. Hansard's well road worn, rough and tough, Irglová's soft and angelic. A nice contrast. The music is of a rich, vibrant nature. The instruments swirl around the singers. Hansard is the lead singer on Stuck In Reverse, clearly setting the mood. Where he is the rock, the earth, everything else is like the sunlight and the wind. Touching it, warming it, cradling it. Stuck In Reverse in a strikingly beautiful single.

Stone. Cruel Miracle

The contrast can not be much bigger. Cruel Miracle cranks up the amps and effects, to rock out in a very lively way. Let me start with mentioning that the voice of Charlie Black is on the edge of what I can listen to. A slightly rougher version of several post grunge bands singers. But that music! Stone is a riff laden rock song that aims at shaking the earth and succeeds. If the band is allowed to play Stone at a big festival the machines tracking earthquakes will register the jumping crowd. The sound is so huge and the riffs so strong, standing still is not an option. The background vocals totally compensate for the rough voice of Black. Cruel Miracle is a new name for me. It's latest album 'Steadfast' was already released in the summer of 2024. I don't care, this is a great song that rock fans will love.

Sunlight Gazing. Celeste Corsano

Speaking about a single that surprises. Sunlight Gazing, besides being an activity all experts strongly advise against, is a single that comes with a lot of questions but not whether it is good or not. In a way it makes me feel the same way as when I heard 'Wuthering Heights' for the first time. I know it's incomparable as I had never ever heard anything like Kate Bush before and that moment was defining. Celeste Corsano presents a single that is rich in several ways. The way the single develops, the use of the instruments played and her voice that is able to go off in a few directions. 'Wuthering Heights' was other wordly. That Sunlight Gazing is not. It is an extremely intriguing single and a good one at that. I'm game for more and that more will come in 2025.

Moon Dogs EP. Dreamwave

After four singles, of which one can be found on this six song mini album, Dreamwave returns to the blog. Those who have listened to the singles will not be surprised by the level of psychedelic rock on Moon Dogs. Like dogs howling at the moon, a thin organ spews its notes to the listener, sparking a song like 'Seeking To Remain'. Things do not stop there, as Dreamwave clearly also is a The b52s fan as the bouncing 'Wide Shooter' attests to. Dreamwave is from Bristol in the U.K. and consist of Ben Symons (guitar, vocals), Hester Battin (keys, vocals), Grant Organ (bass, vocals) and Alex Andrews (drums). With Moon Dogs the band releases its first EP digitally, yet it is the a-side of an album that is to arrive in November this year. An interesting way of releasing music. Musically the band may be looking for its own voice, the enthusiasm makes up more than enough for the evident lack of originality. The band plays with what came before and turns that sound and approach into its own songs. The at times almost ghostlike vocals of Hester Battin in the background work really well as do her keyboard contributions that weave between the other instruments used. Yes, guitars explode here and there, including some weird electronic noises like in 'Clad Kings', before things settle back to normal. Again that singing between Ben Symons and Hester Battin work really well. 'Clad King' grows ever bigger, turning the song into a psychedelic epic track. It all ends with a bit of experimentation in 'Dragging The Rain Down', luckily I can return to the opening song 'Polystyrene Irene' immediately after it. Remain patient though with 'Dragging The Rain Down' and you will hear an interesting mix of jazzy psychedelia. And when I'm hearing Hester Battin sing again, I'm remembered of the only time I fell in love with a girl because of her voice coming though speakers far away at the Parkpop festival in The Hague in 1985 of 86 festival, Lorraine McIntosh of Deacon Blue. (She still married to the band's singer Ricky Ross.)

Rock’N’Roll. Kickstarter Ritual

And here I was thinking that glamrock had died in 1975, but no. Kickstarter Ritual looks like The Sweet did after its makeover on the cusp of 1973 with hits like 'Wig Wam Bam' and 'Block Buster!'. Musically though Kickstarter Ritual has nothing but then really nothing to do with 'Ballroom Blitz'. In fact the band goes further back in time into the 60s with its mix of surf rock and psychedelia, including a thin Farfisa organ sound. The combination works pretty well, as Rock'N'Roll is an exciting song. The singer's voice is something to get used to. Luckily he moves out of his falsetto voice and the guitars start playing a few nice riffs. The Italian band is around since 2014, but is a new name to me. The introduction is entirely my pleasure. There is to be an album over the summer, so again, something to look forward to.

Killing Time. Judy Blank

Judy Blank and I do not always meet eye to eye musically. My favourite song remains for now 'Mary Jane' but Killing Time is a song I do not mind grooving to for a while. The song has a sense of urgency that makes it very pleasant to listen to. Like 'Mary Jane' Killing Time is adventurous. The pace is fast and still I notice a lot of details in the music that changes the vibe of the song while it progresses. A piano here, an organ there, while the tempo remains strong. The other attractive factor of the song is the pop element that oozes out of it. This gives the song a Motown/The Supremes vibe, which is not something that comes by a lot these days. A little surprise Killing Time is.

Vultures. Sunday Junkie

Sunday Junkie is from Worcester in the U.S. and formed only a little over a year ago. The band shares "our sound ..(i)s just a pretty faithful expression of our influences". And it shows. Sunday Junkie's members must have loved what came out of the Boston area around 1990 with Buffalo Tom and The Lemonheads. Vultures is a song that balances itself neatly somewhere between (alternative) rock, indie and pop. Like an animal able to play or chase on the highest slope or thinnest branch without any fear of falling, it presents Vultures. The kind of song that is too loud for the faint of heart and too soft for hardrockers let alone metal fans, but pleases people like me who love to be somewhere in between. A nice riff here and there, a tough bass and a chorus that invites singing along to, while my body waves and swirls with the rhythm.

Meaning To Disaster. Billy Dodge Moody

Recently Arne Leurentop of And They Spoke In Anthems played a living room show in Haarlem. One of the highlights was a song he wrote about (the loss of) his best friend. Today Billy Dodge Moody makes it to this blog for the first time with a song on the same topic. Both are serious and sad songs with a silver lining in the form of beauty both artists were able to put into their songs, despite the ultimate sad topic. Both raised a musical statue for their late friends. Moody presents a song that is in line with a singer-songwriter like Shane Alexander. A song he can play alone with just a guitar live, but in the studio was flashed out with a load of instruments adding to the vast impression Meaning To Disaster makes on the listener. It's a serious and beautiful ballad.

Never Had A Heart. Dotsun Moon

We end the week the a deep dive into 80s doom and gloom for 2025. Dotsun Moon, aka as Richard Flierl, makes his debut on this blog with a song that has a strong connotation to an 80s song that my brain simply will not reveal to me. The way Dotsun Moon sounds is immediately familiar. The deadlike way of singing, the synths that swirl all through the song. The lead guitar is the big difference. Frierl is not afraid of shredding the strings to pieces near the end. Dotsun Moon is Richard Frierl from Buffalo. He has either played or programmed all the instruments on the song and sings. His voice is not the best feature of the song, it's only honest to state, but it fits Never Had A Heart perfectly. The darkness in the music is reflected in his timbre and way of singing. Album 'Tigre' is on 27 June.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

I Miss You, I Do. Arny Margret

De IJslandse muzikante Arny Margret verrijkt de intieme folk van haar debuutalbum met een vleugje Americana en wat IJslandse sfeer, wat wederom een zeer sfeervol en bijzonder mooi album oplevert.

Arny Margret was de twintig pas net voorbij toen ze in de herfst van 2022 haar bijzonder mooie debuutalbum afleverde. Touren en reizen hebben de wereld van de IJslandse muzikante een stuk groter gemaakt en dat hoor je op het deze week verschenen I Miss You, I Do. Arny Margret werkt op dit album met een aantal Americana producers van naam en faam waardoor de ingetogen folk van haar debuutalbum is verrijkt met invloeden uit de Americana. I Miss You, I Do heeft echter ook nog altijd iets karakteristieks IJslands, waardoor het album anders klinkt dan de meeste andere albums van het moment. De bijzonder mooie stem van Arny Margret doet ook dit keer de rest. Prachtig.

Een paar weken nadat ik in de herfst van 2022 vooral rode vlekken had gekregen van het op dat moment net verschenen nieuwe album van Björk, werd mijn vertrouwen in de IJslandse popmuziek gelukkig weer helemaal hersteld door het debuutalbum van Arny Margret. Met they only talk about the weather (geen hoofdletters) leverde de jonge muzikante uit Reykjavík een bijzonder intiem folkalbum af, dat door een aantal bijzondere details in de muziek toch nog een IJslands tintje kreeg.

Mijn liefde voor de IJslandse popmuziek werd vorig jaar verder aangewakkerd door een mooie reis over dit fascinerende eiland, waardoor ik het deze week verschenen tweede album van Arny Margret direct opschreef voor een recensie. Dat dit terecht was bleek voor mij eigenlijk al toen de openingstrack van I Miss You, I Do door de speakers kwam, want was is het weer mooi.

Ook op haar tweede album maakt Arny Margret, officieel Árný Margrét Sævarsdóttir, muziek die is te omschrijven als folk en het is ook nog altijd folk van het intieme soort. Vergeleken met haar debuutalbum heeft de muzikante haar geluid op haar tweede album wel wat voller ingekleurd. De IJslandse muzikante maakte na de tour die volgde op haar debuutalbum een reis door de Verenigde Staten en werd verliefd op de muziek die op Americana albums is te horen.

Arny Margret is pas 23, maar ze ging zeker niet lichtvoetig om met het opnemen van haar tweede album. De muzikante uit Reykjavík deed in de Verenigde Staten een beroep op topproducers Josh Kaufman, Andrew Berlin en Brad Cook, waarvan met name de eerste en de laatste de afgelopen jaren hebben bijgedragen aan een groot aantal albums die binnen de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek met de beste albums mee kunnen.

I Miss You, I Do klinkt hierdoor inderdaad wel wat Amerikaanser dan they only talk about the weather, dat invloeden uit de Britse folk vermengde met een IJslandse sfeer. Door het toevoegen van alle in de Americana gangbare snareninstrumenten is het tweede album van Arny Margret in muzikaal opzicht niet heel ver verwijderd van de albums van andere vrouwelijke singer-songwriters in het genre, maar ze is haar IJslandse identiteit zeker niet vergeten.

I Miss You, I Do werd afgemaakt op IJsland, waarbij producer “Kiddi” Kristinn Jónsson aanschoof. Het tweede album van Arny Margret heeft hierdoor niet alleen een Americana kant, maar heeft ook nog altijd het atmosferische en licht mysterieuze dat muziek uit IJsland heeft. Het wordt versterkt door de bijzondere mooie stem van Arny Margret die nog wat mooier en rijker klinkt dan op haar debuutalbum. De IJslandse muzikante is zoals gezegd pas 23 jaar oud, maar als zangeres klinkt ze verrassend gelouterd en laat ze opvallend veel gevoel en precisie horen.

Ik schrijf deze recensie op een zonnige zondagochtend en dat is een uitstekend moment voor de weldadige klanken en de prachtige stem op het tweede album van Arny Margret. De muzikante uit Reykjavík had van mij best een album mogen maken dat naadloos aansluit op haar debuutalbum, en dat doet I Miss You, I Do zeker een aantal keer, maar het siert haar dat ze ook nieuwe wegen verkent. Het pakt allemaal prachtig uit, want het vleugje Americana maakt haar folky songs met een IJslandse touch alleen maar mooier.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt I Miss You, I Do hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://arnymargret.bandcamp.com/album/i-miss-you-i-do

Tonight Tonight. Foxy

As I wrote in a recent singles post, do not mistake this Foxy for the 'Get Off' disco stars from 1978 who do a comeback. Oddly enough, this Foxy is around for quite some time, albeit with a long hiatus. This Foxy is from Southern California and plays punk rock in a way the world loves to hear for decades and decades.

Foxy consists of  LP (vocals), Greg Antista (guitar), Stu West (bass) and Richie Mendez (drums) and plays music that sounds so familiar, that it's like if I know the ten songs on Tonight Tonight ever since the second half of the70s, when the first bands playing this kind of music came into vogue, starting with The Ramones.

The strange thing is, I did not like the records at the time at all. That slowly but surely changed because of the second big punk wave of the mid 90s. Because of Green Day and The Offspring I started to backpaddle and bought The Ramones cds and others. The punkfunk craze led by Franz Ferdinand in 2004-05 did the rest. And then Lou Mansdorf of Rum Bar Records crossed my digital path and the rest is history.

Foxy released its first EP in 1999 and only lost one member in the past 25 years plus. After a 2001 album, things went quiet until 2018 and just when the band had found its stride again things happened to the whole world. That did provide the option to write the new songs we can hear today. And they are steaming!

All songs beg singing along to. Greg Antista plays riffs and solos, assisted in the solos by others, as if they were only invented yesterday. LP sings with a nice sneer in her voice and the men sing to her in answer and support. Behind it all is a wall of sound erected by the rhythm section and a host of rhythm guitars. The single 'Rock And Roll Crime' may be my favourite at this moment but I'm not sure whether a song like 'Promise' will not overtake it pretty soon.

If anything, what strikes me is the fun that Foxy must have had creating these songs. They must have known that they had punk gold in their hands. Yes, Rum Bar has a few bands like Foxy on its roster, like Watts and The Shang Hi Los. Foxy has just as much melody but but certainly is louder and a bit wilder. The pop feel is there, as the songs are meant to please, yet, more in style of the early Blondie, the one of before 'Parallel Lines'. Listen to 'Overrated' to hear what I mean.

Tonight Tonight is another point of proof that it's still possible to write great songs in a genre where everything seems to have been said and done. Surprises all around, were it not that Rum Bar has an uncanny nose for the best bands in this genre. Bands most people have never heard if, but should. Foxy is one of those. Things do not get much better.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Tonight Tonight here: 

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tonight-tonight

Something Good Is Happening. Voom

True WoNoBlog aficionados will have read this before, but for all others, this is the first Voom album since 2006. The songs had been percolating in songwriter Buzz Moller's head for years but refused to come out of there; until they did. The first sign of life was completely at the beginning of 2024, in the first singles' post of 2024. Well over a year later there is Something Good Is Happening and I dare to state that it is a musical event of some proportions.

Voom is Buzz Moller, Murray Fisher, Nick Buckton, and Josh Sorenson. They are all multi-instrumentalist, so do not ask me who plays what, where. There clearly is more than one vocalist as well. If anything, Something Good Is Happening is a fantastic trip to listen to. So many different things are happening all over the record. From trippy slacker rock, to sludgy alternative rock or a dreampop opening track. It is all there and so much more.

Why it took nineteen years to produce a new album, I do not know. There were hundreds of demos apparently that were re-recorded, discarded, picked up again, only to be discarded once again. Until label Flying Nun said, and now it's about time to release a new record and the band agreed and started working on tracks in earnest, leading to that first release in 2024, 'We Don't Care', followed by several more singles, as this blog attest to.

On the basis of these singles it was almost impossible for Something Good Is Happening to be an average or worse album and it is not. Having been able to listen to the album for a few weeks, I found myself getting back to it time and again. Voom takes me on a musical adventure. If I hear any influences on this album it is Nirvana, the unplugged version. Voom has that same approach to its songs and from there wanders off into its own universe, picking up a little here and there along the road, including The Beatles ('Most Beautfiful Girl'). A universe that is dreamy and all about taking your time. The best example of that is 'I Love You Girl'. The song seems extremely sloppy but listen a little more attentively and a host of sounds, instruments and voices present themselves to you, opening up the song like a sunflower to the sun. Voom hides a lot of beauty behind its alternative, relaxed attire.

I have no idea what Voom released before 2024, but if its this good, I have some catching up to do. In May 2025 I have another album to note for the end of year list. It may have taken 16 years to write, polish and finish, the title of the album is so well chosen. Something Good Is Happening is a must listen album.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Something Good Is Happening here:

https://voomnz.bandcamp.com/album/something-good-is-happening

Dust Free. Free Dust

Only recently I marvelled on this blog on the attraction of a band that disbanded in 1970, not having enjoyed any form of commercial success, yet its influence is felt strongly still, 55 years later. Listen to Dust Free and that band is all over the debut album of the North Brabant band with nearly the same name.

Free Dust is Niek Leenders - vocals, guitars, keyboards, Tim Leenders - bass and Inge Kies - drums. Niek Leenders has featured on this blog before as member of Nouveau Vélo. In fact only recently album 'Fruit' received a review. The trio stepped as it were into a time machine and presents the wild and far darker side of the 1960s on this album. Music that came out of Hell's Kitchen and not Greenwich Village on the island of Manhattan.

The guitars are ramshackle and wobbly, the drums are being pounded instead of played, the bass lays a sound foundation and a Farfisa organ lays something almost annoying on the fringes of songs. Nearly all songs have a faint resemblance to just one song, 'I Can't Stand It'. The first release was as the opening song on Lou Reed debut solo album, 'Lou Reed'. The first recording though was released in 1985 on 'VU', which may be my favourite The Velvet Underground album. Enter Dust Free and one song after the other bounces into my ears, bringing back happy memories from long ago, when I got to know 'VU'. If I'm to believe Wikipedia, one of the best albums, in my opinion, ever released, never meant to become one album, sold 90.000 copies. Free Dust will have an explosion of joy if it ever manages that though.

There is something strange with this album, for me at least. When I'm listening to it in my living room over the stereo, I'm jumping around. When listening on my headset, it simply doesn't really come alive. This may have to do with the authentic sound of Dust Free. Yes, it's stereo but does sound antiquated and muddied with earplugs in. Perhaps that explains it, because the sound opens up through my speakers.

It does not keep me from writing though. Dust Free is an album fully deserving attention. It is a trip to the past and it is great to go there for a while. All eight songs make the cut with ease. A lot of attention went into details, as there is so much more to hear than just guitar, bass, drums and voice. Free Dust knew exactly what it was doing creating and arranging the songs. Rich is a nice description for these songs.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to Dust Free here:

https://free-dust.bandcamp.com/album/dust-free 

and buy on LP, cd or cassette here:

https://subroutine.nl/artists/free-dust/

Braving Fears. Emmy d'Arc

In april verscheen dan eindelijk het langverwachte debuutalbum van de Belgische singer-songwriter Emmy d’Arc en Braving Fears is een sensationeel goed album dat indruk maakt met prima songs en werkelijk weergaloze zang.

Braving Fears van Emmy d’Arc moet het vooralsnog doen met bescheiden aandacht, maar het is echt een fantastisch album. Het debuutalbum van het alter ego van de Belgische muzikante Ine Toliants maakt vooral indruk door de geweldige zang. Het is zang die meer dan eens doet denken aan die van Sinéad O’Connor, maar ook een eigen geluid laat horen. Emmy d’Arc tekent voor zang vol gevoel en emotie en het is zang die hard binnenkomt. Het voorziet de persoonlijke songs van de Belgische muzikante van extra lading en urgentie. Het zijn ook nog eens zeer aansprekende songs, die zich stuk voor stuk genadeloos opdringen. Het debuut van Emmy d’Arc heeft even op zich laten wachten, maar wat is het een geweldig album geworden.

Emmy d’Arc, het alter ego van de Belgische singer-songwriter Ine Tiolants, zag ik een paar jaar geleden als support act bij een inmiddels vergeten hoofdact. Wat me van deze avond het meest is bijgebleven is een buitengewoon indrukwekkende versie van Sinéad O’Connor’s Troy. Met een akoestische gitaar, een prachtige stem en heel veel emotie zorgde Emmy d’Arc voor heel veel kippenvel. En dat met een song waar de meeste zangeressen maar beter van af kunnen blijven, want eenvoudig is het vertolken van Troy en het in de buurt komen van het origineel zeker niet.

Toen ik de naam Emmy d’Arc zag opduiken in de lijst met nieuwe releases was ik dan ook direct heel nieuwsgierig. Braving Fears is het debuutalbum van Emmy d’Arc en het is wat mij betreft een imponerend debuut. Het kippenvel dat ik had bij Emmy d’Arc’s versie van Troy was direct terug bij beluistering van de openingstrack van haar debuutalbum. Angels laat goed horen wat de Belgische muzikante te bieden heeft.

De track opent met akoestische gitaarakkoorden en ingetogen maar echt bijzonder mooie en emotievolle zang. Het is zang die direct iets met me deed en de stem van Ine Tiolants doet nog veel meer naarmate de openingstrack vordert. Wanneer de gitaren wat steviger worden aangezet wordt de zang ook wat krachtiger en uiteindelijk schreeuwt Emmy d’Arc het uit. Kippenvel gegarandeerd.

De Belgische muzikante coverde in het verleden niet voor niets Troy van Sinéad O’Connor, want haar stem doet me met grote regelmaat denken aan die van de te jong overleden Ierse muzikante. Je hoort echo’s van de geweldige stem van Sinéad O’Connor in de opvallende stembuigingen, maar ook de intensiteit van en de hoeveelheid gevoel in de stem van Emmy d’Arc herinneren aan Sinéad O’Connor in haar beste dagen.

Angels is wat mij betreft een van de prijsnummers van Braving Fears, maar na de indrukwekkende openingstrack verslapt Emmy d’Arc niet. Braving Fears is het debuutalbum van een pas 29 jaar oude muzikante, maar je hoort dat ze al flink wat jaren muziek maakt. Je hoort bovendien dat ze een exceptioneel goede zangeres is en een getalenteerd songwriter.

Emmy d’Arc heeft voor haar debuutalbum een aantal persoonlijke en vaak indringende en wat melancholische songs geschreven. Het zijn songs die in veel gevallen redelijk sober zijn ingekleurd met gitaren en piano, maar hier en daar kiest de Belgische muzikante voor wat steviger gitaarwerk, wat het album voorziet van een aangename dynamiek.

Bij beluistering van het album zijn associaties met de muziek van Sinéad O’Connor misschien niet te voorkomen, maar wat mij betreft ontworstelt Emmy d’Arc zich ook aan de vergelijking met het Ierse icoon. Braving Fears is immers in muzikaal en zeker in vocaal opzicht een hoogstaand album en ook de songs op het album zijn stuk voor stuk zeer aansprekend. Emmy d’Arc laat ook wel degelijk een eigen geluid horen met wat meer folky songs en een incidenteel net wat gruiziger uitstapje.

Er is nog niet heel veel aandacht voor Braving Fears, maar het debuut van Emmy d’Arc zou wat mij betreft wel eens uit kunnen groeien tot een van de meest memorabele debuutalbums van 2025. We worden al tijden overspoeld met jonge vrouwelijke singer-songwriters hebben er met Emmy d’Arc een van wereldklasse in huis. Ik ben zelf compleet verslingerd geraakt aan dit album, dat echt de aandacht van een heel groot publiek verdient.

Erwin Zijleman

Manhunter. Hooveriii

With an album called Manhunter and a first song called 'Melody' how can I not think of what might be my favourite The Rolling Stones song 'Melody'. "My nose is on a trail, I'm gonna catch you by surprise", sings Jagger as a true manhunter. Hooveriii's version has nothing to do with the Stones song, in any way, except that it is also a song. This 'Melody' is an alternative rock song that sets the mood for the new record of the Los Angeles band around songwriter and singer/guitarist Bert Hoover.

Over four years ago Hooveriii made its debut on this blog with its album 'Water For The Frogs'. In 2025 there is not a lot left of the psychedelic influences in the music of the band. In 2022 there were already references to Deep Purple and Uriah Heep heard on 'A Round Of Applause'. On Manhunter it is alternative rock all around.

Hooveriii really goes for that rock sound with a drums and bass that lay a super tight foundation that does not allow for a lot of divergence from the upper tempo rock sound. The rest of the band follows with delight is my impression. Guitars can explode at any time like in 'Heaven At The Gates'. They come in from all sides and angles. The band found enough melodies to sustain a more average band for ten songs/a whole album. Hooveriii squeezes it all into the outro of one song. At another point, at the end of 'Tarantula Eye', the whole song explodes with drummer Jon Modaff doing an "Animal" of giant proportions. The band follows him as if there is no tomorrow.

Another example is 'The Fly'. There's this sequence where the drummer is doing things that I have a hard time to keep up with even. Does he skip or add beats to the whole, while the band keeps track of the song? What time signature is it, 6/4? I have no clue but it sounds so cool.

I'll admit to Hooverii surprising me with Manhunter. This album sounds so alive. Sure, I liked the previous albums, otherwise I would not have written about them, but this is a musical next level. The songs are varied, adventurous and while the band may tap into decades of musical history, it has come up with its own work. From a soft keyboard instrumental, 'Cul-De-Sac' straight into a loud, fierce rock song, 'Isolationist'. It keeps a listener on his toes.

With Manhunter Hooveriii has set a new standard for itself. The band has grown and found more of its own voice. As you you've noticed, I had no inclination at all to compare the music on Manhunter to this or that. Hooveriii is Hooveriii, a band with a few faces and all of the spell Hooveriii.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Manhunter here:

https://hooveriii.bandcamp.com/album/manhunter

2025, week 20. 10 singles

High spring, that is the best word for our weather. Due to a lack of rain everything is covered in pollen of all elk that keep being transported by the wind. This year is on route to become the driest in recorded history and it is only half May. No rain equals no water, so it is going to be a disaster perhaps. Luckily, this is not the case musically. We have a nice selection lined up for you, so enjoy!

 

How To Be A Confidante. The Bug Club

Come 2025 and The Velvet Underground, disbanded in 1970, is still omnipresent. Just listen to How To Be A Confidente by The Bug Club and you'll hear all the familiar components of Reed-Morrison-Tucker and more Yule than Cale in an instant. In other words, The Bug Club returns to this blog with an alternative rocker that is dirty and vibrant. The singing between Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris makes it a real duet. The vocals are as wobbly as the music it. Sure it rocks, and the drummer, whoever he or she or it is, keeps things tightly together. The rest could go off the road any moment. The song is great, make no mistake there. The Bug Club is in great form and any fan of The Velvet Underground and the bands that followed it, will find their way immediately with it.

Anger. Personality Cult

Personality Cult is Ben Carr from Durham, North Carolina, who started releasing work under that name in 2018, picked up band members along the way and recently released the band's third album, 'Dilated'. Listening to Anger, it must be a fantastic alternative rock album. Anger is a loud song, filled with layers of guitars, with a bass and drums underneath it all. Anger somehow combines late 1960s pop-rock with alternative rock of the 90s and today. The song is filled with melody and harmonies. A The Byrds like guitar solo is almost hidden in the wall of sound Anger presents. Over it all Ben Carr sings with a voice like a bored, a bit whining teenager and yet the vocals jump out of the single. If the whole of 'Dilated' is only nearly as good as Anger, it is a must have album.

Two-legged Dog, feat. Abigail Morris. BC Camplight

BC Camplight? Do I have an album of this artist already? I'm nearly certain but can't find it. On Two-legged Dog he is joined by The Last Dinner Party's Abigail Morris. The song is almost pretentious in its approach, yet stands out because of it immediately. It has some soul in it, without becoming a soul song. It is enormous in sound without becoming a wall of sound. But what it truly is, I have a hard time defining for you. What I do know is that I like it. In the past there have been more obscure artists that have released songs like this and for the life of me, I do not know their names any more. There are just faint memories of the songs. 'Will You?' by Hazel O'Connor popped up while editing this post. Two-legged Dog is a song of near otherworldly proportions. In a way it is opera, which it isn't. Everything is made far bigger than it really is. BC Camplight is singer-songwriter Brian Christinzio, who is releasing his latest album, 'A Sober Conversation' on 27 June.

Paid Becso Am Dim. heddlu

Paid Becso Am Dim is Welsh for 'Don’t worry about a thing’. It may be the first Welsh language song on this blog. heddlu ('police') started in 2022 as a solo project of Rhodri Daniel. After having disbanded his band Estrons in 2019, Daniel was diagnosed with severe hearing damage and tinnitus. After a difficult period he was able to record the album 'Cantref' in 2022. Now followed by the upcoming 'Tramor'. Paid Becso Am Dim was written for his sister, who is battling a serious illness. With a tempo that brings Supergrass to mind, overlaid with a shot of psychedelia as was played already in the second half of the 1960s. It makes Paid Becso Am Dim a very nice hybrid song. heddlu may be hearing impaired, there's seems nothing wrong with his hearing music in many layers in his head and translating it into a recording. Nice song.

Northern Star. Nambyar

Nambyar is a totally new name to me. Behind the name is singer-songwriter Jesse Nambiar, who in October will release his second solo album, 'Remedy'. Before his solo career he played in the band Valerius, which rings some very faint bells. Northern Star is a ballad with a rocking solo guitar. At heart it is piano ballad though. Northern Star starts with just a piano and Nambyar's voice. His voice is able to shoot up in a way that brings to mind that beautiful album by Crime and Colour, 'If I Should Go Before You' from 2015. Both are of the kind where beauty goes before all else. After the quiet start, Northern Star goes into a passionate chorus, where the band join in. Things remain fairly quiet in the second verse, where strings join the band setting, including this great background aahhs and ooohs. It's the lead guitar that sets the song on fire for a short while, after which everything winds down with Nambyar assuring his love that he "loves her just the way she is", with other words.

Happy Sad (It's A Party). Robin Kester

Robin Kester may have come relatively late to professional music, she is compensating by cranking out music very regularly. In September 2024 there was the EP 'Patch' and now a new single, Happy Sad (It's A Party). The song has a strong pace, that is kept up relentlessly. No rest for the wicked here. The mood shows both sides of the title. The song is a variation on "It's My party and I cry if I want to". But then much faster, as the people around her may still be partying, despite the "he" who has left the person throwing the party. Initially, the song brought an old Fischer Z song to mind. That feeling left me as soon as Robin Kester started singing. This had to do with the tempo of Happy Sad (It's A Party) and the late 70s new wave feel the song has in the intro. Then listen to the saxophone underscoring Robin Kester's lyrics. The sadness is all over it. The drummer and bass player have no clue what's going on and keep the party going for the whole of the song. Very well done this.

Standing on the Fault Line. I'm With Her

I'm With Her, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan and Sara Watkins, can be found on this blog with the single 'Ancient Lights' near two months ago. In the meantime the album 'Wild and Clear and Blue' has been released, I only got around to the new single. There's simply too much music but I'm not complaining when I'm allowed to listen to something as beautiful as Standing on the Fault Line. The trio is in an absolute top form on this single. Two acoustic guitars are enough to support the three beautiful voices in the first half of the song. After the second chorus the song becomes more powerful, the three voices rise, but no matter what happens, the beauty remains. Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan and Sara Watkins appear to have gold in their hands, based on the two songs I've heard so far. It's time to get acquainted with that album.

Bisexual Panic. Small Miracles

More music from Wales. Time for a little uptempo punk music. Small Miracles is a new name to this blog. Bisexual Panic is an explosion of energy that fizzles out after 104 seconds, when everything is said and done. The single is the band's first from its upcoming debut album. The song is 104 seconds of chaos, energy and rawness. There's nothing subtle in Small Miracles' Bisexual Panic. Just an ongoing moshpit until the last one remains standing. I think that is all you need to know, to be able to join the ongoing pogoing.

Rock And Roll Crime. Foxy

I have no clue what happened to the guys who got themselves and the rest of the world off in 1978, leading the disco scene for a very short but very memorable way. This Foxy mixes punkrock The Ramones style with sharp lead guitar solos. In other words, there is no disco in sight for as far as the horizon allows me to see and most likely even beyond that faint thin line in the distance. This Foxy is from 2025, but. It plays sped up The Beach Boys style rock and roll as The Ramones used to do and artists like Geoff Palmer and Brad Marino are so good at today. Foxy brings just this little extra punk credibility to Rock And Roll Crime but not without forgetting to add some great pop elements like handclaps and a great chorus like 'Rock and Roll High School' or 'I Love Rock and Roll' have. To all appearances, I'd say that Foxy found out where Abraham has stashed his mustard. This is punk-pop-rock and roll to the max.

Every Song On The Radio Reminds Me Of You. Brian Bilston and The Catenary Wires

I wrote about the music-poetry project released by Brian Bilston and The Catenary Wires on 16 March, when I wrote about the previous single, 'Alexa, What Is There To Know About Love?'. So, I'll let you look the story up there. Is it fate or coincidence that Every Song On The Radio Reminds Me Of You is the last song ending the week as well? Who knows, it could be fate after all. Fact is, I find myself writing on the project that sets poems by Brian Bilston to music once again. The album, 'Sounds Made By Humans' was already released earlier this month. As I already wrote above here, there are  simply too many albums. The singles section is a nice alternative though. The Catenary Wires have created a beautiful melody around Bilston summing up song titles and fragments from lyrics that most music aficionados will recognise instantly, before the band returns to that infectious chorus. It seems like I can listen to poetry set to music. What a surprise? No, of course not. Good lyrics are poems.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Flying With Angels. Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega got in my live like with most people I guess with her single 'Marlene On The Wall' and even more with 'Luka', a song about child abuse, in the second half of the 80s. I probably had the album, 'Solitude Standing' on a cassette tape but did not bother to buy the LP second hand until the mid 10s. That was when I started to appreciate it really. There are no other albums in my collection.

Come 2025 and the link to Flying With Angels came my way. Announced by two singles that made it into the weekly singles section of the blog, the surprising 'Rats' and 'Chambermaid'. The singles made it a probability that the album would come by as well. Having listened to it several times only proved my feeling right.

Flying With Angles is an album that combines the past forty years with one another. Suzanne Vega, who is now 65 years of age, still has the voice she had at the time of 'Luka', with just a little more depth in it. In some songs she is close to the singer-songwriter she was then. In others she is almost a rocker with a sound that spans the decades. She is able to make her songs sound very 2025 and very 1980s.

The album opens with 'Speaker's Corner'. It is a nice mid-tempo rock song that combines rock with her singer-songwriter background. You can hear her singing the song to herself, demoing the song in her home, hearing in her head already some the pieces that were added later. A slide guitar playing solo notes, the lead guitar adding dark lead parts. This is just the start. Speaker's Corner is filled with little melodies you'll discover only by listening with both your ears wide open.

The title song brings her closer to the original version of Suzanne Vega. Not without a band sound behind her though. You'll find it the vocal melody that is sort of hesitant and meandering over the instruments. Almost as if she's apologising for singing to you. There is a tension in both the vocal and the music. Combined, it makes for a very interesting song to listen to. 'Flying With Angels' is proving to me how correct I was on the basis of my impression of the singles. Again the magic musical sparks are in all the details sprinkled over the song. 'Flying With Angles' is an even richer song than 'Speaker's Corner', spanning a career that started 40 years ago with 2025.

That modern sound returns in 'Witch'. It starts as any rock ballad from the 70s and 80s start: with an acoustic guitar chord progression. 'Stairway To Heaven' even starts this way. Suzanne Vega can compete easily with a modern singer like Aldous Harding with this song. From the chorus onwards 'Witch' is rocking energetically and convincingly, samples fly around, as do guitars and keyboards. Later on single 'Rats' repeats that rocking feel.

As I already wrote, single 'Chambermaid' plays in a nice way with Bob Dylan's 'I Want You', another very pleasant surprise on Flying With Angles. 'Love Thief' is a soulful surprise, as Suzanne Vega takes us on a totally different musical side street. Philly soul, Barry White, is the time of day here.

On Flying With Angles, her first album for over a decade, Vega worked once again with long time collaborator and guitarist Gerry Leonard, who produced the album. Together they created an urgent album that does right to Suzanne Vega's legacy without leaning on her past successes. Flying With Angles sounds urgent. An album from an artist on a mission. Her most engaging song, 'Last Train From Mariupol', is the only one, despite the topic and "God is on it frightened by all he was seeing", that does not work for me musically. The other nine do and may make it my favourite album by Suzanne Vega and that is a feat not many artists can say after forty years in the business. Praise all around.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

And They Spoke In Anthems live. Saturday 10 May 2025, Haarlem

Photo Wout de Natris

Can an artist totally mesmerise an audience? That answer is of course yes and the smaller the venue the more intense the experience can be. The question needs to be more direct. Can an artist mesmerise an audience that, for the most part, has never heard a single song from that artist before? Let me tell you all about it.

On Saturday 10 May the Belgian singer-songwriter Arne Leurentop, who releases his songs under the name And They Spoke In Anthems, mesmerised a living room in Haarlem.

Going to a living room show, is always a surprise. Sometimes there is a full band, sometimes just a musician with an acoustic guitar and anything in between. When Leurentop arrived, he unloaded an enormous stack of gear and was setting up all sorts of connections between instruments, gear, a laptop and what not. I had no idea what to expect, but certainly not a one man orchestra.

How I got to know And They Spoke In Anthems, I can’t recall. It is either a record company sending a link to listen or a personal outreach from the artist, pointing me to a new record. ‘Money Time’ was my introduction in 2019, followed by the album ‘Still.’ And the mini album ‘.Here’. The accompanying bio said something about the many house shows played and so an invitation went out, the date set.

My guess is that most people come to the show without being familiar with the artist. That makes the effect Arne Leurentop had on the audience count for at least two. Sitting so close to each other, artist and audience, without any natural barrier, makes it possible to notice all emotions and responses and have an interaction, something that happens in a quite natural way.

Leurentop mostly played electric guitar but seldom without looping parts, so whole songs were created, including a beat, or a short keyboard part by pushing a pedal, playing an old Philips organ over the recorded guitar part. He even played a violin, as the emotional ending of a song about the death of one of his best friends.

Photo: Wout de Natris

Since I’ve started writing about music, I am listening in a different and a far more intense way to music and notice more than I did before. It is not so much that I did not hear what a song contains, as that I notice it more directly and most likely sooner. One of the things that strikes me often, is the difference between “a shallow song” and “a rich song”. This has nothing to do with the quality but with the musical experience.

What Arne Leurentop showed live, all by himself, is how he is able to find a melody within the chord structure of his song and then add another and another and another and they all fit perfectly. That is where music theory becomes mathematics, while an artist uses his imagination and ears. He not only did that with instruments. There were two songs where he started with looping his voice, until he had created a four part harmony, out of nowhere, with only one note played before he started to sing for his first loop. That was a truly mouthdropping moment for me.

That is all technique I’m writing about. The beauty of each individual song is the most important part, what it is all about. And They Spoke In Anthems has made a few beautiful albums so far. Live the songs came totally alive, as the emotion put into them was shown so abundantly. From very personal songs about loss, to a love song for Jacinda Ardern, the former New Zealand prime minister. (If this song doesn't win her over, nothing will. Sheer beauty it is.)

This show was an experience. Believe me when I tell you that nearly everyone in the audience said this was not only one the best shows they saw in this living room in Haarlem, it was one of the best shows they saw, ever. From my end, I can only agree. Arne Leurentop/And They Spoke In Anthems is a must see and hear.

Wout de Natris – van der Borght

 

You can buy the band's records here:

https://www.andtheyspokeinanthems.com/store