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Heaven EP. Lauren Mann
12,5 Years ago Lauren Mann with her The Fairly Odd Folk made her debut on this blog. Since October 2020 things remained quiet around her, but here is Heaven, a new four song EP, released last Friday. Years ago Lauren Mann moved to a relatively isolated part of Canada, Pender Island. Not only a shift of scenery but also of the way she lives her life, in work, as a wife and motherhood. Still, there is music that finds itself a way out, that needs to be written and recorded. Heaven is the product of this process. The four songs all have a light touch, celebrate life with the windows wide open to let the sunlight in. Two songs are new and two songs never found their way to an album. One of these is the opening song 'Different Light', released as a b-side of a single years ago. The song is upbeat and presents a Lauren Mann who seems to be bouncing through the studio of sheer joy. The contrast between the rhythm that keeps going, albeit in different forms, and the accents created with the piano, synth or pedal steel guitar makes the song far more alive than if everything had been plugged up with instruments. It makes for an open and layered sound that makes all played come across in such a strong way. I'm always surprised that artists are able to let one of their best songs shelved, as that is what 'Different Light' to me is.
The following songs are all more intimate. She shares her happiness, her life, her love with the world. Again, listen to the sparse piano notes in 'Collarbone', in the style of her countryman Patrick Watson, where Lauren Mann remains more wordly. Take the time for it and beauty washes over you. In the second new song 'Sing Your Song' an electronic rhythm accompanies her, giving the song a different vibe, but not topic. This is a personal song, perhaps about the support she gets for her artistic work but it could also be about her child learning her own voice. The final song, 'Maybe Heaven', is the kind of song many artist have: the one they don't know how to finish. That happened, finally and is presented on Heaven with great result. The final version is a dreamy track, with the richest arrangement with strings (or synth treated voices?) in the background and heavenly background vocals. Does heaven on earth exist for Lauren? It seems like it. I'm betting it is found on Pender Island.
Four songs, each different musically, but each so worthwhile hearing. With twins on the way, it may be some time before we hear more new music by Lauren Mann. It will be worth the wait, as she proves once again with Heaven.
Here I am months after the release without having had a clue. Somehow I totally missed that The Rolling Stones' contribution to a Clifton Chernier tribute album had been released as a single. Now zydeco is a music genre that operates at the fringe of my musical taste, it usually makes me feel good when the uptempo accordeon driven music reaches my ears. That is no different with Zydeco Sont Pas Salés. The music fits The Stones like a glove. Joined by accordeon player Steve Riley the old rockers obviously have fun playing some Stones riffs underneath and over the typical Zydeco/Cajun rhythm. My guess is that it's Keith Richards' riffs flying around mostly, with Jagger's harmonica topping things off. Zydeco is dance music and The Rolling Stones deliver it in spades.
I'll Drive starts as a The Rolling Stones song from the first half of the 1970s could have started or a solo effort by Keith Richards. When the singing starts that illusion is over. The Canadian duo David and Joey Landreth provide a great rock song with some southern rock infused licks here and there. It's the kind of song that does not need a lot of words to convey in writing that it has this dragging kind of rhythm bands like The Black Keys have become famous for. I'll Drive rocks, is filled with powerful licks and riffs and some dirty guitars supported by a warm Hammond.
Will the music scene of New Zealand ever stop surprising me? Georgia Knight, originally from Melbourne, is a new name to me and with Mingle she has released a single that is as mysterious as it is confrontational. With her breathy voice (French sigh girl style) she sings over a dark track that is laced with electronic sounds that go straight for the jugular while the rhythm keeps pounding my brain. In between is all that mystery, created by layers of synths and keys that all play a different melody and they all fit perfectly. They go from swaths of sounds like a shaggy rug, to alarming sounds like fog horns in the night and everything in between. Nothing is "normal" the way the music in Mingle is presented. And yet it is so intriguing and good. Georgia Knight parachutes herself into my musical universe with this single.
Protest songs still exist and Sophie Straat has released one recently. Sing-shouting in the style of Amy Taylor of Amyl and The Sniffers she sums up everything that she thinks is wrong with The Netherlands. From colonisation to siding with the U.S. in many wars in the past decades and everything she thinks was wrong in the centuries in between. The music can be called an electronic kind of punk music. The beat is strong and electronic synth sounds are all over the place. And that is exactly what makes this song so attractive to listen to. Sophie Straat is angry and wants the whole world know it, the reason why she sings in English for the first time ever. You can agree with her or not, a great song is a great song. For those who do not agree, just think how much she picked up from her history lessons. There's always a positive side. All others can sing with Sophie Straat: "FUCK!!!!!"
And here I was thinking that the 1970s ended almost 46 years ago. It seems one band managed to escape through a time capsule or machine. I truly thought to have heard all Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc., songs of the day and here comes Revolution. It really is a song that sounds like it is from the first half of the 70s. Fast, heavy metal, classic rock but above all a great song. Twin guitars, tough bass and a drums part that is classic "Animal". The singer has the voice to match all behind him. Revolution is a strong melodic song by the Trondheim based Norwegian band. It's new album is released on 10 October and is the first one not numbered as could be expected, 'VIII'. Instead it is called 'From Eight To Infinity'. If Revolution is anything to go by, it will be a killer album.
In my first The Mono Kids review in January 2023 I wrote: ".. three songs that could have started with one, two, three, four, counted off very fast and go". The latest EP by the Eindhoven duo actually starts with: "One two three four". Where have I heard that one before? What follows is in line with the famous, but literally dead, band The Ramones. Becoming a member was not a healthy choice it turned out. That does not stop others from making the kind of punk rock that made The Ramones legendary. The Mono Kids have already reached a certain age and keep the fire burning. From the very first second drummer Roelof and guitarist/singer Michel take off like a car race with a flying start. Six songs long the pedal is pushed beyond how deep it can physically go. There is no need to pick out individual songs or it should be because of a hellish guitar solo in 'L.O.V.E.' or background vocals, yes! It is all a part of that seemingly endless discharge of energy. What strikes me every time, is that The Mono Kids never forget that a good song needs a melody to go with that energy. The band delivers there once again by adding little pop elements here and there, only to strike back with an even more fuzzed out guitar in the next song. What also strikes me, is that it is not even three years ago since the duo contacted me pointing me to its music. The output is so regular, that I could have sworn that The Mono Kids are on the blog for far longer. With Lucky Guys they are once again and with its longest lasting EP to date. "One two three four" it sounds all over in my ears.
Three or four years ago I was tipped on a band called Feu! Chatterton. The French band had released it's fourth album, 'Palais d'Argile' and it hit home with me immediately. The album remained on the stash of recent ones for quite some time and was played regularly. But at some point I sort of forgot about it. And then I read somewhere that there's a new album out. Mille Vagues is one of the singles that was released a while back. It has exactly that modern chanson atmosphere that I associate with the band. There is this saxophone solo sounding like it can in the labyrinth of the metro in Paris. Music comes from somewhere, but you may never see the musician. The song starts with two guitars that play a simple respectively a more complex picked pattern. Over it Arthur Teboul sings with his chanson voice. I hardly understand a word but melody does the understanding for me. Mille Vagues is so full of atmosphere that album 'Labyrinthe' must, again, be a very good one.
'The Trials Of Van Occupanther' and more precise 'Roscoe' is the song that defines Midlake for me and I realise how long ago it is since I bought the album and how long ago it must be that I played it last. Somewhere in the past years I read that Midlake called it quits and I sort of forgot about the band, I guess. Comes the late summer of 2025 and a new album is announced with the release of single The Ghouls. It gripped me immediately. It has that Midlake drive and yet I feel there's a new urgency on display. The single sounds a little tougher, more direct than the songs I remember from the past. The dreamy part that often accompanied Midlake's music is missing, as if the band has some catching up to do. If this is the deal, count me in. 'A Bridge Too Far' is available from 7 November onwards.
HighSchool is a duo from Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Rory Trobbiani and Luke Scott recently announced the release of their debut album, Highschool, on 31 October. Did I write about Spidergawd, see above, that it sounded like the music came from a time machine, you might get the same idea when you put on Dipped for the first time. Except that the music is not classic rock but somewhere in between new wave and post punk. HighSchool excels in emulating the darkness of bands from the first half of the 1980s like Big Country, The Armoury Show and of course The Cure. The difference is that total annihilation, at least for now, seems a bit further off than around 1980 (although I personally always believed Sting more about Russians and children) and that shows through in HighSchool's music. This is about personal stuff and not the end of the world as we know it. "Wasting my time", the topic of choice is. Musically Dipped works really well. This is no duo as such at work but a nicely layered song with a lot of care put into the details of the song. 'Highschool', 31 October!
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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