No Heavy Goodbyes EP. Scarlet Rae
Based on the two singles having been released before the release of No Heavy Goodbyes, my best guess was the EP would be an ink black affair. It is not totally so, as Scarlet Rae does supply us with a ray of light here and there. Allow me to start with the fourth song, 'Light Dose'. It is not an easy song, nor has it an easy rhythm, but the acoustic guitars starting the song and her soft way of singing allow the sun in. The piano "solo" has the same effect. Slowly but surely some darkness creeps in and then the distorted guitars take over the song and black paint is smeared on the walls and windows in thick blobs, shutting all light out, no matter how hard that piano roots for another result. 'Light Dose' does show the world how Scarlet Rae can play with moods extremely successfully. Although I like the EP as a whole this song is the beacon of the EP. The contrast between her soft voice and guitars that can cut like a sword from 'Kill Bill' are so huge. Scarlet Rae has a voice for the sweetest pop songs, where innocence and fantasy for teenage girls would ooze from the record (or stream of course). Pop and teen fantasies are as far removed from her mind as possible, leading to dark and brooding, but above all rocking songs. A song can be moderately loud like opening song 'A World Where She Left Me Out' to a trailblazer like the final song 'Call Off The Day' is. Ms Rae gives this EP her all. Don't forget to check it out.
Another debut on this blog. With its second EP Boston outfit Nate Perry & Ragged Company finds itself for the first time here. There's no denying, that this music sounds familiar to anyone with some musical bagage from the past decades. Nate Perry C.S. combine rock and Americana in a way a band like Gin Blossoms was so good at circa thirty years ago or Dan Baird, etc., etc. The surprise is how fresh the songs on Till The Well Runs Dry sound. It's quite clear that it may be a while before this music will. There are bands that play roots music and there are bands that take that music to the same or next level like their heroes played it and then add their own originals to the existing pile. Nate Perry & Ragged Company band did exactly that. With its tough sound, joined by a warm Hammond organ and a singer with exactly the right tough edge to his voice, Till The Well Runs Dry hits the nail on the head. I simply love listening to this EP.
With Inauguration this post moves once again towards the dark side of music. Proles loves to dwell in the dark recesses of 1980s postpunk. Where I found the early Simple Minds and bands like it always far too mechanical sounding, let alone The Gang of Four and is ilk, Proles is not afraid of playing organic sounding music throughout that darkness. Where the opening song, 'Inaugural', on the one hand is meant as the most open sounding song, it also is the most scary, with the screaming background vocals, mixed "softly" into the whole. Later on on this seven song mini album, Proles gets more into its stride and mixes the postpunk with the sound of bands like Killing Joke and The Cult. By now that music is circa forty years old. It keeps attracting many young musicians and musicians who are still inspired by the music and went back to it after life caught up with them somewhere in the past thirty years. The result is a strong EP like Inauguration. The music may be dark but the fun of playing it shines through the whole of the seven songs. Just listen how 'The Slumber' plays out. A little Tubeway Army synths has the lead but with a lead guitar accompanying it in a way Gary Newman would have abhorred. Boston's Proles, Gretchen Shae vocals, synths, Jason O'Blivion vocals, guitar, Daniel Denied bass and Nikki Severen drums, have found their stride together and deserve this debut on WoNoBlog fully, completely.
From darkness to light is but a small step on WoNoBlog. After single 'Never Had A Heart', Richard Flierl, he is Dotsun Moon, finds himself once again on this blog with the EP Moments In The Sun. The Buffalo, New York based musician's output on this EP can be placed in the 1980s as well. More in the Simple Minds from 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' onwards period than in the heavy postpunk scene. The music is far smoother, more elegant and certainly more mainstream. Not that this EP contains a song of the magnitude mentioned just now. The four songs each are very much worth your while though. Flierl manages to provide his songs with so many details. Take the way the guitar solo in 'Army Of Me' is offset with the piano notes playing through the solo. This provides a great listening experience. The EP ends with 'Piano Trailer 5', which is the piano piece like it promises. Dotsun Moon's Richard Flierl may love to dwell in the musical past, like so many other artists do. He manages to step into 2025 with songs of his own that matter. Moments In The Sun brings exactly what its title promises: a moment of rest in a busy schedule to warm to and relax with.
Through her single 'kansas', Nathalie Miller is no stranger to this blog and now her second EP, like you used to, finds itself here as well. The music is certainly identifiable as pop music, but not like what I hear occasionally on the radio my love likes to listen to. The song announced as the current number 1, was as dull as I've seldom heard them. Really nothing memorable happened during the whole song! Rest assured, you will not find anything like it on like you used to. Even the song that comes closest in my ear, 'Witches Don't Burn', has so many twists and turns, that the listener has to be on his/her toes the whole time. Nathalie Miller, living in Brooklyn but from Massachusetts, manages to sound interesting the whole time. Dynamics is a tool she and her producer Brian Charles have used to great effect. Just listen to how 'Sit And Stew' plays out. The way extra instruments come in and are added tells all. Between the five songs themselves there is more than enough diversity that makes listening to like you used to an interesting experience. The end comes as a total surprise. It's like a very old recording has been polished by digital tools and an added modern vocal was mixed in. The title song gives the EP again something extra. Nathalie Miller wants to be far more than just a pop singer. So far, she succeeded in my book.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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