Nightwalking. Gans
Another debut on the blog is for Birmingham duo Gans, the Dutch word for goose by the way. Euan Woodman (drums, vocals) and Thomas Rhodes (bass, vocals) form Gans, but do not shy away from using a host of other instruments, as you can hear. In a way you could say Nightwalking is everything but a drums and bass song, like e.g. Royal Blood produced. If anything, this single is a reincarnation of a Wham song. Now Wham had several great songs in its day, that I loved to dance to at one of the great parties in our student dorm called 'De Zevende Hemel'. In an alternative way Nightwalking is 'Edge Of Heaven' or 'Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)'. It is a fun song. Certainly darker than the Club Med setting of Wham's video. The duo's debut album 'Good For The Soul' is out for two months already. Do check it out.
After single 'Husband & Wife' Berlin based Nick & June return to the blog with another single from their upcoming album 'New Year's Face' (5 December). Anthem is a dreamy song where Nick takes the lead vocal. Behind him the song turns from being hesitating to at times epic proportions. Horns fill my ears in a prominent way. Anthem becomes a huge song, while Nick, supported by June, keeps singing with a dreamy voice, almost distancing himself from the rest of the song. Towards the end it all comes together again to be led to a grand finale, where the voices are lifted upwards, before the horns wave them goodbye and take over the outro big time.
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When 'Wild God' was released I bought it without listening. It was a Friday afternoon. My wife and I had a pleasant "vrijmibo". She usually cooks on Friday's, so I put on 'Wild God', fairly loud and positioned myself exactly in the middle of my speakers, on a slight high from consuming two great Belgian dark Kasteel beers. It didn't take long before I was totally gripped by the music, totally submerged. But then my wife came from the open kitchen, full of emotion asking who this was playing. We were both totally gripped by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' new album. And now Wild God (Live God). And Nick Cave does it again. What an explosion, an orgy of sound and emotions. Anyone doubting whether a live version adds anything, in my opinion, here's your answer. Accompanied by four female backing vocalists and a band that becomes supercharged, Cave rises and rises and can sing the song to a fantastic climax. Not many songs leave me breathless but this live version of Wild God certainly did.
I'm Your Fiend starts as a a bunch of kindergarten kids who were let into the studio. Things do get together soon, but the voice of the singer just sounds like this for most of the song. The singer of Swedish band The Plan sang like this. ('The Plan' is still one of my favourite albums from this century.) The Sophs is a six piece band from Los Angeles with Ethan Ramon as frontman. With I'm Your Fiend the band steps away from the stand alone singles it has been releasing recently, as it is working towards the release of its debut album, 'Sweat'. The release is planned for 30 May. With I'm Your Fiend The Sophs presents itself as an exuberant band, where the dark shines through with the distorted guitars and the light in the singing. Ramon sings as if all is roses, at least for most of the time. Isn't being in love not the worst during the time before you know if the loved one will reciprocate your love? "Shall I get down own my knees, I'm your fiend"? Well, ok, if you say so. It does put things kind of on ots head. And The Plan? It's all over I'm Your Fiend.
Victoria is the second single lifted from The Melancholy Kings' upcoming album 'Her Favourite Disguise' (28-11). Fans from harder driven pop songs like Gin Blossoms', that in its turn tapped into music from 80s bands like The Replacements, will find their way easily into Victoria. The members of The Melancholy Kings all were present at the time as young men and now live their own moment with writing originals in the vein of that long-gone era. The result is a single with some great double guitar lines and a tough rhythm section. The voice of singer Mike Potenza tops things off. No doubt The Melancholy Kings will excuse me for making the comment that the older 'Victoria' is the better song, but that comment does allow me to point to the final influence I hear in the song, one missing in the bio, The Kinks. I hear the band in several parts of Victoria, in the accents and parts of the vocal melody. It only adds to the quality of this nice song.
Everyone who goes online will know what Audiogust (Chris Evans) is singing about. It is so easy to disappear down the rabbit hole of social media. I will not go into this topic much deeper, because of the fact this is a music blog. But, a) it can take a lot of effort to switch it off and b) it doesn't exactly make you a happier person. "It would be easier if I didn't know", Evans sings and most of the time I wholeheartedly agree. The amazing side to this song is that Audiogust starts so tranquil and soft, reminding me of how Tamar Berk starts some of her songs. The quoted line at some points start to be repeated over and over, as if it is spinning inside of Evans' head until it explodes out of his ears. The song explodes as well and changes the whole mood of Easier. The Foo Fighters comparison the bio provides, finally makes sense to me. Album 'Falling From Down' was released on 7 November.
Yes, the second single of the revived Howling Bells makes it to the singles post also, after 'Unbroken' did in October. Heavy Lifting is a psychedelic rock track that at the same time reminds me a little of The Pretenders. Mostly because of the way singer Juanita Stein sings. She combines a tougher stance with very dreamy sequences. In the chorus Howling Bells goes into a grungy part with a distorted guitar leading the way. What I also like a lot in this single, is the different ways the individual parts are arranged. It makes for interesting listening for the whole of the two minutes and thirty three seconds Heavy Lifting lasts. Take the flanged(?) lead guitar that pops in and out of the song or the keyboard that enters later in the song. With the different singing parts, just a few of the examples you will find when listening. The comeback of Howling Bells becomes more interesting by the song. We will know more on 13 February when 'Strange Life' is released.
Everyone who reviews music knows there is so much more out there than is possible to give attention to. This is the main reason why I started this singles post once a week. Georgia Knight's debut album 'Beanpole' is out already but I'm not certain if I will get around to it before the end of this year. So, to be certain, here is a second single. Georgia Knight is from Australia and recorded Beanpole already in 2023. Today it is here for the world to enjoy. Again, this single shows how different Ms Knight sounds from most of her contemporary colleagues. Everybody Knows My Business Now is a serious song and has nothing to do with pop ditties, let alone AI generated pop tunes. Let me call it alternative folk, because of some of the instruments I'm hearing. Parts of the song are more atmosphere than music in the sense of chords being played. There are, in the chorus, just don't expect an easy to sing along to one. Georgia Knight impressed me with 'Mingle' and again impresses me with Everybody Knows My Business Now. 'Beanpole' is on my list, believe me.
Gunmoll returns to the blog with Joan. A strong track the crawls under the skin, threatening to break right through it but never really does. The tension is there without getting a full release. The Amsterdam band is in a great shape in this song. The outro does comes close, with bass player Koen van Bemmelen doing a Paul McCartney in The Rolling Stones track 'Bite My Head Off'. An extremely dirty sound escapes his amp propelling the song forward towards its final chord. Singer Jolien Grunberg keeps her cool during the whole of the song. The interludes keep the song grounded with their high sounding keys. In the past few years Gunmoll did not always convince me but with Joan the band certainly finds itself firmly on my good side. A very strong single Joan is. It's only until 6 February that we have to be patient, the date debut album 'Kill Your Darlings' is released.
The final single this week is from a band that makes its debut on this blog, Julie's Haircut. To think that the band is around since the late 90s! Musically, that time link makes sense, as this subdued song holds the kind of mystery that came with a band like Massive (Attack). Wounds has a vibe like that. All kinds of instruments seem to lurk in the background and depth of Wounds. Italian-Nigerian singer Anna Bassey certainly is able to sing like Sharon Nelson or Elizabeth Fraser. Julie's Haircut is from Emilia in Northern Italy, the town with that great, futuristic train station of the high speed railway. The mood Wounds sets certainly makes me curious to hear more. Album 'Radiance Opposition' is out on 28 November.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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