Florist. Florist

Emily Sprague had op het vorige album van Florist de andere leden van de band niet nodig, maar op het met de hele band opgenomen titelloze vierde album, stijgt de band uit New York tot grote hoogten.

Emily Alone was drie jaar geleden een prima album van de Amerikaanse band Florist, die op dat moment feitelijk alleen uit zangeres Emily Sprague bestond. Op het deze week verschenen titelloze album overtreft Florist, dat inmiddels weer een echte band is, zichzelf op alle fronten. Het bijna een uur durende album is deels gevuld met sfeervolle instrumentale tracks, die de folky songs met een hoofdrol voor Emily Sprague prachtig ondersteunen. De band creëert een bijzondere sfeer door het gebruik van samples en het opzoeken van experiment en het is een sfeer die wel wat doet denken aan het laatste album van Big Thief, dat er met Florist een serieuze concurrent bij heeft gekregen.

Ik was bijna drie jaar geleden erg onder de indruk van het derde album van de Amerikaanse band Florist, al bleek Emily Alone, zoals de titel van het album eigenlijk al deed vermoeden, feitelijk een soloalbum van zangeres Emily Sprague, die zich tijdelijk had gevestigd in Los Angeles, terwijl de rest van de band in New York was achtergebleven. 

Emily Sprague keerde uiteindelijk terug naar New York en nam samen met de andere leden van de band het deze week verschenen vierde album van Florist op. Het in een huis in de Hudson Valley opgenomen titelloze album van de band is een bijzonder album. Florist heeft maar liefst negentien tracks opgenomen, wat bijna een uur muziek oplevert. 

Het titelloze nieuwe album van de band uit New York bevat een aantal ingetogen folksongs met een hoofdrol voor de stem van Emily Sprague en een aantal instrumentale songs. In deze instrumentale songs creëert de Amerikaanse band een bijzondere sfeer, waar de folky songs met vocalen prachtig op aansluiten. 

Ik was drie jaar geleden zeer gecharmeerd van de behoorlijk sobere songs van Emily Sprague, maar de rest van de band voegt absoluut wat toe op het nieuwe album van Florist en niet alleen in de instrumentale tracks. Ook de folky songs met een basis voor de akoestische gitaar en de stem van Emily Sprague zijn immers verrijkt met natuurgeluiden en bijzondere accenten van met name gitaren en synthesizers en hier en daar een saxofoon. 

Florist zoekt op haar nieuwe album nadrukkelijk het experiment, maar betovert ook met wonderschone folksongs. Het zijn folksongs die worden gedragen door de mooie stem van de frontvrouw van de band, maar die iets unieks krijgen door de bijzondere instrumentatie en alle samples van natuurgeluiden die zijn toegevoegd. 

Ik vergeleek Emily Alone in 2019 met de muziek van andere jonge vrouwelijke singer-songwriters als Hand Habits, Frankie Cosmos, Caroline Says, Japanese Breakfast en Soccer Mommy, maar bij beluistering van het vierde album van Florist komt eigenlijk maar één naam op: Big Thief. 

Net als Big Thief op Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, wat mij betreft een van de belangrijkste kandidaten voor het aanvoeren van mijn jaarlijstje over 2022, slaagt Florist er in om muziek te maken die je onmiddellijk losweekt van je huidige omgeving en je ergens dumpt in een uitgestrekt natuurgebied in de Verenigde Staten. 

Ook de wijze waarop Florist de bijzondere instrumentatie combineert met de zang van Emily Sprague doet me overigens wel wat denken aan Big Thief. Vergeleken met het laatste album van Big Thief zoekt Florist wel wat meer het experiment, onder andere door het gebruik van instrumentale intermezzo’s en als ik moet kiezen vind ik de stem van Emily Sprague net wat mooier dan die van Adrianne Lenker. 

Drie jaar geleden schreef ik in mijn recensie van Emily Alone dat Emily Sprague beter af was zonder de andere leden van de band, maar het recent verschenen titelloze album van de band bewijst het tegendeel. Zeker bij beluistering met de koptelefoon is het nieuwe album van de band uit New York een betoverend mooie en bezwerende luistertrip, die stijgt tot steeds grotere hoogten. Het is een luistertrip die is opgeknipt in negentien delen, maar deze vormen samen een bijzondere eenheid. Waanzinnig mooi album dit.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Florist hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://florist.bandcamp.com/album/florist

The Hanging Stars + Hollis Brown live. Q-Bus Leiden, Tuesday 1 November 2022

Photo: Wout de Natris

A double bill at the Q-Bus in Leiden. It turned out it was over 3,5 years ago I was present for a show there. John Paul Keith it was, with a fine rock and roll show as Buddy Holly reincarnated. This time it was The Hanging Stars from London and Hollis Brown from NYC. Although there are some faint similarities between the bands' music, the contrast was quite big.

The Hanging Stars was a totally new name to me. The concert started with this beautiful sound, dreamy and so well played. As I had never heard a song of the band before the show, I had no idea what to expect. This music was a mix of country, ah, that pedal steel, 60s pop and psychedelia. The Byrds came forward as an example immediately, but then only an amalgam of all the incarnations of the band between 1965 and say 1970. Today I would say in the atmosphere The Hanging Stars share with Canadians Half Moon Run comes close.

Listening now to Spotify, the opening song must have been 'Ava'. This band does a lot of things right in its opening song. It mesmerised me immediately. This feeling did not last. But, the setlist was built up perfectly. The longer the set of circa an hour lasted the more the band held me in its grip. The great harmonies, the trippy, dreamy atmosphere worked a miracle. A keyboard was added to two songs, adding to what was already good. And there's the very pleasant voice of the singer.

The Hanging Stars play almost everything in the same tempo. This led me into their groove in a perfect way. I was totally alright with it. The beauty with this band lies in the details. And it has so many of them.

Now, for decades already I'm horrible in song titles and names but not in recognising songs. "This song is for all those who know the title of this song", the singer announced. The Hanging Stars' final song was a Madrugada cover, a very welcome gesture. In fact during dinner I had played the band's 2022 album, 'Chimes At Midnight'. Sivert Høyem's voice in the original is even deeper than Richard Olsen's. Still, it was much fun to hear this song end a show that had won me over for The Hanging Stars.

Photo: Wout de Natris

The order of the bands was just right. The other way around would have been harder. Hollis Brown blew the venue away with its mix of tough country rock. Now Hollis Brown is a band that never fully convinced me on record but I also suspected the band to be perfect live. And it was. With its mix of power and subtlety, harmonies and keyboards the band has the right mix alright. Hollis Brown is a band that will never disappoint in my opinion because its repertoire is rock solid. The whole of American's legacy, let's call it "across the great divide" like The Band did. Everything that came after is somehow caught in the band's music.

A bit stranger is that the band also covers albums integrally. First 'Get Loaded', its take on The Velvet Underground's album 'Loaded' and recently 'In The Aftermath', The Rolling Stones' 'Aftermath'. From both albums one song came by, 'Oh Sweet Nuthings', which made my day and night. Had they just played that song exclusively, my day could not have gone wrong in any way. 'Going Home' was The Stones cover.

Fact is that Hollis Brown does not need these covers. Its own songs are more than good enough. None of the musicians are virtuosos on their respective instrument. They are very decent and from that position they are able to write, arrange and play great rocking songs that can only come from the U.S. The kind that makes my body move from the very first up to the last second of the show.

Where does time go?, I wondered to myself when I found out it was April 2019 that I was last in the Q-Bus. I know where it went, but it is striking how long ago it was. Once again I had a fine night there. A new one in a long string of shows over the past probably 20 years. Normally this will not be the last one either.

Wout de Natris

Week 44, 10 singles

This week we start off with the band that has a buzz around it from here to Tokio and back. On the basis of its first EP this buzz is totally justified. Of course we have much more to offer. Songs from New Zealand and Boston, of course, I'd almost say, but there's far more and in a few different genres as well. So, enjoy your exploration into this week's selection of singles on WoNoBlog.

Rotterdam EP. Tramhaus

Tramhaus is making a name for itself fast. With only a 7" single out the band found itself on festival stages and abroad already. What is good comes fast, we say in our country and to all appearances this goes for Rotterdam's post punk band Tramhaus. With the name of its hometown on top, the band releases its first EP. Four songs that are as diverse as they're good. 'Make It Happen' can be found on this blog already, after it was released as a digital single some time ago. I'm not sure, but I've have the idea I'm listening to a new version. True or not, I may be adjusting to the impact Tramhaus has on me, this song is a perfect example of how Tramhaus can hold back and still build up a tension, begging for an explosion, that only truly comes with 'Amour Amour', a dirty, sleazy punkrocker where the distortion pedals are opened full throttle. 'Make It Happen', Rotterdam's slogan to attract tourists, is a treasure trove of subtleties and anti-promotion in the lyrics if I ever heard some. Crime, stabbings and hit and run driving. It's all in there. "Make it happen!"

'Marwan' is another tight and jangly song, where singer Lukas Janssen shows he's more attitude than singer. To me it's a question whether his voice will hold should things get truly out of hand with the band's popularity. The song is another example of why Tramhaus seems to be leading the Dutch alternative rock pack already. 'Marwan' is a combination of tough chords and jangly lead notes, exemplifying modern post punk. And then the band explodes, all subtleties go overboard. This is the kind of music when being present live, I need to take a few steps back to get out of the room in one piece, not to speak of a set of earplugs.

The change to 'Seduction, Destruction' is huge. Although it could also be the relaxed coda of 'Marwan'. Only when the band kicks in, it becomes truly clear I'm listening to the fourth song of this EP. Again, such a different approach, until I come to the chorus. It makes Canshaker Pi sound like a bunch of choirboys at their first mass practice. It is an orgy of noise Tramhaus produces. The contrast with the verse is so huge. All seduction is set aside, as "boys will be boys", as Janssen sings. This is pure destruction. Total abandon. Making amends at the end comes too late, is futile even. Destruction won by a knockout.

Rotterdam EP is totally convincing. Tramhaus is on route to greater things for sure.

Hey Compromise. Cold Expectations

Contemplating to cover 'Compromise' and coming up with Hey Compromise instead, is what happened to Cold Expectations recently. The band wanted to commemorate songwriter Tommy Keene but wrote it's own song instead. The song is a strong, up tempo powerpop song, built around a keyboard hook that pops in and out of the song regularly. Singers Steve Prygoda and JoEllen Saunders Yannis trade lead vocals and deliver some nice harmonies inbetween. Built up from tough sounding drum and bass parts Cold Expectations is able to deliver a nice melody over the toughness. As a musical love letter, as the band calls its tribute to Tommy Keene, Hey Compromise obviously succeeds.

Sometime Soon. Litzberg

A second single within a few short weeks. Litzberg is treating us no little. Sometime Soon has that urgency associated with 1970s and 80s punk bands, with a hint at pop music hidden beneath the extreme urgency. Sometime Soon sounds like the band members are hounded by a couple of demons about to overtake the slowest member. The pace is relentless, while the guitars are screaming out in fear. Just listen to how the song starts. A lone guitar is calling out, a second one responds, before the bass and drums kick in. And then it all drops away. There's only the rhythm section left when Mathijs Pieters starts singing. There's no respite for the wicked though. Soon it becomes clear that there's no saving this situation. All there's left to do is to keep on running. The bass and drum set an enormous pace, in a clear sound, in the middle of the mix. The two guitars are at the extremes. It looks like if you want to find out what paranoia sounds like in music, Sometime Soon is your song of choice.

Easy To Forget. Soft Plastics

Also New Zealand's Soft Plastics returns to the blog. It is also a song that looks back into the past, musically. The guitar sound is classic The Cure, the song is not. Easy To Forget is far more open in mix and sound. Soft Plastics shows itself from a melancholy point of view. Sophie Scott-Maunder sings in a very dreamy way. The band as a whole does not fully follow her, which makes me hesitate to call this single dreampop. Scott-Maunders' bass playing is too present for that. On the other hand there's a dreamy interlude that simply makes the song lift off. The result is a song that is part beauty, part moderate toughness and part alienating. It draws, pushes, draws, pushes away. Don't come too close it seems to say. "Would it kill you to be truthful?, the singer asks, matching the mood of the single. Easy To Forget is an interesting single on a few levels. That should be enough to get you interested.

No Dogs At This Party. Dartz

More music from New Zealand. The new single from Dartz' upcoming album 'The Boys From Wellington, New Zealand', out on November 4, shows two sides of the band. No Dogs At This Party starts as an almost ballad, before the punkrock side bursts loose. A long guitar intro does not really seem to be going anywhere. When guitar two comes in the chord progression gets a spine. The singer sings like Mick Jagger around 1965. Young with nothing to lose and a world to win. And then the song properly starts and Dartz gets into its own. Yes, this is punkrock but also a shot of good old rock and roll in a wilder sense. Dartz knows exactly how to make this song sound just right. The only question I have left, is who cares about dogs at the party? There are other things to worry about these days. That said, No Dogs At The Party is great fun.

Rambo. Winston

De Vlaamse band Winston stond enige weken geleden op het blog met 'Versailles'. Deze week is de nieuwe single Rambo uit. Liefhebbers van rock songs van een paar decennia geleden zullen veel bekends tegen komen. Een gitaarriff van een beperkt akkoorden wordt telkens herhaald. Dat maakt het een eenzijdig, maar ook zeer overzichtelijk nummer. Ik merk dat ik het prima hebben kan bij de tweede beluistering. Zanger Simon Alice René kijkt terug naar zijn jeugd. Rambo in het zwembad tijdens de vakantie in Frankrijk, Luc Nilis op het pleintje naast de kerk en dat alles op ruige gitaarmuziek, die nergens echt uit de bocht vliegt. De dromen die iedere jongen had. Wie er in de fantasieën de hoofdpersoon was, dat wordt bepaald door het geboorte jaar. Ik was Thierry la Fronde en Willem van Hanegem, bij gebrek aan vakanties in Frankrijk, gewoon op het schoolplein en het veldje naast Lindenkamp. Rambo is een lekkere, zeer overzichtelijke rocker.

Ride Your Light. ALiX

Oh, yeah. Ride Your Light is exquisite in its sleaze. This song makes me feel like I'm dragged through the mud down to the cowshed and back, while coming out totally replenished. ALiX surely does everything right in this psychedelic, stoner rocker. Distorted guitars over a tough bass guitar (Gianfranco Romanelli) and a sound drums (Andrea Insulla), making and taking all the space needed to prop up Ride Your Light. I had never heard of ALiX. It is an Italian four piece led by singer Alice Albertazzi (the prominent tambourine is hers as well). Guitarist Pippo di Palma roughs and shakes the songs with (overdubbed) guitar parts. Both are sounding as if they are to unclean to touch. After a hiatus of nine years ALiX is back with a great single introducing the album 'Last Dreamer', to be released on 25 November. Ride Your Light sounds like the right way to shine some light on your comeback alright.

Homewrecker. Vera Ellen

More from New Zealand and a return to the blog for Vera Ellen. Her new single is a nice jangly indierocker. She's singing, judging the video, from the vantage point of a man, strutting proudly among the ladies. Self-assured but also a clear parody, especially when the monkey comes out of the sleeve, as we say here. "I would kiss you if I knew how", a homewrecker in mind only. Vera Ellen has this nice edge to her voice and makes music that I'd put straight into the Courtney Barnett basket. She has the same mix between slacker and determination. A strummed guitar with a little distortion, bass and drums is the basis of Homewrecker. Add a few harmonies, singing and lead guitar, and you have the complete picture.

Nightbound. Blacklist

Blacklist plays a classic 80s rock track with Nightbound. The tight band keeps it all together while the guitars play out a dual solo somewhere in the song, Add some slick synth sounds or synthesized guitars, and all singer Joshua Strachan has to do, is sound tough and he does. It makes Nightbound a feast of recognition, as the mid 80s Van Halen, e.g. 'Why Can't This Be Love', comes by as does a tougher band like Iron Maiden. What makes it even more 80s is a The Edge guitar and Simple Minds synths sound. The consequence is Blacklist sounds almost like a retro act, instead of a band having released its sophomore album last week, 'Afterworld'. (There is 13 years in between the two albums.) The nice tough way Nightbound started caught me anyway and made my head go up and down. Yes, it's that kind of song alright. Also in 2022.

Jet Black Night. Diablogato

Another trip down the memory lane of rock is presented by Boston's Diablogato. This song sounds like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep were put in a blender with Lynyrd Skynyrd. The result is a great rocking song called Jet Black Night. It is the kind of rock song that seems to have it all. Had Drew Indigaro been born a few decades earlier, he would have sang with the greatest, instead of a, with all respect, fairly obscure Boston band. The twin guitars, Indigato and Charlie MacSteven really battle it out, with some great, thick chords, some nice lead and slide on top of it all. I hear some thick Hammond sound in there but do not know who's playing it. Johnny Custom and Jessy von Kenmore take care of the deeer end together, making sure everything sticks together. Jet Black Night does everything right in my ears.

Wout de Natris

Zen Ghost. Frenchy and the Punk

There's not much French about Frenchy and the Punk except that singer Samantha Stephenson was born in France. That's more than I can say, for one. Musically there's nothing French about the band as well. What I'm hearing is the (post)punk of the kind that was played in the U.K. around 1980. Dark moods, with the sky about to fall on top of us. Siouxie and the Banshees is the name the band seems to like to be associated with. I can't tell, I never liked the band. What I hear is some Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders style and a lighter version of early The Cure and Simple Minds. That sets the stage alright.

Frenchy and the Punks sure likes to wallow in music from a time long gone and that's just fine for me on Zen Ghost. Stephenson's voice is of a truly delightful kind of darkness. Part dark, part light. She has the perfect blend of the two, resulting in an album long listening fun.

The duo, guitarist Scott Helland is the other half, is from New York. It formed because Stephenson jumped on stage spontaneously during one of Helland's shows in 1998 and they are a duo since. With Zen Ghost as their seventh album. They play all instruments themselves, except for the bass. Despite this the album has a wide sound, spaciously mixed, allowing room for all instruments to be heard in a great way.

Although Frenchy and the Punk is a totally new name to me, their music, in an abstract way, is not. Fans from postpunk of 1980, give or take a few years, will recognise the style of music obviously. It is here the Zen Ghost story starts, not ends. There are so many nice moments where the band strays from the obvious. This is what makes Zen Ghost an album that is more interesting to listen to.

Promo photo: Alice Teeple

This can range from eastern melodies, to an acoustic ballad, an alternative one, sure, called 'Church of Sound', that puts Samantha Stephenson on a par with Hazel O'Connor singing 'Will You'? The song is only slightly less dramatic, the quality of singing comes extremely close. Mind, we are speaking of one of the very best singles of the early 80s here. 'Church of Sound' comes as a total surprise but is totally convincing. The fact that 'Come In And Play', the next song, is far more straight forward, is instantly forgivable, besides being a great song in its own right. Next to Hazel O'Connor Stephenson reminds me of, Dutch 1970s symphonic rock band, Earth & Fire's Jerney Kaagman as well. Another plus.

What amazes me most, is that Zen Ghost is an album with instant appeal to me in a sort of music that I sort of abhorred at the time. More, the bands that played the music at the time still are not interesting for me. The difference is the light a band like Frenchy and the Punk lets into the music. The music and the singing is simply so much lighter. There was no atomic threat, at least at the time Zen Ghost was written and recorded, that mood simply isn't in the songs. Neither is teenangst fresh on the minds of early 20 somethings. This makes all the difference in the world to me and to this band or so it comes across to me.

Zen Ghost is a varied album, allowing for some pop in its post punk. Add a singer with the quality of Samantha Stephenson and not a lot can go wrong and doesn't. Zen Ghost is a lot of fun.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and buy Zen Ghost here:

https://frenchyandthepunk.bandcamp.com/album/zen-ghost

Revolver. The Beatles

On 28 October was another big day in The Beatles' history. Another huge box set was released revealing it all. With revolutionary software all sounds on the original tapes could be untangled and assembled anew. This post does not discuss the new album(s), let alone the differences between the 1966 version and the 2022 one. No, I'm going to look at the original album and discuss that with you.

Let me start with my personal relationship to Revolver. it was an album that I never rated that high. This has a reason. My relationship with The Beatles started extremely early. Probably between my 5th and 6th birthday. The singles were played by my aunt and niece at parties and the youngest daughter of a family I regularly stayed with at the time was a huge fan at the time. This was music that was handed to me, where I had no real role in, except remembering asking them to play a single. By my eighth year that changed a little. 'Hey Jude' was the first single I discovered for myself through the radio and bought myself.

The big change came with the "red" and the "blue" album. I got them age 13 and 14. They were truly mine. The first time I discovered some of the album tracks. It did not take long for me to find out that I liked the 1967-1969 output the best by far (and all those big hits from before of course).

By the time I was able to buy albums myself, that were the albums I focused on. Come the 1980s my interest for The Beatles had waned somewhat. The big 70s bands had become my favourites. This changed, probably for good, thanks to The Analogues, The Beatles recreation band from The Netherlands, recreating, as this is way beyond covering. The Beatles were back, exactly at the time when Apple started releasing all these newly mixed re-releases. Not to speak of the 'Get Back' series on Disney.

Recently, I thought let's play Revolver. I wasn't even sure whether I had bought it as an album. I found a second hand copy, probably bought around 1990. One, this copy, a stereo version, sounded great. Not a single scratch on the vinyl after all these years. Second, this is one great album. How can I have underrated it so badly for decades? Maybe I'm amazed, so to say.

From the very first notes of 'Taxman' I was listening spellbound. The level of musicianship is so high. The tricks of the studio made it an extra instrument, as it were. The Beatles were not holding any options back anymore. Revolver holds a great selection of songs in which the band performed at the peak of its abilities. And the best was yet to come....

What surprised me most is 'Yellow Submarine', one of the 16 number 1 hits here between 1965 and 1970. Even that song showed me how good The Beatles were. From a carnivalesque ditty the song slowly gets a different layer, outshining a song for Ringo exactly because the rest of the band steps up to make it song of The Beatles quality. There's so much going on and so many details worked into the background. Perhaps I truly heard the song for the first time for real.

Of course 'Yellow Submarine' is at the bottom of Revolver. George Harrison has three songs on the album and brings in Indian music into the sound for the first time. Paul and John dared each other to come up with better songs and did. 'Here, There And Everywhere', 'For No One', 'Got To Get You Into My Life', 'I'm Only Sleeping', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'She Said, She Said', they are all fantastic album tracks, and so different. And there's 'Eleanor Rigby', the kind of song that makes me think, where did he get it from? It's so different, so nothing to do with a pop/beat band, that it is hard to imagine that The Beatles dared to release it and that the company gave them a free hand in everything as well. 

In hindsight John Lennon was right: The Beatles were bigger than Jesus, as the band could do almost anything it liked on the basis of its popularity. Jesus certainly could not, popular or not.

In October 2022 I have to totally review my take on Revolver. Not that I thought it was bad, far from it, just not in line with what came after. This is a fantastic album and fits into that row of three. It's never too late to change one's mind.

Wout de Natris