Category: Interviews
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New track: Midlight – Emergency Song
The release of Midlight’s debut single, Sink to the Level, last August marked them out as a band with something truly special going on. It was a track with a sense of atmosphere so thick and heavy that I wrote about it as a ‘living, breathing, constantly shifting organism’. Following this came the equally impressive…
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EP review: Faithful Johannes – Is Hopeful
Typically late to the party, I’ve only just gotten around to listening to this four-track EP from Durham City’s Faithful Johannes. Released back at the beginning of February through Win Big Records, with a sold out limited run of 8″ lathe cut vinyl, it follows 2019’s debut LP Thrills & Bills. Keen readers of the…
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New track: Ali MacQueen – Loretto
There are a few key artists whose names when mentioned as influences usually draw me towards something that lands in my inbox. Three of those most likely to elicit a response are Radiohead, Beck, and Neil Young. On the occasions that something turns up with one of these words orbiting around it, it can often…
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A conversation with Smotherly Love
Arriving in my inbox during the death throes of 2020, Smotherly Love’s debut EP was very much one of my favourite finds of the year. A pitch perfect tapestry of exploratory psych pop that taps into the same retro futuristic vibes as the likes of Tame Impala, LA Priest, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Predestinate Grooves…
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New track: Almost Sex – Rest Up
Almost Sex snuck into my inbox a few months ago with their last single, Charmer. I wanted to write slid into my DMs, because it feels kinda sleek and sexy – much like their music – but it’s a little too ‘down with the kids’ for my liking. And I’m writing this from deep within…
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New track: Sugarmoon – Autumn Leaves
I featured Sugarmoon on the blog last year when they released the lead track from their previous EP, The Only One. Like the other two tracks on the EP, it was a lovely thing; full of charm, joy, and it displayed a real gift for bittersweet melody. To give you an idea of the kind…
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EP review: Blue Tiger – Artifice
Although a recognisable face on the Edinburgh music scene for a number of years – having fronted sludge-rock luminaries Plastic Animals – the gorgeous Artifice sees Peruvian-born Mario Cruzado step out from the shadows and into the light. I’d say tentatively, but there’s a confidence and assuredness bleeding through every second of this intentionally low-key…
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Track review: Dust In The Sunlight – Hard To Explain
After a successful year which has seen them release their self-titled debut EP, followed soon after by another release composed entirely of five remixes of its title track, London duo Dust In The Sunlight return to see out 2020 with a surprisingly tender cover of the Strokes’ classic 2001 single, Hard to Explain. Looking at…
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Track review: Diving Station – June Damp
June Damp is the third and final track to be released by Manchester four-piece Diving Station in the last couple of months, and – alongside the equally magnificent Joanna and Fruit Flies – it completes one of the most exciting releases I’ve heard this year. As with the two previous singles, it’s another rich offering…
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Album review: Maeve Aickin – Waiting Rooms
Maeve Aickin is quite a talent. It’s incredibly clichéd to mention age like it’s a barometer of anything other than how many days somebody has been on the planet, but I’m going to do it anyway. At seventeen, the Minneapolis-based songwriter’s debut album Waiting Rooms is as astonishing a piece of work as I’ve heard…
I stood up & I said yeah 