Category: Interviews
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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…
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A conversation with Peter Cat
Next Friday sees the release of The Saccharine Underground, the debut album by Glasgow-based art rock outfit, Peter Cat. Well, I say art rock, but in truth it’s very difficult to tie up what he/they do in a neat little package. Essentially Peter Cat’s sound is an idiosyncratic mix of influences and eras – from…
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Track review: Neon Islands – Moon
Taking influence from bands such as Interpol, Maximo Park, Sonic Youth, Foals, and Bloc Party, Neon Islands’ Facebook page bills them as “a cry for hope in the middle of a dejected culture“. With a built-for-radio sound based heavily around huge, shimmering synth lines, muscular guitars, and anthemic choruses, it’s an apt description. I should…
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A conversation with Matti Jasu
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a record called Up and Running by a Finnish musician by the name of Matti Jasu. Sitting somewhere between Magical Mystery Tour, Pet Sounds, The Soft Bulletin, Midnite Vultures, and Summerteeth, it’s a glorious technicolour dream of a record full of pop nuggets, pocket symphonies, and cosmic…
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A conversation with Brownbear
My wife, our baby, and I moved to Scotland at the end of 2019, having previously lived in Southend-on-Sea. If you happen to have read previous posts and wondered why artists from in and around Essex kept cropping up on a music blog based in Scotland, then that’s the reason. For a while I was…
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EP review: Neev – Forgiving Light
Completing her debut EP with the release of her latest single, Excuse Me – Glasgow-born but London-based singer-songwriter Neev captivates across four entrancing slices of melancholic folk pop. Opening the set with an ominous, almost tribal sounding verse is Tunnel Vision. It’s a strong introduction, very much on the front foot, and one that quickly…
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A conversation with in earnest
Yesterday saw the release of Southend-on-Sea alternative trio in earnest’s debut EP. Having already released three of its tracks as singles in the lead up – put me under, come upstairs, and 29 – the eponymous collection is bolstered by three more unreleased tracks showcasing their atmospheric, unflinchingly honest brand of indie. The music on…
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A conversation with Funeral Lakes
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of discovering the brilliant Canadian alternative duo, Funeral Lakes, and – specifically – their latest release, Golden Season. I was immediately taken with their sound, along with their intensity, and soon found myself checking out their eponymous debut album from less than a year ago. Made…
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A conversation with Merry Christmas
A few weeks ago I chanced upon a song called Shapes Appearing by the ludicrously (well) named Merry Christmas. The song was an utterly brilliant, colourful, and joyous mess of pop hooks and melancholia, and the band turned out to be one of the most batshit insane unique that I’ve ever come across. On the…
I stood up & I said yeah 