Category: Track reviews
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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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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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New track: Inland Murmur – Waterline
There’s something delightfully late-80s/early-90s about this new track from Cardiff indie three-piece, Inland Murmur. Consisting of Hannah on bass and vocals, Alan on guitar, and Toby on drums, guitars and vocals, they have a sound that falls somewhere between Out of Time-era REM, Broadcast, the Killers, and latter-day New Order. There’s a gentle wistfulness running…
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New track: MG Boulter – Midnight Movies
I’m sitting at the dining table in my father-in-law’s flat in the picturesque Scottish coastal town of Troon, my embarrassingly old Macbook groaning loudly as I look out over the vast cobalt blue expanse of water that separates us from the snow-covered peaks of the Isle of Arran. Over the past forty-eight hours or so…
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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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December round-up
With Christmas fast approaching, I’m struggling to keep up with everything that needs to be done – both in terms of this blog, and more importantly, real life. We have a very unusual routine at the best of times in our house, but at a time like Christmas (especially during the pandemic) it’s just crazy.…
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Track review: Faithful Johannes – It’s OK to Be Alone (This Christmas) [feat. Benjamin Amos]
Everybody knows there are only three ways to make a Christmas song: A: Play it dead straight, somehow navigating the cliché and schmaltz-ridden wasteland on your way to creating something as timeless as It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. B: Have shitloads of fun, not take anything too seriously, and somehow end up…
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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…
I stood up & I said yeah 