AMITY – City Of Stars
We kick off the faves with an artist I’ve known for a while, this is their first time on the faves and I’m really excited for them. I actually met AMITY last year at Boogaloo Radio when I was going there for an interview, and I had the privilege of sitting in on an his performance. I was blown away by how he filled the room with his vocals and piano performance it was beautiful! This is his new single, which is a song that you’d think is a love song from the beginning but it actually isn’t. This is a song that deals with a past trauma in a relationship, and Amity articulates this well.
The lyrics are dark:
“I’ll build you a city of stars” I swore I pleaded for peace,
Yet I pay for the war
A castle of moonlight all with clay,
And a tower to keep me locked away,
Cause I was devoted to you,
You’re explosive could tear this city down
And I’d fall from the clouds.
The lyrics are devastating in their delivery and Amity matches this with anger hidden with a ballad. This is something that Phil Collins did really well with his track Separate Lives, it’s all sweetness and light but when you get under the bonnet it’s a really brutal break up song.
Amity did a great job with this.
Amity is a singer songwriter and musician from South London, we are practically neighbours, has already had acocolades like Artist Of Our Time as named by ASBO magazine, being featured in The Guardian, going viral… I’m very proud of him.
He’s my one to watch. Check out our interview here.
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ANGELS OF LIBRA – Ain’t No Lovin’ Feat. Nathan Johnston
Angels Of Libra are awesome, they’ve been featured in the faves previously in November, they bring a lovely warm Motown-esque vibe with this track, it’s a full band offering along with horns, and a melodic bassline. This is a party starter!
The chorus is catchy and is joined by violins – there aren’t no lovin’ without you is the message. This is well produced, the backing vocals hit the spot and that’s what sold it for me on this track. What can I say?
This track gets my chef’s kiss.
Angels Of Libra are from Hamburg, a collective although I’m more inclined to describe them as a cast as this could easily be put in a theatre production. This is from their album Road To Mandalay, which came out at the end of January and this is the opening track.
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Cable Street Collective – World Enough And Time
This band always bring fire. ALWAYS. But then Aaron Brown is the son of Gregg Kofi Brown, from Osibisa the fire is in his DNA – I will always shout out his insane bass playing. But the whole band groove this is a festival ready group who are veterans of the faves, and even quote Tom in their bio. Fiona brings so much joy with her voice, and this is over a bed of what I can only describe as a celebratory performance, this whole song commands you to dance even though the world is not in that mood right now. That said, in times when the world was at war, music provided a comforting place.
This track contains all of Cable Street Collective’s trademark elements – the afrobeat/hi life vibes of the rhythm section, the latin tinged horns, the overall feeling of a festival or better still a carnival, this just gets better and better. I’d love to see them on the same stage as Ezra Collective! Wow that would be amazing. Cable Street Collective are from London they already have Glastonbury under their belt.
Not surprising really.
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DAY SLEEPER – Speed Of Tragedy
Time for some indie rock now, Day Sleeper comes to us from Edinburgh, and this track hits hard, it starts off as it means to go on with drums being hit at a fair pace alternating between snare and tom, but keeping the tempo going. What really surprised me was the depth of the vocals to begin with but then they go up an octave to make it feel more comfortable for performance.
The chorus is a reality bomb:
“I don’t want to be a relic in my own years,
Though shattering’s the lack,
The sparsest stage Is set so clear for me.”
This is a really strong track, in fact someone described it as having a bit of Lloyd Cole to it and a great throwback to 80s production and I’m inclined to agree. This is from their This House Won’t Fall: Deluxe Edition project.
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DEAR PEOPLE – I Don’t Know
Looking at their bio, I reckon I’d be right at home in Dear People’s Brighton studio. Casio keyboards? Drum machines? Milk two sugars and a packet of bourbon biscuits please.
This track is atmospheric and dark, it deals with ambiguity really well quite literally and figuratively because you don’t know what your ears are going to pick up first. Right now I’m in a quandrum hecause I hear an 808 drum machine, a bit of analogue synth goodnes, timpanis, guitars…. All anchored around emotional vocals – this track is just beautiful. Tony Hardy was keen for this to make the listening post and the faves and I can see why it’s creative.
Dear People is based in Brighton as noted in my intro, and she’s got an EP coming out later this month.
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DEN OF DOG – Any Guy
To Wokingham we go now for a duo called Den Of Dog I like the vibe of this especially the harmonies, nicely layered and not cluttered. Add to this the electronic textures, and you are listening to a great pop song. But underneath it all, the lyrics deal with the stark reality of the aftermath of a relationship that’s ended, in the lyrics Den Of Dog speak about the various abuses, and then finding solace in the arms of any guy that comes along, you might think the music is cute but the message behind it is quite distressing. It’s very real for some people and it’s important for it to be heard.
Den Of Dog are are a duo who combine acoustic sounds with electronic beats, and it blends really well!
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MAISY GRACE – What Do I Know?
Mixtape head kicking in here – this is in the same key as “Any Guy” so the mix would have been bang on! This is an acoustic number from Maisy Grace, it has a bit of a soulful touch to it. It’s in 6/8 time, and the chord progression choices keep my ears invested from the top of the song all the way through! In fact this is my track of the week.
The track is bare, it’s just Maisy Grace’s vocals being the star here again with killer harmonies, and it made me smile!
Maisy’s just 18 years old, a multi instrumentalist who’s already had love from BBC Introducing, she’s capable of performing as a duo and with a full band, and has already demonstrated this on stages at Leopallooza, Boardmasters, Rock Oyster, Tunes In The Dunes and Great Estate.
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MAJIK – Connection
This is slowed down and moody, it’s a change of mood in the faves the lyrics speak of having to open your heart in the most vulnerable way:
“Cause if this ain’t love
I’m not a human
And if I don’t speak much
It’s cause I’m still healing
But I will fight my tears for you
And I will stay right here
If you want me to.”
It’s a song about a declaration of love and to hell with the consequences – and sometimes it’s just easier to put it into a song. This reminds me of 90s angst, from the era of Lisa Loeb, Dawson’s Creek, in fact this could easily be on a Netflix teen drama.
Gorgeous.
Majik is from London, I’m looking at his instagram, and he’s a pretty cool photographer too!
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OCCASIONALLY HUMANS – Midnight Crescendo
What I like about this song is the arpeggiated guitar. It sets the tone and rhythm for this song, it’s very dreamlike and when the vocals come in you’re treated to some lovely harmonies, it’s all floaty and I like that, there’s nothing overpowering the overall sound. The gentle tremolo on the guitar helps make this song what it is.
Every time I listen to this, it gives me something interesting to listen to, from the beginning of the song to the bottom – the arrangement, starting off with drums being played at half time to the guitar’s tempo you’ve also got an analogue synth passage before the second verse that you don’t expect… add to that the whistling solo before the end of the song then it just seals it all for me.
This is the kind of track you should listen to just before you fall asleep, it’s a mood setter.
Occasionally Humans are a shoegaze band from the heart of Silver Lake, Los Angeles.
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WRENNA – Stay For A While
To close out the 600th edition of the faves, we have a track that I just want to say having listened to it a few times now – This has the all the elements of a perfect pop song! It starts off with arpeggiated synths, and then moves into muted guitar, drums and bass with the keys percolating underneath. The chorus comes in after a dead stop, and just lifts the song, there are some dips and peaks where it just stops just to help you get used to what you’re hearing, and I like that – it’s not something present in music nowadays. All in all this is a great way to close out the faves.
Lyrically this talks about meeting someone for the first time, and getting the butterflies in your stomach, and just being upfront about how you feel.
Brilliant.
Wren is an artist from Wales, she’s been the recipient of the Youth Music Next Gen fund, and her single “These Nights” got placed on the BBC Radio Wales A-List.
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