EP Review: “Modern Artifice” – Freyja Elsy

Freyja is here and she’s brought four stunning tracks! Let’s get into it. Sad Girls This track opens up with ethereal sounds, bells and what sounds like an arpeggiated muted guitar. The drums are quite complex once they get going – hi hats switching between 8th note rhythms to 32nd rhythms, the rim shot playing …

Single Review: “Accordion Song” – Mae Karthauser

A waltz! Something for double bass, vocals, cello, flute and piano. It’s gorgeous, the only thing that surprised me was the lack of an accordion! You can just hear it. This is listed as alternative folk, but it has a little bit of a jazzy flair in the arrangement. You can just imagine this being …

Single Review: “First House On The Left” – Katherine Priddy

What I like about folk music is that as you listen you can close your eyes and see the story unfollowed as it’s sung, it’s essentially a way to pass down family and local lore through the generations – Molly Malone, Eleanor Rigby, and so many more. This song is no different. Katherine sings of …

Single Review: “Witness Me” – Jacob Collier, Kirk Franklin, Stormzy, Shawn Mendes.

Well, this is…. HUGE. A multi instrumentalist with prodigious amounts of talent. A gospel music legend. A British rapper who is larger than life. An incredible singer songwriter from Canada who’s killing it right now… Plus a 500 voice choir no less. This starts off with Jacob’s signature tones, rich in sound, backed by finger …

Single Review: “Enough” – Amahla.

Chill out track of the day – “Enough” @amahlamusic That fat electric piano. THAT voice! Amahla states emphatically that Nina Simone was the blueprint and that she makes protest songs for gen z. It is sad that we need protest songs in this day and age it should be used to document ancient history. That …

Single Review: “Give And Take” – Rosie Frater-Taylor

Rosie is back with the opening track from her upcoming album “Featherweight”, it switches gears well – going from Latin-jazz flavour to distorted riffs – I’ve been a big fan for a long time. Her voice is as strong as ever, my favourite part is at 1:20 nice bit of guitar playing but then there’s …

Single Review: “Living The Dream” – Ski Lift

Is this a song told from the perspective of a turtle?  Possibly, given the first line of the song!  “I can feel my head sliding back inside my shell…” and the picture of one of the front cover.  Or, it could be a contemplative song of what the writer could be doing instead of their …

Album Review: “Moonshot” – 1201_Alarm. Words – Sammy Stein

120_Alarm comprises Steve Thompson (Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nigel Kennedy, Robert Smith, Lisa Stansfield) on Electronics, Laser Harp and Keyboard, Tamar Osborn (Akram Khan, Collocutor, Kelis, Van Morrison, Billy Ocean) on saxophone and flute, Emma Bassett (Adele, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tim Minchin) on trombone, Alistair ‘Titch’ Walker (Divine Comedy, Doolally Tap) on trumpet, Ollie Weston (Amy Winehouse, …

Single Review: “Music Is The Drug” – Roleplay

A nice slice of EDM here, but it’s more than just that. There are some lush strings on this, and I love the house piano riff on this. This track puts you in a good mood soon as it starts, and it’s the harmonies in the chorus that whisk you off.  What’s the song about?  …

Blog interview: Modeste

Congratulations on the release of “Queen” how does it feel?    Thank you, yeah, honestly it feels good to be able to show another aspect of my writing. “Queen” has a much more romantic feel than my previous releases. What’s the story behind the song?    The story is actually based on a fictional scenario. …