Richard Gavril – Say Nothing At All
Another selection from the #gemsintherough competition on YouTube right now, this is a singer and a song that just stood out a mile. Fantastic writing alongside dexterous guitar playing, beautifully sung, an original number in the style of the classic sixties Tom Paxton or Paul Simon style of personal leaning folk ballad and I mean the comparison as a massive compliment. I dug a little deeper with Richard Gavril and he has good form in this mode, not only that but he is consistent with the hi-vis locker room thing as well, although it is unclear whether he actually does post his music during down time at work or if it’s an image he projects, like Neil Young and his farm hand look. I could go on a little rant about the music industry and how too much talent is hidden below the radar but why tarnish such a lovely song with negativity? With music as good as this, just listen and enjoy…
Temples – Afterlife
Of all the psychedelic bandits to emerge during the last decade, it was always Temples who threatened to orbit the mainstream with their rich sound wrapping songs that are packed in melody adorned by ever changing tones and colours. Temples continue to make this kind of music and surely many more people will board their spaceship this time around, especially as forthcoming album ‘Exotico’ has Sean Ono Lennon in the producers chair. Anyone following his eclectic music career should know by now, he is not one to lend his name to anything less than musically resplendent and so we continue…
Lavinia Blackwall – The Damage We Have Done
Similarly psych infused but wholly of her own grain, this is an exquisite new tune from the former Trembling Bells multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Soon to appear on her second solo album, it is hard not to think of the climate emergency within the lyrics, singing of our fast passing moment as “kings for a day”, the parasites that we are living off the planet whilst wilfully ignoring how we damage it. It is also all too easy to miss, amongst the vintage acid-folk stylings which seem second nature to Lavinia, that her songs naturally form ear-worms of the most delightful and welcome kind…
Oracle Sisters – Tramp Like You
If the previous song sounded like a crisp spring morning (to my ears at least) then this one is more of a hazy desert sunset, literally as it goes in the accompanying video. The Oracle Sisters are a trio whose seeds can be found in Belgium, then later scattered between New York and Edinburgh. Lewis Lazar and Christopher Willatt had played in rival bands, soon enough the same band thus forming a songwriting partnership. They were later joined in Paris by Julia Johansen, a Finnish songwriter who not only had a voice and style that blended seamlessly with theirs, but she also a handy ability on the drums. Check out their sound, it is free of unwanted clutter, drawing the listeners attention to the melodic piano and guitar frameworks that their alluring songs are built around. ‘Tramp Like You’ is taken from the album ‘Hydranism’, due out on April 7th…
Unloved – I Did It
Formed in 2015, the trio Unloved just released their third album ‘Polychrome’ and, as heard in this grinding groove driven song, have lost none of the dramatic tension that led to TV producers using much of their music on the soundtrack to ‘Killing Eve’. Originally from Los Angeles, the band are made up of Jade Vincent, Keefus Ciancia and the well known DJ, curator and soundtrack producer David Holmes, no wonder they get it so right so often. Like all great mixologists, this song has an echo of Peggy Lee singing ‘Fever’ hanging over it, but if that was in the creative minds of Unloved it matters little for they mould it into a new song, indisputably their own wonderful creation, side-saddling a playful nod to the past…
The Flowers Of Hell – Foray Through Keshakhtaran
If I tell you that this collective were once Lou Reed endorsed, their music was featured on what turned out to be his final radio show, then that should encourage you to check out The Flowers Of Hell in the expectation of bold, expansive music that unfolds its multi-dimensional structures the more you immerse yourself in it. This is the single mix of the trans-Atlantic experimental group’s 2023 album ‘Keshakhtaran’, which is an Urban Dictionary term for, “seeking nirvana through meditation to sound, especially when you’re stoned.” Release date of full album is May 12th…
Fruit Tree Records 