Category Archives: New Release Reviews

New Release Reviews

The Creepy Jingles – Against All Opps

Here is a band totally uninhibited about their love of a zinging pop hook, in fact they positively let that urge run wild on this new – all too short but undoubtedly leaving me wanting more – six track mini-album released on the wonderful Enigmatic Brunch label. The thing about pop, especially the kind of guitar pop we have here, one that references new wave and skater punk but then goes deeper into the realms of giddy psychedelia and multi coloured freakbeat, is that it has to be immediate. Well, you can tick that box off right away, I took one listen to ‘Against All Opps’ (got to love a Phil Collins referencing album title pun, haven’t you?) and right off the bat was convinced I had stumbled upon one of America’s best kept secrets. All these songs get in and get the job done on first exposure, they are short sharp punches to the earlobe and the brain because, and here is the best bit, they all still stand up to closer immersion and, more than that, enhance with a more deliberate listen. The opener ‘You Don’t Trend’ is a textbook example of what I am describing. The briefest of intros and away we go, divebombing into a punk pop nugget built on the classic verses to ear candy chorus mould and that vocal, with all its 21st century buzz words delivered like a hot slice of prime bitchiness. But let those words sink in a little, bask in the skinny-jean guitar solo before staring deeper into those sneering vocals, and it is hard not to conclude that ‘You Don’t Trend’ is actually a precise take-down of modern social tropes and shallow values, with all the vacuousness that entails taking a tumble with it.

It turns out The Creepy Jingles are not so new to others as they are to me, they have previously been a Kansas based four-piece built around the acid witted, lyrical songwriting of Jocelyn Olivia Nixon. They had previously announced themselves with the album ‘Take Me At My Wordplay’ but this new release, arriving hot on the heels of previous album ‘Washed Up,’ finds Nixon with a lightly refreshed and re-shuffled pack of musicians alongside. Maybe that explains the need for a speedy new release from this latest configuration, and if that is the motivation then playing this record more than justifies the exercise. Much is made of the humour, bite and imaginative wordplay Jocelyn deploys but with a band tearing into tune packed, riff heavy and ear worm worthy song constructs, you are being dealt a double whammy of mind and muscle in every song. ‘Stay High’ is a song that gallops into view atop the most irresistible of descending riffs and as the repeated chorus line song title circles us, staying high on this delight is pretty much the only option available. The self-assuredness in the lyric is a declaration that suggests, between the lines, this band know how great they can be. “You can’t hold me down or cop my sound, break my brain, derail my train. Stay high.”

That same confidence is explicitly stated in ‘I Don’t Need A Thing From You,’ a song with the energy and mocking aggression that used to be food and drink to Elvis Colstello and The Attractions, which might just be a reference point in my head thanks to the tracks fruity Farfisa echoing keyboard sound played by Gailen Gillespie. ‘Throw Me In Some Rice’ is where things really fly out of their lane. There is so much going on here that I should merely say go and listen to it; there are mellotron sounds, flute-like spinning textures, dramatic bass breakdowns and a moment where the drum kicks a fill, as the band fall away, that conjures thoughts of the timeless wall-of-sound production. The key to it all though is a brilliant song, a bittersweet lament fired from aching verses and a heavy-duty resolution accompanying a lyric which might be about letting your guard down but then again, the way Jocelyn paints lyrical pictures in all these songs, leaving them open to multiple interpretations, is the sign of a serious talent. As we enter the closing brace of tracks there is no slowing the eclectic range on display, ‘Funhouse Mirror’ is an Americana leaning scuzz bath (superb) leading to ‘Nu Fables’ which, with the “you don’t rock with my friends” repeat, resolutely delivers a genuine sing-along worthy moment for the Creepy Jingles audience to sink their teeth into. Jocelyn may expect all the cool kids to be rolling their eyelids now, but I don’t find it too hard to imagine an ever-expanding audience embracing this band and throwing masses of love and respect their way. On this evidence, The Creepy Jingles not only feel ready to make the leap, but they also sound thoroughly deserving.

Danny Neill

You can get a copy of the new Creepy Jingles mini-LP via this link: https://enigmaticbrunchrecords.bandcamp.com/

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New Release Reviews

Son Lux – Out Into

Often when a musician or band go deep into film soundtrack work, they can lose a bit of momentum and impetus in their more regular recorded work. Alternatively, on other occasions such as this, the commitment to atmospheric textures, scene enhancing instrumental pieces and the spring of ideas that entails, can result in creative ideas piling up so high, the urge to offload the amassed work into a songs-based album becomes overwhelming. The surfeit of inspiration manifests itself in an LP collection jam packed with inventiveness and sonic layers that are a feast for the ears, which is exactly what I have found on ‘Out Into.’ This is the bands ninth album with their core members consisting of Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang. All the film soundtracks they have been involved with in recent years have certainly earned Son Lux kudos amongst peers and listeners alike and when you check out some of these credits, including ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once,’ Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts’ and currently ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother,’ it is clear they have paved their way into the upper echelons of the film and music world. Which is, for me, wonderful to witness because there are so many chancers and mediocre talents with nothing to show but a good networking team occupying so many of these positions, that it is refreshing to know artists breaking through on the strength of their ideas and productions have a chance too.

And those inspired ideas do flow with an abundance. These are songs first and foremost, but they are spacious enough to accommodate eruptions of tones and patterns with frequent changes seemingly thrown in just for the daredevil thrill of it all. Where their love of hip-hop can be detected in some breaks, Son Lux are also honouring almost old-fashioned composition processes mixed with an improvisational aesthetic, but their smartest trick is that despite these classicist instincts, they could not sound more 2026 if they tried. The vocals are all airtight and up close in the mix, this does not sound like it was recorded in an aged environment, modern vocal effect tropes are played with uninhibitedly and the present-day electronics that form the backbone of the sound manage to unlock the kind of limitless potential this approach really should inspire more often. The soundtrack commitments worked in their favour as well for, in the gaps between the cinematography focused sessions, they piled enthusiastically into the songs on ‘Out Into.’ On top of that, this was played out over a two-year period, a freedom from deadlines that has leant this album such a fully loaded potency. Lyrically too, Ryan Lott has been able to carve out a thematic curve, explaining that the songs “are about losing and finding ourselves. How we lose ourselves in relationships, in work, in our children, in our pursuits and desires.”

‘Want You To Love’ launches the album into a space that is instantly unsettling and strangely inviting, a warm lurching sound but one that is as disturbed and anxious as a scuttling hamster; something like the bastard love child of FKA Twigs and Alabama Shakes. ‘Endlessly’ intros with multiple voices demanding, and receiving, engagement before building into one of the albums most rousing, self-asserting moments with the lines “love what you love and feel what you feel,” a straight-shooting plea to find oneself and be at peace with that. ‘Even If It Hurts’ presents as ghostly and haunted, echoing synth lines and a spiralling breeze all speak to a sense of revelation and release. ‘You Could Be The One’ is also an atmosphere laden later highlight; a little mournful and pensive sounding to the extreme, motioned by a tremendously dolent guitar line, the tune hits a dramatic breakdown near its conclusion alongside the lines “I’m not letting go of you, despite everything you do.” In yet another contrast, ‘Summer’s Gone’ has an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink busyness, a stuttering jerkiness to the rhythm and a machine drill of notes laying a foundation for a track that is frantically agitated. Arguably the finest example of the album’s expansiveness is on nearly title track ‘Out Into Us.’ An almost spiritual mediation on the overall thematic connections of transformation and change, the progressions sound like they could continue to evolve indefinitely. In fact, there is an extended 17-minute version of the tracks video on view at MASS MoCa in Massachusetts, an installation that defiantly stands in contrast to the short attention span disease that infects so much modern music consumption. Son Lux could not make their point any better than with the wholly immersive ‘Out Into,’ an album that proves the deeper the creative journey embarked upon, the greater the rewards.

Danny Neill

You can get a copy of the new Son Lux album via this link: https://sonlux.bandcamp.com/

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New Release Reviews

Hollow Hand – Wish Road South

There is an instantly familiar feel to this album but in the best conceivable way, so much so that the entire content of this review could just me sitting back and referencing the top-tier sonic nods and clear as day influences that are flying past. I will refrain from doing that, but I will shout out a few of the obvious ones, not because there should be any implication of copying, but actually because the signposts of inspiration are carried out with such class that I want folks to understand what a great album this is. So, we have a very clear Velvet Underground three chord trick swagger, a hint of early seventies Bowie glam and the kind of melody driven pop nous that bands like ELO built careers around and a singer songwriter like Elliott Smith carved out new standards in acoustic pop balladry. The song ‘Black Metal Corpse Paint’ even throws in an old Captain Beefheart album title (‘Safe As Milk’) into the lyric which I doubt very much was anything but deliberate. That said, all the tasteful hero worshipping in the world will only carry you so far if the new songs you wrap it around are not up to much. The song writing of Hollow Hand though is so strong here, everything sounds like it has been crying out for this kind of energy all along. The story of its creation features more than a few top names as well on the journey to an album named after the early‑morning bus route that ferried Hollow Hand main man Max Kinghorn-Mills to the studio. It may be a metaphor for the where he finds himself at with this fourth LP release, for ‘Wish Road South’ captures Kinghorn‑Mills stepping out of his old habits and into a looser, bolder, band‑driven future.

And so, it transpires that Hollow Hand’s new release has emerged from an encounter with reckoning for Max Kinghorn‑Mills, the man whose performing name has always been essentially a solo venture but finds itself very much in a branching out phase today. He hit a point where the songs that were sketched out for the record no longer matched the fire he felt after months on the road. Touring behind previous album ‘Your Own Adventure’ had thrown him into the orbit of other musicians; Irish bands with wild, instinctive energy, Caitlin Rose’s touring ensemble, Aoife Nessa Frances’ world, and a run of European dates with MJ Lenderman that refined his sense of what his own project could be. “The way I’ve made albums previously has usually been huddled away in the tradition of a bedroom producer,” says Kinghorn-Mills. “But with this one I expanded my horizons and it made me realise there’s so much more to playing, and being in a band, than just recording the songs.” Returning home, he realised the solitary, bedroom‑bound approach that had defined his earlier records could no longer carry him forward. So, he scrapped the half‑finished version of the album and rebuilt from the ground up, forming a tighter unit with Oliver Newton and Leo Clarke in a new Brighton studio where the songs were played into being rather than assembled in isolation. With the shift towards live tracking, shared investment, and a richer sonic palette the door flung open to a warmer, more confident record, later pushed further out by Clarence Clarity’s left‑field mixing instincts.

The record kicks off with a sound that should instantly point to the newfound audio avenues enthusiastically being explored throughout. ‘Flowers In The Garden’ is a sweet melange of hurdy gurdy bagpipe noises and drone with an anthemic, sing it from the terraces, melody resolution that truly satisfies. ‘Here Are The Tulips’ possesses some classic tension and release playing, it feeds into the major/minor electric jangle that the folk-rock genre wears in its purest form, but it is executed with such panache, the sound feels like a long-lost friend returning home. It is a gleaming little piece of pop perfection, happy sad in its progressions and simultaneously echoing so many eras and times without sounding retro for a second, I guess this means it might be operating in the realm of the timeless. The joy of plugging in and riffing on an irresistible three chord pattern is indulged in repeatedly. Even on the softer tunes like ‘Love Again,’ which offers tenderness and understanding in the lyric, is pushed on by solid, meaty strumming whilst ‘Kiss The Boot’ finds a chunky bit of abandoned Velvets gold dust to re-use with interest. There is so much more though, at times this could pass for a psych record with its distorted spoken word interludes, found sound, multi-layered string sections and general sense of mayhem prevailing, punctuated by the arrival of another shiny nugget of a song. ‘Heavy Metal T-Shirt’ is actually one of the poppiest selections here and another curve ball is thrown when ‘Drinking With Judy’ ups the energy stakes with some new wave urgency. By the time we close of ‘Green Meadows Of England,’ played out under tangibly grey skies and ‘A Gentle Place,’ a lovely baroque closer, it is blatantly obvious that the one other throwback ‘Wish Road South’ offers is its appreciably satisfying arc as an album. Add to that the absence of any weak tracks or filler and it all adds up to a mighty fine piece of work. It stands as a reminder that even in a post‑Bowie, post‑Reed, post‑Petty world, there are still artists willing to capture the spark and, on this evidence, Hollow Hand is running with the flame and holding it firmly in safe hands.

Danny Neill

Find the new Hollow Hand album via this link: https://www.hollowhand.com/

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New Release Reviews

ANYX – Starlink

The music of ANYX feels like it comes from a forbidden, derelict terrain. The sonic landscape overwhelms the listener from the outset as a feverish electric guitar note repeats and circles us until the icy exterior cracks and a full blown ethereal gothic wonderment bursts forth over funereal pounding drums, mournful keys and a voice that sounds nothing short of Nico returning from the other side. And this is just the ‘Ladybirds Spine’ opener, the preview track revealed a couple of months ago that served this album release up as one to look out for. This is the sound of an industrial landscape painted autumn grey, showered with freezing rain and yet humming with a self-fuelling energy and vibrancy that we simply cannot turn away from. It is like the Velvet Underground harvested from a war torn eastern European regime, albeit one where the sixties art school nonchalance is replaced by a biting modern-day realism, ANYX is an entity rising from the rubble with a momentum that can wipe the desolate surrounds clean and in so doing, breathing fresh life and shining new light on the dirt and dust. This is an album with grime all over its tough exterior but possessing a whole solar system of beauty and wonder lurking within the grooves, you just have to get on board and the forthcoming audio rewards are plentiful.

ANYX is the solo project of Berlin‑based artist, musician and vocalist Anna Lucia Nissen, emerging after her period fronting the trio Anchoress. ‘Starlink’ marks her first release under this name, developed in close collaboration with former bandmates Alexander Rathbone and Tobias Textor. The album reflects a shift toward a more personal, self‑directed practice that reconnects with Nissen’s background in visual art: she builds songs from her voice and lyrics outward, adding sparse instrumentation only once the core structure is set. This method gives her work a sculptural, deliberately constructed quality, grown with minimal elements such as harp, keys, guitar and double bass. Alongside this formal approach, Nissen’s writing often engages with broader questions about how people move through contemporary life, including the tension between human‑made systems and the natural world. Her interest in adopting different perspectives (sometimes human, sometimes animal) also informs the thematic reach of the project.

All told though, it is undoubtedly Anna’s resonate tenor voice that gives this art rock project its bones, not only that but it also reveals a sensitive beating heart at the core of the work. You can hear this especially well on centrepiece song ‘Strange Times.’ The bells that toll at the songs opening, a backdrop to radiant guitar lines that possess the pull of a coiled spring, all provide a progressive palate for the vocal that ponders the uneasy relationship between humanity, mythology, technology and the natural world. Then slowly something changes, as the arrangement leaves space for air some light gets in and it suddenly feels like we are elevating, drifting away as the moment fades atop the warmest organ chord imaginable. Earlier the mesmerising ‘Window In Your Eyes’ also shows the organic syncopation that exists between Anna and the musical tools she works around, this time debuting a harp into her sound that, by her own admission, grows into a conversation between voice and instrument. Once again, the closing passage is pushing us into the realms of the glorious. This line between light and shade, tension and release is walked across all nine tracks. It is there in the whispered voice of ‘Spring Birds’ watching from the margins or the way church doors seem to fling open in ‘Marian’ to reveal the most dazzling and divine hymn. It all serves to make ‘Starlink’ the kind of stand up and get noticed debut that should break through with force, there is very little else remotely like this music around right now.

Danny Neill

Follow the link for more on ANYX and how to get yourself a copy of the album: https://anyx.bandcamp.com/

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New Release Reviews

Dent May – The Big One

Well, this is a thing of beauty and wonder is it not? When making music that is adjacent to pop music, albeit a popular music that honours the standards and craftsman like processes of the past far more than the committee produced formular driven electronic pop that we hear so much of today, creating something as fantastically satisfying on a musical level as this is actually damn hard work. Realising sounds that push and pull the heart strings, rise and fall like a living breathing entity, that can caress the ears and nourish the soul with their lush presentation is not a process that happens by accident. This needs the ear of a true musical soul, not just that but one who can translate those echoes of the mind into the real world, play the notes and arrange the combinations of melodic traction, tempo and feel into something that works on record and is primed to manipulate the audio reactions in the listener. This is a deep skill and from the moment you let the needle drop on this album, it is abundantly clear we are being driven by someone well versed and practised in the art of classic pop song craft. These may be lazy comparisons but think Beach Boys, early Bee Gees and Beatles (the three B’s) and that is the style Dent May is observing with a piece of work like this. The great news is, May is absolutely up to the task.

Of course, none of this has happened by accident. Dent May has been a long-term devotee of seventies singer-songwriters like the similarly Beatles influenced Harry Nilsson as well as Paul McCartney around the time of ‘Ram.’ It is only now though that he is really letting those influences bleed into his recorded output but because he does so without inhibition, they stand tall and proud. It is an interesting direction because for all the meticulousness in the production, not to mention the detail in the arrangements (there are guitar figures, piano sweeps and swooping emotive strings to be heard in abundance) the sessions that launched these tracks were actually quite loose and explorative. For Dent’s seventh full length release he abandoned his previous bedroom aesthetic in favour of collaborative jamming sessions with friends and colleagues, an idea designed to explore the potential for a fuller, tastier sound. It was recorded at the Los Angeles Honeymoon Suite studio with Paul Cherry producing. This freedom has opened the door for Dent to flex considerably his melancholy pop magic, the combination of the bitter and the sweet heard in these songs is surely enough to satisfy even the most discerning of pop classicist enthusiasts.

The willingness to capture spontaneity and true analogue feel is heard on a song like ‘Second Wind,’ a track recalling how a low feeling Dent was invited for a night out but, not feeling up for accepting, he waited until catching his second wind before choosing to take the social option against his natural instincts. The way it rises from pastoral acoustics to pounding piano keys and a skipping beat as the evening town is hit by the narrator before the tired yawns of the graceful closing section arrive, is a thing of genuine loveliness. Of the very Gerry Rafferty leaning title track, Dent acknowledges that it is the work of a man painfully aware of the natural disasters that could be coming our way, not to mention the ticking clock of mortality. This is no surprise to me, because the music plays like the work of someone urgently driven to locate the natural joy available to us in our brief window of existence. Aside from environmental concerns, he says of ‘The Big One’ that it is also about “any personal life-altering moment that shakes you out of your comfort zone.” This is the story across all eleven tracks here, the traumas and joys of day to day living wrapped in a masterclass of pop writing and recording, directed by a man prepared to walk the happy/sad line fearlessly, scooping up every drop of audio magic he finds on that path and heating it to perfection. Sometimes there is truly little to say about albums like this other than, it has been made with a purity of intent and vision which leaves us with an album that really needs proper listening and will frequently reward those who do.

Danny Neill

You can find the new Dent May album via this link: https://dentmay.bandcamp.com/

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New Release Reviews

Margaret Glaspy – I Am Both

Around the release of her fourth full length album, the follow up to 2023’s highly rated ‘Echo The Diamond,’ Margaret Glaspy has been musing on her place in the world as a working musician. She is turning away from notions of success that are the accepted measuring tools, thinking of what she does instead as more of a public service. “You show up in city after city and you bring the music with you” Margaret ponders, “and hopefully it reaches whoever needs to hear it. I feel very honoured to be of service in that way.” Maybe this purity of intent is an indication of why this album stands tall with such undeniable effect. This is a work that plays as if all obstacles on the pathway to creation were aggressively swept aside, there is something in these songs that has more focus and indeed more hair-raising stimulants than we had any right to anticipate. At times there appears to be so much raw emotional detail in some of the lyrics that you could reasonably assume that this singer is emerging from a period of intense personal trauma, although the pre-release declarations from the artist herself all lean towards these being fictional, song writing excursions, albeit from someone more than capable of stitching a few authentic real morsels into the scenarios she sings about.

Also, if this were to be the Margaret Glaspy equivalent of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood On The Tracks,’ (there is plenty of evidence that he is a big influence, especially in some of the wild and free harmonica playing we hear here) then it is a homage that respectfully understands the appeal of zooming in from a multitude of different perspectives. These audio vignettes have fine brush strokes that rarely nail moments down, preferring to play with time and chronology, prompting the curious effect of getting to the heart of the matter more than once. Part of this directness is attributed to Glaspy’s self-imposed release from the grip of social media. She saw this as a route back to original thought, not to mention some clarity of purpose, and sketched out these songs first with pen and paper before doing some even more retro polishing on a typewriter. This momentum is captured in the immediacy of the final work, produced by three-times Grammy winner Joe Henry. There is a fearlessness to the simplicity in some of the hooks, a confidence to play the notes that serve the narrative best and are guaranteed to reel in the listeners. Beyond that, there is a strength evident in the indie-leaning, acoustic warmth that has been captured, as Margaret alludes to herself when saying “I always think of myself as more of a photographer than a sculptor in the studio. It’s about capturing the moment rather than layering and building things up over time.”

Opening track ‘Michigan’ parachutes us into the troubled emotional terrain that bubbles across the surface of the whole album. “You said you didn’t need me, but who’s standing in whose driveway?” Potent lines like this enrich the whole track, emanating from the broken-hearted thoughts and deeds that permeate a recent relationship break up. It is writing of a fine crafted stripe, offering the suggestion of a narrative but exploding with moments that possess a universal familiarity that people are bound to identify with. ‘That Rose’ plays around with perspectives too, this time resulting in an album highlight, a sly reminder that jealous feelings are not exclusive to the betrayed. ‘Reminder,’ by contrast, feels like a peephole into the singers’ inner monologue, evaluating her place in the world and recalibrating all the coping strategies we need to survive, it is a do not throw your hand song that ducks and weaves rather than go for the knockout. At other times Margaret hits her targets with lethal precision, like on the beginning of ‘Petty’ with its seething opening line “can’t you read my mind? I thought telepathy was a requirement for love.” ‘Common Ground’ ploughs through the debris of shattered love too but like so much here, is lifted by the life affirming grit of the music.

‘James And Marie’ walks a more traditional storyteller line, especially by naming the lead characters from the outset, but again the momentum of the acoustic rhythmic riffing pushes the track into another realm far away from standard acoustic balladry. The subject matter takes on a wider brief with ‘Martin Luther King Jr.’ wherein Glaspy recontextualises segments of a 1957 sermon by the legendary civil right leader. Finding inspiration from his transcendent speaking, she shines a light on the truth in his words and their pertinence in modern day America and the world over. By the time we close on the title track, it feels like Margaret has arrived at a moment of self-enlightenment. The song is based on a female character that the writer looks up to deeply, a multi-faceted character with a real clarity of thought. But maybe she is also seeing a little of herself in there too? Or at the very least the person she aspires to be. All I can conclude is that, on this evidence, Margaret Glaspy is fast evolving into an expressive artist who also contains multitudes, travelling on a significant upwards trajectory of her own, she presents as one of the most engaging musical troubadours of our time.

Danny Neill

You can get yourself a copy of ‘I Am Both’ via this link: https://margaretglaspy.bandcamp.com/music

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New Release Reviews

Sam And Louise Sullivan – Love And Devotion

This is a record made by a duo who were raised, schooled, and immersed in the folk tradition but who wish to reach for something far away from that world sonically. In fact, they are looking at the whole other realm of FM radio with a sound that heavily references Buckingham and Nicks, the foundation of Fleetwood Mac’s gear change from blues purists to the dramatic pop sheen of their most celebrated era. There might just be something similar happening here, although the Sullivan siblings have not specifically grown a reputation within the folk world, if you listen close enough you can definitely detect the background embedded into the harmony rich, melodically memorable core of their songs. Take the opening track, which was also the lead single ‘Down On Love,’ the voices switch verses and take a chorus each as the song bounces along like the theme tune to a 70s sitcom, electric guitar fills adding to a mix that presents like a very polished pop brew. But hidden behind the modern production is a song that could exist very agreeably as an acoustic number, the drama belonging in the character driven approach of the leading male and female voices. Those vocals unite very well on the title track too, switching between long held falsetto backing notes and the semi spoken recitals of Sam whilst guitar lines send jolts of electricity through the mixing board.

So, who are the pair making these sounds? Well, Sam and Louise Sullivan’s story reads like a long, looping folk song beginning on an old farm school along the Tualatin River in Oregon, where the brother and sister first learned the American and British traditional tunes that informed their musical instincts. After moving to New York in 2001 Sam fell hard for the mandolin and the finger‑twisting guitar of Reverend Gary Davis, while Louise immersed herself in Manhattan’s Irish sessions and sang with the Young People’s Chorus of New York. As a family band they played everywhere from Carnegie Hall to sea‑shanty gatherings at the South Street Seaport, all while enduring the kind of formative, slightly chaotic road trips (Elvis and Woody Guthrie pilgrimages, contra dances, old‑time festivals) that tend to fuse siblings into lifelong collaborators. College brought literature and visual arts, Philadelphia brought ceramics for Louise and high‑school teaching for Sam, and eventually songwriting arrived as a natural extension of their creative lives together. What began as home recordings made on a USB mic between loads of laundry grew into a fully-fledged band once they met Kevin Basko and Emily Moales, who nudged them toward amplifiers, reel‑to‑reel tape, and a looser, more immediate way of capturing performances. Their records ‘Papier Mâché,’ ‘Sweet Enough,’ and now ‘Love And Devotion’ balance arena‑sized pop ambitions with the trad DNA they cannot shake: the ballads, the ’70s harmonies, the blood‑born blend that echoes the folk‑inspired ceramics of their mother and the offbeat Americana chronicled by their father. Even as they lean into digital textures, that sweet old‑time feeling remains stitched into every song as this album unfolds.

Continuing with ‘There You Go Again,’ dreamed into existence in those bedazzled half-asleep, half-awake moments, gliding on a breath of a repeated backing refrain and a corrugated guitar figure that holds it all together, the otherness of the sound double accentuated by a shift at the close not unlike a tape changing speed. ‘Ms Mercedes’ is a deceptively simple sounding character study and yet, the easy on the ear portrait manages to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the production and arrangement without ever overcrowding the space. ‘Since I Left’ is a harmony rich back porch banjo ballad fed through an electric folk power blender while ‘Doing Time’ has a kind of resigned exhale that suits the reflective nature of the lyrics perfectly. It finishes with a solo that has an unexpected bagpipe texture overcoating the guitars too. ‘My Guy’ arrives with seconds of hazy backwards tape effect that re-appear later, alongside other rapid dream state audio sensations, in an otherwise straight-shooting song where psychedelics are applied liberally, tastefully but far from overplayed. ‘After All These Years’ has the thrust and appealing verse resolve then chorus eruption of a hit record. ‘Irish Goodbye’ is an emotive ballad of letting go before we close on ‘Treehugger,’ a pop-rock song pulsating with an electro heart and clearly pointing to further sonic and stylistic evolutions for this duo. They are surely going places, the rich offerings of craft, ideas, and execution to be heard here alone convince me of that. ‘Love And Devotion’ may not beat you over the head with its quality, but it will subtly entice you in and then lay you out deliciously song by song. Excellent album.

Danny Neill

You can buy a download of the album via this link: https://link.amazon/B0i7uJArG

Sam & Louise Sullivan by Betsey Carroll
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New Release Reviews

Wills Van Doorn – Enduro

It might raise a few eyebrows if I were to describe making an out-and-out power pop album a brave move, in doing so creating a sit up and take notice statement release, but I believe this to be both and I am happy to make that call. The truth about writing and recording great pop songs in the classicist’s mould, is that it is actually a tough undertaking to get right but when someone does, the end results sound effortless. Taking the trouble to structure chord patterns that stimulate the senses to feel an emotion, then growing a melodic pattern that pulls a listener in and holds them there before finally icing the cake with lyrics that speak in easily understood, poetically inclined thoughts is a craft that needs a degree of talent to effectively realise. The other thing that relatively new artists, which Van Doorn still counts as, can enjoy is that they often have a lot of low hanging fruit in the ideas chamber of their mind. The simplest yet often most immediately memorable song ideas present themselves without inhibition to artists like Wills, who is still at the exciting early phase of his career where he can find a natural and honest sound without inhibition, free from the fear that he might be repeating his own previous work.

And so it is that we now find Wills Van Doorn really making some big music noise with ‘Enduro,’ ironic when you consider how quietly he has been carving out his own corner of Portland’s power‑pop underground. Wills building blocks were a handful of early home‑recorded releases which are now hitting full bloom with the fully fledged melodic craft on display in ‘Enduro.’ A multi‑instrumentalist with a fondness for bright hooks and tightly wired arrangements, Van Doorn first surfaced with the 2020 EP ‘Run With You,’ a lo‑fi glimpse of the tuneful instincts he is now sharpening and evolving today with this bold new album. Over the past six years Wills has embedded himself further into the city’s DIY ecosystem, writing and refining the songs that would become his debut album, all while developing a reputation for meticulous preparation in the studio. That discipline meets a streak of spontaneity on the new record which was produced in a whirlwind weekend by Johnny Payne and powered by the rhythmic drive of Beach House drummer James Barone. The album captures Van Doorn heading off down a new highway, one where his classicist pop sensibilities, the Big Star pop punch, the Lemon Twigs‑ish theatricality, all lock into place with a confident sense of momentum.

That assuredness can be seen in spades with a song like ‘Aero,’ which glides into view like a cloud raining sensuous George Harrison guitar washes over everything in sight; that it also has octave leaping verses and a heavenly chorus is almost incidental, a case of if the sound does not floor you then the song itself surely will. The title track enters with the jangle of Wills electric guitar, after which an off-mic count in launches the maximum, both juicy and chunky, guitar riffs with a bang and our lead vocalist sets in motion a journey into song. The classic sixties and seventies pop reference points pile up, ‘Ever Wonder Why’ ticks off subliminal ELO style textures, a suggestion but not overcooked helping of Beach Boys type backing vocals and a guitar solo that has so much trebly bite it might just blow your speakers. But my main point is that taking these incredible influences is all well and good, but it is what Wills is doing with them that makes the difference, he is making great sounding songs that are entirely his. And it is with these standard measures that the ten-track album plays on, refusing to sing with a solo voice when a harmonious, multi-voiced serenade will propel you to the ninety-ninth floor, steadfastly resisting to reprise a verse if a dreamily middle eight can open up another dimension but equally holding back when a pared down electric piano and vocal introduction (‘Wake Up’) is already hitting the spot without over decoration. But then that same song, clocking in at under three minutes, walks into another space aglow with a fruity organ break and slam-dunking fuzz guitar solo. This simultaneously complex yet oh-so simple pleasure of an album does so much in half an hour, it gets in and gets out grinning atop the enviable job satisfaction of delivering a power pop album par-excellence!

Danny Neill

You can get the album via this link: https://enigmaticbrunchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/enduro

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New Release Reviews

Almost Friends – Again, Not Again

I have found such delight in the discovery of this superb debut album by an act I had previously never heard of, that it prompted me to ponder with some frustration the crowded field they are about to occupy. There has to be a space for quieter music, for sounds that do not demand much, or any, amplification to hit their targets. But sometimes it can feel that the convenience of writing and recording for the bedroom artist leads to an introspection overindulgence. There are so many gentle troubadours staring at their feet, strumming a couple of chords at a painfully slow pace, whispering their woes into a recording device that the more cynical listener might enquire, is this really how you feel, or are you just performing like that because it is easy? I do wonder if a stricter critical ear might benefit these artists, injecting them with a motivation to work harder and actually write a tune that people will remember and enjoy listening to. I do not know if the acoustic duo Almost Friends had this kind of production encouragement (and given the main mans history I doubt they needed it anyway) but supposing for the sake of argument they did, it absolutely worked. This is a soft, delicate album of acoustic instrumentals and melodically rich songs that show definitively how it should be done. Furthermore, it is proof that when there is a finer quality to the music, composition that has been harvested from a pure grain, this kind of style resonates with as much power and impact as any rock band.

Almost Friends are an acoustic duo consisting of Aggi Vrettou and Arturo Barretti, and their independently released ‘Again, Not Again’ moves with the tranquil hum of songs written in the margins of ordinary life. Essentially, they are born of Konstantinos Protopapas, who appears as Arturo here but is also known to some as Gus Boggar. He is a Greek multi-project musician and songwriter, a founding member of Effigy who later flexed his psych/kraut muscles in Chickn as well as with Prins Obi. So far so Bevis Frond, so all good with me. This project is built on intimate folk, pop‑folk and sparse singer‑songwriter arrangements, the record lingers on repetition, memory and the strange comfort of returning to the same unresolved feelings. Arturo says of these pieces, they were “written quietly, in between things, in moments that did not seem important at the time.” They carry the hush of late‑night rooms and unsteady voices, tracing distance and closeness at once while drawing on influences from Dan Reeder and Bill Callahan to Josienne Clarke, Myriam Gendron and Elliott Smith. A track has already been selected for an upcoming FATEA compilation, with mastering on the recordings the work of Iraklis Vlachakis.

The album shifts between lead vocals from both Aggi and Arturo with a sprinkling of solo guitar pieces, which ensures the song sequence never sits still. The guitar pieces are especially engaging; the strings being picked with the composure and skill of a classical player. Take ‘Like Everybody Else’ as an example, it moves through distinct progressions in a way that reminded me of the early Genesis piece ‘Horizons,’ only this is better. Aggi’s voice has a softly glowing clarity, it feels almost whispered into the air yet beneath that gentleness you sense a deeper strength she never needs to fully reveal. It is a steady, ringing presence that cuts cleanly through the room, so opening the record with her unaccompanied vocal on ‘Valentine’ is a canny curtain raiser. When the subject matter turns dark, they cleverly counterbalance it with positive energy, like on ‘Lovely To Return After A Fall’ wherein depression is knocking on the singer’s door, but it is faced down with a banjo led stomper that is sprightly and defiant. By contrast, the Arturo vocal on ‘Leave Me Alone’ is a thing of brooding menace until he hits the satisfying release of the chorus. There are lighter numbers too, like ‘Fishing Blues’ that has the breezy air of old-time country blues. It all leads us to closing number ‘To Pray Or Not,’ which is something of an epic, pulling on all the dramatic arrangement structures Arturo gets to refine in his other, more sonically expansive, projects. By ending this musical journey in such dark, gothic splendour Almost Friends underline what a strong piece of work this is. The influences I mention are all valid but ultimately, this is an independently crafted piece that exists in a space of its own and I strongly advise both the connoisseurs and the curious to go and pay this album a visit.

Danny Neill

You can get a download or limited edition CD of the album here: https://gusboggar.bandcamp.com/album/again-not-again

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New Release Reviews

Andrew Sa – American Rough

It might seem like country music has done all its evolving by this point, that the end game has been arrived at with its current mainstream pop sheen success. Where can it go from here other than reach back and try to recapture that western grit and sawdust authenticity that made it such a vital staple of American roots music in the twentieth century? Well, no, it is not quite as simple as that because with this debut album by Andrew Sa, there is an undeniable sense of country music making one further great leap forward. Admittedly it is less to do with the music, which draws on a multitude of vintage styles and influences, but we will come to that, and more to do with the straight edged posturing the original country music establishment prided itself on. Those good ol’ boys did not care much for long hairs, for hippies, for different ethnicities and they certainly had no place for queers. All of which makes the arrival of Andrew Sa quite the bold entrance. His music is informed by the folk and blues storytelling traditions for sure, but the real country DNA to his sound reaches back to the mournful ballads sung by Patsy Cline and Webb Pierce. On top of that Andrew proudly sings with vulnerability, raw emotion and tenderness. He is free to express, to sing of his experiences in the gay community and demand his songs a place in the country canon without inhibition.

The most direct reference to his place in the lineage can be found in lead single ‘Lavender Cowboy.’ It is a purposeful shout out to his late friend Patrick Haggerty, whose early seventies band Lavender Country were a pioneering influence on gay activism in the country community, but were ultimately shut out by an industry hostile to their open sexuality. Of the song Sa says, “I was chasing that elusive happy/sad bop, writing most of the song on my tenor guitar in a hotel room near Seattle, WA following Patrick’s ‘Celebration of Life.’ He inspired countless people and I wanted to capture the essence of that. There’s an old novelty/humor song by the same name that’s rather homophobic, so I also hope to rewrite the narrative on the ‘Lavender Cowboy.’” The song is a thing of yearning, pedal steel enhanced sweeping, elegant beauty. The perfect theme tune that ‘Midnight Cowboy’ never had. It also provides an opportunity for Andrew to flex his vocal range, his voice a mix of the buoyant balladeer and the fragile, cracked up font that is wrestling not to be overcome with his heavy feelings. A similar combination can be heard on ‘You Turned Me On’ although this one leans harder into a southern soul groove, the horns pushing the chorus to an elevation that when it arrives, positively rains down on us with sumptuous glory.   

Andrew Sa’s path to ‘American Rough’ begins in the cab of his father’s ’86 Ford F150, packed in with his siblings and absorbing the emotional charge of Reba, the Eagles, and top‑40 country while his dad occasionally pulled a Gibson Les Paul from under the bed like a secret doorway into a former life. After his mother remarried and launched a karaoke business, Sa was nudged onto stages as a child, already gravitating toward Patsy Cline’s saddest songs, an early sign of the aching balladry that defines this debut. He wandered for a while, falling hard for jazz singers and discovering queer icons like Rufus Wainwright and k.d. lang, whose unapologetic artistry cracked open his sense of what a queer performer could be. Acting stints in the Bay Area and Portland came and went, but a songwriting class at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music rerouted everything, pulling him into a community of queer country misfits and collaborators (Liam Kazar, Sully Davis, Lavender Country, and the gloriously camp Cosmic Country Showcase) where his siren‑like croon became a fixture. By 2021, early sketches with Kazar led him to producer H.C. McEntire, whose raw, country rasp and emotional clarity felt like the missing piece. Together with co‑producer/engineer Missy Thangs and a wide cast of musicians, they built this album in North Carolina and Chicago; a tender, cinematic album meditating on queer longing, Chicago nights, and Sa’s evolving sense of masculinity, held together by the trust and vulnerability made possible under the guidance of two women at the helm. Ultimately this is an album that knocks down doors, not least to unleash an artist whose potential reaches way beyond the confines of a traditional community he is already pushing into a new era.

Danny Neill

You can get the album via this link: https://amzn.to/3QMIClY

Andrew Sa by Alexa Viscius
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