Hannah Frances | Fruit Tree Records

Hannah Frances – Surviving You

This is taken from Hannah’s new album ‘Nested In Tangles’ which is out this week via Fire Talk. Having already caught the eye in 2024 with a stunning debut album ‘Keeper Of The Shepherd’ this immediate follow up continues to dazzle and amaze. No mere confessional folky, Hannah has a free flowing range that recalls the likes of Kate Bush and Jeff Buckley but as legitimate as those comparisons are, the fact is she possesses the eloquence and imaginative expression to make this style her own. Parts of the new album feature collaborative arrangements with Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen; something detectable in the eruptions of free jazz and progressive flourishes but the Hannah Frances core magnifies all elements into one heady brew, poetically honing her thematic meditations on generational trauma and maladaptive patterns with a musical experience that is deeply rewarding. Do not miss out on this one.

Jessie Kilguss – Howard Johnson’s

This is a preview track from Kilguss’s sixth album ‘They Have A Howard Johnson’s There’, a line that features in this superb reflection fuelled rock/pop tune, which is due to be released on November 14th. Jessie is a former actress who made songwriting her full time artistic outlet after working with musical heroes Marianne Faithfull and Mary Margaret O’Hara in the Tom Waits / William Burroughs musical ‘The Black Rider’. This song was inspired by the Al Pacino movie ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and specifically the line spoken by Pacino “I’ll charter a plane to Algeria, they have a Howard Johnson’s there”. Kilguss’s father Howard had passed away a month before her seeing this movie and so the song stands as both a tribute to him and an inspirational spark for what the songwriter felt was a ridiculous line in the movie. ‘Howard Johnson’s’ is a wonderful, slightly forlorn and yet simultaneously uplifting and loving song that deserves some recognition. The nostalgia in the accompanying vintage advert filled video is a blast too, so enjoy.

Jose James – Tokyo Daydream

Released earlier this year, this irresistible slice of soulful electro with jazzy inflections is taken from Jose James thirteenth studio album ‘1978: Revenge Of The Dragon’. There is something in the pulse of the electro beat that sounds so warm and natural, which might have something to do with the fact that the record was recorded live to tape in a manner recalling the analogue heyday of the seventies. Jose has long been a voice in the contemporary soul and jazz worlds who is impossible to pin down, his groove is just so versatile, so cosmically old and new. The new record combines four originals alongside four new interpretations of late 70s classics and is a must hear for any fans of these styles who are on a quest for something bold, innovative and unique. Not only that, but it is a joy to listen to, so dig in.

Southern Avenue – Upside

As we have taken a soulful turn, let’s keep it going with some deliciously rootsy sounding funky soul and a killer chorus hook to boot. This one is an uplifting live version of a standout track on the bands debut album released this year on Alligator Records. Recorded in Memphis, the sense of that regions musical roots merging with gospel and funk is tangible, just as the impression of Southern Avenue being a band that can really cut it live is equally hard to ignore. The message carries a positive punch as well, with a lyric that pushes for the shedding of old concerns and the welcoming of the winds of change with open arms. “Every day’s a new day, find me on the upside” indeed. In the light of the times we live in, the mere act of setting out each morning with that attitude is a heavy act of defiance and one that I willingly try to embrace.

GoGo Penguin – What We Are And What We Are Meant To Be

Taken from GoGo Penguin’s latest album ‘Necessary Fictions’, the title of this modern jazz configuration is a strong indicator to the inspiration for the compositions creation. Pianist Chris Illingworth described it as being born of “deep reflection” and the music conveys sonically the abrasive dividing line between the reality of the people we are and the dream of the people we aspire to be. In that sense, each of the audio facets that are the building blocks of this piece, the delicate piano patterns, the restless drum grooves, the throbbing of the bass at the heart of it all, the deep washes of double bass and the ambient ever-presence of the synths each serve to capture an element of the whole that only becomes fully identifiable when everything is combined, which seems to happen both naturally and with some resistance. All told, this electric Manchester trio are still making and creating sound in a manner that demands attention and delights the ears.

U – The Bitter Withy

And finally, we conclude this week’s selection in a place that is one-part traditional old-England folk, another-part haunting and a wonderfully baffling puzzle all rolled into one. It comes from an album set to be released on 10th October called ‘Archenfield’ on the Lex Records label. There in lies the first mystery, for the record has been constructed by a sample collagist called U about whom little is known. In putting this audio delight together U has dug deep into archive recorded material, found sound and sourced other atmospheric samples all relevant to the area in Herefordshire known as Archenfield. The ambience of the whole record, in conjunction with the mesmeric appearances and disappearances of voices from another age, both bring folk and folklore into the current realm in tandem with time-locking them into history. Do these voices speak to us today or is our connection too severed to ever reach back that far? ‘The Bitter Withy’ itself is centuries old, telling the tale of a child Christ and a murderous misuse of his powers, and it sounds archaic too; it plays as if it were broadcasting from the needle on an antique shellac player which has just been wound for the final time, never to play again. This one is unique in every sense, one of those albums that will not survive as background music but for those who want immersion, confusion, patient gratification, questions without easy answers and a positive banquet of imaginative audio wonderment, then U’s ‘Archenfield’ album will surely become a treasured possession.

Hannah Frances – Vacant Intimacies

Hannah has many facets to her art and performance being simultaneously a composer, guitarist, poet, singer and movement artist. Her latest and third album ‘Keeper Of The Shepherd’, released by the Ruination Record Co., is a mesmerising set which manages to pull in influences as diverse as freak folk, progressive rock and free jazz into a set that demands repeated plays. On this new release it is the strength and conviction in that voice that really pulls you in, something definitively on display in this live performance of one of the albums outstanding numbers. All the aforementioned reference points are in evidence here, the untethered spirit of freak folk, the expansiveness and unpredictable melodic changes of prog and indeed some brass embellishments straight out of the jazz bop sound book but this is in no way a mish-mash, it is a fully contained song that rises to a pitch then recedes in a rather irresistible manner. The rest of the album is essential listening too, a strong LP release that we will still be talking about by the years end…

Sabatta – Take You There

Sabatta are a London duo who have been churning up the capitol rock scene for more than ten years now with a vital take on passionate, dirty and loud guitar music. They are Yinka Oyewole on guitar and vocals with Debbie Dee on bass and backing vocals. This track, taken from their most recent ‘How To Get Even’ album, is a firecracker of an electric instrumental with some undeniable echoes of garage rock fuelled with primal blues energy. But it sounds modern too, it is music for the here and now, music that demands to be blasted out of every electric vehicle skimming by in the 21st century city centre. Play this loud…

The Mellons – Make Me Feel

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, I think it is reasonable to say that The Mellons, who have been on the scene since 2020, have soaked up the rainy day melancholy of the UK every bit as much as they have bathed in the sun drenched warmth of their own back yard. Of course, one listen to this places and you know they are positioned firmly under the sunshine pop umbrella but there is more going on both musically and visually. It is the Beach Boys harmonising to the sound of tea and biscuits late 60s UK psychedelia. Furthermore, there is more than a hint of the Magical Mystery Tour to this play school ram raid of a video. A splendid time is guaranteed for all however because The Mellons have not neglected the most vital component, they have written a quite lovely pop song in the traditional vein…

Nadine Shah – Topless Mother

This attention grabbing first single from Nadine’s latest album ‘Filthy Underneath’ was perhaps the only track sounding connected to her earlier releases. Elsewhere on the album she does push her musical palette into newer, lusher areas but nevertheless, this is arguably the song that shouts loudest and clearest just why she remains an artist worth paying attention to. The period of personal turbulence around the making of the record inevitably looms large, but the way she can channel this raw material into songs with a keen eye for the absurd and humour in otherwise unfunny situations is very well balanced. In this song alone the experience of dark sessions with a counsellor and dead end word association tasks leads to a chorus line that sings “Sinatra; Viagra; Iguana; Sharia; Diana; Samosa; Varuca; Tequila; Banana; Alaska; Medusa; Gorilla”…

Camera Obscura – Big Love

Here are a band we are lucky to still have around for after the death of long standing keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015 they understandably went on an indefinite hiatus. Even though they never officially declared an end to Camera Obscura and have played live recently, it would have been no surprise if that had been the end but no, they are about to return with a new album entitled ‘Look To The East Look To The West’ which is set for release next month. As you can hear, none of Tracyanne Campbell’s facility for carving a bittersweet melancholic pop hook has been lost and that voice remains a thing of bruised magnificence. They seem to be making a comeback because the music is sufficiently vital to justify the reappearance, at least that is how it sounds to me, which makes this a resurrection as welcome as it is necessary…

Norah Jones – Staring At The Wall

From the new album ‘Visions’ released on the Blue Note label, which is about as close as you get to an identifiably Jazz reference point in anything Norah does these days. She is far more of an Alt-Rock, Indie-Pop shapeshifter than people often give her credit for. This track is a good example, the rolling momentum of the electric guitar rhythm chunders in and out of focus whilst a howling, whooping lyric-less chorus echoes and thunders as if descending like a cloud of thick smog. Her music probes and cross-fertilizes across the genres and the song writing back bone always remains top drawer. Just like when I talked up the new Billy Joel release a few weeks ago, I am aware that a Norah Jones recommendation steers too close to the middle-of-the-road for some but, for me, there is far more cutting edge in this than your average The Streets release or (insert similar over-praised toss) so have it…

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