Oracle Sisters – Hail Mary

This is another Fresh Juice 2023 offering from the Oracle Sisters album ‘Hydranism’, a record that is fast becoming one of my favourites of the year thanks to its effortless deployment of pop classicism. ‘Hail Mary’ is a great example of this, essentially a piano ballad of the type that Lennon was putting out in the early seventies. The focus on the core musical elements is fine because the Oracle Sisters hooks are easy on the ear and infectious, add to that a soaring Harrison-esque guitar solo and that cool nonchalance they exude, it all flags up a winning summer pop potion here that should enrapture all that encounter it…

Buck Meek – Haunted Mountain

It seems to me that anything produced by anyone associated with the band Big Thief at this moment in time is delivered with a vitality and conviction that ensures essential music on every occasion. This is the new solo material from the bands guitarist Buck Meek; ‘Haunted Mountain’ is the title track from his forthcoming album, out 25th August on 4AD and it already sounds anything but a side project, all honkin’ no tonkin’ indeed…

Luluc – Diamonds

Luluc are a band who first caught my attention with the sublime track ‘Heist’ from their 2019 album ‘Sculptor’. They are a dream-folk songwriting duo made up of Zoe Randell and multi-instrumentalist Steve Hassett. In last weeks Fresh Juice I made a passing reference to critics making lazy comparisons to Nick Drake, I mention this because in reading up on Luluc I learned that the significant authority Lucinda Williams has called Zoe a “female Nick Drake” and whilst this is not a name that immediately jumps to mind, I would not question the opinion of Lucinda and do agree that there is a weightless, timeless, floating quality to the sound of Luluc. This is the official music video for the title track of new album ‘Diamonds’ out September 15, 2023…

PACKS – 4th Of July

This bittersweet grungy delight of a tune was from PACKS new album ‘Crispy Crunchy Nothing’ released in March 2023 on Fire Talk/Royal Mountain. I have been enthused at how many young US bands are building on the templates set out in the psychedelic rock era in tandem with the lo-fi nineties scenes, continuing to drop wonderfully rusty sounds in the modern era. If a band sounds to me like they’ve listened to Pavement just as much as they have The Beatles or Nirvana then that can only be a good thing in my book…

Mapache – People Please

Mapache are the Americana offspring of Glendale, California who have forged a deserved reputation as superior purveyors of open-eared cosmic country music with echoes of the greats a-la Simon & Garfunkel and The Byrds. New music from them is always eagerly anticipated and never disappoints so it is welcome news indeed that their new album ‘Swinging Stars’ is out 18th August on Innovative Leisure…

The Jordan – Temptation

Not exactly a new artist but a new identity, image and sound for a singer who over ten years ago I was very excited about as she reigned supreme with a stunning repertoire of soulful, swingingly vintage jazz vocal stardust as Caro Emerald. So this is a proper gear change and as new album ‘Nowhere Near The Sky’ released on Cooking Vinyl pleasingly demonstrates, none of the power and command in that voice has been sacrificed in pursuit of this new, widescreen, cinematic and pleasingly modern audio adventure…