A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…
Shana Cleveland – Faces In The Firelight
This is a delightfully twilight tinged droplet of soothing psych pop from the La Luz songwriter who happily has successfully come through treatment for breast cancer in 2022. It is the first taste of her forthcoming solo album ‘Manzanita’ on the Hardly Art label.
Spoon – Wild
Still one of the best bands to come out of America this past thirty years, here is a recent TV appearance by Spoon apparently in tandem with their Grammy nomination in the best rock album category for their 2022 LP ‘Lucifer On The Sofa’
Nick Waterhouse – Hide And Seek
Nick Waterhouse is now arguably the premier exponent of that vintage, mid-century modern production sound. It is there in the spacey echoes of the recordings, the surf-like twang of the guitars or the proper production touches added like strings or sweetly sung backing vocals. In this video featuring new 2023 music from Nick he even has the period visual touches down but all of that would count for nothing if he were not writing great songs to wrap his stylings around and happily, he continues to do just that
Melissa Carper – From What I Recall
From the late 2022 album ‘Ramblin’ Soul’ released on Mae Music, this is an authentic dose of real-deal country that is so classic sounding, especially for something so new, that you have to double check it is not actually an old Hank Williams standard or such like. But this is all Melissa Carper and well worth seeking out
First Aid Kit – Out Of My Head
A recent live TV appearance following the welcome return of these singing siblings, taken from latest album ‘Palomino’. As before, they still retain that natural heavenly sound not to mention the happy knack of writing songs that take up residency in your head.
Norah Jones & Marc Rebillet – Everybody Say Goodbye
Norah Jones ‘Playing Along’ podcast involves her chatting and jamming with a musical guest. She is not the most natural conversationalist but she can communicate with pretty much anyone on a musical level. You cannot help but be on Norah’s side, she comes across as refreshingly ego-lite for someone so famous. This particular episode with Marc Rebillet took her the furthest out of her comfort zone, what with him being a master of improvisational funk, layered loops and electronic wizardry. The fascinating thing about the episode was heard in a moment where, much like Paul McCartney composing ‘Get Back’ on the spot in the Peter Jackson movie, the pair stumbled upon something that instantly, for a few golden moments at least, sounded like it had the potential to be a classic. As the jam ended Marc spotted it and seemed suitably blown away by what they had possibly just created, Norah was less interested merely asking with a touch of incredulity “do you want to finish it?” It makes you suspect this kind of thing must happen to her all the time when improvising with fellow musicians, like this is in her DNA and not an especially big deal. Anyway, the two of them quickly moved on and maybe that is where their classic co-write will remain forever? That clip has not been put up on YouTube but from the same episode we do have their slightly unhinged closing, funky jam…
Fruit Tree Records 