Category: Reviews (Page 109 of 206)

WITCH OF THE VALE The Way This Will End

21 October 2018 /

In the forest of independent music where trolls can spring from isolated rocks and mountains, it is refreshing for gatekeepers to allow through the spirit of an understated musical Seonaidh.

So from the serene shores of Loch Lomond and the remote Outer Hebridean Isles, come WITCH OF THE VALE. Comprising of the folk inspired stylings of Erin Hawthorne and the stark instrumental structures of her husband Ryan Hawthorne, their music possesses some Pagan fervour like GAZELLE TWIN meeting ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘Twin Peaks’.

Despite being largely unknown within general electronic music circles, the couple’s musical potential have certainly been noticed and rewarded with support slots for CLAN OF XYMOX, SOLAR FAKE and ASSEMBLAGE 23.

Beginning their debut four song EP ‘The Way This Will End’ with the unsettling ritualistic overtures of ‘Fever’, a stark percussive lattice and drone laden backdrop holds together a sinister Celtic beauty through Erin Hawthorne’s treated vocals.

With another alluringly timeless vocal, the traditional overtures of ‘Your Voice’ take a gentler pace over a simple triple backbone. Meanwhile ‘Deathwish’ does what it says on the tin, as heavy stuttering beats and distorted synths take hold; again it’s all threaded together by an enticing high register gothique.

Closing the EP with ‘The Way This Will End’ title track, an angelic air is offered within a backdrop that has a beautiful music box quality complimented by solemn strings, capturing a wonderful melancholic airiness.

This fine debut EP from WITCH OF THE VALE is a total pleasure. Totally captivating while maintaining an important air of mystery, Erin and Ryan Hawthorne are most definitely an act to keep an eye on for the future.

“Seonaidh, I give thee this cup of ale, hoping that thou wilt be so good as to send us plenty of seaware for enriching our ground during the coming year.”

‘The Way This Will End’ is available as a download EP direct from https://witchofthevale.bandcamp.com/releases

http://www.witchofthevale.com/

https://www.facebook.com/witchofthevale/

https://twitter.com/WitchOfTheVale

https://www.instagram.com/witch_of_the_vale/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
21st October 2018

THE KVB Only Now Forever

20 October 2018 /

The follow-up to 2016’s ‘Of Desire’, ‘Only Now Forever’ develops on the brooding post-punk sound of THE KVB.

Getting together in 2011, the British audio-visual duo of multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Wood and keyboardist Kat Day actually relocated to write and record in Berlin, adding a more independently-minded edge to their reverb coated sound in the process.

If NEW ORDER had been weaned on shoegaze, they might have sounded like THE KVB.

Signed to Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records, with previous collaborators such as Joe Dilworth and Mark Reeder on their curriculum vitae and a prestigious invitation to perform at Robert Smith’s meltdown Festival 2018, THE KVB certainly have their esteemed admirers.

The excellent uptempo motorik of ‘Above Us’ is a good start, accessible yet suitably mysterious and coming over like LADYTRON fronted by Kevin Shields. Under layers of string synths and attached to a solid bass rumble, ‘On My Skin’ has a good chorus while with more psychedelic overtones, ‘Only Now Forever’ recalls early ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN when they used the odd smidgen of synth and drum machine.

The unsurprisingly gothic ‘Afterglow’ looms with heavy beats and penetrating textural six string as Wood announces “here comes the night” but with ‘Violet Noon’, there’s a more steadfast nocturnal mood, like THE JESUS & THE MARY CHAIN with more washes of atmospheric synths, as if the Reid brothers had been dropped onto the set of ‘Twin Peaks’.

The guitars take more of a backseat on ‘Into Life’ while the spectre of CABARET VOLTAIRE circa ‘The Crackdown’ make its presence felt via a hypnotic bass sequence and assorted sweeps; it also sees Day put her breathy allure to the forefront on this arty slice of moody electro-disco

‘Live In Fiction’ recalls THE CURE meeting THE SOFT MOON but is less reliant on wall of sound intensity, but the wonderful clubby vibe of ‘Tides’ offers some vibrant electricity with a combination of sequences and synths for possibly the album’s highlight.

The 6/8 percussive drift of ‘No Shelter’ looms away but cut from a similar cloth to ‘Above Us’, ‘Cerulean’ does have a slightly more frantic edge, Woods’ vocals harmonised by Day’s angelic tones although the track does seem to disappear into a cacophony of haze.

More refined and sharper than previous offerings, the melodic emphasis on ‘Only Now Forever’ has paid off and there is plenty of crossover appeal for those who like a bit of synth and a dash of alternative rock. Some might find THE KVB’s overall template old-fashioned, but being uninhibited in their willingness to mix technology with live instruments and a bit of darkness like in days of yore can only be a good thing.

‘Only Now Forever’ is released by Invada Records on CD, double vinyl LP and digital formats

THE KVB 2018 live dates include:

Glasgow Hug and Pint (24 October), Newcastle Think Tank (25th October), Manchester Yes (26th October), Leeds Hyde Park Book Club (27th October), York The Crescent (28th October), Birmingham Hare & Hounds (29th October), Brighton Green Door Store (30th October), London Corsica Studios (31st October), Bristol Rough Trade (1st November), Roubaix La Cave Aux Poetes (2nd November), Nantes Soy Festival (3rd November), Le Havre McDaids (4th November), Amsterdam Sugarfactory (6th November), Cologne Bumann & Sohn (7th November), Gent Charlatan (8th November), Hamburg Hafenklang (9th November), Copenhagen Stengade (10th November), Stockholm Debaser Strand (11th November), Oslo Revolver (12th November), Berlin Lido (14th November), Poznan Meskalina (15 November), Warsaw Poglos (16th November), Prague Café v Lese (17th November), Brno Kabinet MUZ (18th November), Budapest Dürer Kert (20th November), Vienna Fluc (21 November), Munich Kranhalle (23rd November), Yverdon-les-Bains L’Amalgame (24th November), Zurich La Mascotte (25th November), Rome Largo Venue (27th November), Bologna Locomotivclub (28th November), Barcelona SiDecemberar (30th November), Madrid Moby Dick (1 December), Jurançon La Ferronnerie (3rd December), La Rochelle La Sirene (4th December), Bordeaux Iboat (5th December), Paris Le Badaboum (6th December), Amiens La Lune des Pirates (7th December)

http://www.thekvb.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/thekvbmusic/

https://twitter.com/TheKVB

https://www.instagram.com/thekvb/

https://thekvb.bandcamp.com/music

Text by Chi Ming Lai
20th October 2018

FARAO Pure-O

17 October 2018 /


Taking in more synthetic sonic ambitions, FARAO’s second album ‘Pure-O’ is a playful bleep forward while retaining an organic heart, mixing electronics with folk, R’n’B and minimalism.

Kari Jahnsen, the Berlin-based Norwegian songstress and multi-instrumentalist behind FARAO said: “The music that influenced me the most while writing the album is probably the Soviet electronic music I was discovering at the time. Light hearted melody lines combined with at times excessive arrangements, teaching me the importance of humour in music.”

Themed around “the curious dichotomy between beauty and destructiveness in sex and relationships”, ‘Pure-O’ also showcases Jahnsen’s new found interest in collecting Soviet-built analogue electronic instruments, among them a Formanta Polivoks duophonic, an Elektronika EM-25 string machine and an EMI Kvintet.

Meanwhile better known vintage equipment like a Korg Delta, Sequential Drumtraks, Yamaha CS15, various Casiotones, Roland SH2000 and Juno 60, Korg Vocoder and modern gear like the Moog Sub-Phatty and Waldorf Blofeld also make their presence felt.

The wonderfully uptempo ‘Marry Me’ with its chugging electronic backbone focusses on the spectre of romantic obsession, while the ‘Wild At Heart’ inspired ‘Lula Loves You’ blends Cold War aesthetics and breathy melancholic vocals.

The bass dominated ‘Get Along’ is more mysterious, with live drums doing battle with fabulous bursts of synths. But over a percussive shuffle, ‘Luster Of The Eyes’ develops into a bubbling synth fest despite first impressions.

Driven by machine rhythms and dressed with Autoharp, ‘Cluster Of Delights’ drops some orchestral stabs into its electro-disco vibes. Indeed, ‘Pure-O’ springs many aesthetic surprises, especially for those who enjoyed FARAO’s quirky folk-tinged 2015 debut long player ‘Till It’s All Forgotten’.

The synth indie of ‘Gabriel’ develops into something quite adventurous with its layers of vocals and a zither providing some of that Mittel Europa tension. However, taking things to groovier climes is the short instrumental interlude ‘Melodiya’ which ably demonstrates the capabilities of the Soviet-designed Polivoks.

On the rousing statement of ‘The Ghost Ship’, Jahnsen is focussed despite her forlorn little girl lost lyrics, the alluring vocal highs offset by the flava of R’n’B, like a Nordic styled TLC but boosted by vocoder. Going slightly Trip-Hop, ‘Triumph Over Me’ takes its inspiration from the sex-addicted lead character in the film ‘Shame’. The album ends with ‘Truthsayer’, a song dealing with the reality of how people become truer versions of themselves as they get older that goes delightfully berserk in its second half!

Clearly embracing a sense adventure by exploring both electronic and acoustic colours, ‘Pure-O’ is the work of an artist gaining a stable footing and ready to take a gallop. At this rate of artistic trajectory, FARAO will be up there with SUSANNE SUNDFØR in a few years.

‘Pure-O’ is released by Western Vinyl and Su Tissue Records on 19th October 2018 in CD, transparent vinyl LP and digital formats

https://www.farao.biz/

https://www.facebook.com/faraomusic/

https://twitter.com/faraomusic

https://www.instagram.com/faraomusic/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
17th October 2018

JOHN GRANT Love Is Magic

15 October 2018 /

 


For those familiar with JOHN GRANT’s previous body of work, from ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ onwards there started to be a bipolar nature to his music, swinging from electronic-based tracks being in the minority through to them now being the main focus of his latest work ‘Love is Magic’.

The choice of main producer and CREEP SHOW band mate Benge has obviously been a major factor in this synthetic shift.

This will either be a welcome move or could leave fans of Grant’s more acoustic-based material wondering what the hell has happened to the man who penned the downtempo AIR-esque songs such as ‘It’s Easier’ and ‘It Doesn’t Matter to Him’… Also rather tellingly, the cover to ‘Love is Magic’ pays homage to FAD GADGET’s ‘Gag’ album with Grant covered in feathers and striking an upwards pose (albeit wearing vintage Y-fronts and with a bird cage on his head).

Challenging album opener ‘Metamorphosis’ lurches wildly from minimalist 909 kick driven monosynths through to lush VANGELIS and CR78 textures, whilst Grant’s quirky alter-ego voice intones a randomised shopping list of lyrics: “Earthquakes, forest fires, hot Brazilian boys… yeast infection, synthesizers, demisemiquavers, who created ISIS?”

The eponymous ‘Love is Magic’ is a lot more accessible affair, with songwriting harking back to Grant’s earlier work; it’s debatable however whether the synthetic production really does the song proper justice though. The stabbed brass synth, oddly reminiscent of THE POLICE’s ‘Spirits in the Material World’ gives way to a tail-end chorus chord progression straight out of cheese-masters THE CARPENTERS’ songbook.

‘Tempest’ is all triplet delayed synths (which reference KRAFTWERK’s ‘Neon Lights’) and detuned saw bass / pads; the song itself however is pretty forgettable but does feature a rather wonderful outro comprised of 8 bit arcade sounds in a nod to the game featured in the title. ‘Preppy Boy’ takes its cues initially from FAD GADGET’s ‘Love Parasite’, although lyrically we are in SCISSOR SISTERS territory until a trademark Grant synth solo stamps a bit more individuality on the piece.

After the Donald Trump-baiting ‘Smug C*nt’, the tempo is raised for ‘He’s Got His Mother’s Hips’. Surely one of the more commercial tracks on ‘Love is Magic’ it features a welcome injection of live bass, funk and classic polysynths. Throughout the album, Grant’s lyrics are wonderfully witty, dark and as sharp as a knife; ‘… Mother’s Hips’ is a perfect example with the brilliant opener “I think Colonel Mustard did it in the billiard room / They say his salsa workshops / Are a harbinger of doom”.

‘Is He Strange’ harks back to Grant’s earlier work (albeit with a minimalistic electronic drum pattern rather than acoustic percussion) and a beautiful descending piano and Solina string synth line straight out of ‘Airport’ by THE MOTORS. The album ends with ‘Touch & Go’, an evocative mixture of rippling arpeggiators, piano and live drums.

JOHN GRANT has been quoted as saying “Each record I make is more of an amalgamation of who I am. The more I do this, the more I trust myself, and the closer I get to making what I imagine in my head.”

If that is the case then his musical metamorphosis is pretty much complete with ‘Love is Magic’; this work is poles apart from ‘The Queen of Denmark’ and could potentially lose him some fans as in the main, it is SO different to the musical aesthetic he started with.

There is no pandering to commerciality or laurel-resting here and the willingness to experiment means that ‘Love is Magic’ is not always an easy listen.

It is however a brilliant example of an artist who refuses to compromise and has the spirit of adventure to take listeners on an unpredictable musical journey throughout.

‘Love Is Magic’ is released by Bella Union in the usual formats

http://johngrantmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/johngrantmusic

https://twitter.com/johngrantmusic

https://www.instagram.com/johngrantofficial/

http://bellaunion.com/

Text by Paul Boddy
15th October 2018

SARAH NIXEY Night Walks

6 October 2018 /


Sarah Nixey first won the hearts of audiences as the lead singer of BLACK BOX RECORDER; 18 years since they got on ‘Top Of The Pops’ with ‘The Facts of Life’ and seven years since her last solo album ‘Brave Tin Soldiers’, Nixey is back with ‘Night Walks’.

A nocturnal body of work set in a metropolitan sub-world where everyone dodges the dangers of reality, the album was inspired by Nixey’s bouts of insomnia during a recovery from illness. She said “All the songs are set at night time and it felt like I was going on night walks when I was writing them”.

Co-produced by her husband Jimmy Hogarth, ‘Night Walks’ is a sophisticated amalgam of everything SARAH NIXEY has ever been musically, with a Roland Jupiter 8, Minimoog, Casiotone 701 and a Hammond M102 among the instrumentation used, all fed through Leslie amps and captured on a Studer tape machine. As a result, this record has air and presence, a quality missed on many modern day home studio digital recordings.

The album’s key song is the chromatic flavoured ‘The Zeppelin’, an observation on warfare where the characters are either at war with themselves or with each other. In typical SARAH NIXEY style, there is that impending if seductive sense of doom over the drone-laden backdrop…

However, beginning ‘Night Walks’, the neo-Motorik ‘Coming Up For Air’ discusses the delicate subject of teenage mental health illness and parental love, but touchingly acknowledges the pain while offering support and encouragement.

Meanwhile, ‘Burning Bridges’ is not a JAPAN cover but a lively offering of synthetic disco driven by clattering drum machine, which despite Nixey’s previous dalliances with electronic pop, comes as something of a pleasant surprise and with a timely socio-political message.

Also conveying socio-political concerns, the sparse but more guitar oriented ‘Merry England’ covers the gentrification of London and Brexit, with Nixey’s voice sounding particularly rich and assured.

Continuing a brilliant musical ‘Journey’, this appropriately named tune is like one of those glorious Eurocentric numbers that Marc Almond has often been so good at, laced with crystalline synths and gorgeously breathy vocal tones à la Jane Birkin.

Taking things down, the acoustically centred ‘Love Is Blue’ offers some Bohemian filmic drama before the short celestial spoken word title track. The throbbing sequencer filled ‘Dancing At The Edge Of The World’ is Nixey’s own ‘I Feel Love’ with a classic NEW ORDER digital drum machine template thrown into the mix, crossed with falsetto and deadpan speech.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum and layered in Hammond organ and muted guitar within a brush filled rhythmic setting, ‘Neon Moon’ beautifully reflects what it says on the tin.

Harsher in tone and more reminiscent of BLACK BOX RECORDER, ‘Tiger Woman’ features a powerful statement about a woman who doesn’t have a care in the world, while similarly sharper with bluesy guitar motifs and loud bangy drums, Nixey asks people to ‘Follow Me’.

Closing with ‘The Planet Of Dreams’, an electric piano is joined by some six string accompaniment with the surprise of flute and E-bowed guitar alongside minimal sweeps of vintage synth, as Nixey divinely offers hope in these uncertain times.


“Mostly, I wanted to tell stories and create a little metropolitan sub-world where I could escape to, and my listeners could eventually come with me”, Nixey said of ‘Night Walks’, “It’s an album that’s supposed to be listened to in its entirety, which is possibly a big ask these days.”

Although having a mix of electronic and acoustic based tracks, ‘Night Walks’ exudes a satisfying sonic cohesion that will please anyone who has ever been interested in the Dorset-born songstress’ work; it is undoubtedly SARAH NIXEY’s best solo album to date. Former BLACK BOX RECORDER band mate Luke Haines once said how SARAH NIXEY “had the ability to make all men fall in love with her”… well, it is time to fall in love all over again!

‘Night Walks’ is released by Black Lead Records, available direct from https://music.sarahnixey.com/album/night-walks

http://www.sarahnixey.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sarahnixey/

https://twitter.com/sarahnixey

https://www.instagram.com/nixeysdarkroom/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
6th October 2018

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