On first listen, the most striking thing about Furr’s songs is that you’ve heard them all before. ‘Sleepy Time in the Western World’ is pure Lennon; ‘War on Machines’ has obviously attended the Mick Jagger school of struts and wiggles; and the title track is the most uncanny Dylan impression you’re likely to hear (if Dylan wrote lyrics about, um, turning into a dog and back.)
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Live review: Laura Marling supported by Jay Jay Pistolet @ The Scala, London
Arriving half way through Pete’s Roe’s set at the already incredibly crowded Scala on Tuesday, the excitement in the air was palpable. This was The Night Terror Tour’s homecoming and, after a brief trip around the UK and a longer one around the US with Mumford and Sons and Johnny Flynn, Laura Marling was back where it all began.
Album Review: Insects and Apples by Lyla Foy
Insects and Apples sits firmly on the pop side of folk-pop and nods, constantly and rather emphatically, at Kate Nash throughout its 11 tracks. It’s a fantastically varied album – Foy’s style takes in music boxes, harmonicas and the crack of biting an apple in its instrumental repertoire, occasionally creeping over to the wrong side of perky. The opening track, ‘Fly on the Wall’, is screaming out to be a sitcom theme tune and ts Kafka-gone-wrong chorus, in which she sings about being a frustrated fly/bee, is so insanely catchy it’s actually quite frightening, particularly when combined with the insane circus-act refrain. Coulrophobics beware.
Album Review: The Old Terminal by The Research
Wakefield based The Research haven’t had it easy. ‘Unpleasantness’ with former label EMI cut short what was a promising escalation into widespread acclaim, and the three-piece on their Myspace page largely attribute their relative silence throughout 2007 to ‘politics’. So it was back to square one for the band, who now find themselves in the unenviable position of jostling for space in the wings of the indie stage, alongside a wealth of other, similarly promising, acts.
Album Review: The Stand Ins by Okkervil River
The Stand Ins is Okkervil River’s fifth album, a sister album to 2007’s The Stage Names. A week of relentless listening later, I’m struggling to describe it – possibly because I’m writing this as someone who has spent much of the last year listening to music that slips into easily definable genres. The Stand Ins has floored me slightly. If you’re a devoted Okkervil River fan, then you probably needn’t read this review, because you’ll have opinions enough of your own, but if you’re less familiar with their music, then read on.
EP Review: The Horse by Alessi’s Ark
One word that comes to mind when listening to Alessi’s Ark’s debut EP is ‘magical’. The Horse is four tracks of pure loveliness; perfect to brighten up these dreary winter days, her childlike vocal is reminiscent of early Joanna Newsom, but possesses an unusually haunting quality of its own.
Album Review: Cardinology by Ryan Adams
This album sounds like a soundtrack to an American teen drama, you know, the one’s where beautiful people in their twenties play teenagers with issues and there are lots of lingering moody close ups and sunset shots set to ‘atmospheric’ music.
EP Review: Jay Jay Pistolet – Happy Birthday You
Jay Jay Pistolet’s debut EP oozes with warmth, nostalgia and cuts to the very core with its haunting vocals.
Maryland
Maryland is Joe Innes from London or thereabouts. He is selling DIY presses of his first album through his myspace. They say: \\”Owing to the use of eventful passages in classic literature and the last song played by the house…
Single Review: Emmy the Great – We Almost Had a Baby
Whilst we wait eagerly for the arrival of Emmy the Great’s new album, ‘First Love’ in early 2009, FFS have been giving this wee single rather a lot of attention.