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Blues Music Blog & Promotion

Only the soulless won’t be spellbound with Mark Lewis Heavenor’s artfully lamenting folk single, Young Boy.

Posted on 2 November 2021

Scottish songwriter, composer and guitarist, Mark Lewis Heavenor has released his most poignant work to date with his morosely gruff art-folk single, Young Boy. While the soundscape paints a quaint sepia-toned ramshackle town in your mind, the music video juxtaposes it by using a soul-sucking British ghost town as a location to place two dancers as they find inspiration despite the lamentable landscape.

Like many artists, Heavenor pulls plenty of inspiration from Tom Waits to create his own artfully rich sound but in every progression, you hear Heavenor push past assimilation into the realm of authentic creation.

The weight of the heavy yet bright vocals crawls under your ribs as you listen to the art-folk instrumentals quiver, rattle and angularly blossom from the fretboard. With the gentleness of Elliott Smith, the lyrical conviction of Kurt Cobain in his more melodious work and the cinematic pull of his Flamenco/Americana Folk guitars, you’d have to be soulless not to be spellbound.

The official video for Young Boy premiered on October 20th; it is a stunner; go check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Get lost in the twilight of jazz fusionist Ikechi Onyenaka’s latest single, City Dreams.

Posted on 28 October 2021

Jazz and Blues fusionist Ikechi Onyenaka’s latest extended instrumental soundscape, City Dreams, eases you into the twilight grooves gently before the rhythms pick up funk around the smoky jazz timbre. With the next progression, City Dreams moves towards a stormy sax blues riff that rivals the jazz-punk frontman Pete Wareham’s pipes.

In the latter half of City Dreams, psych blues tendencies start to accumulate in the single, in a way that there was no anticipating. The ambience from the intro allows the volatile expressionism to leave you broadsided by the sheer ingenuity. Is there any better feeling than that?

City Dreams is now available to stream on SoundCloud and all other major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bourbon House give 70s blues-rock a demure riff-driven kick in ‘I Got Trouble’

Posted on 27 October 2021

70s rock became even more demure under the coercion of Bourbon House’s deeply rhythmic licks and Lacey Crowe’s vixenish vocals in their 2021 album, Into the Red.

I Got Trouble is just one of the standout singles that prove Lacey Crowe is a blues-rock siren. With the vintage-to-the-bone instrumentals behind her soulful vocal timbre, you fall right into the stormy core of I Got Trouble hook, line and sinker.

Jason Clarke’s guitar crooning is enough to take your breath away alone, but with Ryan Sargent’s snappy visceral percussion and Jon Peck’s grooving, almost jazzy, basslines, I Got Trouble becomes a delicious pool of 70s blues-rock nostalgia.

It hardly comes as a surprise that the album garnered hype from Classic Rock Magazine, reached number 1 on Australia’s independent music charts and number 2 in the UK.

I Got Trouble is now available to stream on Spotify with the rest of their third album which was released on October 22nd.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Alex Young has released his lovesick acoustic indie-rock ballad, Might Just Catch Your Eye.

Posted on 23 October 2021
Out into the Light by Alex Young

Singer-songwriter Alex Young is here to remind us that romance isn’t dead with his emotionally iron-wrought acoustic indie-rock ballad, Might Just Catch Your Eye.

The Barnsley-based solo artist’s affectionately ambient single captures lovesick agony while keeping the minimalist yet resounding instrumental melodies ring free of the disquiet conflict. If Glen Hansard leaves you floored with his contemporary spin on folk songwriting, you might want to sit down before hitting play on Might Just Catch Your Eye.

Might Just Catch Your Eye is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp along with Young’s debut album Out Into the Light.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cooper Walker gives us a 60s soul ‘Fix’ in his standout release.

Posted on 19 October 2021

Pop, jazz and blues entwine in the debut album from LA singer-songwriter and multi-instrumental artist Cooper Walker. His intoxicating mash of vintage guitars,  crooned vocals and uplifting piano chords will send you right back to the 60s while providing the ultimate proof that music contemporary music *can* hold a candle to music from iconic eras.

His modernist spin on sounds of the 60s is best enjoyed in the standout single, Fix, which is just as instantly cathartic as The Zombies, as sultry as John Mayall, and carries the sonic power of the Rolling Stones.

Walker’s infallible talent is one thing, the soul that is spilt in his debut album is quite another. You couldn’t ask for a better playlist staple in these dystopic times.

Fix, along with his debut 15-track album, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Karyn Ann delivers arcane soul in style in her folk single, ‘Wasting Time’

Posted on 14 October 2021

The Portland-based soulstress, Karyn Ann, released her debut album in 2015; after her sophomore album released in 2018, she started to garner critical acclaim and international airplay for her effortlessly powerful vocals and the emotional depth of her lyricism.

Her latest single, Wasting Time, gracefully captures the collective anxiety around watching the sands of time slip while failing to keep hold of anything that brings intrinsic meaning. After we’ve all endured 18 months of lockdown to some degree, Wasting Time is the perfect playlist staple for anyone seeking a little compassion.

The Americana singer-songwriter’s ability to weave a narrative through emotion, poetry and arrestingly minimal melodies is almost unparalleled. We’re fairly certain that this won’t be the last time that Karyn Ann leaves us mesmerised by her almost arcane sense of soul.

Wasting Time is available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

That Peaceful Ambiance: Israel’s Pablo Embon is at his glorious best on ‘A Better Day’

Posted on 10 October 2021
https://soundcloud.com/pfembon/4-a-better-day

With his brand new much-anticipation ten-track album set for release on the 15th December 2021 called ‘Sunrises Every Night‘, Pablo Embon sparkles brightly with a calming influence that shall take you to delightful places on ‘A Better Day‘.

Pablo Embon is an experienced indie Jazz/Blues/Funk-fusion solo artist, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer from Israel. With a staggering twenty albums already to his name, this is surely one of the most prolific musicians the world has ever seen.

”The jewel of the new album is the song of the same name, “A Better Day.” Pablo describes it as his crowning achievement in his ever-growing catalog of music. This admission from the artist spurs the anticipation for the release of the album.” ~ Pablo Embon

This is a superb track from start to finish, as he skillfully cultivates the energy felt in a way that makes you feel refreshed again. With an intimate knowledge and passion since he was very young to make crowds swoon in delight and feel warmly rejuvenated, you feel that this is indeed his best work yet. The love attached to this release is rather outstanding – as he takes us for a dazzling journey into a new day that can be much more fruitful than the last – if we let our thoughts combine into something genuine and authentic.

‘A Better Day‘ from the highly productive Israel-based indie Jazz/Blues/Funk-fusion solo musician, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer Pablo Embon, shows us that anything is indeed possible. He shines brightly on this wonderfully crafted single, showing the world his fantastic skill-set. With an air of greatness within him, he displays an abundance of tremendous beauty on this cinematic marvel to behold.

Hear this new single on Soundcloud and see more from this hard working artist on his Facebook music page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Tim Reynolds & Michael Sokolowski take us on a Soul Pilgrimage with their latest guitar-infused electronica album.

Posted on 10 October 2021

Long-time collaborators Tim Reynolds & Michael Sokolowski have teamed up once more for their guitar & synth duet album, Soul Pilgrimage. The standout symphonic piece, Freighter Hop, carries the dark and ominous textures of post-punk in the ambiently arranged synth lines while the warm bluesy guitar notes transform it into an invigoratingly optimistic soundscape.

If anyone has what it takes to prove that the future of music will be synthesised, it is Tim Reynolds & Michael Sokolowski. Their album was released on August 25th, 2021; it is available to stream on all major platforms; the vinyl release is due on October 31st, 2021.

Stream Freighter Hop for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Far North makes compassion worth having with his debut album, Songs for Gentle Souls.

Posted on 1 October 2021

There are far too many things in this world that will tear away at the more affable side of mankind, but The Far North made compassion worth having with the release of their 2020 acoustic folk album, Songs for Gentle Souls.

The standout single, Branches, is a blues-folk serenade that all too efficaciously pulls you into the shimmering accordance of the minimalist soundscape that the 70s style folk-rock vocals soulfully resound within.

While you’d be forgiven for thinking that this sound manifested in Mississippi, The Far North is the solo project of singer-songwriter and guitarist Lee Wylding, hailing from Chester, England. His ethos as an artist is rooted in the roots of folk; his commitment to ensuring every lyric resonates shines through in Branches. We can’t wait to hear more from The Far North.

The Far North’s debut album is available to stream in full on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

OSLU sets a sophisticated cinematic score in Goodbye Old Friend.

Posted on 1 October 2021

Jazz fusionist and soundtrack composer OSLU released their latest album, Explaudere, on October 1st. By taking modern film scores and classical music as inspiration, the neo-blues pioneer orchestrates accessible soundscapes that tenderly bind you into the ease of the progressions and the cinematic flair.

The instrumental single, Goodbye Old Friend, uses clean-cut blues guitars, shimmering crescendos and nuanced rock elements to testify to OSLU’s ingenuity when it comes to creating orchestral catharsis. It would be no surprise to see OSLU’s name on a Blockbuster’s roll of end credits. The sheer talent is enough to allow you to question everything you heard on the radio today.

Listen to OSLU’s latest album on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast