Browsing Tag

Alt Folk

Baneful Town have released their wistfully lo-fi folk single ‘Change Your Mind’

Posted on 15 March 2021

Montreal-hailing experimental folk artist Baneful Town has been making waves with their wistfully lo-fi style since making their debut in 2019. Their signature sound may be instrumentally sparse, but it’s evocatively charged with a transfixingly nostalgic sense of loss and love.

Based on their latest single ‘Change Your Mind’, Baneful Town may become just as renowned for their bittersweet symphonies as the Verve.

Any fans of the tenderness of Elliott Smith and the dreamy mercurial tendencies of Bonny Light Horsemen will want to get acquainted with this quiescently compelling single. With their debut album due for release, Baneful Town are definitely one to watch.

Change Your Mind is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Baneful Town tells an indie-folk tale of love, loss and hedonism with their latest single, ‘You and No One Else’.

Posted on 11 March 2021

Thanks to artists such as Baneful Town, folk will never become an archaic and outdated genre; as you pick bits of bluegrass out of the raw yet harmonically timbered single, you’ll also feel the sting of the contemporary resonance in the candid lyrics. If you’ve ever attempted to fill a hole with hedonism only to find yourself even more hollow, you’re sure to find plenty of yourself reflected at you in their latest single ‘You and No One Else’.

‘You and No One Else’ is the lead single from the Montreal-based three-piece’s debut self-titled album that comes with a promise of lyrically delivering nothing but soul-projected sincerity. After hearing the all-baring lead single that takes none of the torment of pining after something you’ll never have or replace while providing a harmonically uplifting track, it’s safe to say we’re excited. Fans of everyone from Jayhawks to Dinosaur Jr to the Dandy Warhols will find plenty to love about You and No One Else.

You and No One Else is now available to stream via Spotify. Their debut album is due for official release on March 12th, 2021.

You can keep up to date with Baneful Town’s latest releases via Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Find the optimism in existentialism with Bill E Daly’s latest single, ‘All We Have’.

Posted on 11 March 2021

‘All We Have’ is the fourth single to be released by Irish singer-songwriter Bill E Daly, an artist in the habit of shifting perspectives with the lyricism cased in their constantly in-flux sound. The only constant is the assurance that you’ll be drawn in by introspection that dares you to embrace the dark while seeing the light.

By channelling the Doors and Cash into All We Have, it boasts the perfect contrast between tonal accordance and swampy lyrics. The dark folk imagery takes your psyche to a macabre school while Southern bluesy soul reaches out with a touch of compassion.

With their next single ready for official release on April 22nd, it will be more than worth making room on your radar for the singer-songwriter – especially given their tendency to pull optimism out of existentialism.

All We Have is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hunter & Girton – Father Time: Solemnly Compassionate Alt Folk

Posted on 1 March 2021
Hunter & Girton

Rural Indiana-residing alt-folk duo, Hunter & Girton, are set to release their most haunting single to date, ‘Father Time’. The sparse and desolate soundscape leaves plenty of room for your own emotions to coalesce with the sentiments delivered through the lyrics which will hold a mirror to your personal relationship with melancholy.

There may be a crestfallen air to Father Time, but it’s anything but depressive. The solemnly meditative single parallels the levels of compassion found in the most tender tracks from Pearl Jam’s latest album while delivering tear-jerking tones which lend inspiration from 60s Folk.

Father Time is due for official release on March 5th. You’ll be able to check it out for yourselves by heading over to the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Christian Wannerwall – Be Free: Artfully Meditative Alt-Indie Folk

Posted on 21 February 2021

With solitude as a muse, Christian Wannerwall delves deeper into the human psyche than most artists when orchestrating his consolingly empathetic takes on indie alt-folk. Within the Gothenburg-based singer-songwriter’s lyricism, you’ll pull out meditative wisdom which allows you to connect to a less contrived and artificial reality than the one we’re sold on a daily basis.

Within the melodic complexity of his artfully textured indie folk single ‘Be Free’, a cathartic simplicity resounds. As Christian Wannerwall’s evocatively piercing vocals, which share the same poignant sting as the likes of Elliott Smith and Thom Yorke, meet the neo-classic piano-led melodies, you’ll succumb to the notion that freedom is a state of mind and find that the weight of existential dread has already lifted.

Be Free is now available to stream via Spotify. For your sanity’s sake, hit play.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Erick Beau – I Found Love in You: Hauntingly Intimate Alt-Folk Americana

Posted on 19 February 2021
Erick Beau

After racking up over a million streams with their single, ‘Waiting for You’, Erick Beau set his own bar fairly high, but their latest romantic-to-the-point-of-transcendence single ‘I Found Love in You’ easily rises above it.

The roots-deep country ballad is influenced by an eclectic array of timeless artists, from Bach to the Beatles, Keith Urban to Cat Stevens, but the soul it contains allows those hauntingly intimate alt-folk tones to resonate with innovative evocative appeal.

With the singer-songwriter’s ability to create a cinematically vivid experience with ardently gratified lyrics and emotion-capturing finger-picked guitar notes within the semi-orchestral soundscape, we wouldn’t be surprised to see his name in the OST credits for Hollywood blockbusters in the near future.

I Found Love in You is now available to stream by SoundCloud.

For more ways to listen, and more info on the trailblazing artist, head over to their website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

 

Nathan Rodd revived old school alt-folk blues with their sonorously sonic single ‘Natalie’

Posted on 12 February 2021

How do you make old school alt-folk blues just as mesmerising as Tom Waits did in the 70s? You’ll find the answer in up and coming artist, Nathan Rodd’s, debut EP ‘Slowly’.

The standout single ‘Natalie’, finds the perfect balance of sonorous sonic power and delicate intrigue right from the intro. From there on out, pulled along by the tightly packed, intricately progressions which bleed nuances of jazz. But there’s nothing nuanced about the full-frontal emotion which unequivocally confirms that romance is still alive in 2021.

The distinctively raspy whisky-stained vocals give the soundscape an archaic touch while the masterfully dynamic production makes sure that Natalie wouldn’t be out of place on contemporary airwaves.

Nathan Rodd’s debut EP is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Stories of the city: Ryan Ward shows us into the dark streets of ‘The London Look’

Posted on 7 February 2021
the london look by Ryan Lee Ward

Ryan Ward sings with such welcoming honesty on his enlightening new single with bar adventures to talk about for days on ‘The London Look‘.

Soulful London, England-based alt-folk singer-songwriter Ryan Ward, is a candidly talented musician with a truthful story to tell. He kindly opens up the cab door and takes us for a whirlwind ride through this fascinating city, that can push you off your feet sometimes.

He sings with a pure bluntness about perhaps having one too many of the cold beverages and performs with a voice that shows you inside his world. He is casual but has that self-awareness that so many don’t, as he speaks about that night on the town that ended a bit faulty but was fun up to a certain point, before things got a bit blurry.

‘The London Look‘ from London-based folk singer-songwriter Ryan Ward is a true story about how life can sneak up on you sometimes and you start to wonder how you got there. The street is slippery and cold, you have had a rough night with a black eye shiner and stories to tell for days to the lads.

This is a terrific artist with real tales of life in the city, where those bright lights from the promising evening, turn into dark corners really quickly. When your luck is low, things that shouldn’t happen do and you start to think twice about your path.

Stream this fantastic new single on Bandcamp and check him out on Twitter.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

P.B Ruck – Some Love: Sonorously Sentimental Americana Folk

Posted on 21 January 2021

Under the influence of Cohen, Waits and Dylan, Southampton-hailing artist, P.B Ruck, released their sonorously powerful latest single ‘Some Love’; the sense of romanticism is just as old school as the sepia-stained tones in the meditative Americana folk soundscape.

Through spatial effect and lyrical sparsity, Some Love is just as much about your introspection and amorous nostalgia as it is about the artist’s. With a touch of modernity on the production, folk roots are firmly implanted in the mix, but it blossoms through the tender vocals which resonate with a nuanced touch of celestially choral mesmerism.

Some Love was released on December 28th, it is available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Escape the 21st century in the timeless tones of T.C. Tumbleweed’s Alt Folk single ‘Louise’

Posted on 18 January 2021

Folk-punk became an infinitely more enamouring genre with the release of Swedish-born singer-songwriter T.C. Tumbleweed’s latest EP, ‘Out of Tune’, with old school blues thrown in for good measure, plenty of timeless tones are revived, but through this humble exhibition of their amiable talent, it may as well be your first time cruising through upraising bluesy rhythms with shimmering organ wails bringing a touch of the celestial.

The standout track, ‘Louise (Love is Only a Day) is set to enamour fans of 70s era Stones, Bob Dylan, Frank Turner and Gogol Bordello alike. If you could imagine what Nick Cave would sound like if he had a soul, you’ll get an idea of what is in store when you hit play on the instantly enrapturing track which is impossible to pick apart. It becomes so much more than the sum of all parts with the swathes of emotion delivered in equal measure through the soulfully compelling vocals and the instrumentals which exhibit a level of prowess which affirms that T.C. Tumbleweed definitely deserves a spot on your radar. He’ll probably reserve a spot in your soul by the time you hit the first chorus.

You can check out T.C. Tumbleweed’s EP for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast