Browsing Tag

Alt Folk

ATMIG – Ah Hah: The Baroque Alt Folk Equivalent to John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’

Posted on 12 January 2021

Escape the 21st-century and slip into the sepia-tinged tones in Detroit-based alt-indie rock luminaries’, ATMIG’s, latest release ‘Ah Hah’ which chorally attacks the nature of consumerism and unfolds as the indie alt-folk equivalent of John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’.

Any fans of Amanda Palmer, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Smiths, The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen will undoubtedly want to delve to cigarette smoke-stained indulgent single which spills alchemy through the infusion of shoegaze, rockabilly, indie rock and traditional folk.

If Ah Hah was any more absolving, I’m pretty sure I’d be antimatter right now.

Ah Hah was released on December 31st, you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Michael Golden sends a haunting Alt Folk Christmas card with ‘Some Kind of Holiday’

Posted on 10 January 2021

Michael Golden’s latest single ‘Some Kind of Holiday’ perfectly captures that contemplative morosity-tinged mood that everyone has the proclivity to fall into the festive season. Through the sparse lyrics and haunting choral tones, there’s an invaluable affirmation that the state of seasonally-inspired forlorn introspection is universal, regardless of what facades are worn.

The tenderly compelling single may be the ultimate antithesis of a Christmas single, but it is all the better for it. It is performed without pretence, odious capitalistic desire or cliché wistfulness. Instead, it brings emotions to the surface which you wouldn’t have independently experienced, it allows you to get lost within the romantic imagery in the lyricism, it allows you to shed tears for all the right reasons.

The official music video for Some Kind of Holiday premiered on December 23rd. You can check it for yourselves via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mauri Dark – Poison Woman: Cinematically Dark Alt Folk

Posted on 6 January 2021

If you could imagine what it would sound like if Nick Cave and Johnny Cash aurally met in the middle, you’ll get a good idea of what is on offer in Finnish singer-songwriter, Mauri Dark’s, latest single ‘Poison Woman’ taken from their LP ‘Dreams of a Middle-Aged Man’.

With rhythms which will throw into a dark Western while sending a few postcards from 70s Folk, Poison Woman is an eclectic smorgasbord of familiarity, rearranged to offer undiluted ingenuity. It’s as immersive as any Tarantino film but easily eclipses them on an emotional level. The sonorously low vocal timbre coalesces with the baritone guitar, setting a dismally cinematic tone which draws you into the melancholic mindset the single was written with. But with the level of emotion on display, listening to Poison Woman is anything but an exercise in morosity.

You can check out Poison Woman via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LEE DAVEY has painted a stark meta portrait with their swampy demonic folk rock single ‘Incubus’

Posted on 24 December 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiW5g_71WHY&feature=youtu.be

We’ve all had spare time to spend with our demons in recent months, Alt Rock artist LEE DAVEY spent plenty of time mentally frolicking demonic spirits before penning their darkly hypnotic single ‘Incubus’.

Nick Cave comparisons are easy to make, especially with the ‘red right hand’ lyrical reference but allowing you to believe that Incubus is solely an assimilative work would be nothing short of criminal. The mythology-laden lyricism allows LEE DAVEY to transcend the Murder Folk genre and enter the realm of Demonic Folk Rock. Expect slithering rhythms, tinges of swampy Americana Alt Folk and searing solo work which affirms that LEE DAVEY’s prowess as an instrumentalist parrels their abilities as a lyricist. The dark imagery he paints with does more than just leave a macabre canvas behind. It exposes the darkest corners of our minds, the ones we can barely look into ourselves, let alone invite others to see.

You can check out Incubus for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Slow Capital take us ‘Underground’ with this beautifully alluring acoustic story.

Posted on 21 December 2020

Slow Capital is Andrew Dailey, a filmmaker from Kansas City, MO, who is currently based out of Brooklyn, NY; a precursor to a six-track EP planned for early 2021, Slow Capital’s second single ‘Underground’ is a beautifully mature fingerpicked acoustic guitar track, mellow and delicate, alluring in its simplicity, and carried along by Dailey’s poetic, storytelling lyrical content and up-front vocal delivery.

At just over three minutes long, ‘Underground’ is a perfect piece of alt-folk, confessional, poetic, a narrative tale to music with a harmonious, melodic guitar line and a gentle, tender vocal. You can hear ‘Underground’ on Spotify, and follow Slow Capital on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Escape the 21st-century with Dawn of the Squid’s ardently archaic single ‘Barking up the Wrong Tree’

Posted on 18 December 2020

Dawn of the Squid’s debut album ‘Hubris’ is an explosion of archaic and theatrical ingenuity. If Frank Turner and Shakespeare had an aural lovechild, it would undoubtedly be reminiscent of the standout single ‘Barking Up the Wrong Tree’

With a baroque feel to the Alt Folk single, the soundscape catapults you from this crushingly weird 21st century into a decadent past by projecting you through the resounding strength in the eccentric London-based artist’s unfalteringly fierce Punk crooning.

Any fans of Amanda Palmer, Tim Minchin, Emilie Autumn and Fable Cry will definitely want to indulge.

You can check out Dawn of the Squid’s album Hubris for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rory Ian – Gambling Stil: Mesmerically Choral Indie Americana Folk

Posted on 14 December 2020

‘Gamnling Stil’ is just one of the dreamy Americana-tinged Indie Rock tracks found on Rory Ian’s debut album ‘From Son with Love’. Mesmerically choral Indie instrumentals coalesce with despondency-laden vocals allowing Rory Ian’s standout track to hit bruisingly hard emotionally, but tonally, the semi-orchestral soundscape is bordering on the celestial.

Any fans of Frightened Rabbit, The National and Bon Ivor will undoubtedly appreciate the familiar yet intimately intriguing offering of sweetly sobering Indie.

You can check out Rory Ian via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

That special love: Indie-Pop singer-songwriter Claire Beverly manifests her true feelings on ‘Home’

Posted on 10 December 2020

The intimate guitar strings of pure passion strums from Claire Beverly on ‘Home‘, blesses us a special start that sounds like it means something so deeply. This sub-conscious intuition is proved right this time as we are taken on a journey by a stunning singer, whose voice is like honey-coated treats for your dehydrated body and soul.

After finding her passion for music at a very young age, you can feel her rock, folk, alternative, and pop-fusion style that is unlike any other. Her experience is heard throughout as he holds each note expertly and her voice echoes deep inside your bones, which is a rare feeling and one you certainly remember forever.

This is the story of wanting that special love and waiting for your chosen lover to tell you how they truly feel. Your intuition tells that you something is off and you need to know that it isn’t real. You don’t want to waste your time and when they are home, you need to hear, see and feel that they really mean it. This is an artist who isn’t messing around and her heart desires either being all in, or all out. Nothing in-between will satisfy that craving to be loved like you deserve.

Thoughts and dreams can become real if you want them to. Your mind is a powerful thing and so is music. ‘Home’ from the wonderful talent that is the barefoot beach explorer Claire Beverly, is a love story about needing that comfort and an honest lover to tell you how it is.

After all, being with someone real is what really counts, as looks can be faked and copied. The heart inside, cannot.

Hear this special song via Claire’s Spotify and join her community on IG & FB.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Tobias Ben Jacob – a beautiful, haunting take on rootlessness, struggle, and hope inspired by a simple ‘Bird Made Out Of Clay’.

Posted on 7 December 2020

Tobias Ben Jacob is one half of the alt-folk duo Jacob and Drinkwater, and a former member of the acclaimed but sadly now-defunct Devonshire acoustic four-piece The Roots Union; with that kind of pedigree, any solo affair was always going to be a strong contender, and 2017’s ‘A Polyphonic Life’ was certainly a stormer of an album, including two songs which went on to feature in Martha Pinson and Martin Scorcese’s indie movie ‘Tomorrow’.

‘Refuge’, Jacob’s new album, is an entirely different affair, a vibrant collection of electronica-tinged narrative folk-tinged songs inspired by people at the heart of the global refugee crisis. ‘A Bird Made Out Of Clay’ is the first track (and lead single) is a beautiful, poignant take on how a single, random act of kindness can bring hope and charm to life even in what seems, at first, to be the bleakest and darkest of places, Jacob’s lifting, lilting voice carrying the track over a sparse arrangement of synth swells and sampled human choral voices. It’s melancholy yet hopeful, the gentle guitar line filling the space between Jacob’s story-telling vocal, the tale – like the rest of the album – created and jotted down in lay-bys and car-parks during Jacob’s six-day-week job as a delivery driver.

Inspired partly by Zekria Farzad, an Afghan refugee and former journalist who set up the Wave For Hope For The Future School at the Moria Refugee Camp in Lesbos, and partly by the Ai Weiwei film ‘Human Flow’, which documents the crisis, ‘Refuge’ is a hugely important piece of work, a delicate, fascinating musical accomplishment with a deeply meaningful message for us all; ‘A Bird Made Out Of Clay’ is the perfect, sublime first single and introduction to Jacob’s oeuvre.

‘A Bird Made Out Of Clay’ – and the rest of the ‘Refuge’ album – is available on Soundcloud now. Follow Tobias Ben Jacob here, or on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

ReHumanise has released their arcanely eclectic single ‘The Sacred Realm of Sokar’

Posted on 5 December 2020

Embark on a tribally psychotropic journey with the latest release, ‘The Realm of Sokar’, from Irish producer and composer ReHumanise (Damian Brady).

With Eastern and West African rhythms, shamanic influence and the beguiling sitar chimes sitting alongside synths, this cultural smorgasbord transcends what Western music alone could in terms of rhythmic transfixion.

The soul-inspired grooves and hypnotically mellifluous progressions of the Folk single are instantaneously accessible through the infusion of Indie and Rock which will simultaneously remind you of Beck, Hozier and the Stone Roses, but rest assured, The Realm of Sokar is far too arcane to offer even a hint of assimilation.

If you don’t really consider yourself a spiritual person, you may feel otherwise inclined once this stunning release eased to a quiescent close.

The Sacred Realm of Sokar is available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast