Browsing Tag

baroque

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

Medieval Baebes bring the baroque with their tenth album ‘Prayers Of The Rosary’

Posted on 23 November 2020

After a career spanning 25 years Medieval Baebes return with this, their tenth album, and the first to feature solely original compositions. Recorded during the ‘wilderness months’ of a pandemic-lockdowned 2020, in the spiritual, legend-shrouded lodestone of Glastonbury, the twelve tracks on ‘Prayers Of The Rosary’ stylishly mix Christian liturgical plainsong with the Latin prayers of the rosary of the album’s title.

It’s a stunning piece of work. Beautiful, haunting vocal performances mix with traditional instruments such as lyres, ouds, and Chinese pipa, sitting alongside church bells, field-recorded nature sounds, and unusual additions such as bagpipes and even a hurdy gurdy. Composed and produced by founding member Katharine Blake and featuring the additional performances of multi-instrumentalists Michael J York (The Utopia Strong, Coil, Teleplasmiste) and Charlie Cawood (Anathema, Lost Crowns, Knifeworld), ‘Prayers Of The Rosary’ is at once meditative and uplifting, spiritual yet psychedelic, introspective yet buoyant. In a world of twenty-second soundbites, social media engagement analytics, and disposable everything, ‘Prayers Of The Rosary’ might just be the antidote we didn’t realise we needed all along.

‘Prayers Of The Rosary’ is available from Bandcamp from the 4th December; Find Medievel Baebes on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Yana – Trapped in a Cage: Arcanely Baroque Celtic Folk

Posted on 12 April 2020

Folk singer-songwriter Yana’s latest single “Trapped in a Cage” is an enchantingly baroque orchestration which pairs cinematically theatrical instrumentals with poetically resonant lyrics.

The archaic soundscape may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But for anyone who finds favour in archaically beguiling singles, you’ll definitely want to make Trapped in a Cage a firm fixture on your playlists.

Since Yana made her debut in 2019 with her single Distant Shore, she’s garnered plenty of acclaim in Ireland and across Europe. With her debut EP due to be released in June 2020, we have no doubt that Yana is one to watch. Even though her Folk roots style is steeped in influence from the past, her lyrics are contemporary enough to ensnare you and lead you into anachronistic escapism.

You can check out Yana’s single Trapped in a Cage for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lex Ventura – Baroque And Roll At Its Finest

Posted on 14 December 2017

Imagine if Nick Cave cheered up and embraced latin beats or if Bing Crosby had embraced 60’s surf-pop, quite hard scenarios to picture that’s for sure but Lex Ventura is a hard artist to pin down. I Could Be is a song from another time, a smooth chanteuse delivery put to retro vibes, sailing close to pastiche but full of enough originality and lo-fi excellence that you would be hard pushed to tell if this is someone carrying the torch for those pre-pop times or just some long lost demos from an act which should have been a footnote in the annals history but who somehow missed their moment.

This is baroque and roll at its finest, Jacques Brel reanimated and relocated to the sunnier climes of the Californian coast, as strange as it is beguiling and seemingly so far removed from any modern sound that you are not sure if this is rose-tinted and nostalgia driven or, given the cyclical nature of music, a taste of things to come. But believe me somewhere there is a parallel universe where Lex Ventura is bigger than the Beatles.