Browsing Tag

Folk Rock

Life goes on in JRtheBand’s resilience-driven folk-rock anthem, Lit Boy

Posted on 29 September 2022

In a bid to pour modernism into the rock arena, the Phoenix, AZ-hailing multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, JRtheBand, has launched his latest folk-rock anthem, Lit Boy, and decidedly succeeded.

The complex guitar work entwines the warm timbre of swampy acoustic guitar strings with the sonic overdrive of electric guitar riffs, while the vocals match the powerful instrumental arrangement. Fans of The Levellers will easily get caught up in the rugged anthemics of this narratively powerful release which draws you right into the visceral centre of the expression, which stridently proclaims resilience in a time that premeditates weakness. If you ever needed affirmation that life goes on after tribulation, it is neatly packaged in this vibrant celebration of fortitude.

As JRtheBand will be releasing a song every three months going forward, we highly recommend saving space on your radar.

Lit Boy is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nick Cody & The Heartache tackled profound uncertainty with their latest single, Maybe, featuring Towse.

Posted on 15 September 2022

Uncertainty seems to be around every corner as of late; one of the only consolations is the latest single, ‘Maybe’, from Nick Cody & The Heartache featuring Towse.

The melodiously mournful single is the third one to be released from the forthcoming album, all is fine ‘til the world goes pop, due for release on September 30th via Green Eyed Records. Instead of sugar-coating future possibilities, the aptly glib lyrics pose possibilities of suffering in silence or hiding in the dark, giving up thinking or ceasing to put up a fight.

As the poignantly melancholic keys coalesce around the warm and gentle guitar chords, grief-stricken alchemy breathes between Nick Cody’s crooned folk pessimism and Towse’s haunted vocal timbre which carries an ethereal chill not all too dissimilar to Angel Olsen’s. They’re a match made in aural heaven. As for this timely single, consider it essential for your alt-folk-rock playlists.

The official music video for Maybe premiered on August 25th. Check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

 

Set yourself free with The Paul Clark Project’s sophomore Americana Folk LP, Sown from the Same Seed

Posted on 10 August 2022

Some say time is the greatest healer, but that empty idiom falls short of the mindful catharsis extended by artists, such as The Paul Clark Project.

The singer-songwriter’s sophomore album, Sown from the Same Seed, uses a timelessly transformative blend of folk, rock and Americana to remind us that even though there are billions of us spread across the globe, we all have the same unifying origin and intrinsic needs.

In a time where irrational tribalism splinters our society, artists and thinkers need to step up to the plate and act as the glue to bind us into peace, love and acceptance. No one could accuse Paul Clark of not pulling his mindfully resolving weight. The opening single, Consciousness, opens a can of candour, forcing into recollection our twisted reality where we shackle ourselves with anger and limitation.

Beyond the humbling textures and tones is an unreckonable intelligence; spurred by Clark’s experience as a clinical social worker and mental health advocate. For your sanity’s sake, take notes.

Sown from the Same Seed is now available to stream and purchase on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ruby Sue told her coming of age story in her bitter-sweet triumph of a debut LP, the Need

Posted on 9 August 2022

With the sweetness of Taylor Swift, the soul of Brandi Carlile, and the bite of Courtney Love, the 19-year-old Minneapolis singer-songwriter Ruby Sue released her coming-of-age debut album, The Need.

Although pitch-perfection and instrumental distinction are a constant through the 12 singles, special attention should be paid to I Remember September, which mellifluously exhibits just how fleeting youth is, and how inclined we are to cling to it through fear of the future. I can only imagine how terrifying the transition into adulthood is in this era, but everyone going through it now has a confidant in this soul-stirring debut LP.

With lyrics such as, “who will I be when I’m not young and free?” Ruby Sue proves that despite her age, she’s got more self-awareness than most lyricists. Get her on your radar.

I Remember September is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Forget the ‘new normal’ embrace Firebug’s nostalgia-rich rock single, Change

Posted on 15 June 2022

Given that nothing is a given except the unrelenting presence of change, Firebug’s latest rock single on the very subject of it is perhaps one of the most universally resonant tracks you can drift into.

The Joshua Tree-hailing artist left enough ambiguity within the lyrics to let you implant your own meaning and laments of the ever-influx facets of existence that can turn nostalgia into mourning and grief. Yet, through Juliette Tworsey’s haunting-in-spite-of-stridence vocals and the dusty blues-rock guitars, Firebug was in complete control of your emotional impulses as you listen to the plaintively painted in sepia single.

Every time we hear Firebug, we’re even more assured that they are amongst the few artists worth following in the time we’ve found ourselves within. In gorgeously subversive fashion, Change shows us how naive we were to ever anticipate ‘the new normal’.

Listen to Firebug’s latest album, No Return, for yourselves on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ryan Hamilton leaves us Free Fallin’ in his Tom Petty cover

Posted on 12 March 2022

Covering iconic singles that have followed us through the eras and become part of the soundtracks to our lives is always a risky move but The Fort Worth, Texas singer-songwriter, Ryan Hamilton’s boldness paid off when he breathed new life into the already upliftingly breezy single, Free Fallin’.

Tom Petty’s original was largely faultless. Yet, as Hamilton has already been branded as the Tom Petty of this generation, hitting play quickly allows interest to evolve into indulging a revitalised classic, which was recorded during a recent trip to London at Abbey Road Studios.

Before establishing himself as a Grammy-worthy singer-songwriter with his original material Hamilton toured across North America and Canada with his former bands, received international airplay and impressed Classic Rock and Kerrang. And perhaps most impressively, he’s written and recorded with the legendary Ginger Wildheart.

We have no doubt the future of his career will be just as luminary. Watch this space.

Check out Ryan Hamilton’s cover of Free Fallin’ via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sanchez. delivered an off-kilter folk-rock confessional masterpiece with his latest single, Feeling

Posted on 2 March 2022
Sanchez

Following his debut 2022 album, Burgundy, which was produced by the legendary Pete Maher, the already iconic singer-songwriter Sanchez., is here with his latest single, Feeling. With that title, the artist set the evocative bar high; he heart-wrenchingly transcended it with his folk-rock-inspired confessional.

In the cavernous intro that consists of little more than rugged folk-rock pulls of acoustic strings, names like Cohen, Waits and Dylan spring to mind. Yet, Feeling steadily grooves into its own distinct and artful gravitas as the soundscape is enriched by ascending melodies, raw and off-kilter choral sonic power and blisteringly luminous organ notes. It’s Richard Hawley meets Pixies. It is also the aural evolution that melancholic outliers have been waiting for.

Feeling is due for official release on March 2nd; dive into it yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Connect with Sanchez. via Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Dive into Stan Silver and the Brave Puppies’ fervently azure folk-rock single, Cool Water

Posted on 1 March 2022

I never anticipated encountering a band that appease my visceral-emotion-seeking soul quite as well as Tiger Army, Koffin Kats or the Brains. The Hamburg hailing Americana folk-rock outfit Stan Silver and the Brave Puppies surpassed all expectations with their latest single, Cool Water.

There’s plenty of reminiscence to Nick 13’s style in the gristly and shimmering Gretschy tones and in the chorus harmonies around the fervent verse vocals that effortlessly paint a landscape that you want to get lost in. Yet, Stan Silver and the Brave Puppies set themselves apart with the rock licks against the psychobilly-style chugging basslines, and the folky picturesque lyrical escapism.

Cool Water is the first song released from the incredibly promising outfit’s forthcoming album. We couldn’t be more stoked for it.

Cool Water is now available to stream on YouTube and Reverb Nation.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

The Grammy-balloted artist, Luanne Hunt, has released her ornately picturesque 21st studio album, Portraits in Song

Posted on 7 February 2022

During her 27-year career, Luanne Hunt has released 21 studio albums and picked up three Grammy nominations along the way for her refreshingly authentic take on modern country. With her love of folk-rock feeding into her sonic signature, her music is as diverse as it is nostalgically comfortable. Her latest album, Portraits in Song, captures her talent at its finest. It is a testament to her determination to strive for excellence and hit emotional chords along the way; you’d be hard-pressed to find a more elegant soul in country-folk-rock.

The album starts on the instantly arresting single, “It Was Always You”; the ardently visceral single is brimming with shimmering soul through the orchestral scoring and Hunt’s ethereally ornate vocals that cherish the notion of perpetuation affection. Her 70s folk-rock influence comes to the forefront in Midnight Rain & Roses, which will undoubtedly be a hit with any Stevie Nicks fans. The arcane production paired with the warmly overdriven guitars and Luanne Hunt’s vocals that become the epitome of beguiling is matchlessly stunning.

Here’s what Luanne Hunt had to say about her 21st album:

“I consider ‘Portraits in Song’ to be my crowning achievement thus far; it reflects my love of folk-rock artists in the same vein as America, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Van Morrison. I can’t get enough of the songs from the 60s and 70s era, they truly are the bar I always set for myself.”

The album also features the Latin Grammy Award-Winning drummer, Heitor Lima, the world-renowned piano player, Hal Ratliff (Righteous Brothers, Grass Roots), and the acclaimed Canadian composer/conductor Jordan Grigg.

Portraits in Song is now available to stream on Spotify. Or you can head over to her official website to purchase the album.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Psych Soul Food is Back on the Menu with Denim Dan’s Return to the Airwaves

Posted on 25 January 2022

The NYC psychedelically blessed folk-pop-rock powerhouse, Denim Dan, serenaded us with their seminal spacey album, No Guarantee, ahead of the release of their upcoming album, 3AM.

Each of the singles on the 2020 album, No Guarantee, provides the opportunity to shift the ennui and existentialism out of your worldview. To complement the psychedelic tones, the enlightened lyricism that was penned to hit the evocative spot by uplifting just as much as the transcending instrumental timbres.

After forming in the 90s, Denim Dan’s fusion of 60s pop and 70s rock has remained just as sweet in the 21st century. Instead of modernising their sound that carries reminiscences to The Beatles, Steely Dan, Bowie and Tom Petty, they’ve stayed true to cathartically resonant form.

Along with the release of their upcoming album, the nostalgia-inducing outfit are also set to release their tribute to Bob Dylan to coincide with the opening of the Bob Dylan Museum in Tulsa, OK. They are well worth a spot on your radar.

Denim Dan’s 2020 album, No Guarantee, is available to stream in full via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast