Browsing Tag

Folk Singer Songwriter

Folk singer-songwriter Steve Andrews reached the pinnacle of feel-good music with ‘Climb Through a Rainbow’

Posted on 14 November 2022
Climb Through A Rainbow by Steve Andrews

When Steve Andrews, AKA the Bard of Ely, isn’t prising our eyes open to the disasters we create in our destructive-by-design lifestyles, playing Glastonbury or being lauded by the NME and Nicky Wire, he’s spilling soul across the airwaves through singles such as Climb Through a Rainbow.

With Pixies-Esque shimmering reverb and birdsong as the backdrop to his ardently animated acoustic guitar and unlimitedly happy vocals that bring alive the song that was inspired and composed in his friend’s nursery in Cardiff, it is impossible not to get swept up in the euphoric energy of the single.

Climb Through a Rainbow definitively proves you’re never too old to benefit from the simple pleasures of authentically feel-good music, which makes no bones about being on the silly side of wild. Honestly, I’ve got happy tears as I write this review. Nothing has touched my soul this much, ironically, since Nicky Wire’s solo album.

Stream and purchase Climb Through a Rainbow on Bandcamp now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

In the wake of trajedy, Alexander Joseph found the beauty in his piano score, Waiting for You

Posted on 11 November 2022

The UK-based singer-songwriter, Alexander Joseph, created an intricately ornate balance of faith, regret and grief in the piano version of his single, Waiting For You, which captured the complexity of the emotions following his grandmother’s passing.

If you know how it feels to know that someone is at peace while they endured the opposite amongst us and for those torrid emotions to be confounded by guilt for not being more supportive while we had the opportunity, Waiting for You will weigh down on you like a tonne of bricks.

Yet, there’s ample solace within the pure soul of the vocals, which anticipate reconnection while the lyrics vow to go on in a way that will minimise regret when our time comes. By blending striking minor keys with major keys in the progressions to brighten the score, Waiting for You unravels to sonically amplify the message that even in the wake of tragedy, life can never be black and white.

Alexander Joseph’s commitment to orchestrating uplifting heartfelt messages is seen throughout his body of work, plenty of which has been lauded by BBC Introducing. When he’s not enriching our musical culture, he coaches the British Wheelchair Tennis Programme. My faith in humanity is officially restored.

Waiting for You will officially release across all major platforms on November 11th. Hear it here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Peppler lulled us into optimistic gratitude with his dream folk serenade, Blessed

Posted on 9 November 2022

Creating ample anticipation for his upcoming dream folk album releasing in early 2023, the acoustic folk artist Peppler exposed his old soul in his lead single, Blessed.

Entwining the warm vintage tones of 60s and 70s folk with a modern signature dream pop sound that only Peppler can call his own, Blessed is effortlessly efficacious in beckoning you into the beguiling grace of the release. Which needed no more than accordant acoustic guitars, a harmonica and Peppler’s consolingly dulcet tones to lull you into gratified catharsis.

Lyrically, Blessed optimistically reinforces the message that we are blessed within ourselves and that trust that it will all work out is never misplaced. It’s a simple message, but one worth reiterating, given our tendency to curse every downfall and diminish everything positive. Notably, artistically thriving within pure, simplistic minimalism is Peppler’s gift, one that he’s worked tirelessly to perfect after eight years of performing live and crafting albums with various projects.

Watch Blessed live from the G7 Recording Studio on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Charlie O’Brien walks us through dreamy jazz pop nostalgia on ‘Ingrim Street’

Posted on 20 October 2022

Taken from his forthcoming fifth album, Fire and Foam, Charlie O’Brien’s mellow pop folk serenade, Ingrim Street, is a jazzy amble through sepia-tinged memories that allow you to revisit your own sentimental destinations of nostalgia.

His fifth album is Charlie O’Brien’s first departure from his trad Irish roots. The melodious ease of the dreamy soundscape has no obvious connotations of experimentalism through its delicious entrenchment in unbridled soul, noted through the lofty 50s pop vocals and the brass section, which came as a courtesy from the Mexico-hailing artists Luis Zautla and Alejandro Cristobal.

In a time of such rampant disillusion, records such as these are worth their weight in gold. We can’t wait to see where this album takes O’Brien and his achingly beautiful talent.

Ingrim Street will be available to stream from October 20th, along with the rest of his album, Fire and Foam. Catch it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Marlais looks ‘Out of the Window’ in his quiescently beguiling folk tale

Posted on 17 October 2022
Stream Of Forms by Marlais

Stuttgart, Germany-residing folk artist Marlais takes inspiration from the deep roots of English and Irish folk for his quiescently beguiling aural tales that transcend the commercialisation of Folk to outpour intimately uninhibited emotion.

His latest hymnal single, Out of the Window, is an arresting invitation to lose yourself in the narrative, which unfolds to the minimalist folk instruments and harmonically ethereal electronic motifs. It’s gospel for the impious, a triumph in connectivity through the ambient relay of sincere emotion that carries as much through the vulnerable vocal timbre as it does through the celestially sombre instrumentation.

Out of the Window, taken from his forthcoming LP, Stream of Forms, is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Charlie Diamond is the last of the die-hard romantic dreamers in his latest serenade, The Star Studded Girl and the Sunset Kid

Posted on 26 September 2022
The Star Studded Girl and The Sunset Kid by Charlie Diamond

Armed with his harmonica, acoustic guitar and poetically romantic sensibility, the Connecticut folk singer-songwriter, Charlie Diamond, orchestrated the ultimate outpour of affection in his latest single, The Star Studded Girl and the Sunset Kid.

Released on September 5th, The Star Studded Girl and the Sunset Kid carries Bob Dylan-style overtones, with outlier dreamer candour as the affirmation of his artistic autonomy. With the almost spoken word versing of the lyrics, which takes you to breathtaking landscapes and even more arresting attests of passion, it’s the ultimate aural escapism for die-hard romantics.

The Star Studded Girl and the Sunset Kid is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

There’s something in the arcane air in Lara Eidi’s latest folk single, Summer Winds

Posted on 26 August 2022

Bask in the blissful aural accordance of Lara Eidi’s latest single, Summer Winds. The Athens-born, Lebanon and Canada-hailing, and London-residing artist is known for her genre-transcending style, which invites the listener into storytelling catharsis. Summer Winds is no exception to her resolving rule.

The soul and presence of an artist will always make a world of difference before talent is brought into the equation; it is impossible not to get caught up in the romanticism of her vivid vocal dynamism and ever-ascending melodies crafted on mandolin, guitar and cello.

In the course of her career, Eidi has played at iconic venues, such as The Barbican, garnered critical acclaim from across the board, and perhaps most pertinently, healed listeners with the candour in her lyrics. With Summer Winds, she crafted one of the most uplifting expositions on anxiety that you could care to listen to.

The official music video for Summer Winds premiered on August 7th. Check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Escape in the roots of Drew Peterson’s Americana folk single, Duck

Posted on 25 August 2022

With the quirky intensity of Neutral Milk Hotel and the bluegrass crooning of Tom Waits, we couldn’t help succumbing to the soul in Drew Peterson’s album, St. Jude, A Duck and the Crooked Line.

The opening single, Duck, is a narratively escapist Midwest adventure from the independent roots singer-songwriter who has been twanging acoustic strings and entertaining rowdy bars on the Minnesota scene for over two decades. The softly gruff vocals work their way through the dry humour in the lyrics over the minimalist production, consisting of little more than accordion and strings. But that is all Peterson needed to sonically consume you with the endearingly titled, Duck.

Check out Drew Peterson’s debut solo album via his official website and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Deep Sea Tourist explored our embitteringly perplexing world in his alt-folk single, Bodies

Posted on 23 August 2022

Scottish singer-songwriter, Deep Sea Tourist, channelled the melodious evocativeness of Frightened Rabbit in his alt-folk single, Bodies, taken from his 2022 album, Everything Will Be Okay, Probably.

The loss of Scott Hutchinson left a massive empathy-shaped hole in the Scottish indie scene. If anyone has the astute compassion to fill it, it is Deep Sea Tourist. He dove deep into introspection to pull out comforting melancholy and blissfully resolving acoustic melodies accentuated by folky strings.

Bodies almost unravels as an intimate conversation on the confusion that transpires when we try to excavate an understanding of our human experience in this ever-perplexing and imbittering world. Bodies is genuinely one of the most stunning singles I have listened to this year. If I wasn’t on so many antidepressants, the floodgates would have undoubtedly opened to the tune of it.

Everything Will Be Okay, Probably is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ildy Lee has unveiled her sermonic folk ‘Requiem for Peace’

Posted on 17 August 2022

With her latest single, the international singer-songwriter, Ildy Lee made her much-needed contribution to peace and sanctity. Requiem for Peace is an otherworldly sermonic folk extension of her empathy for those grieving in Ukraine. After facing Russian tanks in her home country of Budapest, she’s well placed to give us the sum of this colossal loss with a sense of sincerity that is scarcely heard on the subject.

I’ll never forget the Adam Curtis documentary, which pointed out that Patti Smith was as much of a part of her system for her reaction against it. Ildy Lee is one of the rare voices that can earnestly say that she’s efficaciously fighting against ever-prevalent justice. The compassion in Requiem for Peace is enough to force you into shedding a cathartic tear. In a time when a sense of humanity seems a scarcity, Ildy Lee is worth her weight in gold.

The official music video for Requiem for Peace is available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast