Browsing Tag

Jazz Pop

Spotlight Feature: rise and shine with the soul in Laraland’s latest single, In the Morning

Posted on 20 June 2022
Laraland

Ahead of the release of her third LP, the Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Laraland has unveiled the soul in her latest seductive jazz-pop serenade, In the Morning, featuring bassist Nama.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. ‘They’ have never succumbed to the succinctly revelatory lyrical style of Laraland. “In the morning you won’t know my name but I’m the same” perfectly encapsulates the hangover from the cocktail of alcohol, fleeting affection and amicable rejection. At least the love affair with this loungey jazz revival is built to stand the test of time.

With all the timeless class of Ella Fitzgerald nestled up against the modernist resonance in the groove-deep production, easy listening just became infinitely more arrestive. Voices like this don’t emerge every day; Laraland is notably a golden souled diamond in the superficial rough. Get her on your radar.

In her own words, here is what Laraland had to say about her latest single,

“In the Morning was written during another long lockdown in Melbourne in late 2021. It reminisces on the idea of being able to go out and meet new people at a bar, club or anywhere the night takes you. I am drawing on the idea that sometimes you form a connection with a stranger in a bar and want it to last longer than its bitter-sweet one-night expiry.”

In the Morning will officially release on June 20th. You can hear it for yourselves via Spotify.

Follow Laraland on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Basia Bartz has released her feverishly pure piano-pop score, All Your Pages (Read Like Mine)

Posted on 6 June 2022
Basia Bartz

After an outtake-y intro which strips any air of pretension from the soundscape from the outset, the Poland-born and raised, London-residing singer-songwriter Basia Bartz careers into a smooth experimental jazz-pop ensemble with her latest single, All Your Pages (Read Like Mine).

Even though it’s scarcely imaginable that a contemporary artist can conjure as much soulfully demure alchemy as Peggy Lee did with Fever, that is exactly what Basia Bartz beguiles with.

Her name as a solo artist may be relatively unheard. As a violinist, she’s worked alongside Boxer Rebellion, Maisha, Ben Walker and Josienne Clarke, Dan Raza, The Penny Black Remedy, Cherise Adams-Burnett, Tankus The Henge, Trent Miller, Ian Prowse, Tom McRae, Jamie Lenman, Ferries & Sylvester, Catherine Rudie and the Kisses, Jason McNiff, The Clientele, ESE & The Vooduu People, Gabriel Moreno, Adam Beattie and many more.

Inspired by those very same artists, she started training as a vocalist and composer before releasing her debut single, A Girl at Dusk, in 2022. Her third single, All Your Pages, is her soulful take on a groove-led feat of piano pop which unravels as an honest expression of female sensuality. God knows we needed someone to put the innocence back into affection after Nikki Minaj defiled all that was sacred about those moments that are just as tenderly captivating as the swinging piano riffs in All Your Pages.

All Your Pages will launch on Bandcamp on June 3rd before releasing across all other platforms on June 21st.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gemma Danielle is the Chanteuse of 2022 in Her Latest Cinematic Jazz Pop Single, End Game

Posted on 6 March 2022

With all the class and gravitas of a 1920s Chanteuse, the Nottingham-based singer-songwriter Gemma Danielle filled her latest single, End Game, with a wicked sense of soul. The stormily cinematic single starts as a sultry ballad; it’s the aural equivalent of doe eyes, but as it progresses, Gemma Danielle delivers the parting shot in a relationship that has reached the death roll stage of dissatisfaction and despair.

To parallel her timeless style, Gemma Danielle brought a potent serving of lyrical vindication to the table in the track that hits its sonic sweet spot in the ingeniously jazzy pop-soul-rock interlude, which allows the single to groove to an unforgettable close. If any pop artist deserves to climb the charts in 2022, it is the best chanteuse we could have possibly asked for.

End Game is now available via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tel Aviv’s latest luminary, ViRa has released her jazzy soul-pop debut EP, Non-Fiction.

Posted on 31 January 2022

The Tel Aviv-based singer-songwriter ViRa has released her highly anticipated debut EP, Non-Fiction; a collection of songs composed to become unmistakably yours. The jazzy nuances in the soulful pop textures retain their elegance right the way through her raw soundscapes, especially in the standout single, Traveling Face, which she uses to confess that home is not a place to her. The sonic signature in Traveling Face almost finds the middle ground between Phoebe Bridgers, Amy Winehouse, Nora Jones and Adele but all reminiscences are extremely fleeting in the presence of the artist’s distinction.

The singer-songwriter has been writing songs since the age of 8, along with the influence of her musical parents; she also took influence from the likes of King Crimson (that would explain the artfully entrancing elements) and Coldplay for her authentically ambitious sound.

Traveling Face is now available to stream on Spotify along with ViRa’s debut EP.

Review by Amelia Vandergast
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Scott Cook – No Bones: Heart-warmingly morose jazzy-indie-pop

Posted on 2 November 2021

Montreal-based guitarist and songwriter Scott Cook launched his jazzy, spacey debut EP, Topics, on October 22nd. Beyond the perceptible Bowie reminiscences, the flair in the guitar flourishes and the panoramic orchestration of the heart-warmingly morose singles bring Scott Cook into a league of his own.

In the standout single, No Bones, the magnetically deadpan vocals that will be a hit with fans of Pavement refuse to leave you anything but endeared by the delivery of the elegantly poetic lyrics. I think I officially fell in love at the line “There’s no bones in here, “I’m just a sad sack of skin”.

Scott Cook’s PhD in classical music theory and time spent performing in jazz and rock ensembles discernibly paid off when writing, performing, recording and producing his debut EP. We can’t wait to hear what comes next.

No Bones is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cooper Walker gives us a 60s soul ‘Fix’ in his standout release.

Posted on 19 October 2021

Pop, jazz and blues entwine in the debut album from LA singer-songwriter and multi-instrumental artist Cooper Walker. His intoxicating mash of vintage guitars,  crooned vocals and uplifting piano chords will send you right back to the 60s while providing the ultimate proof that music contemporary music *can* hold a candle to music from iconic eras.

His modernist spin on sounds of the 60s is best enjoyed in the standout single, Fix, which is just as instantly cathartic as The Zombies, as sultry as John Mayall, and carries the sonic power of the Rolling Stones.

Walker’s infallible talent is one thing, the soul that is spilt in his debut album is quite another. You couldn’t ask for a better playlist staple in these dystopic times.

Fix, along with his debut 15-track album, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Find the silver lining in A-Mar’s bluesy indie single, Raining in New Orleans.

Posted on 20 September 2021

Even though using the weather as a parable for complex emotions isn’t exactly novel, independent bedroom pop artist A-Mar’s single, Raining in New Orleans, proves there’s still plenty of poignant poetry to be pulled from our stormy, unpredictable weather systems.

Vocally, there is plenty of reminiscence to the likes of Jack Johnson, but it is in the instrumentals where A-Mar truly comes into his own. His soulful infusion of indie, blues and jazz in the cathartically laidback single sets him leagues apart from his contemporaries and icons alike. If this is what he can achieve alone in his bedroom, we’re all too eager to hear where the future takes him and his tender, instantly magnetic expression.

Raining in New Orleans is now available to stream along with the artist’s debut album, Around El Mundo, via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Transcend expectation with Lucy Burke’s jazzy blues pop single, Deaf Ears

Posted on 15 September 2021

With the style and soul of a 1950s chanteuse, Lucy Burke looks through the eyes of iconic female singers in her arcanely arranged jazzy blues pop single, Deaf Ears, which reveals the inner bliss available if you succeed in transcending societal expectation.

Britney Spears’ mental breakdown and subsequent censorship battle inspired Burke to explore the melancholy behind Marilyn Monroe’s glamour and find parallels with the harrowing journey of Amy Winehouse. Deaf Ears also offers an alchemic gaze into the pitfalls that dichotomies present to artists as they choose between modesty and sexuality and conformity and revolution.

With the Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s influences ranging from Eva Cassidy to Portishead to The Beatles to Norah Jones, her dynamic sound never allows you to anticipate what is coming next. But something tells us, we haven’t heard the best of Burke yet, she’s firmly affixed to our radar, we suggest that you follow suit.

Deaf Ears is due for release on September 15th, 2021; you can check out the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Acme Corporation present their sublime musical take on T. S. Eliot’s He Do the Police in Different Voices.

Posted on 31 August 2021
He Do the Police in Different Voices by Stephen Nunns

‘He Do the Police in Different Voices’ is the stellar album-musical adapted from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land by composer, theatre director and co-founder of the Acme Corporation, Stephen Nunns.

For those previously unacquainted with Eliot’s iconic ground-breaking work, He Do the Police in Different voices explores T. S. Eliot’s rocky relationship with his wife, Vivian.

The jazzy noir pop single, A Handful of Dust, brings Eliot’s fiery account of frustrated passion to life with the finesse that you’d expect from an accolade-decorated Broadway director. O’Malley Steuerman’s sultry vocal timbre holds no prisoner while resonating through perfect pitch over the instrumental arrangement where synths, electric sitar, and lap steel notes bring a gritty atmosphere synonymous with the beat generation. Ironically, Nunns emanated the air that Eliot was always considered too grandiose for.

He Do the Police in Different Voices is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

For more info, visit The Acme Corporation website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lucy Burke has released her hauntingly intimate ambient acoustic pop single, Please Stay.

Posted on 30 July 2021

It is practically a given that any artist drawing influence from Radiohead, Portishead and Norah Jones and pouring the inspiration into an ambient acoustic pop-jazz soundscape is going to leave you floored but Lucy Burke’s latest single, Please Stay, surpasses all expectation.

The haunting grip of the intimate single breathes through the entire duration. The gentle melodic guitar and piano notes cradle the Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s succinctly urgent vocals that hit with bruising evocative impact.

Please Stay is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast