Browsing Tag

Nick Cave

FloatLikeCandy moved post-punk to the left(field) with ‘The Girl & the Peacemaker’

Posted on 13 November 2023

To sear the post-punk genre with their own brand of authenticity, FloatLikeCandy, scuzzed and fuzzed their latest single, The Girl & the Peacemaker up to the nth degree. As the basslines growl, the garage-y guitars swagger and shimmer through the progressions as the drawling with deadpan conviction spoken-word vocals work to ensnare fans of Nick Cave and Swans.

Far from your ordinary allegory, The Girl & the Peacemaker depicts a dark and murky tale of the grim sadness of war, the death of innocence and the gaslighting tendencies of politicians and warmongers as they win public favour as blood spills. With the ongoing conflict in Gaza, The Girl & The Peacemaker is a tragically timely release that signifies the importance of keeping experimental truth-sayers on your radar.

Stream The Girl & the Peacemaker on SoundCloud and follow FloatLikeCandy on Facebook to be the first to know when the rest of the EP drops.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Northern Arms lifted the veil on Americana alchemy in ‘This Thing Called We’

Posted on 11 September 2023

An amalgamation of influences from Bowie, Nick Cave, Arcade Fire, Velvet Underground and Pulp was always going to transpire as a cosmically compelling Tour De dark melodic Force, but what wasn’t a given was how much This Thing Called We by Northern Arms would stir the soul to such a viscerally amorous degree.

Northern Arms lifted the veil on Americana alchemy in his latest single, for which the Philadelphia-haunting song crafter enlisted the help of a stellar lineup of instrumentalists, who all brought their own profoundly deft touch to the art-rock installation.

If This Thing Called We came before Bowie’s Heroes, the single that will never be lost to history would easily be considered derivative. That may sound blasphemous until you’ve drenched yourself in the decadently morose romanticism; feel free to hit play and argue with me, because the way the single encapsulates the heart-wrenching pain that true love can leave us to linger in couldn’t be closer to the agonising mark.

Stream This Thing Called We on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Grace Woodroofe dialled the up beguile her latest single, You Call That Love?

Posted on 30 August 2023

PJ Harvey will want to eat her heart out to the latest orchestrally raw single, You Call That Love? by the Australian songstress, Grace Woodroofe, who always dials the beguile up until it is off the scale.

With the ‘Fever’ of Peggy Lee, the dark gyrating rhythmics of Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand and arcane layers of etherealism lending themselves to the artful scintillation, the Perth-born, Melbourne-based artist blended light and dark to prove that emboldenment is always a possibility after your power has been nefariously stripped away by someone who needed to weaken you to gain control.

With the line “You call that love? How does it feel to call that love?” worked into the mix, lyrical blows scarcely punch harder. Even if her abuser doesn’t acknowledge how she efficaciously disempowered them by holding a mirror to them for a stark reflection of their sociopathy, the rest of the world is listening and learning.

After supporting Ben Harper on the Italian leg of his tour, Woodroofe primed herself to exhibit her freshly honed sound after an eight-year release break; You Call That Love is only a taste of the commanding alchemy that is set to come in the form of her upcoming sophomore LP release. In a bid to help more women find their voice following emotional abuse, she has also written an essay to accompany her latest single.

You Call That Love was officially released on August 17th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mark Docherty rode the crux between new-wave and no-wave in ‘Reckless Abandon

Posted on 3 June 2023

Liverpool’s Mark Docherty created a brand-new wave somewhere between new-wave and no-wave in his latest defiantly distinctive single, Reckless Abandon, which is set for official release on June 3rd.

By bringing distortion-heavy buzzsaw riffs into the post-punk arena, the innovator, who will undoubtedly become renowned for the dualistic tendencies in his vocal performance, succeeded where very few artists of this era do; by drenching the airwaves in originality. From Nick Cave-ESQUE croons to raw rock magnetism, it all lingers in Docherty’s vocal arsenal.

Fans of Pixies and Depeche Mode alike will want to clamour all over Reckless Abandon, which is a sonic depiction of just what it says on the uninhibited tin.

Stream Reckless Abandon from the date of release via SoundCloud, and stay tuned for the debut LP, which is set to drop on June 16.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Malcolm Duff & Maristela Da Silva shared a message of hope and connection in ‘People’

Posted on 1 June 2023

The latest folk sonnet, People, from the singer-songwriter duo, Malcolm Duff & Maristela Da Silva, is a sombrely enlightening lesson in universal compassion.

Stepping out into the fray of the world, it is hard to contemplate the lives led by everyone you encounter. But in the intimacy of this timeless piano ballad which finds itself between the repertoires of Cohen, Waits and Nick Cave – on a sentimental day – the beauty in the shared experience of sentience shines through the delicate piano notes that spill arcane resonance beneath Malcolm Duff’s contemplatively honeyed vocal lines, which compel you into mindfulness.

People also resonates as a message of hope, conveyed to everyone who feels alone, regardless of how many people surround them. As The Legendary Pink Dots once said, it’s a loveless world, so what’s the point in looking? The point lies in the soul of this profoundly succinct release.

Stream People, which debuted on March 15, on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LÌONADH delivered poetry in orchestral motion in their single, European Man

Posted on 26 October 2022

Taken from the debut EP, I Cannot Go on Reaching, LÌONADH’s achingly artful lead single, European Man, consumed us with the emotion it was eloquently constructed through. The poet-fronted Glaswegian ensemble with a classical string section at their disposal may be fresh from their inception, but they are already garnering critical acclaim and causing catholic outcries.

Before the launch of their debut EP, the poet, Sean Lìonadh, shared his viral poem, Time for Love, which has amassed over 16 million streams, been published by BBC Scotland and driven the petulantly pious to frenzy by speaking for the LGBTQ+ community. Anyone that upsets the archaically moralistic applecart is instantly venerable in my book. There’s no taste quite like the salty tears of zealots.

As for the single, with the chill-imparting spoken word verses, around Nick Cave-Esque keys and operatic vocal grace, LÌONADH delivered pure art. If you thought that Arab Strap’s comeback album was something, delve into the hymnal sanctity of European Man.

European Man is now available to stream on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Michael R Shaw is set to release his feat of dark-folk redemption ‘Lord of All’

Posted on 6 May 2022
Michael R Shaw

Lancashire singer-songwriter Michael R Shaw has teased the humility and ornate originality in his upcoming album by giving us a preview of the short and profound dark-folk single, Lord of All.

Straight away the Nick Cave, Guy Garvey, and Richard Hawley influences start to resound around Shaw’s art-folk ingenuity which carries a touch of tenderness, poetry exhumed from a plaintive soul and a bold alchemic appeal that almost takes this folk track to a celestial level. It certainly wouldn’t be out of place on the Peaky Blinders soundtrack. Lord of All could have been the track to prevent the criminally excessive use of Red Right Hand.

Lord of All is the intro to Shaw’s upcoming album, which is due for release on September 1st, 2022. Check out Michael R Shaw via his website and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

James Gale sings the ‘Summer Blues’ in his resonantly seductive debut EP, Medicine

Posted on 1 March 2022

If James Gale’s debut 2021 EP, Medicine, passed you by, you missed a sweetly psychotropic slice of alt-rock that more than has what it takes to unite fans of Nick Cave, Nirvana, Elliott Smith and the Beatles.

The standout single, Summer Blues, which has now racked up over 14k streams on Spotify, is an indulgent cocktail of psych, blues, indie, and grunge. The dark narrative is delectably handled by the Bruges, Belgium-hailing singer-songwriter and artist. The way the accordant momentum picks up under Gale’s taunting vocals that question if you’re afraid to lose control before bluesily winding the soundscape back down into kaleidoscopically choral grooves is nothing short of arrestive.

We seriously hope that there’s a sophomore release in the pipeline.

Summer Blues is available to stream along with James Gale’s debut EP via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LeoJJChill leaves us ensnared with his minimalist folk sound.

Posted on 14 September 2021

With years of songwriting behind him, LeoJJChill has given us a taste of what we can expect from his future releases. Anyone who found them ensnared by Nick Cave’s new material created in collaboration with Warren Ellis will quickly become ensnared by the ease of the melodies and the command of the vocals above the gentle acoustic guitar progressions.

His songwriting that takes you right back to the roots of folk is simple, but it isn’t without soul or authentic artistic licence, and that is exactly what leaves you absorbed by LeoJJChill’s less-than-archetypal approach to lo-fi folk. We eagerly await his official indie-folk debut.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chris Sunfield has the femme fatale fear in his latest single, Don’t Kill Me.

Posted on 31 August 2021

Don’t Kill Me is the latest single from Chris Sunfield, an artist quickly becoming renowned for his conceptual explorations of classic pop idioms to the tune of snaking, swampy blues-rock that isn’t afraid to go Baroque through symphonic styling.

His radio-ready psychobilly single is probably the most accurate femme fatale depiction I’ve ever heard; what Single White Female is to cinema, Don’t Kill Me is to the airwaves. Any fans of the Cramps, the Brains, Amigo the Devil, Nick Cave, or Mad Sin will find plenty to love about Sunfield.

Don’t Kill Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast