Browsing Tag

norah jones

Leah Nawy Blossomed into Indie Stardom with ‘I Was a Flower’

Posted on 27 October 2024

Leah Nawy’s latest single, I Was a Flower, is an emotional sojourn you will never want to return from. Drawing on influences from Big Thief, Yo La Tengo, and Grandaddy, the track unfurls like a séance of tonal sublimity, decorated with artful flourishes and polyphonic bursts of hazy reverie.

If the aforementioned artists hit you in the feels, imagine that emotional weight paired with a voice that fuses Norah Jones’ intimate introspection with the soaring range of Macy Gray.

The thematic blossoming within the track’s progressions ensures every component heightens the emotion and intensifies the resonance, effortlessly showcasing Leah Nawy’s depth as both a songwriter and producer. At just 23, the NYC-based artist, who honed her craft at Berklee NYC, has mastered the art of making every note and lyric hit with purpose.

I Was a Flower was officially released on October 2^nd; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Susie McCollum – New Year’s Eve: part love song, part soulful indie-folk ode to bitter-sweet tradition

Posted on 28 September 2023

If it isn’t too early for commercial stores to deck their aisles with items that prove we’re in the midst of a consumer-industrial complex, it isn’t too early to pontificate on what will be the staple fixtures on our holiday playlists, especially when the singles are as superlatively resolving as New Year’s Eve from the folk singer-songwriter Susie McCollum.

Part love song, part soulful indie-folk ode to bitter-sweet tradition, the loungey and luxe feel of the NYC singer-songwriter’s debut single allows you to slip into a reflective sanctuary of a soundscape. The gentle piano keys against the minimalist acoustic guitars construct an absorbing platform for McCollum’s endlessly sonorous harmonic notes to drift into as the lyrics go beyond the commodification of the holiday, which, whether we like it or not, forces us to take sentimental stock of the year gone by and anticipate what we’ll be grateful for next year.

However you choose to spend it this year, there isn’t a situation McCollum can’t elevate with her Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones and Janis Ian-esque sound.

Add New Year’s Eve to your Spotify playlists now.

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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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

Julianna Sweeney tells us like it is with her jazzy soul-pop single ‘all talk’

Posted on 4 March 2021

https://open.spotify.com/track/5amxgKuPmVRg2n4uh8bnzZ

With a sound so celestial it sounds like it has been pulled from the 5^th dimension, it’s safe to say the lead single ‘all talk’ taken from Julianna Sweeney’s debut album ‘Exit Fo[u]r is stunning.

The 21-year-old singer-songwriter’s approach to jazzy soul pop will undoubtedly enamour fans of Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones and Carole King while arresting you with the originality of her sound. Nothing is forced, everything is effortless, at least on the surface there’s no diminishing the amount of nuanced skill in all talk. With smooth jazzy instrumental interludes between Julianna Sweeney’s vocals, there’s plenty of room in the soundscape to drink in the romantic frustration which transpires before you learn that actions speak louder than words.

You can check out Julianna Sweeney’s debut album for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kristen Beckwith tells a piano-led story of love, longing and betrayal with ‘Already Chosen Her’

Posted on 18 September 2020

Utah-based pop/folk singer-songwriter Kristen Beckwith’s heartfelt piano-led story of love, longing, and betrayal, is an intense, mournful tale of heartbreak, the refrain ‘if you loved me, why’d you tell me, when you knew/you were never coming back here, you’d already chosen her’ plaintive and haunting over the delicate minor chord arrangement.

It’s beautiful, Beckwith’s voice is more than able to carry the space in the style of Beverly Craven or Norah Jones, soothing, hurt, and sorrowful all at once, the anguish in the realisation of lost love – ‘…and I thought you were the one…’- clear and heartfelt. The sparse instrumentation detracts nothing, instead, adding a pensive melancholy to the track that perfectly matches Beckwith’s vocal.

‘Already Chosen Her’ comes from Kristen Beckwith’s debut album ‘A True Story’, released on October 2^nd. You can hear more from Kristen here.

Review by Alex Holmes