Browsing Tag

Piano Pop

Turncoat Billy sang the worn-in blues in their latest indie single, Hand Me Downs

Posted on 14 August 2023

After enamouring us with their psychedelically vintage single, Kaleidoscope, the Tottenham-hailing prodigal sons of indie rock nostalgia, Turncoat Billy, are back on our radar once again with a definitively infectious sound that carries all of the feel-good grooves of a Ray Charles hit single.

The jaunty honkytonk piano keys stab their way through the theatrical flair of their brass-infused cosy new single, Hand Me Downs, which boasts swathes of 70s pop swagger and evidence that Turncoat Billy is no longer the band equivalent of the girl next door.

It is safe to say they’ve come into their stride, and wherever they go from here, we will be keen to follow, especially if their singles continue to run in the same quirkily romantic and self-deprecating vein as Hand Me Downs.

Hand Me Downs will officially release on August 14; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Wong Diane – Now Only Me: A Tenderly Triumphant Tour De Force

Posted on 13 August 2023

Wong Diane brought style to solemnity with her melodically eloquent composition, Now Only Me, taken from her 1st One Done EP.

With whispers of organ keys in the ethereal background to her minimalist piano-led score to create a luminous atmosphere for her lyrical melancholia to drift into, beguiling barely scratches the surface of this intimately raw exposition of loneliness.

Now Only Me could easily be classified as a tenderly triumphant Tour De Force from an artist who knows exactly how to lock horns with your emotional impulses with her Nils Frahm-esque piano melodies and delicate vocal lines.

As a music producer and composer, the Berklee College of Music and Hunter College graduate has contributed to a series of high-profile projects, including the Daily Podcast, Verizon Rewards and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Experience. She’s also garnered over a million Spotify streams on her most popular piece and performed at some of the most prestigious venues on the globe, but something tells us the best is yet to come from the only true emissary of soulfully diaphanous pop.

Now Only Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kailey Tenn constructed euphonic comfort with the introspective gold in her latest single, Happier

Posted on 10 August 2023

People who thoughtlessly bound around the word forever may want to think twice about their choice of verbiage after exposing themselves to the glistening-with-introspective-gold debut EP, Forever is Finite, from the Long Island singer-songwriter and producer Kailey Tenn.

The standout single, Happier, takes classic piano pop ballad stylings and reinvents them through intimately subversive poetic lyricality, which bolsters in poignancy to the tune of the rock-infused crescendos and orchestral motifs that elevate the soundscape to the celestial nth degree.

The 23-year-old artist hasn’t failed to establish herself as one to watch by being one of the rare songwriters with the capacity to create resonance through her soul-stirring melodies and narratively beguiling lyrics that construct mirrors for her audience to see themselves within.

Happier is the ultimate testament to her talents for the way it reminds you that the dream of reaching an idealised state of happiness will only set you up for failure; strive to be happier than you were yesterday instead.

Check out Kailey Tenn’s debut EP, Forever is Finite, on all major platforms via this link.

 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Classic piano pop made a comeback via Dana Powell’s single, Have I Found You

Posted on 26 July 2023

Dana Powell is reflectively resounding in her debut 4-track EP, Mirrors, featuring the standout piano pop score, Have I Found You.

The Canadian, US-residing singer, songwriter, and pianist applied an elevated classic pop touch to her arrestive single, produced by the Grammy Award-winning engineer Philip Larsen, who has also worked alongside the pop legends Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue. Clearly, Powell fits right into that iconic triad of pop icons; her songwriting pulls you through the progressions by your heartstrings as the minor piano keys hammer against her evocatively glassy vocal lines and a vignette of romantic malady and euphoria plays out with arresting panoramic colour.

The tentative romanticism which lingers through the lyricism is the ultimate testament to her maturity as a songwriter. Can we agree as a society to stop championing the 18-year-old artists churning out pop tropes about loving someone forever when they’re just experiencing lust and uphold artists in the same superlative pop vein as Dana Powell?

Have I Found You was officially released on July 10th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Anna Smith overcome cancer to share her joie de vivre classic pop single, Feel Like Myself

Posted on 11 April 2023

After undergoing six months of chemo and immunotherapy, songwriter Anna Smith immortalised the memory of getting the all-clear in her song, Feel Like Myself, sung by the vocalist Jolie. The rapture of the moment radiates through the single, which was written for her daughter, that everyone should drink in if only once, to get the reminder that for all the expectations we have in life, sometimes simply being alive is the greatest triumph.

We spend so much time wishing to be someone else, to have the attributes, the wealth, the status, the acclaim of someone else, but as proven by this enlivening feat of classic piano pop, there is nothing sweeter than feeling like yourself after you’ve learnt to love the skin you’re in and respect your body for all that it grants you.

Feel Like Myself officially released on March 19th. Hear it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Noah Tuesday melodised moving on paralysis in his pop-rock single, ‘Leave a Light On’

Posted on 19 February 2023

If candour and inclination to expose their souls got artists to the top of the charts, there would be few sitting above the Michigan-born, New York-residing alternative artist, Noah Tuesday.

His seminal pop-rock single, Leave a Light On, puts his training as a concert and church pianist to melodically immersive use as he allows the lyrics to outpour of all the guilt that amasses around inaction, introversion and moving on paralysis. Everyone has been there, leaving lashes on their own backs for their need to take time; Noah Tuesday universalised those alienating sensations.

Even if Leave a Light On was an instrumental piece, the piano-led sonic piece of panache would have been as upliftingly luminary. Between the evocative magnetism in his vocal lines, his songwriting chops and his lyrics that transcend most artists’ expressive capacities, he’s one to watch.

Leave a Light On is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Erika Levy blurred the line between grief and joy in her indie Avant-Garde single, Chicken and Rice

Posted on 5 January 2023

LA singer-songwriter and classically trained pianist Erika Levy closed 2022 with the release of her elevated alt-indie single, Chicken and Rice, which captures the desolation of the world in the absence of anchoring connection. Haunting and affirming in equal measure, your soul won’t know what’s hit it once you delve into the monochromatic sorrow flowing through her filmic vocals that establish her as a 21st-century chanteuse.

“I’ll get higher once I hit the ground, just takes a little bit to find me, Hey lonely, come buy me another round” is a lesson in heart-breaking lyricism; projected with such grace and finesse, the vulnerability is flooring. In place of pity, you’ll find appreciation for the strength she amassed to lyrically blur the line between grief and joy.

Any fans of Tori Amos, Amanda Palmer, Kate Bush and Fiona Apple will be disarmed by the sheer originality of Levy with the baroque nature of her descending piano melodies that become the off-kilter centre of her 70s folk-pop sonic world.

Chicken and Rice is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Imelda Gabs sophisticated the pop genre to the nth degree with her mournfully minimalistic neo-classic pop single, RECKLESS

Posted on 20 December 2022

‘RECKLESS’ is the latest intensely compelling single from the pop innovator Imelda Gabs. From a mournfully minimalistic neo-classic prelude of minor piano keys, the contemporary ballad that comes to terms with a disposition of recklessness seamlessly builds; utilising the dynamic vocal range of Imelda Gabs to orchestrate one of the most strident crescendos to ever grace the pop genre.

The pain exhibited borders on primal as the independent singer and producer gave an intimate view of her own shortcomings to universalise the phenomenon of letting our inner saboteur lead us to a position of self-doubt, regret, and inner hostility.

The 24-year-old Belgian and Congolese artist grew up in Switzerland, where she studied piano, violin and signing before evolving as a composer and songwriter. Since 14, she has been gracing prestigious stages amongst world-renowned artists before she started to focus on her recorded music, and my God, the airwaves were crying out for her elevated balletic grace.

Watch the cinematic official music video for RECKLESS on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Theo Sawyer put perspective behind our hedonistic thrills with his intimate pop hit, Download a Ghost

Posted on 16 December 2022

With quiescently bitter-sweet piano melodies that resound with the same ethereal grace as Philip Glass, Theo Sawyer’s latest contemporary pop ballad, Download a Ghost, puts weight behind the belief that searching for love in the modern era is akin to a paranormal investigation.

Now that treating each other as a temporary dopamine hit before slipping off the radar is a common phenomenon; it was about time pop artists stepped up to the mark and helped the diehard romantics out there to navigate through the landmine-strewn landscape of dating where objects of desire can slip from perception at a moment’s notice when they’ve had their hedonistic fill.

Fans of Tom Odell, Daughter, and Bill Ryder-Jones, will want to playlist staple this subtly profound serenade that unravels as a flood of compassion, introspection and darkly intimate expression.

The New Zealand-hailing artist may have only entered the scene in 2022, but he is already stealing the show. Stay tuned for more expositions on dysfunctional dynamics and intellectual amorous psychology.

Download a Ghost officially released on December 9th; hear it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Paper White and the Lake goes for baroque in their single, My Love, ft. Teresa Ann & Nicole Limle

Posted on 24 November 2022

For their standout single, My Love, the up-and-coming Avant-Garde originator Paper White and the Lake collaborated with Teresa Ann & Nicole Limle to create a striking piano-led score that will easily arrest any Evelyn-Evelyn and the Legendary Pink Dots fans.

The theatrically baroque piano keys and Brian Viglione-style percussion fuse in absolute synergy with the beguile of the art-house chanteuse vocals, which implant aching amorous soul into the soundscape that resonates with a touch of coldness and isolation.

My Love efficaciously proves that nothing can rival the presence of love, and nothing can be as inhospitable as a world without it. To say that you will feel all of the emotion as My Love unfurls around the reprise of “you don’t want my love” is far from a mascara-ruining understatement.

Stream My Love on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast