Browsing Tag

Soul Rock

Indie Soul Rock Raconteurs, Did I Hear Dare?, Peddled Sugared Sincerity in He Said/She Said

Posted on 8 March 2023

After a stint of silence following their 2021 debut LP, Runnin’ Late, the indie soul rock raconteurs, Did I Hear Dare?, are back on euphonic form in their latest single, He Said/She Said.

With the same mellow yet ardent vibe of Deep Blue Something in the intro, Interpol-ESQUE angular guitars thrown in for good measure and sugared with sincerity soaring vocals in the piano-laced hit; if you don’t feel emotion start to stir while the enthralling instrumental ensemble is progressing into an arrangement that will give you nostalgia for Chris Cornell’s cinematic panache, you might want to check your soul’s vital signs.

It isn’t every day that I will stumble on an ensemble capable of tightrope walking the line between endearing and elevated. Evidently, the outfit that took fledgling form before nationally scattering across the states is a razor-sharp cut above the rest. They even seem like the sort that would tend to your addicted wounds afterwards, given the resolving compassion going out to the broken-hearted in He Said/She Said.

Stream He Said/She Said via all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Desert folk duo, Medicine Hat, made soul the centre of their gravity in their latest single, She Comes and She Goes

Posted on 7 March 2023

The latest single, She Comes and She Goes, from the breakthrough duo, Medicine Hat, is an instantaneously resolving amalgam of indie, blues, deserty folk, and psych-pop, which will efficaciously pull you into the soul-centred gravity of the harmony-laced release.

While the folky strings exhibit just how much the nostalgically-inclined independent duo respects the roots of the genres they tease through their melodies, the Stevie Nicks-reminiscent lyrics paint a romantically immersive picture of a free spirit that you can’t help falling in love with by proxy.

The riff-driven middle eight gives you the perfect opportunity to appreciate the virtuosic flare of Medicine Hat, along with their ability to reinvent a familiar palette to make it definitively their own.

She Comes and She Goes was officially released on March 3rd; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LUCID LIP unveiled their end of the beginning smoky alt-rock odyssey ‘Room to Grow’

Posted on 1 January 2023

We couldn’t get enough of LUCID LIP’s soulfully seminal single, Who Would Notice? Hearing they are back on era and genre-amalgamating form in their single, Room to Grow, was a rare reason for exhilaration in the age they lament in this timely, smoky, synth-driven hit.

Horror films have made us accustomed to the odd ghosts dotted around a creepy building. The NYC outfit explored the infinitely more tangible phenomenon of nothing being left in our sightline but phantasms of everything and everyone that has given up the ghost in “the end of the beginning”.

It is as isolated and lonely as Bowie’s Space Oddity. But the feeling of estranged detachment needn’t be miles from the earth’s surface when life on earth has almost turned into a paranormal investigation as we look back on everything that these torrid times have torn away from us.

Still pertaining to some of the beauty of the world that we seem hell-bent to obliterate as the bombs drop, the forests burn, and tensions run high, the humanistically pure single becomes infinitely more evocative.

For anyone who finds it hard to express their deep, dark sadness for the collective state of the world. Or anyone with no one left to confide these complex feelings in, Room to Grow is an essential hit that is sure to inspire a few cathartic tears. I know I shed a few.

Room to Grow will officially release on January 1st. You won’t want to miss it. Stream it on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.

Follow LUCID LIP on Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cash Machine delivered 70s prog-rock perfection with their soul entwined single, Digital Zeus

Posted on 17 October 2022

After dropping their raunchy funk-sliced prog rock debut single, Promises, the Upstate SC outfit Cash Machine subverted our expectations entirely with the sophomore follow-up, Digital Zeus.

The seamlessly progressive single starts as a smoky, lounge-y feat of late-night bluesy soul before progressing into a riff-led prog rock epic that would leave any Genesis fans kneeling at Cash Machine’s unholy alter.

The screeching guitar riffs to the almost thrashy percussion builds an immersive 70s prog-tinted crescendo before the timbre temporarily winds back down to a Jeff Buckley-style serenade. Naturally, we can’t wait to hear what follows this solid feat of ingenuity and technical ability.

Digital Zeus officially released on September 28th; check it out on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The New Black Diamonds poured intellectual soul into their classic rock track, In Between

Posted on 14 September 2022

The New Black Diamonds poured intellectual soul into rock with their introspectively deep latest single, In Between. With 80s rock licks, the Sweden-hailing five-piece fronted by Klara Frisk pays ode to the likes of Deep Purple, Joan Jett, and Black Stone Cherry, but their overdriven sonic signature doesn’t get lost in nostalgia.

The modernist take on lyricism certainly doesn’t scratch at the surface of superficiality; it takes you on a journey of emboldening self-actualization; crank it up loud and take note.

Get stuck into The New Black Diamonds’ latest single, In Between, on Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LUCID LIP soulfully speak on disillusion in their alt-rock single, Who Would Notice?

Posted on 30 July 2022
LUCID LIP

New York’s smoothest and synth-heavy alt-rock outfit, LUCID LIP, has unveiled their latest heartbreakingly smoky single, Who Would Notice? which taps into the same sense of disillusioned isolation that everyone with any degree of self-awareness has battled with lately.

The lyric, “What the hell does anyone want anyway?”, efficaciously captures the frustration of the irrationality of most of the people you encounter. While “I’m not here to sell my soul, but who would notice?” pulls you into the darkened ennui of depression’s grips. Metaphorically, of course.

Far more remarkably, nothing about the single resonates as self-piteous; there’s a comforting sense that the candour was used as a means of solidarity with the listener.

Who Would Notice? left the same evocative imprint as Incubus did on me back in my slightly less jaded teen years, with a touch of Faith No More’s The Real Thing (I don’t make Mike Patton references lightly).

Who Would Notice? will officially release on July 29th. Check it out on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Forget the ‘new normal’ embrace Firebug’s nostalgia-rich rock single, Change

Posted on 15 June 2022

Given that nothing is a given except the unrelenting presence of change, Firebug’s latest rock single on the very subject of it is perhaps one of the most universally resonant tracks you can drift into.

The Joshua Tree-hailing artist left enough ambiguity within the lyrics to let you implant your own meaning and laments of the ever-influx facets of existence that can turn nostalgia into mourning and grief. Yet, through Juliette Tworsey’s haunting-in-spite-of-stridence vocals and the dusty blues-rock guitars, Firebug was in complete control of your emotional impulses as you listen to the plaintively painted in sepia single.

Every time we hear Firebug, we’re even more assured that they are amongst the few artists worth following in the time we’ve found ourselves within. In gorgeously subversive fashion, Change shows us how naive we were to ever anticipate ‘the new normal’.

Listen to Firebug’s latest album, No Return, for yourselves on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marco Pastoré Cammarino delivered a smoky plaintive soul serenade with his latest single, Empty Bus

Posted on 4 June 2022

Remorse may be the overarching emotion within the Italian, Lisbon-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Marco Pastoré Cammarino’s latest single, Empty Bus; sonically, it progressively drifts across the tonal spectrum to stand as a testament to the artist’s aptitude for melodic expression.

After a plaintively sparse intro that suckers you into the melancholy, the smoky jazz horns, Nile Rodger-Esque guitar chops and seductive keys make for an aphrodisiacal platform for Marco Pastoré Cammarino’s just as knee-weakening vocal timbre.

Towards the outro, Marco Pastoré Cammarino’s rock influences collide with the soundscape in an entirely unexpected, indulgently appreciated style. In short, Empty Bus is a single that never stops giving the gravitas.

Empty Bus is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Flying Oceans lit up the Manchester music scene with their soul-stirring funk-rock fusion, Circles

Posted on 26 May 2022
Flying Oceans

The Manchester music scene became infinitely richer for the latest release from the funk-rock pioneers, Flying Oceans. If you can imagine what it would have sounded like if Incubus abstracted their plaintiveness and implanted unbridled soul, you will get an idea of the stirring alchemy that Circles delivered.

With the guitars consistently transitioning between roots-deep funk chops and jangly Marr-Esque rhythm and the seductively low basslines bringing just as much gravitas as Mr Bungle’s, Circles has all the makings of a playlist staple for anyone that wants to find a slice of aural solace in our disjointing times where it’s all but impossible to find rhyme or reason away from the airwaves.

Hear Flying Oceans’ latest single, Circles, here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Malo Daniels gave indie Americana pop-rock a soul injection with ‘Waiting for Roses’

Posted on 15 February 2022

After the successful launch of his debut single, Down, Out and Up, in 2022, the singer-songwriter, Malo Daniels, proved that he was worthy of a place on listeners’ radars with the launch of his debut album, Waiting for Roses, which fuses pop, soul, rock and Americana – to swoon-worthy effect.

With a team of Nashville musicians behind him and acclaimed producer, Dallas Dudley, polishing the album, Waiting for Roses is a triumph of romanticism, sun-soaked talent and powerfully mature songwriting. The title single is as hooky as Faith by George Michael, as indulgently indie as Kurt Vile and as soulfully compelling as Prince’s sweetest serenades. With the warm over-driven guitars greeting the horn stabs and Daniels’ honeyed vocal timbre, you’d be hard-pressed finding a track that takes you higher than this unadulterated feat of romanticism and longingly panoramic expression.

Waiting for Roses is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast