Browsing Tag

Tom Waits

What it means to be lost: Jamos Blood – Flesh and Back to Bone

Posted on 25 December 2022

Jamos Blood sludged up blues-rock in the standout single, Flesh and Back to Bone, from his debut EP, Blood Brothers, which delivers swampy riffs, train track rhythms and a sense of ennui that cries out to the disenfranchised by uncertain futures masses.

“Gonna walk my dog til he don’t walk no more” beautifully and sentimentally encompasses the notion that everything is fleeting in a cruel world which pulls away every anchor, eventually.

The EP was recorded with Blood’s late brother, Clayton, which puts even more context behind the titular disposition and the themes of love and loss that will wash with any Waits and Petty fans.

As someone who is no stranger to grief, it was all too easy to connect with Jamos Blood’s psyche in Flesh and Back to Bone. The sense of lost listlessness with splinters of optimism that can often feel naïve was captured with such finesse in the roots-driven rock hit it is easy to view Jamos Blood as one of the most important voices of our era.

Flesh and Back to Bone is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Escape in the roots of Drew Peterson’s Americana folk single, Duck

Posted on 25 August 2022

With the quirky intensity of Neutral Milk Hotel and the bluegrass crooning of Tom Waits, we couldn’t help succumbing to the soul in Drew Peterson’s album, St. Jude, A Duck and the Crooked Line.

The opening single, Duck, is a narratively escapist Midwest adventure from the independent roots singer-songwriter who has been twanging acoustic strings and entertaining rowdy bars on the Minnesota scene for over two decades. The softly gruff vocals work their way through the dry humour in the lyrics over the minimalist production, consisting of little more than accordion and strings. But that is all Peterson needed to sonically consume you with the endearingly titled, Duck.

Check out Drew Peterson’s debut solo album via his official website and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Robin Lewis speaks for the malaised in his Waitsy Americana acoustic rock single, No Light

Posted on 26 May 2022

Armed with his trusty resonator guitar and Gibson 63, the BMI published folk singer-songwriter & producer, Robin Lewis, has released his Americana acoustic rock heartbreaker of a Waitsy release, No Light, taken from his moody and retrospective lockdown-born album, Everyone Has a Story.

No Light was compassionately composed for listeners all too accustomed to the days which become signified by malaise. In all sincerity, it imparts solace in the reminder that the sun sets on even the darkest of days. Lockdown releases may often get tarred with the same trite brush, but No Light will be resonant for years to come. It’s a stunning exposition of the collective state of our consciousness; now that we know the ‘new normal’ generally blows and there’s no putting the gloss back on the facade of our modern existence. We honestly couldn’t be more psyched to have Lewis on our radar. We’d advise that you reserve him space on yours.

No Light, taken from Robin Lewis’ album, Everyone Has a Story, was officially released on May 16th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Colin Clyne sings the blues in his profoundly plaintive alt-folk single, Wishing Winter Away

Posted on 5 April 2022
Colin Clyne

The endlessly accoladed Aberdeen alt-folk singer-songwriter, Colin Clyne sang the blues in his orchestrally decorated raw Americana single, Wishing Winter Away; winter’s teeth have scarcely seemed sharper than when they bit into the warmed sepia tones.

The roots of folk sway in the highly evocative melodies, but Clyne also discernibly has a knack for modernising profoundly plaintive folk. With his Waitsy vocal timbre that shares the same honeyed whiskey-soaked gravity falling over the arresting acoustic guitar progressions as they weave around the striking keys and classic strings, it is enough to test your soul’s capacity to feel. Or at the very least leave you yearning for summer.

Check out Colin Clyne on his official site, Instagram, and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sanchez. delivered an off-kilter folk-rock confessional masterpiece with his latest single, Feeling

Posted on 2 March 2022
Sanchez

Following his debut 2022 album, Burgundy, which was produced by the legendary Pete Maher, the already iconic singer-songwriter Sanchez., is here with his latest single, Feeling. With that title, the artist set the evocative bar high; he heart-wrenchingly transcended it with his folk-rock-inspired confessional.

In the cavernous intro that consists of little more than rugged folk-rock pulls of acoustic strings, names like Cohen, Waits and Dylan spring to mind. Yet, Feeling steadily grooves into its own distinct and artful gravitas as the soundscape is enriched by ascending melodies, raw and off-kilter choral sonic power and blisteringly luminous organ notes. It’s Richard Hawley meets Pixies. It is also the aural evolution that melancholic outliers have been waiting for.

Feeling is due for official release on March 2nd; dive into it yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Connect with Sanchez. via Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Only the soulless won’t be spellbound with Mark Lewis Heavenor’s artfully lamenting folk single, Young Boy.

Posted on 2 November 2021

Scottish songwriter, composer and guitarist, Mark Lewis Heavenor has released his most poignant work to date with his morosely gruff art-folk single, Young Boy. While the soundscape paints a quaint sepia-toned ramshackle town in your mind, the music video juxtaposes it by using a soul-sucking British ghost town as a location to place two dancers as they find inspiration despite the lamentable landscape.

Like many artists, Heavenor pulls plenty of inspiration from Tom Waits to create his own artfully rich sound but in every progression, you hear Heavenor push past assimilation into the realm of authentic creation.

The weight of the heavy yet bright vocals crawls under your ribs as you listen to the art-folk instrumentals quiver, rattle and angularly blossom from the fretboard. With the gentleness of Elliott Smith, the lyrical conviction of Kurt Cobain in his more melodious work and the cinematic pull of his Flamenco/Americana Folk guitars, you’d have to be soulless not to be spellbound.

The official video for Young Boy premiered on October 20th; it is a stunner; go check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Paul Bidault – Who Do You Think You Are?: Dark Swinging Murder-Folk

Posted on 20 August 2021

If you cranked That Handsome Devil’s sex appeal up to 11, you’d be left with Paul Bidault’s latest swampy, swinging, dark-jazz folk track, Who Do You Think You Are? Which experiments with a more maleficent side of the sound that Tom Waits made iconic.

With swing band percussion rattling around trombones and consistently evolving guitars in the richly dark and eerie soundscape, Bidault’s whiskey-soaked murder-folk vocals that wouldn’t be out of place in the Psychobilly scene have the perfect atmosphere to fall into.

The Paris-born, Mexico-city based artist is one to watch for anyone that gets their kicks from stumbling into tracks that carry familiar themes while completely reinventing them through the artist’s vision.

Who Do You Think You Are? was officially released on August 20th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Spotify or the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Award-winning alt-folk artist Colin Clyne has released his latest single, ‘Within Hindsight’

Posted on 22 June 2021
Colin Clyne

Award-winning Scottish alt-folk singer-songwriter Colin Clyne’s latest single, Within Hindsight, takes you back to the time when ballads were tender and minimal instrumentation carried alchemically profound magnetism.

The tones in Within Hindsight are enough to evoke synaesthesia as you drink in the sepia colours weaved into the acoustic guitar progression and soft neo-classic-style meanderings of the piano. The gravelly whisky-soaked vocals hit the high notes with soaring ease, allowing Clyne to exhibit both his arresting vocal range and emotional range. They say that there are 34,000 possible human emotions, Within Hindsight resonates as capable of evoking most of them.

After spending ten years in California collecting accolades, including being a two-time winner of ‘The Best Acoustic Act’ at San Diego Music Awards, and featuring on a list of the best singer-songwriters curated by NBC that listed him alongside Tom Waits, it is safe to say that he made quite the impression. There is no reason why he can’t celebrate the same success on this side of the pond.

Within Hindsight is due for official release on June 25th.

You can check out Colin Clyne via his website, Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hunter & Girton – Father Time: Solemnly Compassionate Alt Folk

Posted on 1 March 2021
Hunter & Girton

Rural Indiana-residing alt-folk duo, Hunter & Girton, are set to release their most haunting single to date, ‘Father Time’. The sparse and desolate soundscape leaves plenty of room for your own emotions to coalesce with the sentiments delivered through the lyrics which will hold a mirror to your personal relationship with melancholy.

There may be a crestfallen air to Father Time, but it’s anything but depressive. The solemnly meditative single parallels the levels of compassion found in the most tender tracks from Pearl Jam’s latest album while delivering tear-jerking tones which lend inspiration from 60s Folk.

Father Time is due for official release on March 5th. You’ll be able to check it out for yourselves by heading over to the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nathan Rodd revived old school alt-folk blues with their sonorously sonic single ‘Natalie’

Posted on 12 February 2021

How do you make old school alt-folk blues just as mesmerising as Tom Waits did in the 70s? You’ll find the answer in up and coming artist, Nathan Rodd’s, debut EP ‘Slowly’.

The standout single ‘Natalie’, finds the perfect balance of sonorous sonic power and delicate intrigue right from the intro. From there on out, pulled along by the tightly packed, intricately progressions which bleed nuances of jazz. But there’s nothing nuanced about the full-frontal emotion which unequivocally confirms that romance is still alive in 2021.

The distinctively raspy whisky-stained vocals give the soundscape an archaic touch while the masterfully dynamic production makes sure that Natalie wouldn’t be out of place on contemporary airwaves.

Nathan Rodd’s debut EP is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast