Category: Pop rock
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Black Swan Lane: Under My Fallen Sky
We have a soft spot for Black Swan Lane in the Review Corner. Their sound doesn’t change but they do what they do well; we should imagine they have a rabidly devoted fanbase (who must be delighted, it’s got to be several years since their last album). Black Swan Lane is a US/UK indie rock…
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The Sad Song Co: Worth
The Sad Song Co is Nigel Powell and Mr P is representative of what we call the Mr Bloom factor: Mr B is a gardener on kids’ television and you tend to assume he’s just some guy who can garden a bit and fell lucky. Then you see him live (or you do if you…
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Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Young Adult
This is a strong acoustic pop album. You should buy it. We preface the review with that in case you remember GCWCF and think, “oh no, not more average indie”. We suspect Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (aka Sam Duckworth) is stuck with the grammatically imperfect name, which probably seemed cool a decade ago when…
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Weaves: Wide Open
Weaves mix genres as readily as Heston Blumenthal blends snails and porridge: New Order, the B-52s, a dash of glam rock; just when you’ve got a comparison they switch direction. At heart it’s raucous indie with swagger and ideas aplenty. Opener #53 is inspired by Springsteen but it’s more for the moshpit than lyrical analysis;…
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Howie Payne: Mountain
Payne was previously in The Stands, short-lived melodic rockers treading the same ground as The Thrills and The LAs. We found their appeal, like that of The Thrills, limited. This album was recorded over four days. Most of the songs were done in a couple of takes, giving it a relaxed, live vibe. While he…
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Jamie Lawson: Happy Accidents
Lawson, who is 42, was the first artist to be signed by Ed Sheeran’s record label Gingerbread Man Records. He and Ed were mates back in the day. Top marks to Sheeran for loyalty but he’s never going to sign a death metal band: his acts are going to sound like him. (As far as…
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Dream Wife
This debut album from Dream Wife is solid rather than anything new, but it’s a solid solid, and as they seem to be cool, we predict big things for this. Dream Wife are an all-woman trio (Rakel Mjöll on lead vocals, Alice Go on guitar and Bella Podpadec on bass), not named after an old…
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Django Django: Marble Skies
Django Django have a distinctive sound, the percussion and vocals at least as important as the quirky melody; drummer David Maclean writes and produces. The sound is novel, and their debut was quirky, catchy and appealingly different. But it’s a sound you’d not make a career of, and this new album seems them go off…
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White Room: Eight EP
You know it’s a tight budget when your review copy is a CDR with hand-written track titles, but we can’t see the White Room being that cash-strapped for long. They don’t do anything original, but they do it well. The sound is somewhere between the dance-rock of Kasabian and the more recent psychedelic pop of…
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Joana Serrat: Dripping Springs
Not quite as intense as the Felice album (see elsewhere) this is still very good, and has a few standout moments. Vocally she sounds a bit Lana Del Rey but with a richer sound. The music is dreamy Americana that’s a little unvarying, rescued by a couple of outstanding moments that give the listener a…
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