Celtic Jazz

Your ears definitely won’t be needing a First Aid kit after hearing this. New post time!

Pictured: Kate Stables of This Is The Kit at a gig (2018) (Photo by Michael Bowles/Rex/Shuttershock) — Pictured: Kate Stables of This Is The Kit at a gig (2018) (Photo by Michael Bowles/Shuttershock)

Good Afternoon to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get writing up about your daily track on the blog once again, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to get typing up all about a different piece of music every day. We’re taking a break from the Christmas-themed music today, as I deliver to you a track from earlier in the year that has sadly been hanging around my ‘Drafts’ tab for a little while. Much like Tame Impala, This Is The Kit isn’t really a group per-say, but it’s the alias which Paris-based English singer and songwriter Kate Stables uses to release her music under, along with a touring band. A fun fact about Stables’ act is that her band once appeared with her on an episode of the BBC One TV series, “Wanderlust”, playing at the night club in which Joy, played by Tony Colette, goes to. Wikipedia told me that, so it must be true. Stables’ latest album is “Off, Off, On”, which she released in mid-October via the renowned Rough Trade Records label. The album was really showered with praise and acclaim from music critics, and it was the follow-up to her 2017 LP, “Moonshine Freeze”. The album was recorded just before the first Lockdown in March, and it was produced by Josh Kaufman, of the bands Muzz and Bonny Light Horseman, who recorded the album with Stables in Wiltshire at Real World Studios. A track which Stables explains is about “getting stuck”, “Coming To Get You Nowhere” was the second single to be released from the LP. Let’s watch the music video below.

Stables explained the hand-crafted visuals of the Automobile mishap in the music video in a press release: “We made {it} from footage of our friend’s car getting stuck when they came to visit us during our rehearsal time just before we went in the studio to make Off, Off, On”, adding, “It felt like a Car getting stuck and people having to work together and ask for help to get it unstuck was a fitting story to accompany this song, which is, itself, about getting stuck and the ways we can help or hinder ourselves when it comes to getting out of unhealthy problems” when comparing the unprocessed video to the Acoustic Folk sounds of the Soprano-led vocals and the warm Horn-oriented rhythms of the track. What surprises me the most about this track is the use of the melodic Jazz-based instrumentation. Stables croons: “There was too much noise/I’ll meet you back there in the dark” following a subtle Saxophone melody and a swinging little Horn section. She sings, during the chorus, the lines of “You don’t need to need/Anything from me” and “You won’t even see anyone else when they’re, Coming to get you nowhere” at a laidback tempo that slightly ups it’s pace with a reverberating drum and guitar beat, while the Folk inflictions of Stables’ previous work is noticeably retained by the mellow vocal delivery and the slight resonance of the bass guitar patterns. Much of the production is DIY and honeyed, and Stables amusingly remarks: “Energy, energy, please” when the rhythms need a slight raise of tone. I wouldn’t say that it feels delicate, but it feels soft and light, as the textured Folk instrumentation blends with the warm, smoky Jazz melodies to create a lush range of calming textures. The track, overall, has a pleasant feel, and the minimalist production really helps to achieve this emotive sweetness, even if the tempo is really mid-range and non-violent. It’s all in the attention to detail.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for "Off, Off, On" (Released on October 23, 2020) (via Rough Trade Records) — Pictured: Cover Art for “Off, Off, On” (LP) (Released on October 23, 2020) (via Rough Trade Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! Join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at a Festive tune that you might not have heard before. This seasonal track comes from a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and producer who is currently signed to Carpark Records, the independent music label where you will also find the Vaporwave producer Skylar Spence – who is one of my personal favourites. The label is also home to the likes of Toro Y Moi, The Beths and Dan Deacon. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Her ex-lover is such a Rascal, but she’s not a Dizzee Rascal! It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Michelle Lally performing in Salt Restaurant and Bar, Salthill (in 2017) (via artist’s Facebook page)

Good Morning! I am Jacob Braybrooke and, as like always, I’m here to write about your daily track on the blog because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! A reader has got in touch, David Lyons, with a request for me to have a look at Michelle Lally, who is a Jazz singer born in Limerick, Ireland. Don’t forget that all reader requests are very welcome, just read the details at the bottom of the post to find out how you can get in touch! Back on-topic, there is a lot of information about Michelle Lally on the internet and she is quite an interesting lady. She was a member of Irish Folk band De Dannon, as well as working with big names of Irish Jazz and Folk like Jimmy MacCarthy and John Spillane on “If This Be Love”, her debut solo record, which was released in 2008. On top of this, she has performed at The White House in Washington, D.C. on two separate occasions for George Bush and Barack Obama, respectively. Her latest record is “A Moment In Time”, which she self-released in April 2019. I have also been informed by Lyons that six of the tracks from “A Moment In Time” have been play-listed for RTE Radio 1 by RTE, which is Ireland’s lead national broadcaster. Have a listen to “Rascal You” below.

Gosh, that sounds very upper-class, right? “Rascal You” definitely has a very old-school and brass-based sound which can quite easily transport you right back to a 1960’s Las Vegas setting. Michelle Lally hints at a lost eroticism and a sad end to a long romance on the opening verse: “You filled my head with dreams and now my eyes are weeping/You left me behind, with just a broken heart to cling to”, before a bridge towards the chorus takes a more direct address viewpoint as she questions the faithfulness of the ex-lover: “Don’t it make you wonder? What kisses in the moonlight can do?”, before a chorus refrain: “You should have let me be/You Rascal, you”, paves the way for subtle Brass melodies, before Lally begins to ponder the possibilities of what could have been: “You took my hand and said/I’d be yours forever/and nothing in this world can ever change a thing between us two”, before the next section becomes, lyrically, a little bit more pessimistic: “Too late for the notice/You took my love to run it right through/You never wanted me, you Rascal, you” before a swing-laden conclusion built up of a gentle Saxophone solo, with well-spaced horn melodies between, and a daydream atmosphere created by the slow-paced, but satisfyingly sweet and soothed, structure. I would usually prefer Jazz of a more contemporary and youthful sound, as a massive fan of The Comet Is Coming and Kate Tempest, but I’ve enjoyed the relaxing sound and cinematic narrative on “Rascal You” as you’d be forgiven for thinking she’s a Hollywood hotel singer straight from a 1950’s gangster flick instead of a contemporary Irish artist. The instrumentation is subtle, but it feels bright, with a light mid-tempo drum melody that sounds like a Cuica running throughout the track, pulling a soft influence from the Tropicalia genre. It’s a sublime slice of calming old-school Jazz, with a good cinematic sense of songwriting which feels light and reflective, but there is a memorable sense of sad contemplation.

Pictured: Concert poster for “A Moment In Time” Dublin launch (Hampton Hotel in Donnybrook) (June 8, 2019)

Thank you for reading this post! As a reminder, at One Track At A Time, we endorse the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Please go and check your local area for good charity causes that help those directly affected by racism and injustice. I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at another Jazz track, this time created by a trio based in Manchester, who are named after a well-known arctic bird animal, who blend influences of Techno, Trip Hop and Ambient Synth-Wave with their traditional Jazz String instrumentation to compose a modern sound that has declared them to be “The Radiohead of British Jazz”, according to their own biography on Spotify. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

One Track At A Time

Today’s Track: This Is The Kit – “Coming To Get You Nowhere”

Today’s Track: Michelle Lally – “Rascal You”