Chamber Folk

New Album Release Fridays: Beach House – ‘Once Twice Melody’

February 18, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Once Twice Melody’ (LP) (Released on February 18th, 2022) (via Sub-Pop Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to give you a sneak peek at one of the weekend’s most exciting new album releases, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! In most typical weeks, my choice for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog is a highly anticipated affair that we’ve only got two or three singles from at most prior to the big moment of release, however, in the case of ‘Once Twice Melody’ – you can hear three quarters of it already. The latest LP project from the Baltimore, Maryland duo of Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally, otherwise known as Beach House, a Chamber Pop duo who have been nominated for a GAFFA Award in Sweden, ‘Once Twice Melody’ is effectively a double album that contains 18 tracks that have all been presented in four chapters of four tracks that have seen staggered releases since November 2021, a risky move that notably finds music contributing to the streaming algorithm more closely than ever before. In aid of supporting the behemoth of a record, Beach House will be touring the UK and Europe in May and June 2022, as well as performing alongside fellow Psychedelic acts like Tame Impala and Lorde at this summer’s Primavera Sound Festival. ‘Part 1’ was released on November 10th, 2021 followed by ‘Part 2’ on December 8th, 2021, followed by ‘Part 3’ on January 19th, 2022 and, finally, the final chapter releases today alongside a full release of the project on Vinyl and Streaming. The duo have also recently provided the soundtrack to ‘Marin’s Dreams’, a short film. With their drawing and expansive sound that has been focused on conveying an abstract reflection of a message that idyllic moments are never quite as fruitful as fantasy, I have a lot of faith in LeGrand and Scally to pull out all of the stops with this mammoth of a release. For a sampler, let’s revisit the title track below.

Self-produced entirely by themselves, the ambitious LP project by Beach House was mixed by Alan Moulder, Dave Fridmann, Caesar Edmunds and Trevor Spencer, and it has been recorded over the past two years in a handful of studios spanning across Los Angeles, Baltimore and Cannon Falls. The lyrics for the title track speak of a girl that is placated by her own eccentric imagination, an unnamed character with an enigmatic narrative that we experience with refrains like “Nights fly by in her mind/All along the boulevard” and “She tries to understand/A never, never land” that find LeGrand focusing on the finer details of her mindset and they play out above a gorgeous sequence of looping synths and live drums on the title track. Guitar arpeggios continue to conjure up a sweeping and decorated soundscape that evoke sinking into the grass or the sand from an hourglass slipping through your fingers while LeGrand croons about the sensual slow pace of a hot, gauzy summer’s day. Lyrics like “Days go by/In her eyes/Belle De Jour in front of me” and “The purple on the vine/The velvet deep tree line” find the prismatic mood of the vocals basking in the far-away lands that have been constructed by our shy character’s wandering mind. It feels lush and vibrant as a complete package, with LeGrand and Scally telling a mysterious yet intriguing tale of the illusion of a crystal clear universe of fiction that are polished carefully with intimate Strings and a symphony of creative backing vocals, and yet the idealizations of our leading lady are never truly filled in. The sound simply takes you back to the very core of Shoegaze and Dream Pop music, which is all about filling a simple few melodies with meticulous details and an atmosphere that is simply designed for you to get lost in – and the kicking drums/synths combo of the vivid instrumentation escalate their own levels of intensity as the sprawling sounds move up to a higher scope. Therefore, I have a lot of faith that despite the sheer length of ‘Once Twice Melody’ as a full release, LeGrand and Scally will give the project plenty of depth and variety as to not grow tiresome and justify the length in creating music that doesn’t lose it’s intimacy over a run time. I concur that Beach House are brilliant!

Pictured: Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally (2018) (Photo Credit: Robert Johannson/InterviewMagazine.com)

I’m off to visit my sister in Kent today, and so I haven’t got any longer to chat about all things music with you for today, but thank you very much for checking out the blog and your support is highly appreciated! If you deeply love your Dream-Pop and your Shoegaze styles of music, you’re also going to enjoy tomorrow’s post, which is why I decided to cover these two tracks so tightly together. It comes from the main solo project of the French multi-instrumentalist and producer Melody Prochet who got a 9/10 score from Drowned In Sound’s Dom Gourlay for her debut studio album in 2013.

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Today’s Track: Lo Moon – ‘Dream Never Dies’

January 25, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Matt Lowell (Guitars/Vocals), Crisanta Baker (Synth/Bass/Samples), Sam Stewart (Bass Guitar) and Sterling Laws (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo via Twitter.com/Strngr Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as you will be already aware if you’ve read the blog before, and the time has come for me to write up about some wistful sounds with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! Comprised of Matthew Lowell, Crisanta Baker, Sterling Laws and guitarist Samuel Stewart – who is the also the son of Eurythmics’ David A. Stewart and Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey – Lo Moon are a nice California-based outfit known for their wide-eyed explorations of uplifting Dream Pop and melodic Indie Rock who have previously been signed to major label Columbia Records after forming in 2016, where they released their self-titled debut album to positive reviews in 2018. Although they seem like a fairly low-profile name, Lo Moon will be supporting The War On Drugs on tour soon. They have also opened for a wide variety of more familiar bands – including Phoenix, Glass Animals, CHVRCHES, Air and London Grammar – along the way. You may have also seen them cap off these rigorous touring schedules with their solo sets at festivals including All Points East in London, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Governor’s Ball in New York City as well. Two years after their debut LP was released, their sophomore album has recently been given a title and a release date. You can hear ‘A Modern Life’ from February 25th – this time via the Strngr Recordings label, and so any die-hard fans of Lo Moon’s little universe will be very excited in just a month’s time. The first single – ‘Dream Never Dies’ – was co-produced by Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick) and the accompanying music video aims to take you, as the listener, through the broad architecture of ambitions and expectations, as directed by Michael Hili (The Killers, John Carroll Kirby, Lemon Twigs). So, lets check out ‘Dream Never Dies’ below.

Prior to the second new single ‘Raincoats’, ‘Dream Never Dies’ marked an important statement for Lo Moon as it was their first new material in three years. Vocalist Matt Lowell says about this track, “As I get older, I’ve become more and more nostalgic about my youth. I had way less anxiety, I didn’t fear losing the people closest to me, or have to face the bigger questions of life”, adding, “Hope and optimism were just a little bit easier back then. I work hard not to let the complexities of life suck the hope out of me. This song, if nothing else, is a reminder to try my best and not let that happen”, to his press release. Kicking off with a floating array of rich Piano accents, the beat settles into a groove with deep percussion as Lowell recites motivational lyrics like “Locking eyes, late at night butterflies, hold me the rest of my life” and “Let this go, what’s the use?/The more you know, the more we lose” as he mimics swift poetry with a soaring style of vocals that punctuate the verses, and later, the chorus. Later on, the soundscape develops further with cinematic Synths backing up his warm vocals and a sprawling guitar solo that continues to widen the scope of their sound. The chorus, meanwhile, feels nostalgic and radiant as open lyrics like “What happened to all the east days of summer/Back when we were younger” and “Radio still blasting, heaven’s everlasting” ascend momentarily above some reverb-drenched instrumentals and some amplified Strings, before Matt Lowell uses some nascent refrains like “If I could bring you back/All I have to do is close my eyes” to complement the beautifully moving, and often cinematic, Chamber-esque melodies. There’s certainly a Talk Talk-like motif to Lowell’s towering vocals here, where the 00’s Brit-Rock elements and the ache of summer nostalgia collide to create an exciting, if a little basic, lyrical theme that we can all relate to. A wholly personal affair that sounds stunning, ‘Dream Never Dies’ is a powerful and poetic piece that will keep you awake.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘A Modern Life’ (LP) (Available from February 25th, 2022) (via Strngr Recordings)

That brings us to the end of another daily post on the blog! Thank you for helping my dream not to die by checking it out, and I’ll be back tomorrow for a new iteration of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we revisit a beloved Scottish Experimental Rock band who achieved a cult following with their pioneering brand of ‘Folktronica’ in the late-90’s until disbanding in 1994. The band’s music, and a name-drop of them, was used in a famous scene starring John Cusack as a record shop manager in 2000’s ‘High Fidelity’.

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New Year’s Day 2022 Special: Al Stewart – ‘Year Of The Cat’ (Live In Seattle, 1976)

January 1, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Year Of The Cat’ (LP) (Released in July 1976) (via RCA Records/Parlophone Records)

This is Jacob Braybrooke and I’m wishing you a good version of your own of what has been the best day of the year so far for me with yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A Scottish folk revivalist figure who found prominence in the 60’s and 70’s as a unique songwriter who would combine soft rock songs with stories of different characters or significant events from history, Al Stewart is a talent of delicate weaving who once recorded a very fitting single to ring the New Year in with his 1976 offering, ‘Year Of The Cat’. For a musician who played a live set at the inaugural Glastonbury festival in 1970, reportedly knew Yoko Ono before John Lennon caught wind of her activist work, and shared a flat in London with equally memorable artist Paul Simon when he was frequently collaborating with Bruce Woodley of The Seekers fame in his younger years – Al Stewart scored a #8 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977 with ‘Year Of The Cat’. Famously described by AllMusic as “one of those mysterious woman songs” nearer to the time, Stewart recorded the track as the title single of his seventh studio LP release during a session at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London, before recording sequences from his live tour, including one performance in Seattle, for a live album, ‘The First Year Of The Cat Tour Live In Seattle’, to spring off its success one year later, where the album had become a top five chart hit in the US. Becoming a popular record to be used to demonstrate Hi-Fi demonstration, ‘Year Of The Cat’ was certified Platinum to indicate sales of over one million copies in the US during 1977. Get the kettle on, take a moment to reflect, and hear a tale of a love affair in Casablanca as we enter 2022 as a ‘Year Of The Cat’ below.

When Al Stewart stormed the mainstream with ‘Year Of The Cat’, you may be forgiven for believing him to be an overnight sensation but, in reality, it took him six previous albums worth of material and logging a bundle of hours on the Folk festival circuit before achiveing his stardom. Described by Stewart during his live set at Seattle’s Paramount theater as “a South African love song”, it remains to be the only appearance in the UK Singles charts for Stewart, who reached #31 with ‘Year Of The Cat’, a track which he ironically wrote and recorded during the Vietnamese Year Of The Cat, as it was the Year Of The Rabbit previously in China. Kicking proccedings off with a straightforward Piano line, the guitars flutter along beautifully as Al continues to kick into a higher gear with his combination of soft Rock ‘N’ Roll melodies and Progressive Pop rhythms that eventually morph into a stirring symphony of romantic guitar arrangements and radiant Piano chords as Stewart’s moving vocals concerning a whirlwind relationship in an exotic locale hit their timeless mark. Lyrics like “On a morning from a Bogart movie, In a country where they turn back time” hit their stride as Stewart sets up a vibrant scene of a one-time fling transforming into something much more substantial. Lyrics in the verses like “She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running, Like a watercolour in a rain” ignite more poignant sparks that make the otherwise sensual lyrics feel genuinely meaningful in the story, which is nicely complemented by the elegant String sections and the somewhat downbeat vocals by Stewart that provide a grounded take on the flirtatious dialogue between the two partners. It almost feels like Stewart is singing a duet meant for two vocalists on his own for the most part and he strikes a great balance between poise and sincerity with the delivery. Moving on to the instrumentation, we find Stewart bursting through various styles and motifs throughout the song – including a long instrumental section that leans towards classical Jazz with a colourful Saxophone solo and taking turns between the explosive guitar solo and the abruptly placed Brass instrumentation, but his production feels coherent enough as all of these varied elements complement the warmth of the lyrical mood. Overall, through melding his anecdotal storytelling that seems quite influential for the likes of Jens Lekman later on, and playing with the contemporary Blues song structure of the time, Stewart created a suitable story for New Year’s season with a very stylish and sophisticated range of talents. With that – I wish you a fantastic new year, and I cannot wait to hear the music contained within it.

Pictured: Al Stewart in a publicity shot before his performance at the Libbey Bowl (2018) (Photo via Noozhawk.com)

That brings us to the end of the coverage for the best day of the year so far on One Track At A Time and, as always, I thank you a great deal for your interest and support towards the site every day. After a brief hiatus, ‘Scuzz Sundays’ returns to its normally scheduled placement from tomorrow onwards, where we will be remembering a popular track from a very famous East Bay native punk rock band who found fame in the early 1990’s as we kick off the new year with familiarity. One of their tracks is the centerpiece of a Broadway musical, ‘American Idiot’, that was first performed in 2010.

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New Year’s Eve 2021 Special: Fleet Foxes – ‘White Winter Hymnal’

December 31, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Fleet Foxes’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 3rd, 2008) (via Bella Union Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for a fleeting (If you see what I did there…?) moment of cool reflection in the midst of ringing in the New Year, with yet another daily track on the blog, seeing that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Although they took a reasonable hiatus between 2013 and 2016 so that lead singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold could pursue an undergraduate degree, the Washington-based Alternative Folk group of Fleet Foxes have always churned out their strong share of critically acclaimed and commercially successful material over the years and they released their fourth album – ‘Shore’ – as recently as last September via Anti- Records – a very enjoyable record that was featured on my ‘Top 25 Albums Of 2021’ list last January. The band stood up to prominence in mainstream consciousness, however, with the release of their self-titled debut album in 2008 via Bella Union Records. The hit that its associated Simon Raymonde-ran label needed to stay afloat at the time, the retro LP was the band’s first example of blending their refined vocal harmonies and tribalistic lyrical qualities together to widespread acclaim. The album was eventually made available to buy in places as common as your local Tesco’s supermarket shelves after it eventually reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart. Since being considered one of the best albums of the 2000’s and a highly impressive debut release, Fleet Foxes have continued to make ‘White Winter Hymnal’ a popular addition to festive playlists (both befitting of the Christmas and New Year’s season), a Silver-certified single full of beautifully layered vocals that has also been used in media productions like Hulu’s ‘The Path’ and 2015’s ‘Love The Coopers’. The track was also ranked as #66 on Pitchfork’s decade-end list of the greatest singles of the 00’s – and it has been covered by other established names such as television presenter Alexander Armstrong and A-capella act Pentatonix. Get swept away in the sound of ‘White Winter Hymnal’ below.

Issued on 7″ Vinyl as well as the digital MP3 format, ‘White Winter Hymnal’ was written by Pecknold from personal experience, as he was inspired to write the lyrics about a time where his friends ditched him in middle school. Although the lyrics might have been about childhood past, the source of the melody came from the familiar source of Walt Disney. Pecknold recounted to Rolling Stone during an interview in 2012, “The idea was a song like ‘Whistle While You Work’ from Snow White”, adding, “So it started with that very beginning thing, the first kind-of like, melody. And then once the verse was done, it just seemed like it lent itself to repetition”, in the discussion. Beginning with “I was following the pack” as the backing vocals of the band harmoniously overlap each other to capture the melancholy of winter and snow, ‘White Winter Hymnal’ was memorable for creating the effect of a dense cloud of harmonies that mimic a Cathedral reverb. Later lyrics like “White snow red as strawberries in the summertime” and “With scarves of red tied around their throats” feature imagery that is undeniably much stronger and the meaning of the track is left quite ambiguous. However, refrains like “To keep their little heads from falling in the snow” make me think of blindly following a bad influence without considering the repercussions. Instrumentally, the stirring drums and the ascending guitar melodies mimic the feeling of a sled that is riding down a path at a breakneck pace. The minimalist vocals, however, are more likely to convey a sense of contentment and peace, but the cavernous layered harmonies have a frosty and distant sound that relates to a white sheet of ice on a tranquill snowy morning. What was very interesting, and really quite groundbreaking, about the track is that, in seasonal terms, Indie and Pop music often tend to be more celebratory towards the summer season and, therefore, the qualities of a Christmas carol hidden in the melodies are more reminiscent of a traditional hymm and so Fleet Foxes’ ode to cool reflection in the winter was refreshing. Overall, ‘White Winter Hymnal’ had all the makings of a modern classic back in 2008 and that’s a quota that the Grammy-nominated band have fulfilled in 2021 with a recording that still sounds as gorgeous and as nostalgic as the first time it hit the radio airwaves. Cheers to a merry new year!

Pictured: Robin Pecknold (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Skyler Skjelset (Mandolin/Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Casey Wescott (Keyboard/Synths/Backing Vocals), Christian Wargo (Bass Guitar) and Morgan Henderson (Upright Bass Guitar/Woodwinds/Violin/Saxophone/Percussion) (in 2020) (Photo via PR)

If you told me that Fleet Foxes were covered on the blog more recently – ‘Can I Believe You?’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/26/todays-track-fleet-foxes-can-i-believe-you/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Shore’ (LP) (Released on September 22nd, 2020) (via Anti- Records)

That’s all for today and so all I have left to say for you in 2021 is… See you next year! Join me then for a special New Year’s Day edition of my regular posts tomorrow that you’ll really enjoy if you’re a fan of my weekly ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature! We’re going to be remembering a well-received late-70’s single by a prominent Scottish figure of the British Folk revival scene in the 60’s and 70’s. Famously described by AllMusic as “one of those mysterious woman songs”, the album of the same title as the song is a #5 hit in the US. The singer used to share a London flat with Paul Simon.

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Today’s Track: Marissa Nadler – ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater’

December 20, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Marissa Nadler in a promo photoshoot for ‘For My Crimes’ (2018) (Photo via Sacred Bones Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to catch up on some great music from 2021 that may have skipped you by during the first time with yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you’ve been a regular follower of my site for a while, you may know that I love a bit of moody, bluesy and sometimes Folk-ish Americana, with artists such as Weyes Blood, Sharon Van Etten and Alexandra Savior being some of my favourites of this style, to name just a few. One of the genre’s most memorable offerings from the past year was ‘The Path Of The Clouds’, an album released in late October by the Boston-based and Washington-born singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler via Bella Union Records. She has managed to sustain a 20-year-plus career, and her latest record was her tenth mainline studio album. She typically swings for a Chamber Folk style of sound with elements of Gothic Rock and Dream-Pop mixed into the cauldron, but myself and a few online publications, such as Pitchfork and The Boston Globe, have each also noticed an underlying influence of Black Metal within her production too, an element of her mezzo-soprano vocals and dark instrumentation that sets her apart from other fine artists of the genre. Raised as Jewish, Nadler studied Painting at the Rhode Island School Of Design, where she learned artistic drawing techniques such as illustration, bookbinding, woodcarving and encaustic painting while singing at Open Mic Nights in the Providence area while she achieved a bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree a year later, and the hard effort that she puts into the visual storytelling of her music is evident through her unique background in Art Education, later touring with Drone Metal bands like Earth and the American primitive guitarist Jack Rose. Like many others, the origins of ‘The Path Of The Clouds’ were established during the Covid-19 pandemic, where she spent her time of self-isolation by watching repeats of the True Crime documentary series ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ and began writing songs about, and inspired by, the subjects of the series through their perspective. Receiving a wealth of positive reviews throughout NME, UNCUT, Record Collector, MOJO and more, Nadler fulfilled her goal of immortalizing the stories of people who deserve to be told on the recent LP. She also enlisted guests like Mercury Rev’s Jesse Chandler and multi-instrumentalist Milky Burgess. Her longtime friend Mary Littlemore, who plays the Cosmic Harp, features on Nadler’s wistful song ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater’ below.

Accompanied by an official music video directed and edited by Jenni Hensler with cinematography by Nick Fancher that depicts a preternatural world of fiction where Nadler changes the colour of the water and the sky, while floating effortlessly through a lake, becoming one with the colours and the ink, Nadler says, “When I wrote ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater’, I was contemplating the possibilities of possessing various superhuman powers: teleportation, aquatic breathing, extrasensory protection, and time travel to name a few. As a lyrical device, I married those powers with events in my life, wondering if and how they could change the past or predict the future”, in her press release. ‘Ethereal’ seems like an over-used word to me in the music press of today, but, really, there’s no better word to use for describing the textures of Nadler’s soundscape craftwork here, using a pulsating keyboard rhythm and a delicate, seductive bassline to create a light and flute-like series of sounds. Lyrics like “Shapeshifter, a cloud above your door/Late winter, like a storm” merge together with a poetic fluidity that conjures up a Shoegazing atmosphere and creates some menacing, but defiant, chords that feel as if they’re skipping weightlessly between a row of imaginary clouds while carrying an anchoring resonance through the zoned-out state of the subtle grooves of her rhythm guitar melodies. Lyrics like “If I could bring the moon down/So the day would never come/Would you fly, circle around the sun?” ponder something more philosophical and shore up against her vocals like the tide slowly coming in during a frosty morning at the seaside. Overall, it feels like perfect listening for the dry and icy December or January season of the year, as the melodies feel a bit ‘dreary’ in a way. That’s usually a derogatory statement, but what I really mean to state is that her sound is very cerebral while just about reaching some melodic heights that make it feel catchy enough to resonate. Moreover, the very layered and hallucinatory toolkit of Mary Littlemore’s cosmic harp echo the tone of the story nicely, as to bring the conceit of the song’s title to life in a fictional dream-state way when met with the consistency of the mildly anthemic guitar beats and the gradually paced Drum riffs. An intricate beauty with plenty of diverse inspiration to it.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Path Of The Clouds’ (LP) (Released on October 29, 2021) (via Bella Union Records)

That’s all for now! It is almost time to float away into the good times of Christmas in just a few days away, and so we will be soldiering on with our ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ series tomorrow with a brand new and original Christmas single that is also raising money for Feed The Homeless in Bristol. It comes from an equally talented female solo artist who released her debut self-titled LP on Invada Records last year with a follow-up EP releasing earlier this year. She also performed ‘Mork ‘N’ Mindy’ with Sleaford Mods on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ on BBC Two earlier this year.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Julien Baker – ‘A Dreamer’s Holiday’

December 11, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘A Dreamer’s Holiday’ (Single) (Re-issued on November 29, 2021) (via Matador Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to decide upon all of your last-minute Christmas gift purchases straight after reading our latest installment of this year’s ‘Countdown To Christmas’ on One Track At A Time, not forgetting that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! ‘A Dreamer’s Holiday’ is a recent cover of the 1945 track of the same title that was originally performed by Perry Como, which the Tennessae-based 26-year-old indie rock singer songwriter Julien Baker released for a ‘Spotify Singles’ collection of Christmas covers by alternative artists in late 2020, exclusively issued for the conglomerate streaming platform – with Black Pumas, Jazmine Sullivan, Ruston Kelly and Dashboard Confessional also appearing on the extended play. Baker has recently re-uploaded the cover to her Bandcamp page, however, and so the 12 month exclusivity deal must have expired, meaning that it is now available to actually buy or download for the first time and it is technically a brand new release if you look at it one way. You may already know that Baker was a member of the Boygenius trio that has similarly launched the solo careers of Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus to the stratosphere in recent years, and Baker’s latest main release was ‘Little Oblivions’, an album that she released in February to solid acclaim and decent commercial success. On the record, she tackled the theme of underlying darkness inside the corners of her mind. Themes such as sobriety, heartache, relapse, failure and redemption were explored on the album, which was mixed by Craig Silvey (Florence & The Machine, The National, Arcade Fire) and engineered by Calvin Lauber, and she recorded it at home in Memphis. ‘A Dreamer’s Holiday’ has only been covered once before by Willie Nelson in 1983. Let’s hear Baker’s spin on the old formula below.

“I chose ‘A Dreamer’s Holiday’ because I found it incredibly unique as far as holiday songs are concerned. It’s a very understated song – both lyrically and musically; while it’s technically about a ‘holiday’, it doesn’t reference any specific holiday theme, it leaves the lyrics a bit more open-ended”, Julien Baker explained last year, adding, “It’s the same way with the music – the chord structure is complicated but surprisingly timeless to me even though the song itself is over 70 years old. It’s the kind of song whose arrangement can be re-imagined so many times, and I love the feeling of sonic potential a single like that gives me”, as she discusses how the task of tackling ‘A Dreamer’s Holiday’ could be considered a challenging one, but her own cover of the track passes off well due to her hard work and determination. The Tennessee native sets the mood with “Climb aboard a butterfly and take off on the breeze” for her daydream-like opening, using some vulnerable finger-style guitar playing before the gentle Horn section enters the picture, with Baker promising to “Make it a long vacation/Time, there’s plenty of” as her reverb-drenched vocal tones create some space for an inviting Piano solo to join the soundscape, with Baker encouraging us to “Help yourself to happiness/Close your eyes and concentrate” prior to the main musical hook of “You will feel terrific when you come down to earth/From a Dreamer’s Holiday” as the tight track draws to it’s natural conclusion. Although not mentioning ‘Christmas’ as a key concept, it feels suitable enough for the season. Baker’s vocals and laidback production provide a mellow quality to the original source material, while her minimalist take on the instrumentation and her tactile guitar melodies would still feel cohesive with the music found on her recent album ‘Little Oblivions’ as the track feels like a somewhat underground choice for a cover version. While the groundwork of the airy String-based scatterings and the subtle scratches of her crackling Vinyl production bears resemblance to her said latest album, sharing similarities with the style of her chronological music, it replaces the more morbid lyricism of that record with lyrics that are brighter. It never gets too excitable and Baker thankfully doesn’t feel the need to place some filler vocals or reach into the realms of a high pitch solo for this, and so I think the track is a good merger between the feelings of anticipation and longing that she wanted to portray. Really, it’s her vocal performance that gets the emphasis here, and she gives the track a relatively short duration so the themes don’t overstay their welcome. Overall, this was a lovely little cover that got the job done and Baker is a true musician having played all, or nearly all, of her instruments on this here track, with some newfound textures that were edited in her signature style. A sumptuous addition to your playlist.

Pictured: Julien Baker in promotional artwork for a ‘Spotify Singles’ collection (2020) (Photo by Alysse Gafken/PR)

‘Little Oblivions’ was previously a pick for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the site. We covered ‘Hardline’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/02/26/new-album-release-friday-julien-baker-hardline/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Little Oblivions’ (LP) (Released on February 26th, 2021) (via Matador Records)

That’s all for now! I’ll be taking my own ‘Dreamer’s Holiday’ tomorrow morning as Father Christmas himself will be spreading his share of seasonal cheer by introducing you to one of his favourite edgy hits for ‘Scuzz Sundays’. He’s told me to relay that it will be coming from a legendary Brooklyn native Synth Punk band whose leader is the co-founder of DFA Records. Their 2007 album ‘Sound Of Silver’ was listed as one of the 666 greatest albums of all time by KEXP listeners during a poll finished in 2019.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Frightened Rabbit – “It’s Christmas, So We’ll Stop”

November 20, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for “It’s Christmas, So We’ll Stop” (Released on Dec. 15th, 2008) (via FatCat Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to grab your Gingerbread Latte to sip along with as we continue our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ today, which I’ll be leading because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! A Scottish indie folk band who were formed by Scott Hutchinson, who originally began the group as a solo project, in 2003 – Frightened Rabbit were a band who released five albums, two EP’s, two live albums and ten singles to critical acclaim, which allowed the band to develop a large cult following that is still avid to this day. There is a sadness to the band, however, as Hutchinson fell ill and he went missing on a terrible night in 2018, where his body was later found dead near Port Edgar, South Queensferry. Based in Glasgow from 2004, the band were also known for their frequent collaborations and extensive touring with Aaron Dessner, a multi-instrumentalist from The National. Frightened Rabbit’s work has been released across Fat Cat Records and major label Atlantic Records, and the strongly reviewed 6-piece were also well-liked for their regular charity work with the Invisible Children Inc. music coalition project. Hutchinson, alongside his brother Grant Hutchinson, also worked with Justin Lockey (Editors) and James Lockey (Minor Victories) on their side project Mastersystem. Mainstream-wise, Frightened Rabbit were perhaps best known for 2013’s ‘Pedestrian Verse’, which reached #9 on the UK Albums Chart. However, their final album, 2016’s ‘Painting Of A Panic Attack’, which included the particularly good single ‘Get Out’, was my personal favourite. In 2008, they got into the seasonal spirit with ‘It’s Christmas, So We’ll Stop’. Let’s give it a spin.

Scott Hutchinson released an original mix of ‘It’s Christmas, So We’ll Stop’ as solo material in 2007, before he reworked the track with expanded instrumentation and additional production for a re-release the next year. He said, “It’s Christmas… is about people deciding to be pleasant to one another for about a day, regardless of whether or not they actually get along the rest of the year”, adding, “I feel it’s maybe healtheir to live a little more consistently (not that I do), but often humans need excuses to be nice and giving and loving to one another, and Christmas is one of those times, for better or worse”, to the Vinyl’s product description. At just over five minutes in length, Hutchinson encourages a ceasefire for hatred over the top of some swelling String sections, a melancholic lead guitar hook, some softly psychedelic backing vocals that feel warm in texture, and some gradually building Drum rhythms. Lyrics like “As the rot stops for today, Let the rot stop for just one day” touch on restraining the disillusionment and sensual assault that comes with the excess of the holiday season. Later lyrics, like “‘Cause the wine on our breath puts the love on our tongues”, touch on product overindulgence and throw shade at commercialism a little, while vaguely spotlighting the community of Christmas as the main theme. The final refrain of “The next day, life went back to its bad self” hints towards the hostilities of the wider world being resumed after the big day of December 25th. While treading familiar ground for a Christmas single, in terms of the key material discussing the halting of arguments and the easing of tension that it all brings, Hutchinson manages to polish everything in a neat way. His vocal delivery feels sharp and piercing at times, giving off the idea of the knives being put down for the single day but also suggesting a warmer armistice, and it introduces a raw element of melancholy and a sense of foreboding to the instrumentation. The soundscape, as a result, is full of musical diversity. It is slightly charming and witty in a black comedy format, but it’s also a little sombre and downtempo, all while maintaining an uplifting quality in the spirit of the religious season. It feels very frank, with the blend of orchestral and acoustic instrumentation complementing his variety of tones as the songwriting develops in a way that’s gradual. It is one of the most poignant, yet realistic, festive songs out there.

  • Pictured: Scott Hutchinson (Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitar/Writer), Billy Kennedy (Lead Guitar/Keyboard). Andy Monaghan (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Simon Liddell (Bass Guitar) and Grant Hutchinson (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (in 2013) (Photo via RedBull.com/Atlantic Records)

That brings us to the end of our trimming of festive output for this week! Please join me again tomorrow for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, as we take a listen to a Pop-Punk anthem from a well-known California-formed rock band who bonded over their love of music on the football pitch and they recorded one of their albums in the Paramour Mansion.

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New Album Release Fridays: Bears In Trees – ‘Little Cellist’

November 19, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘And Everybody Smiled Back’ (LP) (Released on November 19, 2021) (via Counter Intuitive Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to delve deeply into one of this weekend’s most intriguing new LP releases, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! While Jessy Lanza will be releasing her ‘DJ-Kicks’ compilation this week and Kaytranada will be releasing his ‘Intimated’ EP today, new albums from the likes of Elbow and Deap Vally are likely to get overshadowed this week by the media attention that the week’s heavy-hitter, Adele, will be receiving from the release of her new album ’30’. Therefore, I’ve decided to provide another alternative option for you to explore this weekend. ‘And Everybody Smiles Back’ is the highly anticipated debut studio album from the Croydon-formed indie rock group Bears In Trees, who have been signed to the Boston-based label Counter Intuitive Records. With a large social media following of over 100,000 followers on Instagram and over 20,000 via Twitter, the band are seemingly poised for bigger things in the near future. The project is led by producer George Berry, who graduated from the Academy Of Contemporary Music with a first class honours degree in Professional Music Production. He’s joined by bassist/lead vocalist Ian Gillespie, classically trained flautist Callum Litchfield and songwriter/guitarist Nick Peters, who runs the majority of the band’s social media pages. Having just embarked on their long-delayed debut headline UK tour and supported NOAHFINNCE on a previous tour, Bears In Trees are keeping proceedings fresh by developing their new record as a concept album which tells stories of the day after the best or worst day in a person’s life, and each of the songs featured on the LP tells anecdotes being pulled from the band’s actual lives. Speaking about the unique concept, Nick Peters says, “In films and TV series, the plot line ends on the best or worst days of someone’s life and that we never really get to see the day after”, adding, “I think it’s important because the day after is where the healing and compassion happen”, in a press statement. Let’s check out their recent single, ‘Little Cellist’, below.

Commenting on ‘Little Cellist’, Iain Gillespie says: “This is a story about me and a good friend of mine. She plays Cello. She found me in a god-awful state, which finally began my treatment journey for my mental health”, describing, “I was lying on the floor of the student union building; me finally opening up to her allowed her to open up to me and we became each other’s shoulder to cry on, and she kept me safe during some very hard times”, in Bears In Trees’ press release. Bridging Spoken Word sections and poetry with a more conventional Indie Folk template, ‘Little Cellist’ is a narrative-driven tale about seeking hope and purpose through a common experience, with lyrics like “She often held in her intrusive thoughts for fear/That the weight of her worries was too much for him to hear” that discuss difficulty in speaking your mind truthfully, in the way that Brits do as we say what we don’t mean in terms of dialect. Later refrains, like “She quelled her anxiety to calm her fading friend” and “The ambulance rolled up like his limousine/To take him to a place where he reigned supreme”, mix a sense of whimsicality with more hard-hitting content in terms of narrating the story. The instrumentation is kept rather simple and concise, as floating Piano lines and brief String sections provide a slightly cinematic, uplifted underlayer to the rustic, heartfelt acoustic guitar melodies. The Spoken Word sections feel intriguing, as they provide a dream-like feel to undercut the set-up for the narrative and ensure some more variety to the songwriting. The lyrics are nice and easy, with a clear theme being communicated by a blend of poetry and contemporary Indie Rock production. Later lyrics like “Even Jesus Christ himself needed help to bear his cross/Please feel free to lean on me if the world becomes too much” tend to go darker in tone, recited with a delivery that reminds me of Jarvis Cocker in its mix of sardonic wit and emotional storytelling. When all of these parts are merged together, you get some story-based indie rock that feels crowd-pleasing and accessible, yet feels a little more complex in practice than your average release. Therefore, it feels like a sensible choice for a single. Overall, this was an engaging blend of sardonic storytelling and spoken poetry that carries a similar message to other mental health-based tracks, yet it still sets itself apart well enough because there’s an individual personality behind it.

  • Pictured: George Berry (Producer/Drums/Percussion), Ian Gillespie (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar), Callum Litchfield (Ukulele/Piano/Backing Vocals) and Nick Peters (Lead Guitar/Chief Songwriter) (2019) (via PR)

That’s everything that I’ve got planned for today on the blog! Thank you very much for your support, and I’ll be back tomorrow to continue leading you through our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ series on the site. If you check it out, you’ll be treated to an alternative festive single from a Scottish indie folk band who were active until 2018, where the lead singer was presumed to have sadly lost his life after going missing. However, they were known for their work with the Invisible Children coalition project.

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New Album Release Fridays: Courtney Barnett – ‘Before You Gotta Go’

November 12, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ (LP) (Released on November 12, 2021) (via Mom + Pop Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to delve deep into one of the weekend’s most exciting new LP releases for your daily track on the blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you’re looking for some gift ideas for the hardcore music lover in your household at the moment, this week’s helping of new albums may give you some inspiration. There is the first entirely self-produced new album from the critically acclaimed Worship singer Sara Groves, which certainly seems worth picking up. The likes of Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, popular Hardcore Punk stars IDLES and the cult classic American Alt-Rock outfit They Might Be Giants join the ranks. I, meanwhile, have been looking forward to hearing the first solo album release from the multi-time ARIA Award winning and the Brit Award nominated Sydney-Born Alternative Rock singer-songwriter and producer Courtney Barnett in three years. I really enjoy listening to her dry, witty mannerisms and her gut-punch guitar riffs that she has become known and well-reviewed within the industry for, and I think she’s perfectly on-brand for this blog too. You may recall her recording the ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ collaborative album with Kurt Vile from The War On Drugs fame, and I love how that album has since introduced more Blues and Country influences into her music. She returns today with ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ via Mon + Pop Records or Marathan Artists depending on where you live, which she recorded between late 2020 to early 2021 with producer/drummer Stella Mozgawa between Melbourne and Sydney as an attempt to delve into her own psyche to explore themes of love and renewal, as well as healing and discovery. It includes the previous singles ‘Write A List of Things To Look Forward To’ and ‘Rae Street’. So, let’s check her out ‘Before You Gotta Go’ below.

A recent press release hyped up Barnett’s new album like this, “Things Take Time, Take Time is yet another assured leap forward for Barnett; a breakthrough really, but not in the ways you might expect”, expanding, “This is Barnett at her most creative and adventurous – an exquisite look at Courtney’s private world, and consequently her most beautiful and intimate record to date”, and the third single to be taken from the record, ‘Before You Gotta Go’, is another refreshing take on her pre-established Indie sound as the vocal delivery and acoustic instrumentation veer more towards in the direction of Americana and Country records. Paired to a few surrealist images from director Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore in which Barnett tries to capture field recordings in nature, there’s nothing massively bombastic in terms of style here and Barnett angles for something more minimalist than normal. Lyrics like “If something were to happen my dear/I wouldn’t want the last words you hear/To be unkind” get some plaintive emotions across, and she pulls herself into a reflective state as she recalls a fight with her partner and she resets her actual emotions towards them. The instrumentation is smooth, starting off with a tranlucent lead guitar riff that cycles around some beat-matched Drums and an airy feeling of longing. By the end of the track, we’re left with clarity as Barnett regains a perspective and appreciation for the other person, giving the pay off for the soft rock instrumentation and slowly building melodicism that has been built up throughout the song, giving you the chance to breathe in and absorb everything that she’s just unloaded on you in terms of her emotional baggage. It sounds a little 90’s at points, while trading in the harsh Grunge sounds of memorable singles like ‘Dead Fox’ and ‘Pedestrian At Best’ for something that strikes a similar emotional chord in feeling headstrong and personal, yet the delivery is more polished and the rhythms feel more introspective. Like the prior single of ‘Rae Street’, the softly crooned lyrics and the twangy bass guitar beats bear some resemblance to Kurt Vile, her former collaborative partner, and so you can hear the more gentle formula of their album, ‘Lotta Sea Lice’, coming through to her own solo work. ‘Before You Gotta Go’ uses that period of her career and gives her a few fresh ideas for her own solo material. Overall, ‘Before You Gotta Go’ is a lovely single that feels laidback and mellow. The sound is a little more Country-oriented and Folk-driven than her earlier work, and usually the likes of cheesy, twangy and irritating Country music isn’t my thing at all to be honest, but it also feels less sardonic, in a way, to her prior output. It’s nice to see one of our stronger songwriters of the present day switching things up by looking inward, thinking deeply, and blissfully unpacking.

  • Pictured: Courtney Barnett at Rock The Garden Festival (2019) (Photo via Martin Philbey/Redferns)

You can also check out my thoughts on the previous single – ‘Rae Street’ – here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/08/21/todays-track-courtney-barnett-rae-street/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ (LP) (with Kurt Vile) (Released in 2017) (via Matador Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for today. Whether you think it’s too early or not is up for debate, but, tomorrow, we’ll be kicking off our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ assortment of posts for the first time of this year’s holiday season. The first entry is a new single release from an American multi-instrumentalist perhaps best known for scoring a UK Top 20 hit, ‘Ex’s & Oh’s’, in 2017. The song was originally written by Blues legend and pianist Charles Brown in 1960, and it has been covered by the likes of Michael Buble, Willie Nelson, Bon Jovi, Eagles, Kelly Clarkson, Josh Gracin and others.

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Today’s Track: Cate Le Bon – ‘Running Away’

November 2, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Pompeii’ (LP) (Available on 4th February, 2022) (via Mexican Summer)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for yet another daily track on the blog to get brought to your attention, because its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Known for her subversive spin on vintage guitar rock music, the Carmarthenshire-born Welsh alternative folk singer songwriter Cate Le Bon is a woman of many talents and she can perform her music fluently in both English and classical Welsh. She has also toured across the globe with artists like St. Vincent, John Grant and Perfume Genius, and she has production credits on albums by Deerhunter, Josiah Steinbrick and Tim Presley. Jeff Tweedy – of the popular Alternative Rock band Wilco – has even named Cate Le Bon as one of his personal favourite musicians of the moment. She has released three EP’s and multiple singles, and Le Bon is now six solo albums into her dynamic career. In fact, we previously covered her track ‘Mother’s Mother’s Magazines’ on the blog for one of my daily posts back in the late half of 2019. It was a long time ago, so you would be forgiven for struggling to remember reading it. However, it is a good time to try and delve into her material again since her sixth full-length album, ‘Pompeii’, is on the way, and the playful songstress has set it up for a release date of February 4th, 2022 via Mexican Summer. The follow-up to her 2019 Mercury Prize-nominated record, ‘Reward’, Le Bon says that “Pompeii was written and recorded in a quagmire of unease. Solo. In a time warp. In a house I had a life in 15 years ago”, adding, “I grappled with existence, resignation and faith. I felt culpable for the mess but it smacked hard of the collective guilt imposed by religion and original sin”, as she explained in a press statement. The first single to be taken off the new LP, ‘Running Away’ is your first taste of the record. Le Bon played every instrument on the new record, and she was joined by her regular collaborator Samur Khoja for recording studio sessions in Cardiff for a pair of tracks. Let’s give ‘Running Away’ a listen below.

Speaking of her new single, ‘Running Away’, the Welsh folk crooner describes, “The world is on fire but the bins must go out on a Tuesday night. Political dissonance meets beauty regimes. I put a groove behind it for something to hold on to. The grief is in the Saxophones”, in her press notes. An enforced period of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic has, according to the Penboyr-born vocalist, also resulted in a “more extreme version” of Le Bon’s studio process, making way for a collection of more “Playful, satirical and surrealist” songs than what may have come from Cate before. These themes become clear in ‘Running Away’, which is of no resemblance to the 70’s Sly & The Family Stone Psych Funk classic of the same title. Another wayward progression of her complex instrumentation style, the track immediately feels mid-tempo, yet buoyant, with some ghostly guitar strums mixing with a softly Funk-inflicted backdrop in a strange way. Observational lyrics like “It’s the sweetest thing/That you never had” and “You can’t put your arms around it/It’s not there anymore” are wise to keep their distance because, although Cate Le Bon refuses to give us many specifics within the lyrics, as you would probably expect given her experimental nature, it feels clear that all-encompassing emotions of longing and reminiscence are placed at the center of her core. The vocals in the chorus are obscure in tone, but tinged with a feeling of lethargy, with drowsy guitar melodies that slightly evoke a 00’s ‘Slacker Rock’ feel akin to Terry Presume or Mac DeMarco, and a bubbling amount of weariness in the lovesick croons of her voice. The usual trademarks of Cate Le Bon are here, but the production feels more refined with an air of Kate Bush about it. The regal blasts of Saxophone melodies and the ambient washings of the Synths are sparse enough to reveal little, but light elements of Prog-Rock and Ambient Jazz get scattered through the verses. Together, the different elements of the song feel relatively sparse and unidentifiable on paper but they are neatly buried and they place Cate Le Bon at the center of her work, as she uses surreal songwriting with great patience and sculptures enigmatic vocals on remaining unsure about whether she should seek some things that sound lost to her. In conclusion, ‘Running Away’ is a solid evolution of Le Bon’s style because it encourages her to pale back the layers of her common material. It feels slow, but never filler, ramping up her sound by shaping something so tidy and intricate, but suitably vague and mysterious.

  • Pictured: Cate Le Bon in a still from the ‘Wonderful’ music video (2016) (Photo via Colorising.com)

As I’ve mentioned, we previously covered Cate Le Bon’s track ‘Mother’s Mother’s Magazines’ on the blog a long while ago. If you’d like to remind yourself of that post, feel free to check it out here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/30/todays-track-cate-le-bon-mothers-mothers-magazines/

  • Pictured: Cate Le Bon in promotional art work for ‘Reward’ (2019) (Photo by Huw Gwynfryn Evans)

I have completed my task for another day, and, on that note, I thank you for coming along on the ride. I’ll be back tomorrow for a new edition of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ where we’re looking back at a well-known 1972 hit that was associated with a film of the same title. It comes from a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted Ska, Reggae, Rocksteady and Prog-Soul multi-instrumentalist who is the only living Jamaican musician to be awarded the Order Of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by his government for services in Arts, as he helped to popularize Reggae music globally.

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