Today’s Track: Dana Gavanski – ‘Indigo Highway’

April 19, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Dana Gavinski in the official music video for ‘Yesterday Is Gone’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Tess Roby)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to settle my own nerves like a calming pill for a playful addition to my catalogue 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 music every day! Inspired by the live performance aspects of David Bowie, Art-Rock singer-songwriter Dana Gavanski – a Canadian-Serbian musician based in London – almost followed in her father’s footsteps for a career in the film industry, but she developed her skills in music for a year and decided to release her first record back in 2017. Following that time, she has received acclaim for her work from sources like Exclaim, Monkeybiz and BBC Radio 6 Music, with the latter naming 2020’s ‘Yesterday Is Gone’ as their album of the week. She has recorded two live sessions for Marc Riley’s show, she has supported Damien Jurado on a tour across Europe and she has worked with Tuung’s Mike Lindsay as her producer. More recently, she recorded a cover version of King Crimson’s ‘I Talk To The Wind’ as a charity single. In the near future, she will be releasing her second full-length studio album – ‘When It Comes’ – as she gears up to add another release to her impressive resume for an artist who’s only been active since 2017. Set to release through Full Time Hobby on April 29th, she describes the release with “In many ways, this record feels like it is my first. When I could use my voice, I had to focus so there is an urgency and greater emotional trajectory than before. It’s very connected to vocal presence, which extended into an existential questioning of my connection to music. It felt like a battle at times, which I frequently lost”, in her own words. The new LP was recorded between Montreal and Belgrade, finally being mixed at London’s Total Refreshment centre by Mike Lindsay. Check out Dana’s single ‘Indigo Highway’ below.

Gavanski pitches ‘Indigo Highway’ as an unguarded Moog-built track that captures the loss of childhood relationships with sincerity and absurdity in her press release, as she explains, “From the beginning of my interest in songwriting, I’d tried many times to write about this relationship and never could. It felt too fragile, too fraught with experience and distant in many ways. However faraway the time feels, no matter what came next, ‘Indigo Highway’ endeavors to return to what made the relationship special. This song is like a prayer, or a way back, temporarily, to innocence and silliness and sunshine on a field”, in her words. The fun starts off with an idiosyncratic arpeggio groove and a distinctly retro kick drum beat that paves the way for Gavanski’s abstract vocals to find their mark, as lyrics like “I think I’ve found my way back home, Wandering out” and “When you come over and visit me, We’ll sit by the willow tree” offer pastoral and peaceful reflections on plunging yourself back through time to return to your innocence before the times that followed in adolescence. A Piano drops in rather whimsically, at a later point, to a jaunting set of verses where Gavanski passionately projects her voice with lyrics like “I’ll find your face, it’s changing in different ways/And I’m looking around to see” to contemplate the platonic friendships that she has been finding and declining, or naturally progressed away from, during her lifetime. Propelled by an obscure Synth hook and pierced Keyboard melodies that are locked together frenetically by a consistently no-frills drum kit, Gavanski conjures up a presence that feels highly original in the way that she mixes her playful musicality with youthful personality. Her warm crooning feels both familiar and otherworldly when paired to the otherwise percussive arrangement that feels reasonably melodic, but textured by the eccentric instrumentation and the transcendant qualities of her child-like lyricism. There’s shades of Nico and Cate Le Bon in here, as well as more Folk-costumed nods to Aldous Harding or Weyes Blood’s material, and so it should appeal nicely to a decent range of Alt-Folk and Country-Rock fans with it’s bright, yet widescreen brand of quirky atmospherics and whimsical daydreaming although it feels slightly faster in tempo than most of the music by the aforementioned influences. A joyful and cinematic piece that we could all connect to.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘When It Comes’ (LP/Album) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Full Time Hobby)

That brings us swiftly round to the end of the Indigo Highway for today! Thank you for coming along for the ride, and I honestly can’t believe how short this week feels because it’s almost time for a fresh new entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ that will be arriving on the site tomorrow. This time, we’re looking back at a very influential Swedish Prog-Pop duo with a cult following who have been celebrating their 20th anniversary with a number of re-issues since 2021. They are also known for wearing Venetian masks in their public appearances, and managing their Rabid Records label.

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New Album Release Fridays: Gang Of Youths – ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’

February 25, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Angel In Realtime’ (Released on February 25th, 2022) (via Mosy/Warner Bros. Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and the time has come for me to talk about one of the weekend’s most fascinating new album releases with ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog, which ties into my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ marks the second appearance on the daily blog for the surprisingly good Southern Rock-influenced rock band Gang Of Youths led by the frontman David Le’Aupepe of Samoan and Māori heritage. These guys are from Sydney, Australia and they seem to be more well-known there – having won four awards at the ARIA Music Awards Of 2017 including ‘Album Of The Year’ and ‘Producer Of The Year’ alongside Adrian Breakspear for their second album, ‘Go Farther In Lightness’, that was also released that year. However, they have been gaining daytime airplay from Radio X and BBC Radio 2 in recent years, they have performed on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ in the US and they have toured arenas in support of Sam Fender too, and so it seems to me that they have been gaining mainstream traction in the rest of the world in recent months. It may expand even more when the masses hear ‘Angel In Real Time’, Gang Of Youths’ third studio album, which arrives today. Announced on Twitter last November, the new LP tackles the subjects of grief and loss – as Le’Aupepe has sadly lost his father – as well as indigenous identity. Describing his father in a press release, he says, “My dad was a gifted and passionate gardener. It’s where he funneled a lot of his energy and sensitivity, and despite our humble economic status, we were always surrounded by beauty”. Let’s hear a song about the subject – ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ – below.

This has been shaping up to be a crowded 2022 for Gang Of Youths as they continue to sell out headline solo gigs, and of the heart-wrenching recent single that we have just seen above, the ringmaster David Le’Aupepe recalls, “I wanted to reflect on how I became dependent on grief for solace and inspiration”, explaining, “The cycle from numbness to acceptance to yearning plays a role in my approach to grieving my dad’s death. As a result, most of the time, I feel a bit futile as a person”, in his own words via press release. Featuring backing harmonies by the Auckland Gospel Choir, percussion from drummers from the Cook Islands and sweeping string arrangements by Tom Hobden, L’Auepepe sounds both self-lacerating and liberating on the fast paced and emotive ballad as he recites lyrics like “So, as you canyoneered from our world upwards and the angels take their place/I was the loser at your funeral/No emotion conveyed” to the sound of some free-wheeling guitar melodies and energetic drum backings, as he shifts through a story of accepting loss and the cycles of moving on from a heavy bereavement at a concise structure and speed. The vocal delivery in the verses feels a little more poetry-based, with urgent lyrics like “I was drawn out in vain/And the idiot I am just figured/In the wake of your leave/That I’d never hear from you again” that feel like they are being half-spoken with a winking eye as the vague sense of humor shines through. Sung against a crescendo of uptempo guitar riffs and a grandiose backdrop of backing vocals and strings, the chorus of “My hand on heart/It’s not a thing that I’ve been dreaming of/And it goes without my blessing” and “But it comes and goes/And shows me all I’m missing” provides a very triumphant response to the death of a close relative and puts a little focus on the person who is suffering from the event, instead of solely the father himself. Introspective in the songwriting, confronting difficult topics with a brave sense of personality, and conjuring up some excellent instrumentation that gives it the anthemic feeling that it strives for, what really – quite honestly – amazes me about ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ is how it takes a concept that is deeply relatable and quite appealing to the mainstream in a way, but it still manages to feel intimate and unique to Gang Of Youths, as the track does a good job of convincing me that only David L’Aupepe could have wrote the track as it feels so reflective and expressive of himself. Most of the bands who have released music that Gang Of Youths remind me of – like Kings Of Leon or Liam Gallagher – have often released material that simply feels a little manufactured to me and I have found tricky to relate to as an individual – so I can often take it or leave it. I’m glad to say that with Gang Of Youths, the former is the case. Overall, ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’ is pretty bloody fantastic in my opinion. A track that has a fair share of influences that it wears on it’s sleeves and it feels like it is about the person who made it, as all of the most moving music does to me, while feeling like an authentic tribute to L’Aupepe’s lost father. An irresistible mix of Bruce Springsteen, 80’s Blues Rock and this more modern, cinematic incarnation of The War On Drugs that we heard on Kurt Vile’s bands’ recent album. This is a really great piece.

Pictured: David Le’Aupepe (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Piano), Jung Kim (Keyboard/Synths/Acoustic Guitar), Max Dunn (Bass Guitar), Tom Hobden (Violin) and Donnie Borzestowski (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (via PR)

As mentioned before, ‘In The Wake Of Your Leave’, is the second single from Gang Of Youths to earn a little bit of attention on the blog. You can check out what I made of ‘The Angel Of 8th Ave.’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/08/14/todays-track-gang-of-youths-the-angel-of-8th-ave/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Angel of 8th Ave’ (Single) (Released on June 15th, 2021) (via Warner Bros. Records)

That was all that I really had to say about Gang Of Youths today, and I hope that you enjoyed this week’s entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the site, as your support is always highly appreciated. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ returns in two days time where we’re going to revisit a Post-Britpop classic from Richard Ashcroft’s old band. Before then, I’ve got some more accessible music lined up for you tomorrow as we listen to one of the latest tunes by an established Electronic Pop group from Devonshire, England who have remixed many artists over the years including Lady GaGa, Franz Ferdinand, Goldfrapp, Sebastien Teller and Gorillaz. Their seventh album was released last week.

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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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Boxing Day 2021 Special: Courtney Barnett – ‘Boxing Day Blues (Revisited)’

December 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, if you weren’t famished by food already yesterday, I’ve got a small pick-me-up for you in the way of this Boxing Day-themed post, seeing that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Having recently released her third solo studio album – ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ – to the world, the Australian indie rock singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett hasn’t been a stranger to this humble site at all with her boisterous mix of lo-fi, but also sometimes more Grunge-influenced, Punk melodies and her witty, deadpan lyricism. The LP which arguably bought her an established name in the industry was 2015’s ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit’, which won four ARIA Music Awards and gave her further award nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards and 2016’s BRIT Awards respectively, following its release. Not too shabby at all for a debut album release, then. The album’s closer was the melancholic and rambling offering ‘Boxing Day Blues’ and, a few months later that year, she decided to re-imagine her own tune with ‘Boxing Day Blues (Revisitied)’. The track was released as the A-side to a cover version of Boys Next Door’s ‘Shivers’ that was originally issued in 1979. With little left to say, let’s get in the mood with it below.

Garnering such acclaim for your debut release would certainly allow you to work with higher caliber music artists, and the same was true for Courtney Barnett when she recorded ‘Boxing Day Blues (Revisited)’ with Jack White in his Nashville-based studio. The single was also included on a deluxe version of ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’ that was released that November, which includes some bonus tracks and demo recordings that were cut from the original track listing of the album. It also featured physical gifts – including a poster of the album’s artwork and four Polaroid photographs taken by Barnett herself. Addressing a romantic interest with questions like “How was your day? Mine was okay” and “What did you do? Spent my whole night dreaming of you”, Barnett lyrically tackles the theme of wishing that you were somewhere else, and doing something else with someone else, than what you did for Christmas day in reality. Suitably, it feels more percussive than the original track with a slightly laidback feel. Her tone is lovesick and stripped back, with lyrics like “Like a Christmas Tree on Boxing Day, thrown away” and “Just like two icebergs in climate change, drifting away” that feel strangely topical. Lyrics like “I’m feeling fine, Except the times that I’m not” feel very characteristic of Courtney too, bolstered by a gently jaunting lead guitar riff and a similarly placid Drum riff. The wistful and low-key melodies of the track settle into a mostly chilled out meditation on the themes of fantasy and reality, as well as the lines between sadness and resentment, with her signature deadpan observations coming across as just a little more defined when compared to the original track from her debut album. Overall, it feels like a solid after-burner of a track that sticks out when all of the many jobs pertaining to Christmas have been done and, as usual for Barnett, she’s the type of musician who you can get to know personally through the fairly small, but profound, aspects of her songwriting.

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

If you’re feeling bored this Boxing Day, you can also check out some of my previous Courtney Barnett-related posts on the blog. There’s ‘Over Everything’ from her collaborative album ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ with The War On Drugs’ Kurt Vile here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/26/todays-track-courtney-barnett-kurt-vile-over-everything/. There’s a more recent solo single, ‘Rae Street’, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/08/21/todays-track-courtney-barnett-rae-street/. Finally, you can check out the single ‘Befoe You Gotta Go’ from her latest album here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/12/new-album-release-fridays-courtney-barnett-before-you-gotta-go/

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

That’s all for now and, basically, that’s Christmas for another year. We’ve made it through until next year. Speaking of the new year, my coverage for the New Year’s season will begin tomorrow as we look at some of the off-the-radar music from 2021 that you may have missed from earlier in the year throughout the week and, sometime in January, my year-end lists will be published. Once I get the chance to actually sit down and write them! Anyways, I’ll whet your appetite tomorrow with a starter from the new dance project of DFA’s Amy Douglas and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard.

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Christmas Day 2021 Special: The Killers (feat. Wild Light & Mariachi El Bronx) – ‘¡Happy Birthday Guadalupe!’

December 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Don’t Waste Your Wishes’ (LP) (Released on November 18, 2016) (via Island Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – wishing you a very merry Christmas – if you have the time to put those mince pies and gin cocktails aside for a few minutes or require a short break away from those who are driving you insane in the house today, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Las Vegas natives The Killers are one of the most all-around crowd-pleasing bands in the world with their beloved Desert Rock sound that has established them as key headline acts for huge stages like Glastonbury and Madison Square Garden, as well as selling their way to over 28 million records worldwide, but they started a small festive tradition of their own with the release of 2006’s yuletide track ‘A Great Big Sled’. Since that year, the 21st century rock icons used to release a new Christmas-themed track for charity every year, often featuring collaborations with the likes of Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, Elton John, Dawes and Ned Humphrey Hanson, among others, on December 1st to co-incide with World AIDS Day, as they released these singles annually between 2006 to 2016 in support of the Product Red Campaign, with proceeds going to the campaign led by U2’s Bono and Bobby Shriver. You can catch all of these singles on a compilation album – ‘Don’t Waste Your Wishes’ – that was released in 2016 both digitally and physically. Debuting at #41 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart at the time, it featured all eleven of their Christmas songs and, by the time of the box set’s release, music videos were also produced for every one of them. Check out 2009’s ‘Happy Birthday Guadalupe’ below.

The Mexican-themed music video for ‘Happy Birthday Guadalupe’ starred the ‘Beverley Hills 90210’ and ‘The Fifth Element’ actor Luke Perry, and, musically, Brandon Flowers and company decided to enlist the diverse help of indie four-piece Wild Light and Mariachi El Bronx – who both toured with The Killers throughout 2009 – to complete the fourth chapter of their series in aid of Product Red. Paired to the noir-esque visuals of Perry searching for his long-lost love of Guadalupe across the Mexican desert, the super-group of wild artists create a Mariachi-flavored take on heartbreak during the most wonderful time of the year, as per Andy Williams. The Killers clearly wanted people to feel that anything is possible during the much-hyped holiday season with lyrics that talk about how a Christmas day hook-up can lead to a long-lasting relationship in the form of the expedition to find Guadalupe. Like most of The Killers’ songs, it combines an Americana sound with a more radio-friendly Punk one – with earnest Killers-like lyrics that tell a brief narrative, and they contribute to the ‘Alternative’ side of Christmas music by providing sunny disposition for a season that is typically associated with ice and snow, instead depicting the excessively hot and dry environment of a Latin American desert with a Spanish guitar backdrop and some Mariachi style chords. I feel this blend is a little uneven at times, with some refrains like “Living in a difficult time” rubbing against the over-the-top Tex Mex cheer of the tone. However, it is very catchy and quite memorable – with some jaunting moods and exciting instrumentation that manages to make it feel different for a Christmas track. Overall, it is a bit rough around the edges in the way of seeming messy at points because it doesn’t quite pull of the balance of severity and frivolity quite rightly, however, it will definitely keep you entertained and the idea of mixing Mexican angels with seasonal salutations is an intriguing and daring one, so I still find it to be quite enjoyable and pretty cheerful to listen to. All that remains for me to say to you on this morning is have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Joeyux Noel!

Pictured: Brandon Flowers (Lead Vocals/Synths), Dave Keuning (Lead Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), Mark Stoermer (Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar) and Ronnie Vanucci Jr. (Drums) (2018) (Photo via Press Hire Publicity)

(EMBED LINKS TO PREVIOUS THE KILLERS BLOG POSTS HERE)

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Imploding The Mirage’ (LP) (Released on August 21, 2020) (via Island Records)

That’s all for today – and I’ll leave you be to enjoy a hot meal and a day off work. Christmas for the adults, am I right? Anyways, I’ll be waiting for you here on Boxing Day with another brief one coming from an Australian artist who has been covered on the blog recently because she has just released her third solo studio album on Mom + Pop Records. One of the singles, ‘Write A List Of Things To Look Forward To’ was included on Barack Obama’s new list of his favourite singles to be released from 2021.

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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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Today’s Track: Kings Of Convenience – ‘Rocky Trail’

December 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Erlend Øye (Vocals/Lead Guitar) & Eirik Glambek Bøe (Bass Guitar/Vocals) (2021) (Photo by Salvo Alibrio)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time to catch up with some of the music that we missed earlier in the year as we approach the start of a new one, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! For the Norwegian indie folk duo of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, you could say that it has been a ‘Rocky Trail’ on their return to making music. After a 12 year hiatus, in which the Bergen native pair saw some relationships continue to form and dissolve, felt record label pressure, and they confronted the onset of their 40’s, the Cornelius collaborators have returned with their first album to be released since 2009’s ‘Declaration Of Dependence’, a #10 hit in Italy. During their time, Kings Of Convenience were the inspiration for the Indian dream pop duo Parekh & Singh, they topped MTV’s European list of the best music videos in 2004 for ‘I’d Rather Dance With You’ and they performed at the Primavera Sound Festivals in both Barcelona and Porto. Øye is also known for a side project, The Whitest Boy Alive. ‘Peace Or Love’, their latest LP and fourth studio album release overall, features two collaborations with the Canadian global indie pop star Feist, and it reached #26 on the UK Albums Chart. Recorded across five years in five different cities, ‘Peace Or Love’ was a mellow take on Easy Listening Pop where Bøe and Øye leaned into the appeal of ease instead of confrontation after a difficult period of time away. After all, despite envy of Europeans easy leisure, it is distinctly an American trait to look for cracks in their mirage or facade – and that facade, if there was one, was very smooth here. They recently went on tour to support the record, including a double-header at London’s Royal Festival Hall in September, and a share of these dates have already come and gone. However, they are still scheduled to visit sites in Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg from March until June 2022 – if Covid restrictions allow for it. Let’s hear more about their ‘Rocky Trail’ below.

“Another classic Eirik composition that skillfully ignores the verse-chorus-chorus blueprint”, Bøe and Øye said about the structure of ‘Rocky Trail’ in April during a press statement for Paste Magazine, concluding, “It’s pop music, but not as we know it”, in their teaser. A welcome re-introduction to the group and what their sound achieves well, ‘Rocky Trail’ features a humble approach to production where the Kings’ simply harmonize about life’s grief and a failed relationship with a man featuring “a world on his shoulders that needed lifting” on top of a wholesome and jaunting acoustic guitar riff. The duo recite sequences like “Brave enough to go climbing up a wall so high that no sunlight is seen through winter” and “Brave enough to go travelling the world without money to eat or sleep for” to express a deep sense of freedom and contentment that create buoyant vocal hooks and laminate reality in a more optimistic light. There are some moments of a bleaker nature, with the opening refrain of “Let’s say you give me one more time, One last chance to speak again, Let’s start from what we left unsaid” highlighting a shade of relationship break-up glumness, for example. However, the tonal differences are sugarcoated by a warm violin string section that adds a slightly bitter ache to the forefront of the track. Their intertwining vocals are uplifting, giving the anecdotes of travelling penniless and surviving hungry a more inspirational feeling instead of a pessimistic outlook. However, the in-sync and timbre voices of Bøe and Øye remain a key fixture of their charm, while lyrics like “I should have carried you to the top of the rocky trail” have moments of reflective contemplation to them, later giving the lyrics of “How am I to know about your problems and your load/I am blind to what you show” some additional meaning in the realm of forgiveness. Overall, ‘Rocky Trail’ was a solid Folk track that doesn’t show any signs of being left on the cutting room floor for 12 years. Instead, it feels like a paled back ode to restoration from the duo and it seems like a warm welcome back from them. Delicacy and care are given to both of their vocal performances, a tactic that perfectly expresses an innocence and veteran experience simultaneously, attained through their pitches. A beautiful and simple return to form.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Peace Or Love’ (LP) (Released on June 18th, 2021) (via Virgin/EMI Records)

That’s all for Monday, and, with that conclusion, it’s time for me and the Kings Of Convenience to lead you on your way through the ‘Rocky Trail’ of mid-December living. I hope that all goes well for you today, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow to resume our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ with a fresh new Grunge spin on a popular Christmas carol that was performed by a female-led indie punk band from Auckland, New Zealand. Signed to Carpark Records in the US, they have toured throughout the UK and some European cities supporting Death Cab For Cutie in 2020.

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New Album Release Fridays: Dan Sartain – ‘People Throwing Stones In Glass Houses’

November 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise’ (LP) (Released on Nov 26th, 2021) (via One Little Independant)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to throw some stones in some glass houses to the beat of yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s pick for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ arrives with a dose of sadness because it also means that it’s time for us to say goodbye to a cult favourite singer-songwriter – Dan Sartain – who left us at the young age of just 39 at the end of March 2021. Dan Sartain got an early start by playing in the local hardcore punk band Plate Six in the 1990’s, and the Blues artist from Birmingham, Alabama went on to release eight subsequent solo albums. During his career, Sartain got the chance to be the opening act for The Hives and The White Stripes on tour in 2007 and he notably issued the ‘Bohemian Grove’ single on Jack White’s legendary imprint Third Man Records in 2009. After building traction as an extroverted artist on open mic nights in the US and building his cult following as an unsigned talent, he finally released his first widely commercially available LP record ‘Dan Sartain vs. The Serpientes’ in 2005.

Sartain’s music encompassed a variety of Rockabillly, Blues, Country and DIY Punk music but his sound had a characteristically combative relationship with the genres and their surrounding subculture. He would also promote social causes like the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The cause of his death has never been revealed, but tributes poured in from the likes of James Skelly, Sarah Waters, Jeff Klein, AIM UK and his fanbase when the news of his death was announced by his family and his manager earlier in the year. His final album – ‘Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise’ – was finished a few months before he passed away and it is being released today on his UK-based longtime label One Little Independent as unchanged and how it was intended to be. 100% of the proceeds and royalties will be donated to a trust fund for Sartain’s young daughter as per his family’s request. The only single to be taken from the record is ‘People Throwing Stones In Glass Houses’ – which arrives with the music video below.

Confirming the tragic news via the GoFundMe page set up to help pay for the Center Point-born Garage Rock musician’s funeral expenses earlier this year, Dan’s family wrote, “Dan Sartain left us many memories and music but unfortunately left us way too early”, elaborating, “As wonderful as his legacy is, he had no plans for the unmentionable and, thus, here we are. We aren’t trying to do much, but have a small service for family and friends, and with Dan’s wide range of friends, this should be available. From all of his family, we thank you”, in their statement that is readable on the site. Set against the backdrop of the black and white music video directed by Darryl Jakes, Sartain struts his mature voice for his early age with a hazy, mid-tempo reflection on how we see ourselves and other people through watching our attitudes and those of others. There isn’t a whole lot of production to the track, and the sound is very raw and bitter instead. The track starts off with a beautifully haunting Organ jab, before some searing Surf-Rock melodies created by the rhythm guitar establish the theme of the track. The vocals have a wink-at-the-camera playfulness to their aid, but the twangy guitar riffs and the bitter tone of his lyrics introduce a harsher edge to the beat. I get a classic 60’s Punk vibe from the guitar solo that runs throughout the final stretch, with another solo created by a Horn section introducing a more Gothic rhythm to the instrumental before the final repeat of the chorus. There’s simply no nonsense or filler material here at all and Sartain does everything with his own original purpose. He is not the best singer in the world and the lyrics are lacking a little polish here, but he isn’t necessarily trying hard to be. Instead, he’s following that ethos of a true artist by making the art that he creates as originally intended with his own expression. Crowd pleasing, sharp Alt-Rock from a musician who left us too early.

Pictured: Dan Sartain in an official photoshoot for an in-depth interview for Autre.Love (2016) (Photo via PR)

That’s enough for today! Thank you for checking out the blog and supporting the independent creatives, like Dan Sartain, who are behind the music regularly featured. I’ll be back tomorrow to carry on our unique ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ with a track from a legendary 70’s British Glam-Rock band who explored many genres and were led by Marc Bolan. They were inducted in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame in 2020.

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

November 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

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.

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/

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: Good Morning – “Country”

October 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Stefan Blair (Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard) & Liam Parsons (Guitar/Synths/Vocals) (2021) (via PR)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m ironically greeting you with affection during the opposite time of the day that today’s group are named after for your daily track on the blog, but it is nonetheless always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Country’ comes to you from the Victoria-based indie rock duo of Stefan Blair and Liam Parsons, who share the production and writing duties between them for their Good Morning musical project. The two started out in 2013 when they decided to split the costs for a Foxtep tape machine with one another, and they gained some exposure when Hip-Hop mega star Tyler, The Creator praised one of their singles – ‘Warned You’ – with his social media followers, giving them a solid amount of exposure and fresh ears they previously had not experienced. We are now four albums in, and the pair have been touring together with James Macleod (Bass Guitar) and Joe Alexander (Drums/Percussion) as their backing band. The combo’s latest LP – ‘Barnyard’ – was given its release over the past weekend, and it was mixed by engineer Tom Schick (Bob Dylan, Mavis Staples) in Wilco’s older Chicago-based recording studio – The Loft. ‘Barnyard’ is also their first release since signing to the US label Polyvinyl Records in April, and the band are very excited for the new opportunities provided. This was echoed by Gareth Smith – Sub-Pop Publishing’s Vice President and General Manager, who said, “We love Good Morning and we couldn’t be more to stoked to be working with them”, in his own press statement. The cult Lo-Fi duo have also been promoting their latest release with their official music video for ‘Country’, the lead single of the release, which reflects on vocalist Liam Parsons’ younger desires and ambitions in his youth and how they panned out in his adulthood. The melancholic rock offering is set against the backdrop of 1st Ethan Scouts Hall, an important place for his childhood because he used to spend his leisure time as a Scout there. It also features some members of Skydeck and Cool Sounds, some of Good Morning’s fellow indie Melbourne scene bands, who help Parsons to reconnect with his younger wants. Give it a watch below.

‘Barnyard’ follows up Blair & Parsons’ 2019 LP ‘Basketball Breakup’, and the duet have said that the record was made “in slightly simpler times” over a five day period. On the single ‘Country’, songwriter Parsons explains that its an attempt to reconnect with his younger self and some key ghosts from his past, adding, “I’m still not sure if I’m singing to old friends, an old lover or my old self. I think probably all three”, to the new album’s press release. A mellow and contemplative offering, ‘Country’ is a steady Country-inspired rock jam with some breezy Southern Rock and Blues Rock influences, and it features cutting lyrics like “The only thing about missing you/Is that I don’t miss you at all” that balances an introspective tapestry of both acoustic and electronic tones with something that feels more pensive. The Horn sections are whimsical and the vocal performance reminds me of Brit-Pop acts like Pulp and Manic Street Preachers from the 1980’s and 1990’s, with a mature sound that directly points backwards to lost youth and a return to personal roots for inspiration. Lyrics like “Some people just get stuck in their ways/Never thought it would be me like this” observe the attitudes of others as peers, while lyrics like “I think it’s a little bit different now/I got a boyfriend and I got a Psych” and “I know that one of them cares about me/And at least the other one tries” feel sharper and more straightforward, yet fairly laidback and easy-going in nature, while the key refrain runs throughout the track as a joyous ode to a personal reset through your own original surroundings and upbringing as an individual person. Overall, ‘Country’ was a nice single that focuses on the theme of nostalgic goals and influences in a direct and idiosyncratic way. While it’s not particularly catchy, the instrumentation is hazy and sharpens the knife when the lyrics hit and so it feels thoughtful and self-aware instead of massively accessible.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Barnyard’ (LP) (Available from October 22nd, 2021) (via Polyvinyl Records)

That brings us to the wrap up section of yet another daily track post! Thank you for your continued support, and I’m proud to write that I’ll be back tomorrow for another weekly installment of our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ series already. This time, our tune comes from a Pensylvania-born singer, actress and entrepreneur who was referred to as “The Godmother Of Soul” during the late-1970’s. She has also crossed over into US popular culture by appearing in film and TV productions like ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and she’s earned a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

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