New Album Release Fridays: Kae Tempest (feat. Kevin Abstract) – ‘More Pressure’

April 8, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Line Is A Curve’ (LP) (Available from April 8th, 2022) (via Fiction Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to tune our ears to the more club-oriented gears of one of the modern day’s most progressive poets for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ 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! An album about letting go and falling instead of anxiety into surrender, ‘The Line Is A Curve’ has been shaping up to be absolutely ace. This is the newest album from Kae Tempest, a poet from Westminster who has become a prominent name on BBC Radio 6 Music’s playlist throughout the 2010’s. Tempest came out as non-binary in 2020, shedding their former name of “Kate Tempest” and embracing the pronouns of they/them. Since becoming active in 2012, Tempest has been nominated for the Mercury Prize twice and they were nominated for ‘Best Female Solo Artist’ at the BRIT Awards in 2018. Outside of their music, Tempest is also a Sunday Times best-selling author and they won the ‘Breakthrough Author’ award at the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards in 2017. ‘The Line Is A Curve’ looks to repeat the success of these projects, and the BRIT School alumni mastered the record at Abbey Road Studios. It was produced by Dan Carey, which will become fairly obvious to you in a moment, executive produced by Rick Rubin and mixed by Christian Wright. The LP features guest contributions from artists like Lianne La Havas, Fontaines DC’s Grian Chatten, Confucius MC and more. The cover photograph was shot by Wolfgang Tillmans, who worked on Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’. Speaking about the collaborative process of the album in an interview for NME, Tempest says, “For me, this album is about increasing resilience and raising your threshold for tolerance and acceptance and it’s a very beautiful album, because so many people involved in making it are people that I’ve known and loved for a very long time”, and it is out today via Fiction Records. ‘More Pressure’ isn’t the latest pre-release single from the new record, but I chose to write about it because I feel it is a track that really showcases how Tempest can stretch that voice beyond traditional Spoken Word genre boundaries. It features a verse by Kevin Abstract – who you might also know from their music in Brockhampton. Give it a spin.

“Throughout the duration of my creative life, I have been hungry for the spotlight and desperately uncomfortable in it. For the last couple of records, I wanted to disappear completely from the album covers, the videos, the front-facing aspects of this industry”, Tempest tells Brooklyn Vegan, later elaborating, “But this time around, I understand it differently. I want people to feel welcomed into this record, by me, the person who made it, and I have to let go of some of my airier concerns. I feel more grounded in what I’m trying to do, who I am as an artist and as a person and what I have to offer”, about their decision to include an image of themselves on the LP’s cover artwork for the first time. This sense of progression and comfort is replicated by ‘More Pressure’, which is anchored by abstract lyrics like “More pressure, more release, your eyes, your cheeks, your features crease” that communicate ideas of taking the weight of the world away from your shoulders and believing in your own body for reassurance. Lyrics like “One step forwards, two steps backwards/One soul’s epiphany, another soul’s madness” hits you with a more virtuosic nature, as Tempest talks about reach and distance through reflection, resulting in a sense of unsullied intimacy that is delivered in Tempest’s emotive space between music and speech. Abstract, as the featured credit, adds more intimacy to the final verse and trends towards a Hip-Hop direction, as the Synth beats become more liberating behind here. Speaking of the instrumentation, it feels interesting in not being a far cry from Sinead O’Brien’s ‘Kid Stuff’, a cracking tune by the Irish Post-Punk poet, in the similar sense of how the Dance-Rock influences come together through the insulating Synth rhythms. Instead of reaching out as most club-driven music does, however, Tempest looks inward to gain cues for the lyrics and reflect on the weight and stress in a relatively personal way. It certainly feels like some of Kae’s most accessible work, but the almost Disco-tempo melodies and the spacious bass lines still make their vocals stand out amongst the typically mainstream variety of modern music. Ultimately, ‘More Pressure’ is a strong showing that pin-points how Tempest can stretch their voice in fascinating ways to meet their own needs with the more rhythmic structure of the track and the idiosyncratic Dance influences that are still of Tempest’s heavy and reflective mood in prior releases, but the flow is simply much groovier and so it really stands out whenever you hear it on the radio. It is a really euphoric release of tension.

Pictured: Kae Tempest performing ‘People’s Faces’ at Paste Studios, New York (2019) (Photo via Paste Magazine)

That brings us to the end of another daily post! Thank you for giving a moment out of your day to support the blog, and I will be back tomorrow to review some more new music from a recent favourite on the site. This Brighton-formed indie rock band were listed among the Top 40 New Artists of 2018 by The Guardian and their previous studio album – ‘Every Bad’ – was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2020. It also appeared on year-end best lists by Under The Radar, Stereogum, Paste and Pitchfork.

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Today’s Track: Sinead O’Brien – ‘Holy Country’

March 3, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a publicity shoot to promote a DIYMag.com feature (2020) (Photo Credit: Louise Mason)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for you to push your worries aside for a few minutes while we get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I am delighted to write about Sinead O’Brien once again today, who topped my list of ‘The Best EP’s Of 2020’ with her debut extended play ‘Drowning In Blessings’. An incredibly unique talent from Limerick who I describe as the “Post-Punk Poet”, I caught wind of O’Brien when ‘Taking On Time’ was offered for free on KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast in early 2020, a valuable resource when it comes to seeking out and sampling new music. Since then, her star power has risen. She has supported cult artists John Cooper Clarke and The Brian Jonestown Massacre on sold-out theatre shows across the UK and Ireland, she has performed at Eurosonic Festival and SXSW, and she has collaborated with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey (Foals, Black Midi, Squid, Fontaines DC) on singles like ‘Girlkind’ and ‘Kid Stuff’ that she dropped throughout 2021. I’m excited to report that O’Brien has announced that her debut solo full-length album – ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’ – will release on June 10th via Chess Club Records. Once again co-produced by Carey, the LP’s release has been accompanied by a long string of tour dates across the UK and Ireland for September and October 2022. Irish fans can visit her in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and more – while UK natives can catch her playing at venues in Nottingham, Brighton, Glasgow, Ramsgate, Bristol and more. Once again produced by Carey, her highly-anticipated LP was recorded in South London, and she teases, “The story of the album is built up in layers: One song giving context to the next. I thought about becoming undressed: testing my ideas, my voice. Working myself out across themes of identity, curiosity, creative process. Experimenting with the form and shape of language, using tone and delivery to get to the immediate centre of what I am saying”, Sinead explains in a press release. Let’s give her latest promotional single – ‘Holy Country’ – a listen below.

“The album title ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’, from the song, ‘Multitudes’, came into my head and made its demands, an idea that pressed on me throughout the record”, Sinead continues to explain about her solo album, concluding, “The clock symbol is enlarged, it looms like a moon over my activity watching, counting me down to zero. Dripping with self-sabotage and the feeling of being chased: it pulls and pushes against the verses which talk of ‘Multitudes’; the things that faithfully come back – the images, the words, creativity. It is creativity itself”, in her expressive press notes. Opening with a sultry acoustic-driven guitar riff akin to the ‘Country’ genre in reference to the track’s title, ‘Holy Country’ finds O’Brien being the architect of vocabulary that makes her really stand out in terms of lyrics, with O’Brien giving us a clear insight into her thought process as sequences like “I stare at the walls when I feel hollow/I stare straight down the hall and I follow the thoughts” swell above a Post-Punk crescendo of sounds that crash, thump and stutter beneath the more abstract, lyrical surface. Her vocal presence is commanding and demanding, as she exclaims the likes of “Take me to the secrets of the Saints” and she points out “The giants of time turning tunes” as she continues to flip the switch, disregarding the warm and folk-ish opening guitar riff at the start in favour of warped synths and rapid percussion that creates a more glitched-out sound. It is very unique and unimitable music from O’Brien once again, although the way that the sharp guitar riffs merge with O’Brien’s more free-form lyricism where she points out mental processes as we traverse her mind isn’t far from the well of Dry Cleaning’s Spoken-sung waxings, but the tone is clearly more serious while retaining an abstract nature. In conclusion, ‘Holy Country’ is another vivid stand-out from Sinead, who continues to convince me that she is one of the most creative human beings on the UK’s live music circuit. A very articulate and talented individual, her album has me hyped to a high amount that is often quite unusual for somebody as obsessive as me who listens to almost anything anyways. It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster and a totally refreshing record.

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a PR shot for her ‘Drowning In Blessings’ EP (2020) (Photo via Chess Club Records)

As I have mentioned, Sinead O’Brien has been one of our ‘regulars’ on the blog since I began the project actively in the summer of 2019. If you enjoyed ‘Holy Country’, you can check out some more of her sounds below:

‘Taking On Time’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/20/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-taking-on-time/

‘Strangers In Danger’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/03/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-strangers-in-danger/

‘Kid Stuff’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/15/todays-track-sinead-obrien-kid-stuff/

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a press shoot to promote ‘A Thing You Call Joy’ (2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Mahrouche)

That brings us to the end of another day of music coverage on One Track At A Time! Thank you for giving a few minutes of your day to me today, as your support is always highly appreciated, and I will be back tomorrow for another iteration of ‘New Album Release Fridays’. We’ll be previewing the third studio album from a West London-based indie rock singer-songwriter who recently stated “It’s a shame when you’re at a festival, and all you see is white guys” in a very candid interview for The Independent.

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New Album Release Fridays: Yard Act – ‘Payday’

January 21, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Overload’ (LP) (Released on January 21st, 2021) (via Zen FC/Island Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to take an in-depth look at a recent single taken from one of the weekend’s most highly anticipated album releases for yet another daily track on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Having had the chance to see and review Yard Act live for the blog and praise their breakout single ‘Fixer Upper’ when it was originally released, the native Leeds Post-Rock band seem like an obvious choice for the album of the week with their debut full-length release ‘The Overload’ – which releases today via their own label Zen FC in association with Island Records, however, given how much the band have grown their fanbase and attention from critics and audiences alike over the past year with a furious flurry of good-time singles, it definitely feels like the correct choice as the band are a superb live act and have definitely improved their musicianship since forming and having their live tours halted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Yard Act should appeal nicely to fans of John Cooper Clarke and Gang Of Four, and the likes of BBC Radio 1 host Annie Mac and BBC Radio 6 presenter Steve Lamacq have given them loads of healthy support, with Yard Act also being shortlisted for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2020’ award. Produced with Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Aldous Hading) in Bristol, ‘The Overload’ features 12 tracks with a clear layout of four parts that follow an unnamed character – portrayed by Yard Act’s beguiling frontman James Smith, who is an amalgamation of many vibrant characters Smith has met, imagined or himself felt like – who ricochets between desk jobs and resorts from illicit activity to ‘bent copper’ investigations during a financial crisis, before culminating in a half-cut personal epiphany that even the most law-abiding readers can relate to. So, what we’re really getting is a sardonic exploration of how we value resources like money as Smith finds the interest in really mundane things that we all have to go through. Check out the single ‘Payday’ below.

The music video for ‘Payday’ marks their third collaboration with director James Slater, and Smith writes about the single, “Payday was one of the few tracks on the record we had to rebuild completely in the studio because the first demo was recorded on my computer and the hard drive corrupted. We spent about two hours trying to figure out that stupid Keyboard part I’d put on it and couldn’t remember how to play. It was boring but worth it”, as he explained in a press release, adding, “It’s about gentrification, class fetish and how the human brain is so powerful that with enough time and processing power combined it will be able to justify, defend and/or continue to commit the actions of any human being it controls”, as he puts it. Asking “What constitutes real change? Are we even vaguely aware of when we’ll terminate the muse” in the opening hook of the second verse, Smith establishes ‘Payday’ as a scornful anti-capitalist anthem that playfully mocks the brainwashing habits of monetary success with darkly witty lyrics like “The local council will be getting an earful, believe me” and “There are starving children in Africa, so go send your toy guns to Bosnia” that feel incredibly dark-humored, but really imaginative as a result throughout, before encouraging us to “Take the money, and treat your mother right” with a cynical post-chorus hook that begs to be sung along by passionate crowds in homely live venues. Mixing a feisty DIY-punk aesthetic of the 80’s by recalling bands like The Smiths and The Fall with songwriting that feels as cheeky as it comes off eclectic, some of the music is easy to laugh-out-loud along to, but there’s an air of anger that bubbles underneath the surface vocally. In terms of the instrumentation, the glitched Flute section and the Post Punk-style minimalist guitar riffs that lay beneath the Spoken Word style of the lyrics complement Smith’s portrait of urban renewal nicely. While the sound may border a little on the ‘moody’ tropes that modern Post-Rock acts like IDLES and Bambara have made popular, I definitely feel that Yard Act have a sense of charisma to them which stands out among their peer acts and makes them feel more appealing to a broader pool of listeners because they manage to be very amusing while making honest points about the attitudes of today’s elite class of the UK’s society. While the likes of Adele or Ed Sheeran are technically competent musicians, they feel a little safe and too pop-oriented for my personal taste and it’s been a long time since the days where parents would bang on teenagers’ bedroom doors and shout “What the hell are you listening to?” when blasted out at an excessive volume, and I feel that Yard Act can be that band. They are just as appealing to more mature adults, whoever, who recall 80’s spiky punk acts who likely influenced Yard Act’s material. The colourful characters who dance along to Smith’s mocking choreography in the music video are daft, and his own Harry Enfield-style of wafting bills around in your face are difficult not to find humorous, and so the visual aspects that go alongside their musical creative ideas are a great touch too. Fiercely smart and bolstered by catchy rhythms, ‘Payday’ is one of their best as it is a suitable reflection of what Yard Act tap into nicely as a project. I bloody love this track.

Pictured: James Smith (Lead Vocals/Songwriter), Ryan Needham (Bass Guitar), Sammy Robinson (Rhythm Guitar) and George Townend (Drums/Percussion) in a promotional photoshoot (2020) (Photo Credit: James Brown)

If you’re looking for a good gig to attend, then you can read more about my time seeing Yard Act performing a live set at The Portland Arms in Cambridge here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/09/29/the-green-gig-goers-guide-to-live-music-events-yard-act-the-portland-arms-cambridge-september-27-2021/. For comparison purposes, you can also remind yourself of their breakout single ‘Fixer Upper’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/15/todays-track-yard-act-fixer-upper/

Pictured: Yard Act in a promotional image to promote their 2020 single releases (2020) (Photo via James Brown)

That’s all for now! Thank you for accompanying me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we divert our focus from spotlighting one of the UK’s most exciting new Punk-related acts to underline the very long-awaited return from a 90’s Alternative Rock band who were widely known for their androgynous imagery. They have released seven albums so far, each one of which has reached the Top 20 of the charts in the UK.

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Today’s Track: Abiodun Oyewole – ‘Harlem’

January 18, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Vinyl Bundle for ‘GRATITUDE’ (LP) (Available from February 4th, 2022) (via Fire Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to whisk you away to an idyllic setting with yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Known to many of his followers as ‘Harlem’s Last Poet’, Abiodun Oyewole played a crucial part in the pioneering stages of early Hip-Hop as one of the founding members of late-60’s group The Last Poets, a Spoken Word group that were widely considered to be the first Hip-Hop act. Jason Ankeny, a critic for AllMusic, once wrote that “With their politically charged raps, taut rhythms and dedication to raising African-American consciousness, The Last Poets almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of Hip-Hop” in an essay. Oyewole’s renowned career traces back to one day in 1968 when he read poetry in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park with David Nelson and Gylan Kain in honor of Malcolm X’s birthday. The wordsmith has set a new full-length album for a release date titled ‘Gratitude’, which you can find in local record shops from February 4th via the Fire Records label. Having released essays like ‘The Beauty Of Being – A Collection Of Fables, Short Stories & Essays’ and published books like ‘Branches Of The Tree Of Life’ through the years, Oyewole gets reflective for the new full-length album with politically charged singles like ‘Harlem’, where he simply expresses his sincere appreciation for his beloved home town and all the people that touched his life from there. Let’s take a dream detour with him below.

Oyewole says, “You gotta realize, Harlem was the place I wanted. It was like a desire, a dream. I was raised in Queens, New York. I would see Harlem every Sunday of my life because we went to church in Harlem. The energy of Harlem was exciting, electric”, in a recent interview about the brand new album with Pat Thomas, adding, “Harlem was where everything was going to happen. When we set up our home base in Harlem, I spent all my time in Harlem, I got an apartment in Harlem – Harlem became everything to me”, when he talked about The Last Poets’ uprising there. Starting off with a triumphant call for the track’s title neighborhood near Manhattan, Oyewole croons poetically-driven refrains like “Harlem is the black spirit, pulsating in the air” as an energetic sample flutters in the background that contains plenty of glistening Keyboard riffs and chopped Drum loops, as Oyewole establishes a near-seven minute groove that offers a slick sequence of twinkling Synths and some processed Drum beats that give the traditional Hip-Hop style an uplifting flair. Lyrically, Oyewole muses poetically on the memorable stories that have given him a feel of pride and nostalgia about his time there. Stories about boxing matches featuring Sugar Ray Leonard, shopping on the 125th, hanging out at the Jazzmobile with his friends and shout-outs to eating soul food at Sylvia’s are all memorable waxings throughout his beat-driven salute to the area. The backing singers are a lovely addition, too, with female vocalists crooning lyrics like “Harlem is a place where you can go, Harlem is a place of real soul” that provide more variety to the thought-provoking Spoken Word sections. They meditatively coo hooks like “Harlem, sweet Harlem’ continuously as Oyewole balances his low-pitched voice between poetic declaration and half-sung speech with his narration-based commentary through his love-letter to his beloved community. While the projects made by The Last Poets were a bit angrier in building ramps for later Hip-Hop artists to launch their stories from, Oyewole’s new solo work cements him as more of the ‘old wise man’ type where he takes a spiritual journey through his personal legacy, and this plays with convention in many refreshing ways. Given that the physical copies of the new record includes an extensive interview with the man himself about how the album was written, we’re certain to hear more witty anecdotes of his life there as well as thoughtful commentary on his experiences of gaining his knowledge. A careful love-letter to simply living amongst your community.

Pictured: Copy of ‘Branches Of The Tree Of Life’ (Published in September, 2014) (Distributed from 2Leaf Press)

That’s all for now! Thank you for giving me your attention for a few moments today, and I’ll be back to revisit some of the seminal sounds from the past with a new entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow. This week’s post also ties into new releases in one way, as the featured band have recently released a 20th Anniversary edition of one of their most critically-acclaimed albums. The band’s name comes from a track written by Neil Innes and Vivian Stanshell to be performed by their group ‘The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’ for film productions like The Beatles’ film ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.

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Today’s Track: LYR (feat. Rozi Plain) – ‘Cascade Theory’

January 10, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Simon Armitage, Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson (2021) (Photo Credit: Callum Lovell Harrison)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m crossing my fingers for a peaceful start to a new week for you as we invest in 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! ‘Cascade Theory’ is a brilliant new track from LYR, an experimental Post-Rock trio that is currently comprised of British poet laureate Simon Armitage, musician Richard Walters and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Pearson, with additional vocals by Winchester-based Alternative Pop singer-songwriter Rozi Plain. The trio’s name is an acronym for Land Yacht Regatta, and the three creatives say they found each other through the galvanizing philosophy of blending words. Last year, they released their debut album – ‘Call In The Crash Team’ – and they collaborated with Hollywood actress Florence Pugh and Melt Yourself Down’s Pete Wareham on their single ‘Lockdown’. A follow-up EP – ‘Cascade Theory’ – was released in late November via Mercury KX, a five-track release that elevates their typically Spoken Word blended with Ambient Rock style of music to more scientific proportions. LYR have said that “Cascade Theory takes a scientific principle and applies it to a social or psychological setting. Things crash into each other – especially thoughts and ideas – and the resulting fragmentation is both bewildering and exciting”, in their product description for the short-form release. The attached music video follows actor Richard Fox and it was directed by Jordan Martin, as well as produced by Double Vision, and it matches the single to some Noir-like visuals that finds the real world and an imaginary setting colliding at full speed, leaving behind a mess of stardust and glitter. Let’s check it out.

“The scientific phenomenon that is central to the EP is found in behavioral economics and explains decision making in sequential fashion, enlightening us on why observation follows imitation”, Mercury KX adds about the EP’s titular track in a press statement, explaining, “Simon Armitage’s ambient Spoken Word passages, at the forefront of the track, expand upon their personal interpretation of the network-based theory”, in the EP’s listing pages. This collision of objects, like the paint of the music video colliding with “space junk” as Armitage recites in the single, mirrors the vibrant explosion of poetry and Post-Punk of LYR’s sound on the track, as Armitage recalls that “one thing follows the other” in a key refrain of the lyrics. We start off with a minimal Piano beat that builds up to a soaring drum beat before a guitar riff is introduced to the melody, which becomes lightly distorted and feels suitable for the grim black-and-white colour palette of the music video. Meanwhile, Armitage uses a fairly laidback tone for his vocals that feels insistent as brief anecdotes like “Drop the tight bow in next door’s pond and call it a song/Broke a borrow side on a hiding rock, Mowing wet hay” and “It built a business park in a green field, While I fitted about and fine-tuned, the useless Haiku of a Rubik’s cube” that not only explain the cascade theory that is relevant to the track’s title, but apply the theory to everyday practices. A key refrain later on, where Simon Armitage recounts, “In the face of Jesus, I saw the orangutan” connect the theory to ongoing debates around religion and science. Not only are the lyrics intriguing, but the instrumentation feels cinematic and engrossing, as the chirping guitars and the reminiscent Drums create a stirring soundscape of unyielding chords. There are echoes of Sigur Ros in the Post-Rock textures, while the bass lines are more comparable to Future Islands in how the lyricism melds with the ascending melodies. There’s a hint of Jarvis Cocker to the male vocals, which come across with a near-equal mixture of light humour and academic intellect. A solid interplay between the male vocals and the female vocals of Rozi Plain is present too, who uses warmer lyrics like “Ding, Ding, Ding/You’re bowling in a pan” and “We need everyone sitting, now everyone stand” to contrast the high-tempo aggression of the Prog-Rock elements with a softer tone of voice that controls the chaos, for lack of a better term. Overall, thanks to the excellent pacing and the good interplay between Armitage and Plain – that reminds me a little bit of how the tone was calming on Peter, Bjorn & John’s mid-00’s cult hit ‘Young Folks’ in a few ways – ‘Cascade Theory’ is a treat that combines anthemic Post-Rock with clever intellect to engaging results.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Cascade Theory’ (EP) (Released on November 12, 2021) (via Mercury KX)

That brings us to the end of today’s presentation on One Track At A Time, and I thank you for sticking to the blog with me. Please feel free to join me again tomorrow as I shine a spotlight on some more music that came out in the latter end of 2021 that deserves a listen. My next pick comes from a Liverpool-based solo artist who found fame on TikTok and then began touring with bands like The Orielles and Trudy & The Romance – before he released his debut album through Melodic Records last October.

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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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Today’s Track: Jon Hopkins (feat. Ram Dass & East Forest) – ‘Sit Around The Fire’

November 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Jon Hopkins in a photoshoot for a FACT! Magazine feature (2015) (Photo by Dan Medhurst)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’ve got a relaxing pick for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! You may know the Kingston Upon Thames-born electronic music producer Jon Hopkins from his work on composing the soundtrack for the 2010 cult science fiction drama film ‘Monsters’, or his time playing the keyboard for Imogen Heap on tour. He has also produced or contributed to albums released by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes and others, and he’s taken part in various collaborations with King Creosante and Leo Abrahams. Whether you’ve heard of him or not before, the fact remains that Hopkins has always left exciting projects in his wake. His next album – ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’ – is set for release on November 12th and it promises nothing different than a bold new chapter of his career, exploring genres like Ambient and Electronica in their most blissful forms. The follow-up to 2018’s Mercury Prize-nominated sister projects – ‘Singularity’ and ‘Immunity’ – his next record was inspired by a creative expedition that he took at the Tayos Caves in Ecuador during 2018, and he says, “What grew from this experience is an album with no beats, not one drum sound, something that is closer to a classical symphony than a dance/electronica record”, also adding, “The freedom from traditional rhythmic structures unlocked so much – it felt like I was free to explore a new form of rhythm, one that you discover when you just allow things to flow without letting yourself get in the way”, to his announcement. The lead single, the 8-minute LP closer, is ‘Sit Around The Fire’, that sets a lesser-known talk from ceremony guide Ram Dass, as well as a music video set to scenes from his illustrated book ‘Be Here Now’, to additional production by East Forest. Let’s drift off to it below.

“Music For Psychedelic Therapy is not Ambient, Classical or Drone but has elements of all three. For me, it’s a place as much as it is a sound. It works for the somber mind, but takes on a new dimension entirely when brought into a psychedelic ceremony”, Jon Hopkins notes in a press statement, explaining, “I love this idea of music as something you inhabit, something that works on you energetically. In fact, it was while in that state that the title appeared to me. Psychedelic-assisted therapies are moving into legality across the world, and yet it feels like no one is talking about the music; the music is as important as the medicine”, in his own words. ‘Sit Around The Fire’ is possibly the most accessible track on the LP because it features some fairly conventional lyrics, which are recited in a Spoken Word poem recorded by Ram Dass that was used for a real-life psychedelic ceremony. The first half of the track is dominated by field recordings instead of catchy chords, with some sparse Lo-Fi beats and a motivational speech about presence of being and the source of the light from Dass driving the lyrics forwards. Later, East Forest introduces a calm and plaintive Piano melody to the mixture, which gently complements the ongoing vocal samples. Hopkins brings some melodious chimes into the background, while Dass continues to confront inward vocal tones through to the eight minute mark. The recording feels long, but it never feels overbloated because Hopkins manages to mesh the glitchy elements of Indietronica with the solemn, meditative style of softly building Ambient music to create something that feels more refined and introspective altogether. The lead vocals from the spiritual teacher allows you to feel sand slowly sinking between your fingers, with some calming vocals and some spacious pacing that provides some extra breathing room for the instrumentation to come through clearly. Standouts include lyrics like “You don’t need loneliness/For you couldn’t possibly be alone” that speak about the judgments and opinions of the mind, and vocals like “You don’t need greed/Because you already have it all” that evoke anti-materialism ideas, and later sections like “You don’t need doubt/Because you already know” that speak about finding inner connection and submitting yourself to existence beyond a metaphysical construct. Overall, ‘Sit Around The Fire’ was something very interesting. Far from a conventional single, it is not beat driven at all and is simply built for a different purpose than most other music. It may appear too fanciful at first glance, but the new single is an exemplification of Hopkins’ ideas to arrange music for philosophical commentary. It strengthens Hopkins to be a proper artist because he is not restricting himself to conventionality, and instead chooses to explore broader concepts on his own terms. We could all do with this 8-minute psychological mindfulness in our lives.

Pictured: Cover for ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’ (Available on Nov 12, 2021) (via Domino Records)

Thank you for reading my latest post, and I look forward to delivering yet another ‘New Album Release Fridays’ pick tomorrow as we delve into one of the singles taken from one of the weekend’s most notable album releases. If you were a big fan of Soft Cell or Depeche Mode in the 1980’s, you’re hopefully going to love tomorrow’s post. It comes from a US indie Synth-Rock/Post-Punk band who have previously worked in other side projects including The Static Jacks and Machinegum throughout the years.

Pictured: Jon Hopkins performing a live DJ set at Parklife Festival (2018) (Photo by Max Miechowski)

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Scuzz Sundays: Slipknot – “Duality”

October 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Corey Taylor (Lead Vocals), Mick Thomson (Lead Guitar), Shawn Crahan (Percussion/Art Director/Photographer), Craig Jones (Keyboard), Jim Root (Bass Guitar), Chris Fehn (Backing Vocals), Paul Gray (Backing Vocals), Joey Jordison (Drums/Mixing) & Sid Wilson (Turntables) (2019) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to listen to some quite un-church like music before we head to church for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, the part of the week where we revisit some of the ghosts of Pop-Punk and Nu-Metal’s past. This is Spooky Season – after all. One band from the late-90’s to mid-00’s who fits that bill is Slipknot, the Iowa-based Alternative Metal band fronted by Corey Taylor, who once appeared on an episode of BBC Two’s ‘QI’ on UK television and seemed like a likeable guy all-around, to be fair. Slipknot still seem to be immensely popular, scoring a UK number one album with ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ as recently as 2019. One of the most interesting albums to come from the crossover stars is ‘Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses’, a record that deals with “the healing process” of the band’s themes of decay and decapitation from the previous record. To meet these ends, Slipknot changed their style very discreetly by incorporating more traditional, melodic song structures as well as brooding guitar solo’s and a splattering of acoustic instrumentals. The album was a large success, despite the band’s initial unproductive struggles over the record, where Taylor was found drinking heavily to comfort some very personal issues. The record was praised by AllMusic for its “dedication to making it a Slipknot album” and Kerrang’s readers rated it as 31st in a poll of ‘The 50 Best Albums Of The 21st Century” taken in 2009. One of the best-received singles was ‘Duality’, which peaked at #5 on the US Rock Chart and Slipknot’s record label, Roadrunner Records, listed the music video for the single as the best one in their history in 2010. Refresh your mind below.

Slipknot have now found pretty staggering crossover success with combined sales of reportedly up to 30 million records globally, but these metrics didn’t always seem to be within their mask-wearing grasp. Until ‘Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses’ was issued in 2004, Slipknot’s future seemed bleak. Taylor’s battles with alcoholism worsened over the years, and the other members of Slipknot decided to work on a few side projects – like Stone Sour, Murderdolls and To My Surprise – but the band eventually decided to enlist Rick Rubin as the producer of their album and cracked down to work in the studio together, before releasing ‘Duality’ as the comeback single. ‘Duality’ felt like a volatile soft-reboot for Slipknot at the time, giving them a harsher edge and a more catchy sound, while appreciating the raw style of their prior work. The guitar riffs are sharp and disjointed enough without feeling clunky, and the Spoken Word style of the verses is quite intriguing since it gives refrains like “I have screamed until my veins collapsed/I’ve waited as my time’s elapsed” and “Tell me the reality is better than the dream/But I found out the hard way, nothing is what it seems” a vibe of toxicity and a feel of cinematic dark poetry that does stick out a little more compared to their contemporary peers of the era. Taylor uses a grumbling, dark croaking vocal delivery to complement the down-tuned, screeching guitar riffs and emphasize the horror atmosphere of the percussion. I think that it is easy to find their costumes and masks to take things a little too far for some audiences, but I don’t mind that aspect of their live performances and general visuals too much since it shows me they can simply be bothered to create a compelling visual companion piece to the art they create, and that is enough for me. On the whole, while I can’t say that I’ve ever really cared for Slipknot by a great amount, I really enjoyed my time with ‘Duality’, and not really in a ‘guilty pleasure’ way that plagues some releases. I felt there was plenty of genuinely well-crafted material here. The chorus was sharp and filled with some very punchy hooks that feel melodic enough, but fits the terrifying and gory imagery of Slipknot overall. There’s a couple of well-written lyrics here that match poetry with pain, and the extra layers of tension are paced decently, with the more subdued vocal style of the verses being counteracted with a more patented style later on with some solid guitar work that creates a surge of tense rhythms for the chorus. A spiked thumbs up!

Pictured: Slipknot in an official photoshoot for ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ (2019) (Photo via PR/NME.com)

As one of the more popular US heavy metal bands of our time, Slipknot have been worthy of a mention on ‘Scuzz Sundays’ before, albeit over a year and a half ago. Still, if you want more content, you can find out what I thought of ‘Before I Forget’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/23/scuzz-sundays-slipknot-before-i-forget/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Vol. 3 The Subliminal Verses’ (LP) (May 2004) (via Roadrunner Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support regarding the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off another week’s worth of daily music picks. Join me for an in-depth look at a British Columbia-born singer-songwriter who, after working as a restaurant line chef in his teens, turned to a life of music where he played with Jason Corbett in Speed To Kill. He is now known for his bob wig and androgynous make-up.

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Today’s Track: Loose Articles – “Kick Like A Girl”

June 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Some football-related one-liners are just too off-sided to score a goal. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Kick Like A Girl” (Single) (Released on June 10, 2021) (via Dipped In Gold)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, just like always, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’ve got music to share with you which is being pitched very much as an alternative anthem to a large football tournament that is taking over our television guides at the moment – Euro 2020. It comes from the Manchester melodic Post-Punk 4-piece Loose Articles, who I hadn’t heard of before. ‘Kick Like A Girl’ was released as a single on June 10th to coincide with the beginning of the football competition. The all-female group have drawn comparisons to Wire and The Slits, and they have made NME’s 100 list for 2021. Describing themselves as “feminime and threatening, working and class”, Loose Articles have previously recorded tracks tackling club culture and public transport, releasing the ‘Orchid Lounge’ EP in 2019 and the double single ‘Up The Disco/Buses’ earlier in the year. Their latest offering confronts social issues surrounding their beloved sport, as fans of non-league club FC United Of Manchester and players of the interest themselves, and misogyny on-and-off the pitch. Let’s give it a free kick below.

“It’s a misogynistic slur which is said in football to a male’s player who’s not performing as well”, Loose Articles’ vocalist Natalie Wardie spoke of the single’s title of ‘Kick Like A Girl’, adding, “It suggests that women can’t play football, but we’re reclaiming that slur and throwing it back in people’s faces. We want to take these stereotypes within football and turn them on their head”, to the press release for the track, which has been selected for decent airplay by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 6 Music and released by the local indie label Dipped In Gold. A strident alternative to New Order’s ‘World In Motion’ or The Lightning Seeds ‘Three Lions’, Loose Articles’ anthemic ‘Kick Like A Girl’ uses discord and repetition to strong effect, mimicking the middle finger to gender-dominated sports attitudes. The lyrics mix edgy comedy with bellowing Post-Punk liberation after a punchy Spoken Word intro, with Wardie urging listeners to “Down ya Stella, and cop off with a fella, it’s football” and making jabs at Gary Linneker advertising Walkers Crisps with a raw, bellowing force. The chorus, in particular, is a ‘slide tackle’ of the narrow-mindedness of some men towards women in the culture created by football, with sharp lyrics like “You kick like a girl/Down pints like a girl” that exploit laddishness, and urge female supporters to engage in more gender-inclusive conversations around the sport. Musically, we’ve got sarcastic vocal remarks blending with aggressive guitar work to ‘kick off’ the intended aims of welcoming all people to the tribal joys of what football has to offer. This is simply delivered in a spiked, easily consumable package of forceful riffs and a frantic time signature, with references ranging from Beckham’s Mohican to Duncan Ferguson. The ending scorecard is a fun, enjoyable jolt of mood. More songs should have this mood.

Pictured: Loose Articles (Natalie Wardie, Tree Nah, Erin Caine & Louise Rivett) (2021) (via Twitter.com)

It’s time to blow the final whistle for today! Thank you for joining me – and I’ll be back tomorrow to share some more brand new music with you. This time, it’s coming to you from a brand new, interesting indie Soul duo from Hackney releasing mellow singles on the Moshi Moshi Music label, and they’re the perfect duo to celebrate LGBT Pride month with. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Self-Esteem – “I Do This All The Time”

June 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

Dear Self-Esteem Diary – I’m sorry to simply bother you again. It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Self-Esteem (aka Rebecca Taylor) at the Arctic Lodge Bar (2019) (Photo by Chloe Shepperd)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – and it’s time for you to read your daily track on the blog, as always, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s a good one! ‘I Do This All The Time’ is the brand new single from the Experimental Pop outfit Self Esteem. This project is helmed by the Sheffield-born indie producer Rebecca Lucy Taylor, who used to be a multi-instrumentalist in the Indie Folk duo of Slow Club alongside Charles Watson. This is her first piece of new material since last year’s ‘Cuddles Please’ EP that, in turn, followed up on her debut solo album, ‘Compliments Please’, that led her to a nomination for ‘Best Breakthrough Act’ at the Q Awards following it’s release in 2019. There’s been no news on the release of a second album (Which, given a two-year turnaround, we can all expect is coming along) just yet, but she has confirmed news of a UK Tour stopping off at locations like Bristol, Exeter and Oxford in November this year. Her latest music video, which you can view below, was shot at the Almeida Theatre with the help of the Mr Films Films production company. Give it a spin below.

“All my upcoming work is exploring how complicated it is just to be a human. I’m wonderful and I’m terrible. I hurt people and people hurt me. I feel everything and nothing”, Taylor commented on the new single’s release, adding, “The video is the first chance to spot one of the many Easter eggs for Self Esteem purists, as well as the rather on-the-nose metaphor of me hugging myself – much like Elton John in the movie ‘Rocketman’ does. Enjoy”, to the press release. The new single mixes a Gospel-esque backing vocal sample with a sturdy drum rhythm that creates a scarcely Hip-Hop backing beat, while the rest of the emphasis remains precisely in the vocals. The verses are delivered in a Spoken Word pitch where Taylor barely sings at all, and she makes observational jabs at adult life that felt quirky, and it reminds me much of Dry Cleaning. She discusses seeing the one that you feel strongly about getting married and being happy, and this becomes a critique of wider internal behavior and the negativity that comes from comparing your own life to those of your peers. Sequences like “You see, when the air warms up like this/It brings every single memory of you back, and it makes me feel so sick, I can’t breathe, but I’m still breathing, aren’t I?” feel bleak and spotlight negative emotions, but one-liners about working in McDonald’s and not caring at all about birthdays bring humor to the table. These reflections on living in hope – or perhaps not – feel relatable to our own personal experiences, and a stern talking-to yourself feels interspersed nicely with the humor, with the refrain of “It was really rather miserable trying to love you” leading to the more hopeful chorus that reminds us to “Look up, Lean back, Be strong”, to share a few words of wisdom. It’s a note to keep on breathing, and to be kind to yourself. I feel that all of these different elements work splendidly. The lyrics make me chuckle, the overlapping misery of the track connects with me, and the seeking of hope relates to me. My mother heard this one on my radio programme, and she said that it was depressing. It may be worth bearing in mind that if you’re looking for some upbeat mood, it probably won’t fulfill that scene. Overall, though, I think this is truly brilliant.

Pictured: Rebecca Taylor in a promotional shoot for her November UK 2021 tour (2021) (via PR)

That’s it for now! I’ll be back tomorrow to take you in a musical time machine for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we look back at a classical piece. It was originally written in 1932 by Bing Crosby and Victor Young, with the lyrics co-written by Ned Washington. It was written for Crosby’s 1933 film ‘Please’, and it has since been covered by a slew of different artists and many variations in style – including Chet Baker, Bobby Hackett, Frank Sinatra, and, in the case for tomorrow, Nat King Cole. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/