Not Another Music Blog.: folk

Showing posts with label folk. Show all posts

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Album Review: Haley Heynderickx - 'I Need to Start a Garden'

Haley Heynderickx has been making waves with her self-described 'doom folk' since the release of 2016's 'Fish Eye' EP. Growing up in Oregon, Heyndrickx now resides in Portland where she has honed her craft and musical style by mixing a love of jazz radio with 60s and 70s folk influences. Released through Mama Bird Recording Co, 'I Need to Start a Garden' is her debut full-length LP.

The album opens with the beautifully intimate 'No Face' where the delicate tone of the record is instantly set. The solitary acoustic guitar intertwines perfectly with Heynderickx's vocal. Second track 'No Bug Collector' is another finger-picked track but this time Heynderickx's vocals are double-tracked giving the song a fuller sound accentuated by baritone brass sections and deep rolling percussion. The instrumentation has an insect-like feel here, scurrying and snapping to wonderfully mimic the lyrics. On 'Jo' the vocals are centred once again to create that great sense of intimacy before the album's centrepiece 'Worth It' is introduced. Clocking in at just under eight minutes, the track is sprawling and twisting epic that ebbs and flows with great intensity.

On 'Show You a Body' and 'Untitled God Song' Heynderickx takes it back to her acoustic roots until halfway through the latter where the band take centre stage to produce a moment of pure attitude and grit. 'Oom Sha La La' is probably the most 'pop' sounding tune on the record. Lyrically the track seems rather nonsensical before Heyndrickx loudly screams the album title over and over. The album closer 'Drinking Song' is another relaxed folk number to make the LP come full circle.

Even though the album is achingly short (it clocks in at thirty minutes with only eight tracks), Heynderickx has created a beautifully concise and charming body of work that is easily one of the best folk records to be released in 2018 so far.

8/10

Best track - The Bug Collector

Worst track - Show You a Body

Listen to 'Worth It' here

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Wednesday, 17 January 2018

Track Review: Mitch Bullen - 'Distance'

Mitch Bullen is a London based singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. He draws influence from artists that span different eras such as Ray Charles and Bon Iver. Performing regularly around London, his songs are inspired by life, time and relationships.

'Distance' opens with a rhythmic, finger-picked acoustic guitar part that sets the melancholic nature of the track. Bullen sings with a gentle tone reminiscent of Dallas Green that fits with the guitar brilliantly and his soft falsetto is controlled and calm against the pulsing instrumentation.

Bullen has a talent for creating textures that build throughout the song. The added bass pulses and layered vocal harmonies are a lovely touch that give the song depth and purpose. Unfortunately the drums in the track are mixed slightly too high and when they're introduced the harshness can be quite jarring. A little less compression here could have gone a long way.

Overall, 'Distance' is a well-written, melodic and dreamy slice of folk-pop. Mitch Bullen has delivered a song of captivating melodies that is sure to capture the imagination of many people to come. 'Distance' will be released on all good streaming platforms on the 19th of January but in the meantime, listen below.

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Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Album Review: Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - 'Lotta Sea Lice'

Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile have joined forces to release their collaborative project ‘Lotta Sea Lice’. Both artists have experienced success in their respective fields, Courtney is known for her garage-rock musical style, with Kurt perfecting lo-fi, indie-folk infused rock. After jamming together earlier this year, the transpacific pairing decided to get together in the studio and create a record of slacker rock tunes packed with witty lyrics and soft intimate vocal melodies.

‘Over Everything’, the album opener and first single from the project, kicks proceedings off brilliantly. Kurt's bluesy guitar licks intertwine beautifully with Courtney's lazy rhythm playing. The vocal styles of both C & K set the tone for the whole record whilst the song slowly builds to a crescendo that sounds like it could have come straight out of a demo session for an old The War On Drugs record. The relaxed charm of the project is brought to the forefront with second track 'Let It Go'. With a lazy (rather too messily played) drum section from Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint and a call and response vocal from C & K, you can really hear the intimacy of the recording process. The dueted vocals are used to profound effect, but there are little moments here where the vocal takes really lack conviction and could have been performed better.

On both 'Fear Is Like A Forest' and 'Outta The Woodwork' the duo incorporate sludging beats, blues riffs and layered vocal melodies; it's on these tracks that Kurt's influences take centre stage. On these songs, the pair show how well they complement each other both musically and vocally by putting their own spin and influence on each other’s tracks; ‘Fear Is Like A Forest’ is a cover of the Jen Cloher (Courtney's wife), while Kurt takes the lead and puts a fresh snarling twist on Barnett’s original ‘Out Of The Woodwork’.

Courtney and Kurt's folk roots take the limelight on 'Continental Breakfast' and 'Peepin' Tom'. The delicacy of the finger picked acoustic guitars on both tracks give an organic sound that fits perfectly with each artist's aesthetic. With‘Continental Breakfast', and many other tracks here, the duo show a clear mutual admiration for one another’s talent by letting each other take the reins at various stages of the song. ‘Peepin’ Tom’ is Courtney’s take on an old Kurt classic titled ‘Peeping Tomboy’. This is by far Courtney’s best moment on the record. Her vocals complement the bright guitar sections brilliantly and her conversational, deadpan delivery really gets your attention.

Overall, ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ is a very strong record. There are moments of silliness, the lyrics on ‘Blue Cheese’ for example, (“I met a girl named Tina/That girl, that girl supplies the reeferina”) and there are times when some of the songs seem to drag (there isn’t one tune here that is shorter than four minutes), but the highs outweigh the lows. It would have also been lovely to have heard a few more original compositions from the pair as ‘Over Everything’ works so well. We can only hope this is the start of a long working relationship from C & K.

7/10
Best track - Over Everything
Worst track - On Script

Listen to 'Over Everything' here

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