Five For You: Palace - Grieving - Divan - Ofelia K - NervousTwitch
Background promo - Palace's latest release ‘Have Faith’ is the second track to be taken from their hugely anticipated debut album ‘So Long Forever’. According to the band the song, “plays with the idea of a kind of self analysis of one's emotional strength, but it's also addressed to someone else. It's that need to find a foundation of confidence and belief so that you can both grow as people - that you need to be strong for each other, and not self sabotage yourself on a daily basis. It's the everyday struggle to find strength based on a lack of faith.”
Palace’s first show of 2016 was at the ICA in June and, just like their show at Scala last October, sold out at speed. They have just announced a November UK tour to coincide with the release of ‘So Long Forever’ on 4th November that includes a London date at Brixton Electric on 23rd November. Full details below. Ahead of this they will be playing Reading & Leeds festivals.
They began writing ‘So Long Forever’ last autumn in The Arch - a creative nerve centre in deepest, darkest Tottenham packed with young artists, designers and musicians. It has been produced by Adam Jaffery (Beach Baby, Dev Hynes, Francis Lung) and mixed by Cenzo Townshend (The Maccabees, Florence + the Machine, Wild Beasts). The album artwork - as with all previous artwork - has been painted by Wilm Danby.
In late 2014 Palace released their debut EP ‘Lost in the Night’, which garnered an overwhelming amount of critical and fan support, with the NME proclaiming, “the award for the fastest rise of 2014 goes to Palace.” 2015 saw them embark on two UK and European tours that book-ended the release of their second EP ‘Chase The Light’, which received continued support from Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and Annie Mac, 6Music’s Steve Lamacq and Radio X’s Georgie Rogers, Maz Tappuni, John Kennedy and Jo Good. They spent last summer in a whirlwind of festival performances including Live at Leeds, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Blissfields, Kendall Calling, Green Man and Bestival, to name just a few. Palace are Leo Wyndham (guitar, vocals), Rupert Turner (guitar), Will Dorey (bass) and Matt Hodges (drums).
Live Dates:
27th Aug - Reading - Reading Festival
28th Aug - Leeds - Leeds Festival
21st Nov - Brighton - Patterns
22nd Nov - Bristol - Exchange
23rd Nov - London - Brixton Electric
24th Nov - Leeds - Belgrave Music Hall
25th Nov - Manchester - Deaf Institute
26th Nov - Glasgow - King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.
'Have Faith' is an exceptionally refined song. It's melodic, with both the vocals and the bands music, sounding polished and very natural, something quite amazing for a band who only released their debut EP in late 2014. I'm highly impressed.
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Background - Grieving are a new, unsigned band from Cambridge, playing direct, twisting art-punk. Their first demo was debuted by tastemakers The Fader in March and their second track - the raw, dual vocalled post-hardcore / 90's indie-rock of "Ownership" - saw them pick up their first Radio 1 play from Dan P Carter. Their third track, the more direct and anthemic sounds of "My Friend, The Ghost", saw support from Huw Stephens on Radio 1.
Earlier this month they debuted "Little Armoured", the title inspired by a book of poetry by Rebecca Perry, a leftfield track, off-kilter in places and melodic in others. Showing once more a diverse set of influences at work here, it takes another sharp turn in its final third. Their fifth and final track from “Demonstrations”, the brief, melodic rush of “Warmest Jets” was debuted today on Punktastic.
The band have played their first shows over the last three months, alongside the likes of Tellison, the much buzzed about Muncie Girls and Three Trapped Tigers and have recorded five songs as an EP release, "Demonstrations", on July 29th. They join The New Tusk and Pet Grief for a handful of tour dates in late September and will announce further shows for November in the coming weeks.
In debt to the likes of Les Savy Fav, Television, Spy Versus Spy, Bear vs Shark, Dismemberment Plan, Fugazi and elsewhere the lo-fi pop and fully charged punk of Guided By Voices, Pylon, Samiam, The Lemonheads, Bob Mould etc.
August 04 London The Lexington w/ Young Legionnaire & USA Nails
August 15 London The Old Blue Last w/ Cassels & So-Crates
September 22 Norwich Gringos w/ The New Tusk, Pet Grief & Algae Bloom
September 23 Cambridge The Blue Moon w/ The New Tusk & Pet Grief
September 24 Brighton The Green Door Store w/ The New Tusk, Munez & Pet Grief
October 30 Norwich Podstock @ The Owl Sanctuary
Grieving have been featured by Beehive Candy twice this year already, so perhaps regular readers may think I have some bias towards the band. Well last time I thought to myself, that's enough for this year, and then they come up with another song, that I cannot help but feature. Obviously there is something that really connects with myself, maybe it's the raw, genuine and passionate feeling, that is just so rock'n'roll.
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Divan - Shards.Background - Their music; all pulsating rhythm, soaring vocals and oscillating guitars, draws on a rich tapestry of styles and sounds, which evolves into a real statement of intent: the desire to understand art and its relevance in modern life.
Singer, Jamie Clarke writes: 'I think always having an innate desire to surround yourself with activity & action when all you've known is peace & tranquillity comes out in our music. It draws me to people, and also to the art that I love.' The lyrical narrative in Modern Knowledge weaves its way through such themes, affecting not just today's artists and creators but everyone that, like Jamie, is drawn to the bustle of something more than what was known...
From experimenting with accessible but unusual time signatures in ‘Shards’ to exploring vulnerability both lyrically and vocally in ‘A Clarity Appears’, the heart and soul that runs through this record is achieved via subtle nods to the likes of Radiohead, The National and Richard Hawley, as well as the band’s own profound voice and subject matter.
There are mournful sparks of looped piano from Brent (Knopf) in ‘Darkened Room’ and dark melodies inspired by the encompassing warmth of Sufjan Stevens…while front man Clarke’s subtly reedy voice is reminiscent of Benjamin Gibbard in his more delicate moments. Major chords are utilised to strengthen the depths alongside jolting, haunted stabs of guitar and the end result is compelling, intense and overwhelmingly thoughtful; demanding repeated listens.
We featured Divan just over a month ago, and so far I have just loved everything I have heard by the band. I guess the Irish musical styling is a key part, however the band put a very definitive slant on their songs, and are happy to test out ideas rather than just take the safe path.
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Background - Ofelia K.’s voice and compelling songs are worn down to perfection and balance wistful maturity with a certain earnest and eternally young expression. Not quite pop, not quite anything else, the young singer-songwriter showcases her beautiful symmetry with her music somewhere between an unrepressed journal entry, a comforting arm around the shoulder and her smoky, shimmering glare, her eyes so knowingly staring into you. With spins from Annie Mac at BBC Radio 1, over 2 million Spotify plays, and features on multiple television shows, the world heard her starry eyed songs and asked for oh-so-many more.
With her upcoming single release, "Killing Me," right around the corner this LA songstress once again sets her sights on capturing the public’s heart with her tunes. As Ofelia herself mentions, “Killing Me is about the strange paradox that those who love you the most can also hurt you the most. Loving deeply makes you vulnerable and the highs and lows can be extreme.” And with Ofelia K, you know that can only result in pure musical bliss.
'Killing Me' is getting considerable attention after just a few days, and that is not surprising, as this is a delightful and massively catchy song. Sometimes that's all that's needed!
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Background - Odd Box Records are re-issuing Nervous Twitch’s incredible LP Don’t Take My TV on vinyl for the first time, with an official release date of August 26th. Nervous Twitch are a Leeds based band who serve up “catchy, effervescent punk-pop” Louder Than War, one that’s angst-ridden and dining on an ode to Riot Grrl, surf and garage-rock.
Don’t Take My TV is the bands second album but comes from a pretty expansive back-catalogue of singles and EPs, one which has seen them acquire significant praise and a recent radio session onMarc Riley’s BBC 6 Music show. The band will be performing at this year’s Indietracks festival.
'So Rock'n'Roll' is the opening song, and one of eleven wonderfully punk pop tracks, on this first time on vinyl release. The featured song reminds me in part of Blondies first album, which remains my favourite, because it had a genuine rough around the edges feel to it. Likewise the Nervous Twitch album 'Dont Take My TV' has that vital ingredient for anything punk orientated, along with alot of enthusiasm and charm. Love It!
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