Quality Not Quantity: Dear Willow - Heidi Maree - Organised Scum
Dear Willow - When It Burns.Background promo - Birthed from letters to her older self, Dear Willow is the musical project of Sunshine Coast creative Em-J Dau. Following on from last year's debut single 'Father's House', Dear Willow will be launching the moody new single 'When It Burns' at Sunny Coast's premier live hub Solbar, Thursday September 15.
Growing up with the arts close to her heart (just short of a family heirloom) has meant that Em-J expressing herself has been a storytelling affair. Dear Willow has been many things, first letters and poetry, then a solo folk acoustic act but it has recently evolved into something bigger than expected. Countless shows, an ever-growing repertoire of material and working with other creative types have helped mould Dear Willow from timid songstress to seasoned performer.
While 2015's offering ‘Father’s House’ saw Em-J dabbling in her folky roots, 'When It Burns' has Dear Willow flexing a much more dynamic muscle, in part to now being backed by a studio band. The indie-pop punch fits like like a glove with Em-J's smoky and heartfelt vocal delivery rounded out with a lively groove and treated with modern day sonics.
As any artist will tell you, experimentation is key and with Dear Willow's songwriting prowess just getting warmed up in the studio, we'll be looking forward to those creative worlds colliding for years to come.
Upcoming shows:
Thursday Sep 15 - When It Burns single launch @ Solbar w/ Taylor Payne
Friday Sep 16 - Brisbane Festival @ Arcadia Activations
There is a smooth folk indie feel to 'When It Burns'. Music and vocals have been matched so well in the mix, and the melody is carried by the delightful vocals of Em-J.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heidi Maree - Caterpillar Shoes.Background - 22 year old Australian multi-instrumentalist Heidi Maree has defined herself as a true artist.
Having spent the last 3 years establishing herself as an influential artist in her Dubbo community, Heidi has now used her unique style as a platform for her rising music career. Creating artworks for her recently release EP, Arctic OK and accompanying music videos, Heidi has developed a dynamic flavour of indie pop music.
With an eclectic background from drumming in Church to lead keyboardist with touring metal band Trollgasm, Heidi’s unique songwriting style has only been magnified through her diverse experiences in music.
Recorded and Produced at The Grove Studios (Empire of the Sun, Silverchair, Xavier Rudd). ‘Caterpillar Shoes’ is a song detailing the naïvety of an open mind and what is initially relied upon venturing out into the world. Combined with a forward moving, musical pulse, lyrics like, “I had many legs of thoughts but only two would walk,” paint the picture of someone tripping, loosing, finding than moving forward again.
What “Caterpillar Shoes’ does so well is to create musical onomatopoeia, matching the lyrics through soaring piano trills, vocal runs and Chorus break downs. “The bridge in the song is my favourite to hear and play live. It strips the song right down to the vocal run ‘I met you’ and piano, than builds that pace up again - I wanted people to feel that momentum the way I do,” says Heidi. “Caterpillar Shoes” by Heidi Maree will be released 23rd of September 2016.
'Caterpillar Shoes' is a lively modern sounding folk song, that musically skips along as do Heidi's adorable vocals. Excellent musical accompaniment as well, in this lively song.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background - Organised Scum are comprised of songwriting duo Tom Duggins and Sean Canty. The pair met at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where they bonded over their questionable reasons for applying there: Tom because ‘Corpus Christi’ features as a lyric in a Pavement song, and Sean because of a Jeff Buckley-inspired equivalent rationale.
After cutting over a dozen demos in a friend’s home studio, Organised Scum came to the attention of Shields bassist John Martindale via an off-air recommendation from BBC 6Music's Tom Robinson when Shields were performing on his show. Martindale offered to put together new mixes of two of their early tacks and invited the band up to his recording studio (Blank Studios) in Newcastle to record their debut EP (forthcoming), with the band agreeing a deal with Shields' management company in the process.
Seem them live Upstairs at The Electrowerkz 7 Torrens St, London EC1V 1NQ - Friday November 18th 2016. 6.30pm-Late. £5.00. Playing alongside - Desert Mountain Tribe + Howland + Tuska.
I received a promo for the above mentioned gig, and it just happens that Organised Scum are my favourite band of the four (and absolutely no disrespect to the others). It's makes a good enough excuse to feature 'Insane Making Behaviour', and when I get time I'll check out the other acts, so look out for more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments