Genre Wander: Penny Mob - Catch Prichard - H.C.Love - His Clancyness

Penny Mob - Love Not Hate.

Background bio - Glaswegian musician and actor Jamie Quinn (BBC’s “Bluestone 42”, BAFTA Award winning “Still Game” and Friday Night BBC hit “Two Doors Down”) having watched the Brit Awards in his North London flat, was totally alienated by the factory line of pretty boy X Factor types that dominate the modern music scene. He realized that the only logical conclusion was to create a band that would stand up against all of this; a band with soul and guts who sang from the heart about the world they lived in and – most importantly – would write great rock n roll songs.

After recruiting drummer Andrew Mullan, an old friend whom he met at an ‘intense method acting school’, on the grounds that they both felt the same about modern music and because – according to Quinn – “Mullan had what all the great drummers have, plenty of soul and was completely nuts. I knew straight away he was the man for the job”. It was through this meeting of minds that Penny Mob was born.

After recruiting a bassist from the dole queue in Holloway (and others since come and gone) the boys set out on their journey to become what they knew modern music needed the most: “a new, real, honest rock n roll band with balls”. Countless drunken nights, band fights & sweat fueled rehearsals later Penny Mob stuck their first demo tracks online in early 2016. The two tracks went on to garner a great deal of notoriety from radio DJ’s and music journalists alike throughout the country and along with their live performances, built around their hyper energetic, passionate, unapologetic anthem filled sets, the band have started to create a real buzz around the UK Music scene.

Renowned for both their impromptu live acoustic & full band sets – which have shocked some and amazed others – Penny Mob are building quite the reputation as the real deal rock band. Now with their newly released track “Love Not Hate” it will only go further to cement them as the ones to watch. Written by Quinn as an aim to make “the positive rock n roll track for the generation of the tired and hopeful” –  its mixture of raw indie laced with pure guitar pop & the spirit of punk coursing throughout – this new anthem proves not only that Penny Mob are a band on a mission, but that they don’t intend to stop any time soon. Facebook here.

'Love Not Hate' is a feisty indie rock song, with a simple message, surrounded by bags of energy and a wonderfully raw rock'n'roll sound.

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Catch Prichard - Hometown.

Background - Catch Prichard’s new song “Hometown” is exemplary of Prichard’s stunning debut Eskota EP in that it's absolutely mesmerizing.

Prichard’s new EP (out 10/21 via Devise Records) is steeped in traditional folk and Americana in the vein of Townes Van Zandt and features dexterous guitar work, accompanied by his powerful baritone that simultaneously conjures Anohni and Leonard Cohen. Sawyer set out to record a collection of sweet and simple songs that exalt narrative as much as they do melody.

Recorded in the middle of each night over the course of one week within the walls of an abandoned grocery store in the ghost town of Eskota TX, the result is a five-song EP resting somewhere between languid folk and forlorn country, with Sawyer’s vocals gliding over pedal steel and Moog like an oil slick on water. Website here.

'Hometown' is the second song we have featured from the stunning Eskota EP and quite frankly if I could share all five songs, I probably would, such is the quality.

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H.C.Love - Dreaming Place.

Background - When the Dulcimer starts in on “Dreaming Place”, the first look at HC Love’s upcoming album, you’re instantly transported. Inspired by the Australian aboriginal concept of Dreamtime, the song takes on an inner journey worthy of its title. "Dreaming Place" is a call to enter Dreamtime, a land out of time where one would be receptive to visions and stories of the land. Sonically, there’s a little bit of retro 90’s throwback as if the essence of Jewel and Joanna Newsom combined to create something new yet just as lovely and heartfelt.

Set to be released on November 4 is Light Breaks, Love’s introspective and ethereal sophomore album. The conceptual record has been a non-linear process and years in the making. It was inspired not only by the poetry of Shelly, Tagore and Rilke, but also by Love’s own contemplations and personal experiences. Blue Butterfly, for example, was born from her observations of a butterfly in a garden, while the song Child of Light was born out of her grandmother’s passing.

Working in an improvisational spirit, Love also added some field recordings from her walks in the forested Land of Medicine Buddha. Later in post-production, she worked with Christopher Hedge (best known for his soundscapes and award winning film scores) at The Magic Shop to add layers of additional recordings of the ocean, a drone cello, percussion and lap steel guitar to selected mixes.

While being from a family of professional musicians, H.C. Love somehow never made the connection for herself to music in that way. As a child, she studied classical piano until she was 12, played the flute in orchestra, and wrote her first piano piece at the age of 8. It would be a number of years later however, in her twenties, when she would return to music. It was at this time that she began to slowly find her voice. And it was only after the passing of a beloved great aunt, which moved her to write a song at a newly purchased upright piano, that she began to explore an approach to music that helped her access a more intuitive, improvisational approach. Website here.

I get the Joanna Newsom reference above as musically there is a hint of her earlier material, that said 'Dreaming Place' has plenty going for itself, particularly with H.C Love's intimate and beautiful vocals. Her upcoming album Light Breaks, is due out November 4th.

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His Clancyness - Uranium.

Background - The band began life as the solo project of singer/guitarist Jonathan Clancy but has since found a new form inspired by the camaraderie of life on the road. The group has evolved into a collaborative tour-hardened minimal noise-pop machine that features Jacopo Beta’s propulsive drumming, Giulia Mazza’s alien synthesizers, the commanding low thump of Nico Pasquini’s bass playing along with Clancy’s trademark fidgeting guitar work and his usual stirring lyrical resolve.

Over the last two years the band have retired to their Bologna basement HQ, Strange City Studios to put to use the newly-honed aesthetic and write a new clutch of anti-hits. Here they conducted late-night 4track experiments, embarked upon curious sonic investigations, threw the odd party and emerged with fistfuls of inspired compositions that make up their compelling new album.

Isolation Culture is a record from another place. It could be a recording snatched from a wormhole to a parallel universe where weathered Bowie statues pepper the abandoned city streets and Swell Maps’ music is piped into empty runaway subway cars. Maybe it’s the final psychedelic transmission from a radio station in flames or maybe it turned up on your lawn, delivered by an overnight tornado from somewhere that no longer exists. But what if Isolation Culture is part of the evidence that suggests that there are bands making records just like this one hidden in all the shadows in all the cities in the world? We can only hope that there are. Isolation Culture (Hand Drawn Dracula / Maple Death Records) release date: October 14th, 2016.Website here.

'Uranium is the second song we have featured from the bands soon to be released album 'Isolation Culture', and having now had a chance to hear the whole collection, I have to say this is one fine collection of songs and music. The band are firmly in the alternative alt rock camp with some intriguing twists and turns within their music. Well worth checking out. 

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