Bumper Jacksons - The School Book Depository - Chloe Foy - Bonzie - Hunter & The Bear - Lillie Mae - Louise Lemón

Bumper Jacksons - I've Never Met A Stranger.

Background - 4am, campfire in Your Backyard, summertime. - The firelight bounces off fiddles, horns, guitars, and the faces of the men and women singing together in the deep parts of the night. They might not know each other’s names, but there they are, pouring their hearts out to one another in song, playing tunes older than their great-grandmothers.

A certain magic happens in moments like this where a common thread of humanity, going back thousands of years, is plucked – and strangers become old friends.

Music creates a sort of temporary social apocalypse where the niceties and norms of society are blown away and a radical openness to others is allowed to take it's place.

These are the experiences that birthed the Bumper Jacksons. Our new album "I’ve Never Met A Stranger" is a toast to all the ways in which we humans bridge the divide between our souls. Website here, Facebook here.

Traditional folk music full of Americana goodness makes 'I've Never Met A Stranger' just so likable. The video manages to increase the charm, this is a fabulous example of whats to follow on the new album.


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The School Book Depository - Salvation.

Background - The School Book Depository is an imaginary storage facility where the Swedish musician and songwriter Fredrik Solfors releases his songs and videos. In April The School Book Depository releases it’s first album, a bunch of songs recorded in his home studio in Växjö, Sweden during 2016. The motto for this project has been ”it’s my party, I can do what I want”, in order to embrace all forms of creative outlet both musically and lyrically. The songs range from groovy, psychedelic hip hop to noisy and catchy garage pop and beautiful, atmospheric post-rock.

Humorous lyrics depicting depressing gym-visits, metaphorical micro-analysis of the American presidential election, weird poems and songs about being a rabies ridden stray dog, all fit in The School Book Depository.

Fredrik Solfors started early playing the drums but moved on to vocals, guitar, piano and songwriting in bands as Wagon, The Low Season Combo and Kinetics, appointed best international act by the British Magazine Pure M in 2015. He also played drums in Surrounded, a Swedish band signed by American Deep Elm and British One Little Indian. The first single from the album is “Salvation” released this week.

'Salvation' is a melodic post rock kind of a song, with a laid back vibe and atmospheric feeling running right through it.

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Chloe Foy - Flaws.

Background - Flaws is the first track to be taken from Chloe’s forthcoming EP ‘Are We There Yet?’ which will be released on Friday 12th May. Showcasing her talent for skewed, ambitious songwriting.

Chloe Foy has previously been likened to such artists as Laura Marling and Sharon Van Etten. Her songs are imbued with lyrical and textural inflections evocative of much of the music she loves - taking inspiration as much from neo-classical music as much as wider trends within indie-rock, Chloe’s new EP comprises carefully constructed arrangements that delicately compliment her cryptic lyrics.

Chloe’s last single, ‘In The Middle Of The Night’, received generous support from Steve Lamacq on both his Radio 6 & 2 shows, as well as favourable reviews from mainstream media across the country.

The single has generated over one million plays on Spotify, being featured on two popular playlists ‘Stress Buster’ and ‘The Most Beautiful Songs in the World’. Facebook here.

A very gentle and gradual introduction provides the ideal entry point for Chloe's enchanting and beautiful vocals. 'Flaws' grows in layers of sound adding additional melody, to this charming song.

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Bonzie - Fading Out.

Background - Bonzie shares new track "Fading Out". The song is the first to be released from her highly anticipated sophomore album, Zone on Nine, out May 19th.

The second album from Chicago-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bonzie, Zone on Nine pulls off the sublime feat of feeling both intensely intimate and otherworldly in scope. “All of my songs basically start as a conversation I’m having with myself alone in my room,” says 21-year-old Nina Ferraro, who’s created under the moniker of Bonzie since age 17. “It’s how I process and interpret things that have happened to me or in life in general; it’s my way of trying to understand the world.”

Throughout Zone on Nine, Ferraro eschews the confessional singer-songwriter approach and claims her role as a fiercely honest observer and commentator who delivers her lyrics with powerful abandon. That self-possessed artistry has earned acclaim from the likes of Spin, Vogue, and Paste, as well as led to praise in the pages of the New York Times (“Delicacy and drama, surrender and anger, made a riveting combination when Bonzie performed,” wrote chief popular-music critic Jon Pareles of a SXSW performance). At the same time, Zone on Nine finds Bonzie greatly expanding her sonic palette—formed from inspirations as eclectic as Tchaikovsky, Gil Scott-Heron, Judee Sill, and the score to Disney’s Mulan—and creating a more intricately composed take on surrealist pop. Website here, Facebook here.

'Fading Out' achieves a considerable amount. The soundtrack is both intricate and distinctive and yet it carries a reasonably straight forward melody, that somehow has it's own emotions. Add in Bonzie's vocals and the whole song grows into something quite memorable and stunning.


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Hunter & The Bear - Paper Heart.

Background - Hailed as “the heroes British rock needs right now” by the Huffington Post, the band have been featured on Classic Rock, Total Guitar and Punktastic already. They have already toured and  supported Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and Simple Minds.

Brought up on a heavy diet of classic bands like Led Zep, Sabbath and Pink Floyd, they’re equally inspired by modern acts like Biffy Clyro and Royal Blood and have had extensive plays on BBC Radio 6, as well as spots on big stages at Reading & Leeds, T in the Park and Hard Rock Calling. Website here, Facebook here.

Sometimes back to basics rock'n'roll is more than enough to satisfy my ears, especially with a song like 'Paper Heart'. There is a little bit of a stadium rock feel to the song, no problem with that, the band are polished in their delivery, thankfully they also add bags of energy and passion ensuring a more natural feel.


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Lillie Mae - Wash Me Clean.

Background - Third Man Records recording artist Lillie Mae is set to release her Jack White-produced album Forever And Then Some on April 14th. 

Pre-orders for Forever And Then Some are available here, with all digital pre-orders receiving instant downloads of the album's wistful first single "Over The Hill and Through The Woods," "Honky Tonks and Taverns," and  latest track "Wash Me Clean." "Over The Hill and Through The Woods" is also available as a  7" vinyl single -- backed with non-album track "The Last Time" -- at thirdmanstore.com. "Over The Hill and Through The Woods" was praised by Rolling Stone Country for "melding unique old-time vocal breaks, a rich sonic chug that evokes some Seventies rock psychedelia and evocative storytelling".

Lillie Mae will start a run of shows supporting Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals on April 28th in New Orleans, followed by festival dates this Summer and additional shows, including Canadian dates, to be announced soon. See Beehive candy's tour news page for more details, website here, Facebook here.

I'm sorry Jack White, but I thought Lillie May was the star of the show at your last Glastonbury set. So the new album is a welcome surprise and featured song 'Wash Me Clean' suggest we are in for a fine collection of songs, the producer is pretty good as well!


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Louise Lemón - Appalacherna.

Background - The up and coming death-gospel female artist Louise Lemón hails from Sweden and intertwines the dark, windy and cold Scandi ambiance into her music. Her debut EP ‘Purge’ has the opening track called 'Appalacherna' as the lead single of this release.

The haunted sound on the EP fits right in the isolated space between dream and reality, which stretches endlessly from one melancholy track to the next. In short it is strange that a barometer of youth culture trades in such intensely depressing music.

Louise says: “This record has been a very personal journey, first writing the songs, then getting to records it together with my long time band member and friend Anders Ludwigsson, then expanding the sound with Randall Dunn.“

What’s the outcome? The tracks sound like they belong to a larger canon of Southern California gothic albums because they send the listener into gloomier and rawer territory, giving it that hypnotic and supernatural edge when a scuzzy blend of guitars take over, reminding us of the self-confessed sad girls Cat Power, Lana del Rey and PJ Harvey.

Louise adds: “It is very important for me to be completely involved and to be able to work with people I trust and respect. To then have them colour the music and sound is very rewarding. Working with Randall Dunn was an amazing experience and I chose him because I wanted to expand the sound, make it heavier and darker and at the same time opening it up, letting it be vulnerable The record is called ‘Purge’, and making it has really been a cleansing and growing process, everything I write is deeply personal, and to me the sounds express just as much as the lyrics.”

The artistically poignant ‘Purge’ EP is out NOW through Icons Creating Evil Art. Website here, Facebook here.

'Appalacherna' takes us into a slightly darker and melancholic place and at the same time has a level of warmth due to the emotional commitment and the richness of both music and haunting vocals.

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