Lucy Wise - Veronica Bianqui - Woodes - Frøkedal
Lucy Wise - Solid Ground.Background - Singer-songwriter Lucy Wise has released a taste of her third album Winter Sun. The songs on the forthcoming album show a strong artistic development since her last release back in 2015, and the lead single 'Solid Ground' is no exception. The track draws the listener in with its infectious groove and Appalachian Folk-inspired melody, and offers a warm, rich folk-rock band sound. It features some of Melbourne’s finest musicians: Justin Olsson (drums), Isaac Gunnoo (double bass) and Justin Bernasconi (electric guitar). 'Solid Ground' puts the listener in the shoes of someone finding their feet again after a breakup, saying that “it’s time to walk to your own rhythm, to find your way to solid ground”.
The music video for this release was produced by Lucy Wise in collaboration with Melbourne filmmaker, Rowan Gruner, and is a captivating and wistful reflection on finding resilience in everyday life. The video moves between an East Brunswick hilltop at sunrise, Lucy singing the song in a kitchen, and the unravelling of a long piece of string. As well as exploring the theme of finding one’s inner strength, it playfully celebrates the many beautiful nooks and crannies that Melbourne is made up of.
Produced and recorded by Nick Huggins, Lucy’s third studio album Winter Sun explores themes of love, joy and sadness, friendships and the relationships people form with their environment. It comprises songs inspired by Lucy’s travels and her reflections on her home city, Melbourne and features solo performances as well as full band arrangements, including guest appearances from Rowena Wise (backing vocals), John Flanagan (backing vocals) and Mischa Herman (accordion).
Lucy Wise has delighted audiences across Australia and internationally with her masterful storytelling, intricate ukulele and guitar playing and soulful voice. Drawing inspiration from her background in Appalachian and Celtic folk music, as well as legendary songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, Lucy’s songs sketch universally recognisable stories that are grounded in the realities of everyday experience. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
'Solid Ground' mixes folk genres together, with a growing hint of folk rock along the way. Everything about this song is good, the vocals are perfect for folk, I would even draw some comparisons with Sandy Denny, they are that natural. The music gently builds adding to the atmosphere, Lucy Wise is firmly on our one to watch list.
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Background - Vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Veronica Bianqui integrates the raw energy of garage rock with the passion of classic soul and R&B, and the pop sensibilities of 60s girl groups while maintaining an intense yet playful edge. Perhaps it’s her background in musical theatre, jazz, classical, and even Indian classical music, or her mother’s propensity for blasting The Beatles and Joe Cocker around the house, but Bianqui’s tastes and influences cross a wide spectrum of sounds. In her live show, Bianqui and her band consisting of up to 10 members—reminiscent sometimes of a revue– combine classic showmanship with a heartfelt directness that keeps the music intimate.
Before breaking out with her solo material, Bianqui made a name for herself in the LA circuit, performing in bands that toured across the U.S. and Europe. As a current member of 1960’s inspired folk/surf/psych rock outfit The Blank Tapes, she balances the two bands, often collaborating with bandmate and co-producer Matt Adams, including on her debut album that is yet to be released.
Bianqui’s past gigs include the main stage at Echo Park Rising 2017, headlining slots at The Hi Hat and The Bootleg, a popular residency at Hollywood’s Harvard & Stone, shared bills with Mikal Cronin, The Coathangers, Dead Sara, Cosmonauts, Capital Cities, and more. She has self-booked multiple UK & European tours, and was hand-picked by bookers to play iconic Los Angeles venue The Echo’s 15 year anniversary party in December 2016. In light of this history behind her, it is easy to see why people are coming out in droves to see the young songstress live.
Her debut album–recorded with Mark Rains (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Shooter Jennings, Alice Bag, Death Valley Girls)– is nearing completion, and awaits release in 2018. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
We featured Veronica Bianqui back in November and 'Sunday Cups' is a much welcomed second song to share. This time we have restrained albeit quite hypnotic beat, with the melodic vocals well up in the mix, in fact this was a borderline acapella piece until a gorgeous musical arrangement developed towards the end.
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Woodes - Origami.Background - Melbourne based artist Woodes returns in 2018 with yet another stellar single 'Origami', following on from her standout 2017 which made her one of the most exciting names in Australian indie music. Woodes drew inspiration from her experiences in Japan when creating 'Origami'. The bubbly, euphoric track is taken from Woodes awaited second EP titled 'Golden Hour' which is set for release on the 23rd of February.
Woodes co-wrote the track with local songwriter Thief and Jussi Ilmari while on a songwriting camp in Bali with additional production by Elkkle. Simon Lam from Kllo and Nearly Oratorio worked across the mixing and Grammy nominated Andrei Eremin mastered the new single.
Woodes commented on the writing process, "Origami started quite conceptually. We began with Origami as a title and then started drawing a big mind map of words relating to the methods and structure of creating something beautiful out of paper. Quite often when I write I have everything playing out in my head like a film. In my head I see two swans or cranes with their heads bending into one another. It was important that this song lived in a world that fused the harder sounding elements in the production with a soft bed of orchestral sounds.
I’ve been to Japan a couple times now, and learned Japanese throughout my schooling. I was 6 years old when I first visited & was so captivated by the mountains and the beautiful shrines and temples. My Japanese teacher in primary school had an honour system in her class where if you did good work and collected enough red stamps you were rewarded with a small gift she had purchased on her trips there, which were treasured by me.
I took the track back to my studio in Melbourne and began to orchestrate it. I knew I wanted the clarinet and strings to be featured quite heavily. The final session ended up being my largest amount of layers to date – 137 tracks. It took a long time to work out how to blend that many layers into something both rich in sound yet simple on the ear." WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
If a music blog could have a house band/artist then Woodes would be a serious contender, as this is her sixth appearance on Beehive Candy. 'Origami' is another creative song, the soundtrack is intricate and rich with ideas, Woodes vocals are like a butterfly fluttering above with melodic gorgeousness. Looking forward to more, if they are this good and we can share them, expect just that.
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Background - Oslo, Norway based Frøkedal today releases a new single — ‘Believe’, in advance of her much-anticipated second album, due Autumn 2018.
Eloquently manoeuvring her way around chugging guitars and swirling strings, Anne Lise Frøkedal appears to be highlighting the importance of believing blindly in oneself, almost a pep-talk: "And you’re all trying to take care of me / Is it kindness? Is it tyranny? / All my dreams are still alive / I’ve got my mind set right this time / baby believe”. Far from the acoustic sensibilities of previous singles, ‘Believe’ signals an arguably more “mature” sound for Frøkedal–combining full band with folk-leaning string sections. A more confident approach - perfectly reflected in her captivating lyrics.
Speaking a little more on the new release, Frøkedal explained: "'Believe' is Tom Cruise driving at full speed along the winding roads of Western Norway, in an open convertible even though there is light rain in the air. The song is juggling confidence and charisma in its message about keeping faith through the vanishing echoes of fiddle-ridden rock ’n roll.”
Despite track-by-track production, Frøkedal’s lyrical output has taken a much more thematic approach with recent releases, ‘Believe’ included: “When I started writing this new material, I was picturing different ages or stages in our lives when our vision gets a little blurred. I wanted the songs (and the characters) to channel these critical moments when decisions are dominated by emotion and not necessarily by logic,” she says.
‘Believe’ joins Frøkedal’s already-impressive body of work, following collaborative stints with Robyn Hitchcock and successful Norwegian outfits Harrys Gym and I Was A King. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.
Frøkedal is another artist who has consistently impressed Beehive Candy. New song 'Believe' continues that positive trend, it's a refined and smooth indie rocker where the distinct vocals add melody, emotion and a multitude of hooks, in a word, captivating.
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