Leonie Kingdom - Mr. Koifish - Rosie Carney - The Trials of Cato
Background - So Much More is the second track from Leonie Kingdom’s debut EP Night Terror’s. So Much More is exactly how it sounds. It’s a song written to remind people that although times may feel unbearable and dark, you will get through it and there is so much more to keep going for. So Much More is about learning from mistakes and life experiences, learning and growing along the way.
“I’ve always taken experience from the darker side of life. This is where most of my experience in song writing comes from. I like to write about things that are important, and people can relate to. I thought it would be refreshing to put a bit of a lighter and positive feel into a song with a big meaning. Encouraging people to keep going when life gets tough and remember there are other people going through their own struggles in life. We are not alone”. – Leonie Kingdom
The song structure for So Much More is quite simple with guitar picking and simple piano. The track was recorded and produced by Robert Mackay in Pacific International Studios with mixing and mastering by Levi Dunn. Pacific International Studio is located in Leonie’s home town, Hervey Bay, QLD.
Leonie has been performing live and entertaining crowds for around eight years. From playing at pubs, to festivals and specials events. To date, Leonie has performed at Tamworth music festival, The Gympie Muster, Heart of Gold International film festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Spirit of Bundaberg Festival and Hervey Bay Ocean festival. In 2017, Leonie took the winning title in Hervey Bay’s Unplugged competition. This awarded her the production of Night Terrors, her debut EP. WEBSITE.
Leonie Kingdom's prepossessing vocals quickly gained my attention on 'So Much More' a charming and uncomplicated singer songwriter piece, where personal feeling and natural emotion resonate beautifully.
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Background - Mr. Koifish is Morten Køie’s new band. It’s all about kicking back and taking it easy - letting the stress flow off your back. You might remember Morten from Danish ‘Best Live Band’ Turboweekend, where he brought a smile and a raised eyebrow to a packed festival or concert hall on his bass - now he’s going to show you his new vibe with songs written during the Turboweekend years and produced by Hot Gills with a new collective of musicians, family and friends.
Hang Our Coats is the second single by Mr Koifish, and is a bitter sweet song that urges you to sacrifice everything to live your life with no regrets and to feel the blood pumping in your veins. You need to leap on the table and give exactly no fucks. Maybe life is only so so sweet because there isn’t all the time in the world - there’s only now. So get to it!
Mr. Koifish also feartures on Blvk Iris first single “put it on” and has contributed to LMOCPCAOPWH a new art publication curated by Jir Sandel that was published in August.
Morten says: “…Mr. Koifish is the place where I can fit all my inspirations, personality and my sweet friends in music into one big family of sounds. And in this track I talk about standing your ground and doing the best you can with what you got before you hang your coat up for good” FACEBOOK.
'Hang Our Coats' is subtly engaging at first and after a couple of listens quite compelling to play again. Musically there is plenty packed into this song, it's clever but not showy, and the vocals are a natural ingredient in the piece such is their match with the music.
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Background - Rising Irish singer-songwriter Rosie Carney’s new single, “Orchid” is now available. The song follows last month’s release of “Thousand,” featuring Lisa Hannigan, which has already been streamed over 1.3 million times on Spotify. These tracks appear on Rosie Carney’s highly anticipated album, Bare, which debuts January 25 via Akira Records.
Of “Orchid,” Carney notes, “As the song developed, I saw the opportunity to really expand beyond my usual production and it’s now the most layered song on the album, with strings, drums, tremolo guitar etc. I could just hear the strings while working on the demo and when it came time to actually track them, we used Radiohead’s ‘Nude’ and some of Lana Del Rey’s dreamier tracks as a reference—two artists that are huge influences on me.”
With her full-length debut album still to come, Rosie Carney’s music has already been streamed over 18 million times, and she currently has over 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Carney was born in Hampshire, England and at 10 years old moved to Donegal on the northwest coast of Ireland. Inspired by the rugged and picturesque landscapes of her new home, she began writing music. At 15 she left school in Donegal to showcase her work in New York and Los Angeles, and was signed to a major label shortly thereafter. In 2013 she received widespread attention with a performance on Ireland’s leading live music TV series “Other Voices.” TWITTER.
I think it's probably fair to say that when Rosie Carney releases a song and we can feature it, then the result is, it gets featured. 'Orchid' continues that trend for no other reason than it's gorgeous.
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Background - The Trials Of Cato have just shared their new single "Gloria", the first to be taken from forthcoming debut album "Hide And Hair." Guitarist and vocalist Tomo Williams comments on the track; “When the band first returned from Lebanon we travelled around the folk clubs of the UK in our van and came across an inspiring individual that we couldn’t resist writing about. It’s a story of self-discovery and a celebration of being true to oneself. Lots of old folk songs talk about women dressing up as men for financial or personal gain, and we wanted to write a song about someone doing this simply because they want to! This is a song about the emotional journey of a person who comes to terms with their own identity and learns to take pride in it.”
The Trials Of Cato, a band that arrived fully formed and functioning from Beirut in the winter of 2016, have since torn a shape very much their own into the canvas of the UK folk scene. Originally from North Wales and Yorkshire, whilst living in Lebanon they spent a year boiling down the roots of their sound into a sweet hybrid of traditional influences that intrigued Lebanese audiences in the country’s biggest venues. They moved back to the UK to quickly produce their self-title debut EP at the Abbey Road Institute in London. The recording was well received – BBC Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe hails them as “one of the real discoveries on the folk circuit in recent times.” Their musical development in the run up to their debut album proper, has been swift and sure.
This winter the trio release Hide And Hair, after a year of near-vertical ascent from a standing start. The trio may inhabit the folk genre with a grateful respect for its history but with this album they twist its old bones into something febrile and contemporary. Stunning instrumental technique hooked to an innovative presentation of traditional and original material leads to a sound where a seventeenth century widow’s lament for a lost soldier lover (My Love’s In Germany) can segue into a stomping dance tune – transporting us from the gloom of the Thirty Years War to the vibrant bounce of beckoning festival main stages.
With a clear nod to the musical revivals of the sixties and seventies, Hide And Hair is rooted in the folk traditions of Ireland and Britain but the themes remain decidedly contemporary and questioning. Recorded in the spring of 2018 at Penylan studios in mid-Wales, the array of material is hugely diverse, the album almost being treated as a journey across both time and continents. WEBSITE.
The Trials of Cato provide a sophisticated musical tapestry for 'Gloria' however it's the vocals and harmonies that really impress. This is highly addictive folk music (I never though I would describe more traditional folk along those lines) where the band carve out a timeless sound doing so in a very talented manner.
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