The Arthur Brothers - Grascals - Kidsmoke - Henry Jamison
The Arthur Brothers began life as a recording project and quickly grew into an artistic alliance centered around the biological brothers Matt and Danny Arthur and the producer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist J. C. Wright. Their music is inspired by a mutual obsession for inventive song-craft and a cross-generational love of classic albums with dramatic, bold and intriguing productions.
Driven by a devotion to the recording process and a passionate desire to make a record full of mystery, melody, diversity and depth - the Arthurs and Wright, along with a coterie of talented contributors have been on a long and challenging creative expedition.
The Arthur Brothers’ second release is a song of icy emotion and heartfelt soul searching about the complexities of broken love and human fallibility. The regretful and remorseful narrative plays out with Matt Arthur's tortured, distorted vocal set into a mountainous and cinematic backdrop of dark majesty that conjures up images of Himalayan vistas and arctic landscapes.
Cavernous drums, moody pianos, visceral guitars, and the ominous drones of accordions, harmoniums and drunken trombones all punctuated by the haunting backing vocals of J. C. Wright and Danny Arthur. ‘Flawless’ is out now on ClearLight Records / Declared Goods. TWITTER.
There is something quite expansive and dramatic about 'Flawless'. The second single (we shared their first in September), The Arthur Brothers create an imaginative atmosphere with stirring harmonies, mysterious vocals and a powerful soundtrack, two songs in and they are firmly on our radar.
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The award-winning Grascals bring a new single from their forthcoming album with the song “Heartbreak Hall Of Fame.” Smooth but driving with a classic sound, “Heartbreak Hall of Fame” merges vintage Country with modern Bluegrass in just the right way, a combination the Grascals do so well. Written by Larry Joe Cox, Ray Edwards and Dicky Minor, it tells the story of unrequited love and a man whose suffering is endured through this bitter lament. “Somewhere in the record books, There will be your name. And a list of all the hearts you broke while you played your cheatin’ game”
Lead vocals are performed by the band’s young, talked-about singer John Bryan with sterling Grascals harmonies by the recognized voice of Terry Eldredge and the resonant baritone of Terry Smith. “Heartbreak Hall of Fame” is the most recent single from this band’s upcoming release that follows the success of their 2017 release, Before Breakfast.
Great musicians will always find a way to make good music, but for great musicians to make great music, they must form a bond – one that, more often than not, goes beyond the purely musical to the personal. For The Grascals, that bond has been forged at the intersection of personal friendships, shared professional resumes and an appreciation for the innovative mingling of bluegrass and country music that has been a hallmark of the Nashville scene for more than forty years. WEBSITE.
We don't feature that much traditional country music on Beehive Candy however 'Heartbreak Hall of Fame' has something special about it and works for me. I suppose the modern Bluegrass element is what does the trick for me, that and the superb musicianship that is impossible to ignore, and the characterful vocals.
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Welsh dream-pop outfit Kidsmoke share their urgent new single Rising Sun, the first from their upcoming album expected next year. The track is a pulsating psychedelic journey, spatially and sonically.
Produced by Bill Ryder-Jones and Russ Hayes, Rising Sun reveals a raw, driven and far-flung sound with an unwavering energy, with incorporating influences from My Bloody Valentine’s Suesfine. With lyrics of fortitude and resilience combined with dreamy vocals and harmonies, the band throwback to their indie heritage.
Both the music and lyrics showcase the strength of Kidsmoke’s sound: ‘The first two lines I wrote for Rising Sun were ‘I don’t want to follow’ and ‘I feel your love” describes frontman Lance Williams, ‘I wanted the song to be centred around those lyrics, so I started thinking about how they could be linked somehow. The song ended up being about pushing against what other people expect of you, even if that pressure is coming from the people you are closest to.’
The waves made by Kidsmoke’s shimmering brand of indie-pop do not stop in their native North Wales. With a sync-feature on Charlie Brooker’s Netflix series Black Mirror, they burst into 2018 with single Sister Sadness (named one of Steve Lamacq’s ‘6Music Recommends’ tracks of the year), were featured as The Sunday Times’ ‘Breaking Act’, supported Gaz Coombes and were invited by Robert Smith to play his Meltdown Festival in support of The Joy Formidable.
The band have spent the summer in the studio with long-time producer Russ Hayes, and recording with Bill Ryder-Jones, for their forthcoming debut album expected next year. TWITTER.
'Rising Sun' is our second song feature for Kidsmoke following on from 'Sister Sadness' which graced our pages back in February this year. This is more of a refreshing indie rocker musically, however the dream pop sensibilities are present through the melodic and engaging vocals and harmonies.
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Henry Jamison’s songcraft has been praised as being “written like the Great American Novel. He crafts his lyrics with metaphor, juxtaposition, and a certain poeticism resonant of vagabond folk heroes or members of the literary canon” (Billboard), and Henry will prove that to be true ten-fold on his upcoming album ‘Gloria Duplex’ (out Feb. 8, 2019 on Akira Records).
The new album, which was produced by Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan Stevens, The National), and features strings by Rob Moose (Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Phoebe Bridgers) and mixing by Patrick Dillet (Rhye, David Byrne), creates a lush and enveloping environment for the Burlington, VT musical bard to hold a magnifying glass to the topic of masculinity in 2018.
Henry Jamison has just released “Boys” the second single from ‘Gloria Duplex’ which finds him exploring the ways in which boys are indoctrinated into one-dimensional men. “The crux of this song is contained in the line ‘we used to feel our rage just like the sea, now we get it on an installment plan” he explains.
“I'm talking about myself and I'm talking about the repression that many men unknowingly experience today, that is both a cause and a result of an insatiable drive to prove ourselves. What could our vital forces yield if we weren't taught to stem them off into needless power games almost from our first breath? I don't know, but I'm willing to guess that it wouldn't be the insane "race to the bottom" in which we're now engaged.”
Elsewhere on the album, Jamison can be found sitting in a boardwalk bar drinking whiskey while pondering emotional repression, reflecting on the socio-economic divide of our culture while watching a group of chummy, Ivy League students ride a train out of NYC, and detailing overt expressions of masculinity lived out through a game of Grand Theft Auto. FACEBOOK.
It has been a while since we last featured Henry Jamison an artist who has consistently impressed Beehive Candy. The new single 'Boys' is gentle and gorgeous, with absorbing lyrics delivered with natural feeling, and the musical backdrop is soft and yet sublime.
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