BEEHIVE CANDY

JP Harris - When I Quit Drinking. Background - In today’s musical culture, the word “authenticity” seems to have lost all meaning. What used to represent something bona fide and true is now just watered-down marketing speak, stamped onto press releases without a second thought. Born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1983, JP Harris doesn’t fancy himself a musician as much as he does a carpenter who writes country songs. However, his stranger-than-fiction story begins after the eighth grade, when he left home on a Greyhound bus in the middle of a summer night. And he’s never looked back. Released this week is an album highlight and first single, “When I Quit Drinking,” which, as its title suggests, is a tender look at one of Harris’ most personal struggles. Gossamer strands of pedal steel complement the gentle quaver in his voice, underpinning some of his most personal lyrics to date. With his forthcoming album Sometimes Dogs Bark at Nothing (due out October 5th on Free Dirt Records), Harri...

Joy Autumn - Brave. Background - Brave is her poppiest song to date and possibly her best. Her chamber-esque, Kate Bush influenced voice is still front and center, but the instrumentation, full of synths and drum machines, is intriguing and the chorus, incredibly catchy.  Written as a personal pep talk during a dark period of depression, the song ultimately became something larger—an encouragement to confront your fears, to be honest about your experiences, to reach out for help and take tremendous leaps of faith like approaching a love-interest or chasing your dreams. “I wrote Brave when I was feeling so depressed I could hardly get out of bed. I forgot why I created music in the first place and Brave was written as a personal pep talk to myself. Depression is something that I’ve struggled with my whole life, but is not something that I’ve talked about publicly, until this song.  If I can help one person become inspired, despite their obstacles, to get out of bed, ta...

Michael Nau and the Mighty Thread - When. Background - Michael Nau will release his new, full band album ‘Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread’ through Full Time Hobby on 3rd August. ‘Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread’ is the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed album ‘Some Twist’ and its extension ‘The Load’ EP. Following the release of singles 'Less Than Positive', 'Funny In Real Life'  and 'You You', the band have now shared a video for album track 'When'. “The video is just a bunch of old (public-domain) home movie footage that I liked and I’ve been trying to assemble in different ways,” says The Mighty Thread drummer and 'When' video creator Graeme Gibson. “Good people moments. I found that editing visuals is a bit different than audio so I enlisted the help of an experienced documentary editor Emilee Booher to put the footage to good use.” “There was a musical language that we created; something without a guiding pattern that...

Alex Arpino - I Remember You (Dancing with the Devil). Background - Alex Arpino has had a rich history in Perth music, with a decade fronting indie pop purveyors The Autumn Isles behind him, he has now set out on a solo escapade by releasing his debut self-tilted record - also to receive a hometown launch this September 1. Following on from first taster Space Ghost (In a Puppet), current single I Remember You (Dancing with the Devil) heralds an open playing field and showcases not only his songwriter prowess, but Arpino's skills as a producer. Written and recorded in his studio, Alex Arpino handles all instrumental and vocal duties with help from Malcolm Clark (The Sleepy Jackson) on drums and has pieced together an infectious set of songs balancing the line between new wave and psych pop. A creative force, Alex Arpino has been described as a renaissance man, whether it’s producing large scale urban art murals and delicate portrait work or constructing records, his depth of art...

Sophie Morgan - Sons & Daughters. Background - Twenty one-year-old singer-songwriter Sophie Morgan has announced her second EP Sons & Daughters will be released on 21st September, with the lead title track Sons & Daughters, out now. Born in Liverpool and raised in Rainhill and Widnes, Sophie began playing piano aged 6 and wrote her first songs aged 9. Brought up on an early musical education of Nick Drake and Van Morrison, and later introduced to Joni Mitchell and Carole King, Sophie released her first singles Marionette and Quietly in 2016. She followed these with the release of her debut EP Annie and lead single Hey Annie last year, alongside a UK and European tour with The Waterboys, whose track The Whole Of The Moon features on the Annie EP. Sons & Daughters was written in the same afternoon as previous single Hey Annie, with The Verve’s Simon Jones and Davide Rossi (Goldfrapp, Coldplay, The Verve). It is an emotive folk song which fully showcases Sophie’s warm...

Fortuna POP! - You Can Hide Your Love Forever. Background - Indiepop institution Fortuna POP! quit the scene last year amid much gnashing of teeth from discerning music fans, going out in a blaze of glory with five days of sold out London shows by artists spanning their twenty year tenure, before label owner Sean Price fled Brexit Britain for a new life in Tokyo, Japan. That would have been it for Fortuna POP!, were it not for the label’s Jukebox 45s Singles Club. With one final single still owed to subscribers, Price saw the opportunity to do something special for what would be the very last release on the label. Taking one of the label’s best-loved releases, Comet Gain’s classic 2001 single “You Can Hide Your Love Forever”, as his starting point, contributions were solicited from Fortuna POP! bands past and present for a Band Aid-style cover version. Over twenty bands contributed, with the music recorded by a crack band featuring Amos Memon of Fanfarlo (drums), Emma Kupa of Mamm...