Bryde - Pixy Jones - Sky Barkers - Goodnight Sunrise - Gal Musette

Photo - Cae Candal Sato

Bryde - Epilogue.

Each track on Bryde’s new album Still explores a different kind of love. It’s a reflective and deeply psychological record, and though it comes with beautifully vulnerable moments that tap into our ideals of romantic love, it also pulls apart society’s pre-conceived ideas of what love should be, with songs that take us on a different path, one exploring concepts of self-love and embracing our shadow selves.

New single ‘Epilogue’ sits somewhere in the middle, it’s undoubtable a love song, stripped down with Bryde’s achingly beautiful vocal vulnerably relaying her most inner thoughts (it’s opening line alone is pure heartbreak…. “I wanted you to call me baby, I wanted you to like my hazy world”). However, whilst tapping into the feelings of being in-love, it simultaneously steps away from the fairy tale ideal, offering a more realistic viewpoint. As Bryde expands:

"Real love is about knowing someone. Their flaws, their annoying traits and habits, hair unwashed and wanting them anyway. It wants nothing but the best for that person and is never jealous of their achievements or gains.”

The ‘Epilogue’ video sees Bryde team up once again with director Rhys Davies, with the concept inspired by the song’s lyrics ”sew myself into your seams”. As Bryde expands “It emerged from the idea of trying on someone else’s clothes, from the idea of identity, of feeling this draw to merge with another person entirely and then trying to find oneself again in all of it. Peeling off layers and emerging from the experience, blinking in the daylight.”

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Pixy Jones - I'm Not There.

El Goodo guitarist and songwriter 'Pixy Jones' has announced that his debut album entitled 'Bits n Bobs' is due for release on 16th of September via Strangetown Records. Branching away from the familiar El Goodo platform, Welsh psych scene stalwart Pixy Jones has himself compiled a truly remarkable collection of tracks that fluctuate from 60's harmony-rich psych pop, to Alt-Country with ringing tremelo guitar.

The swaggering 'I'm Not There' is the first single to be taken from 'Bits n Bobs' accompanied by a magical version of Beatles track 'And Your Bird Can Sing' as it's B Side, which is released digitally today Friday 1st of July.

Pixy had this to say about the release: The album was originally intended as a solo project under the pseudonym of “Wallace Russell”. I recorded it alongside the recording of Zombie (El Goodo) whenever I could get in the studio. There are some really old songs that have always been overlooked for 'El Goodo' albums for one reason or another, a few new ones which I wrote specifically for this, and a couple that would have probably ended up on the intended double album version of Zombie if we’d kept going with the double album idea. I’ve since ditched the 'Wallace Russell' name and gone back to 'Pixy Jones' as I figured there’s no need to have a pseudonym if nobody knows who you are in the first place. Even though I dropped the name I’ve kept the walrus mask for now as it is more photogenic than my actual face.

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Sky Barkers - Give You Love.

Sky Barkers is an indie trio based in coastal West Wales. It is comprised of Joanna MacGregor Messore, Dan Messore and Matt Brown. They make groove based, hook heavy, vocal laden music - lyrically connective and energy driven, rooted in song-writing but with a wonky edge. ‘Give You Love’ is the bands second offering writing as this current trio, following on from their first single ‘Beholden to None’. Expect a full EP soon, coming this Autumn.

Jo MacGregor says: “Give You Love is a celebration and rebellion song. We wrote it during one of the lockdowns and it’s really just about loving - honestly and wildly, which in the current climate seems an act of necessary rebellion. 

Letting love be the force that courses through you and blasts you out of apathy, fear, whatever. But we’ve got to dare to be vulnerable enough to let it in, to feel it for real - and so many of us have big old bags of pain in the way. But in those moments when we really connect and let this incredible force tingle through us - it’s pretty wild. And we need it like water.”

bubblewrap.collective · Sky Barkers - Give You Love

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Goodnight Sunrise - Wait For It.

Toronto rock band, Goodnight Sunrise, was founded through a shared love of pop hooks and the raw power of classic rock. 

Since 2011, the band have taken their explosive live show to over 300 audiences across Canada, the US, and Europe, opening up for Bon Jovi, Big Wreck, and The Sheepdogs along the way.

Their latest release, "Wait For It," is a driving alternative rock track for the summer, written for anyone who is tired of being confined by societal pressures. It's a rousing sing along for the dreamers who are tired of everyone else acting like they've got all the answers.

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Gal Musette - Summertime (feat. Via Mardot) (Reimagined).

Gal Musette is the nom de plum of Grace Freeman, a musical prodigy who began writing piano based lyrical compositions and performing at open mics in her home city of San Clemente, CA at the age of 10. Her graceful approach to melody-driven indie-folk and French chansons has captured audiences all over Southern California. 

At age 14, inspired by The Magnetic Fields’ triple album 69 Love Songs, Gal recorded her own collection titled 70 Love Songs, which caught the attention of the band, and won her an opening slot on a few of their Midwestern U.S. tour dates. In more recent years, Gal has opened for several renowned artists such as Macy Gray, Suzanne Vega, Todd Snyder, and Donavon Frankenreiter. While her artist name is taken from bal-musette, the accordion-based, waltz-style French instrumental music, Gal’s primary inspiration is drawn from songwriters including Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Bjork, Cocteau Twins, Burt Bacharach, Irving Berlin and The Cure.

In October 2021, Gal released her debut album, Backwards Lullaby, featuring a vocal duet with one of her biggest musical inspirations, Rufus Wainwright. The album explores the pangs of hopeless romances and unrequited love, what it’s like to move beyond idealized love into the acceptance of what is real and constant, as well as the cyclical nature of life and love in relationships.

Musette's upcoming EP, Backwards Lullaby [Reimagined], comprises three tunes from her original LP, which she collaborated on with Via Mardot, a prolific and multi-talented musician from Detroit, Michigan. Mardot performed every aspect of instrumentation on this EP including the theremin, violin, cello, double bass, acoustic guitar, and much more. The EP was brainstormed and produced by the talented Jon O’Brien and is out today July 1, 2022.

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Bryde - Monophonics - Blue Amber

Photographed by Cae Candal Sato

Bryde - Algorithms (cyber).

Bryde (aka British guitarist and vocalist Sarah Howells) shares a third single ‘Algorithms (cyber)’ from forthcoming album Still which follows 15 July via Easy Life Records.

“How do you write a song about online dating and its familiar combination of hope and disappointment” say BRYDE of ‘Algorithms (cyber)’, “It’s like a real-life social media notification you can't stop checking. How do you write about ice cream, gaslighting, fleeting feelings that can creep out the back door when you're not looking, THE INTERNET!!  About the fact we can now research each other before ever meeting IRL?”

As with all the ten songs on Bryde's album Still, ‘Algorithms (cyber)’ is not a simple tale of love, or the search for. Instead, it unpacks deep-rooted societal views on it, the preconceptions, and trappings, explored with prose that is both vulnerable it its honesty and worldly wise, wrapped in a lush soundscape led by Bryde’s dreamy guitar, pulsating drums, and the achingly beautiful vocals.

 “An algorithm is a list of rules to follow to solve a problem”, Bryde expands, “The problem of being single? Except being single isn’t a problem until we make it one. In short ‘Algorithms (cyber)’ is an ode to leaving behind the games of the digital word.”

The accompanying video created by Rhys Davies stars Drag Race UK star Scarlett Harlett (aka Harry Luke Mulvey). It captures an intimate moment in time in a couple’s life following an off-screen violent altercation with one of the lovers, a drag artist (played by Mulvey), as he returns home. It’s a beautifully vulnerable and tender portrayal of love in a sometimes-uncontrollable and unfair world.

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Photo by Geoff Whitman

Monophonics - Sage Motel.

Bay Area-based Monophonics just released their video for “Sage Motel,” the title track from their new full-length out now via Colemine Records. The world's premier psychedelic soul band, Monophonics cordially invites you to attend the grand re-opening of the once thriving, once vibrant establishment, the legendary Sage Motel. A place where folks experience the highs and lows of human existence. A place where big dreams and broken hearts live, where people arrive without ever knowing how they got there. It's where individuals find themselves at a crossroads in life.

“We decided to make a film that captures the song’s spirit - encompassing all the desperation, lust, and messiness that can often be met when falling for someone; especially at the wrong time,” says Kassy Mahea, director of the “Sage Motel” music video. “The Sage Motel that I envisioned is set in rural nowhere America, and is frequented by characters that are flawed but, at the same time, interesting and beautiful. This video is an ode to the gritty, the passionate, the lost, the hopeful, and is another glimpse into the world within The Sage Motel.“

What started as a quaint motor lodge and a common pitstop for travelers and truckers in the 1940s, Sage Motel morphed into a bohemian’s hang by the 1960s and 1970s. Artists, musicians, and vagabonds of all types would stop there as seedy ownership pumped obnoxious amounts of money into high end renovations, eventually attracting some of the most prominent acts of the era. But when the money ran out, The Sage Motel devolved into a place where you rent by the hour. Sage Motel, Monophonics' fifth studio album since 2012, tells its story.

“‘Sage Motel’ was the second song we wrote for the album and ultimately was the spark that started this whole concept and story,” says Monophonics bandleader Kelly Finnigan. “It’s a song about a complicated relationship created out of incomparable physical chemistry, lust, passion & love. It’s the struggle of chasing something that will never be a reality, no matter how bad you want it. Some things are meant to happen, but not meant to be… and it all goes down at the Sage Motel.”

 

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Blue Amber - Rockland's Workshop (album).

Following in the footsteps of his Beat Generation heroes, Blue Amber’s frontman Drew set out on a journey that would take him from the bright lights of New York City, through the heartlands of America, finishing up with an excursion down the West Coast highways. The trip, sound tracked by the jazz greats, instrumental hip hop pioneers and lo-fi cult bands such as The Microphones, inspired Drew to create his own new 'Beat Generation'. On his return home, armed with dozens of filled notebooks and completed rolls of film, Blue Amber was born.

Focus track, “Fencing” is an experimental indie rock track that fills you with a beautiful melancholy yearning for more.  Speaking on the track, “Fencing” incorporates an element of hope to the final track on the album, but also a sense of foreboding; that mistakes from the past are bound to repeat themselves. The song is exactly three minutes in length, the same length as each period in a bout in fencing, an idea that my partner at the time provided.

The first half of the record was inspired by the seaside town of Aberystwyth, the people who reside there and the artist’s personal soundtrack living there. The song ‘Hinterland Girls’ is about the people who you encounter on a typical night out in the town, while ‘West Coast Renaissance’ is a tribute to the enclosed art scene within the university arts scene. Continuing the theme, the second half of the record focuses on the experiences of returning to your hometown. It explores the feelings of returning to a place from your past, seeing people you haven’t seen in years and your relationship with a place you once knew so well. As a result, the tone of the second half of the record is darker, and more critical of its surroundings.

Initially a solo project based out of Drew's bedroom, Blue Amber quickly grew into a rotating ensemble of like-minded friends and musicians from all around the UK based in Cardiff. The band, now comprised of composer Freyja Elsy (keyboards/samples/vocals), jazz guitarist Kumar Chopra, and Drew Noel (vocals and saxophone), pull together a wide range of influences from instrumental hip hop to post-punk, beat poetry to indie folk, to create sonically diverse musical offerings that capture the experiences of 20-somethings in a post-Brexit Britain.

Blue Amber · Rockland's Workshop

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Annabel Allum - Bryde - Drinks - Dead Man's Knee - Birdpeople

Annabel Allum - Rascal.

Background - Guildford-based Annabel Allum shares boisterous new single Rascal, her second offering of the year following acclaimed January release Beat The Birds and critically successful 2017 EP All That For What. Loaded with pulsating hooks and the enigmatic singer-songwriter’s tenacious vocals, Allum oozes charisma and once more showcases her ability to marry folk-style storytelling with snarling fuzzy indie.

“Rascal pinpoints a phase in time when it felt like no matter what I was doing, it wouldn’t be right”. Allum says, “Trying to look after myself, the people close to me, the people around me, and never finding a balance in any of it. I would either give too much or nothing at all. I still do that. It’s quite a sad song. Self-scrutiny, really. I guess I’m just still learning that it’s okay to not be able to please everything all the time”.

Alongside the striking sonic aesthetic of her music, her original look and self-styling has led to endorsements from Bastian Classics, Cheap Monday and various other indie clothing brands. Liam Corneloues on bass and Emma Hiley on drums complete Annabel’s trusty band, prepped to deliver raucous sets throughout the festival circuit in the UK and Europe this summer.

Rascal was produced by Adrian Hall (Goldfrapp, Du Blonde, Anna Calvi) and was released by London indie label Killing Moon Records on yesterday. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

We shared 'Beat the Birds' by Annabel Allum back in January and now we have 'Rascal'. Once again we have an expansive rock backdrop pulsating with power, whilst her vocals are more than equal to the soundtracks potent challenge as they melodically soar above.

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Bryde - Peace.

Background - With debut LP Like An Island a month away from release, Bryde ups the ante on new single ‘Peace’. With her masterly understanding of dynamics and counterpoint, alongside her unbridled lyricism, ‘Peace' sees Bryde at her most amplified. Throughout her career Bryde has tackled challenging subject matter, exploring the curious relationship between vulnerability and empowerment with a psychological nuance and honesty that pegs her as a truly distinct new voice on the international indie circuit. 

Mixed by Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice, PJ Harvey and St Vincent), and mastered by Mandy Parnell, it's a record of catharsis which gives a voice to bad times and exorcises old demons. Her cagey verses morph into expansive choruses as Bryde expertly plays around with the contrasts between loud/quiet and soft/heavy.   

Bryde says of the track; “Peace is about the warm glow of two drinks and real connection with another person. It's about the end of anger and the settling calm after a storm. Being able to be entirely yourself and still be liked. I had to make it the loudest track on the album because if something's not a little subversive.”

Like An Island is scheduled for release on the 13th of April via Bryde’s own label Seahorse Music. Bryde founded it to publish records by like-minded women and help make them more visible in a male-dominated industry. This record is the culmination of all of Bryde’s experience with her craft so far, and support for it is also rapidly ramping up, with NPR recognising Bryde's voice as “equally stunning and chilling.”     

Bryde will set off on her biggest UK, IRE and EU tour so far. It’s a sprawling 29 date stretch in April and May that will see her peddling her inimitable brand of incisive lyricism and raucous rock and roll to her widest audience yet. There is little doubt, whether on wax or on stage, that this year is a pivotal one in her career so far. ‘Peace’ is out now with Like An Island to follow 13th of April on Seahorse Music. WEBSITE, TWITTER.

And it's our second feature this year for Bryde and the new single 'Peace'. It's another fine taste of what's to come with the debut album just weeks away, this time we have a feisty rocker, which makes a good companion for Bryde's melodic and lively vocals.

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Drinks - Real Outside.

Background - Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley (White Fence) have teamed up for a second album as Drinks. The new album, Hippo Lite, will be released on Drag City worldwide on April 20, 2018. Drinks began in 2015 with the release of their debut LP, Hermits on Holiday on Presley’s own Birth Records.
“A month spent in an old mill in the under belly of France.
River swimming thrice a day.
Hot nights soundtracked by the rattle of randy frogs. Scorpion fear. In the sheets, on the face.
Hours of bird watching – no phone service. No wifi. 3 DVDs; Jurassic Park 1, 2 & 3.
Violin practice. Bread scoffing.
Early morning coffee drinking before the sun was too hot to do anything but snooze in the thick walled house. Music in the afternoon after a dip in the river and a cold beer on the square.
An album made for each other by one another with no hands, eyes or ears piercing the bubble other than that of dear friend Stephen Black who kept note of it all.”
– Cate Le Bon

“In a town, so very still and quiet.
A month in St. Hippolyte Du Fort, South France.
Where completely all of their brave young men vanished forever from the death machine of the first world war.
At one time left with only women and young girls.
Only relics of time standing still.
All the deceased names of men chiseled under a stone angel, that watches over the town square.
We set up a recording unit in an old stone mill turned house and began to write and record with the attention of tree trimmers or gardeners.
It got so hot we had to swim in a local river near by just to be able to think, then back to our home to make sounds and songs. Any sounds we could think of or wanted.
We used night sounds, night insects and used frogs as instruments. Did you know frogs have saxophones in their throats?
This is a broken music. a crumble. It’s the music of the building we called home for a month. We’ve never made & recorded music in such a simple living environment.
With all the ease, and air we needed. We were in a town 8 miles over from Robert Crumb’s hidden residence.
We lived in a mysterious place.
We had a flock of bats over for dinner many nights. No internet, or a phone to look to.
We had a beautiful big stone house, a river, and from time to time a lovely elderly yet young-hearted couple who would visit.
It was the opposite of what a typical recording experience usually is for any of us.
We tried to capture all of this and put it on record.”
– Tim Presley.

Recorded by Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo), Drums by “JT” John Thomas (Cate Le Bon/Islet) & mixed in Los Angeles by Samur Khouja at Seahorse Sound. All songs and lyrics by Cate Le Bon & Tim Presley. BANDCAMP.

Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley under the guise of Drinks have come up with an exceptional album as is only partially witnessed through the featured song 'Real Outside'. It as "out there" as anything I have heard in a long time, quirky, avant-garde, refreshing and highly original, it's also very moreish, in fact it's an album I find myself returning to out of continued intrigue as much as delight.

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Dead Man's Knee - Pleasure.

Background - A paradigm shift in popular culture put the heady rock and roll excesses of the late twentieth century (sex and drugs) into the hands of contemporary commercial hip hop. ‘Pleasure’ is Dead Man’s Knee’s no-holds barred hard rock debut single that lyrically sets out to explore the shame prevalent in rock and roll over its hedonistic past.

There’s a freewheeling sense of experimental progression akin to Funkadelic, and a contemporary hard rock edge like QOTSA at their most Led Zeppelin, but frontman Del’s vocal approach recalls the rootsy body singing of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. It all combines to make a fearsome three minute head banger that’ll have you shaking out on to the streets, bopping to your nearest dive bar to break every new years resolution you thought you were serious about.

Dead Man’s Knee are a group from London who come from a background of blues, rock and roll, gospel and soul. Comprised of Del on guitar and vocals, Angelos on guitar, George on bass and Leonn on drums, the group have already earned their stripes playing as session musicians on the pop and soul circuit while also coming together (sans Angelos) as a rhythmic core for Jodie Abacus. Del and Leonn grew up in London from the same church community while Angelos and George both came from Greece.

The group formed in 2015 with Leonn replacing their old drummer in late 2016. As their fearsome debut single ‘Pleasure’ demonstrates, the four-piece have an electrifying chemistry, reanimating the bones of vital and exciting hard rock while lyrically questioning the dogma of the long-faded rock and roll lifestyle. This is modern rock stripped of the pretence. It’s not packaging and selling you a hedonistic dream, it’s offering a nuanced critique on the role of pleasure in our lives. Sometimes it’s healthy to step out the zone and wild out. FACEBOOK, TWITTER.

'Pleasure' explodes into action as a full on straight down the line rocker. The vocals are pure rock & roll, potent, determined and commanding as the band turn out some super charged riffs, Dead Mans Knee are on fire and burning bright!

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Birdpeople - The Monument.

Background - Birdpeople are not your regular pop outfit. Points of departure include Walter Benjamin, the Hyperobject, Reza Negarestani, Hayao Miyazaki, Andrej Tarkovskij, God, Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, Alejandro Jodorowsky; a volatile love-hate relationship with contemporary art music; the zombie-like doggedness of plant life: viriditas vs. the smooth face of the everyday; Capitalism, the gender system, downfall and ruins; family and the impossibility of breaking free; affinity, camaraderie, loss, grief, decay; having the rug pulled out from under you; living like a shadow of yourself; the way back or out of here; nerves; dead capital and living labour; architecture and anti-techture. It’s a post-apocalyptic salvage-op in anticipation of the Collapse.

The members’ former project fell apart due to a sense of diminishing urgency. Guitar music seemed patriarchal beyond redemption, and in a fit of desperation they bought a semi-modular MS-20. None of them knew the first thing about analogue synthesis, but that was precisely the point. They projected old sci-fi flicks onto the wall of their rehearsal space, recording improvised music directly to a portable cassette recorder. Work on an EP soon began under the supervision of producer Magnus “Existensminimum” Monn, who shared the band’s musical claustrophobia. The songs resisted violently: writer’s block, homemade instruments, derelict vintage synths, sonorous metal scraps fashioned into a tree.

“We wanted to build a utopia out of all this riff raff, and somehow this became our way of making music feel like it mattered again. Using hardware synths makes played parts irrevocable, it limits and hinders – a paradoxical deliverance. There were times when we couldn’t communicate except through the sounds we made; sometimes we were like a harmonious hive mind.”

The nom de guerre Birdpeople was solemnly adapted after work on the EP was concluded. It’s meant to convey the impression of a family, or, rather,  a cult. That was what the trio felt they had become during the process. Birds, ever present in the band’s lyrics, became their spirit animals. “We wanted to address the ambivalence of this wondrous-yet-harrowing imprisonment of being human. Nevertheless, music seemed to offer some way out of the compulsory nature of human-being. Bird-being thus became a metaphor for a kind of cyborgs-to-be, for the potentiality of being more than human – possessing wings, talons and beak, being able to observe the world from above.” Birdpeople are Amanda Blomqvist, Cecilia Wickström and Jakob Lavonius. Magnus “Existensminimum” Monn is their producer and next of kin. FACEBOOK.

A swift flowing beat introduces 'The Monument' that soon upgrades into something notable as the vocals and layers of sound develop. Rhythmic, creative and something of a musical journey at just short of seven minutes, Birdpeople keep you guessing and reward you with some beguiling twists along the way.

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Canary Islands - Everett Bird - Bryde

Canary Islands - Glöm Baby Glöm.

Background - Swedish Canary Islands, consisting of members from Animal Five, are now en route to a new album release.

They have previously released music under their own format ”3P”: 3 songs, recorded in 3 days, released as a long triple song.They released 3 of these 3P’s in one year.

”Glöm baby Glöm” is the first single from their upcoming album, and it’s a straight forward and dreamy pop song:

”Glöm baby Glöm' is about a person that breaks up with someone they love above all because they deserve that kind of love.” - Martin von Inghardt. FACEBOOK.

'Glöm Baby Glöm' is a smooth flowing indie pop song that is beautifully crafted. The vocals are natural and pleasing regardless of any language barrier, the music is vibrant and equally charming.

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Everett Bird - Bucket of Dark Meat.

Background from Everett Bird - We’re Everett Bird, a Montreal-based trio who are very stoked to be releasing our debut record, People Person, through Royal Mountain Records on February 23rd. We’re sharing the first song that we wrote for the album “Bucket of Dark Meat.”

“Bucket of Dark Meat” is about that feeling of anxiety that takes over when it seems like everyone is being more productive than you. On the other end,  it’s a song about suppressing that feeling with things that make you happy.

Fueled by Guru Energy Drinks, Pilsners and twenty years of friendship, People Person was written in an old Montreal apartment. Everett drank so much Gru that we actually turned purple. To fill out the line up, we picked up Mikey Arcidiacono. After catching him slappin' and tappin' on the razorback at Guitar World, we knew that he was the missing link. 

The album was recorded at Montreal’s Breakglass Studios with Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes, SUUNS), where each session wrapped up with celebratory 306’s (Pilsners) and stogies. The album we created meshes rock, jazz, and R&B, with overtones of punk and garage – pairs well with liquor and a bucket of dark meat in the park. FACEBOOK.

With a title like 'Bucket of Dark Meat' your halfway to being featured, just make sure the song is up to scratch! This is a creative and very catchy track, the ideas, the twists and turns make it very addictive, the album is awaited with intrigue & expectation.

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Bryde - To Be Brave.

Background - After setting up her label Seahorse Music to publish records by like-minded women and help make them more visible in a male-dominated industry, Bryde finished up her debut LP Like An Island flitting between London and LA. Exploring themes of independence, liberation, and relationships, her inimitable brand of candid indie rock is realised with mixing help from Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice, PJ Harvey and St Vincent), and mastering by Mandy Parnell.

Lyrically, London based Bryde finds intense internal poetry in everyday adversity. While concentrating thematically on life and human interaction, her songwriting persona wears her bruised yet resolute heart on her sleeve.

For the Wales-born songwriter, it’s not just the technical precision of her lyrics that resonate with a widening fanbase, it’s also her vocal delivery. On her latest song To Be Brave Bryde’s voice carries us beyond the imprecision of words into feelings we all know but can’t delineate.

As she says: “To Be Brave was written as kind of a soft squeeze of the hand to many friends who have, like me, been through many a dark period and put on a brave face and just got on with it. It’s a comment about how we all live out certain episodes of our lives in such a public setting these days that I feel we almost edit them to appear flawless, nothing but smiles.”

To Be Brave is a shock to the system of preconceived notions about the style of artist Bryde is. She’s rock and roll for sure, but protean and poetic, a rocker in the vein of Patti Smith. 'Like An Island' comes out on Bryde's own label Seahorse Music on the 13 of April and will be available to preorder. Support in the form of Women Make Music fund from PRS has been awarded to assist its release. WEBSITE, FACEBOOK.

Time flies, I new we had featured Bryde before, in fact it was back in 2016, still it's good to welcome her back with the new song 'To Be Brave'. The vocals are captivating and just feel so personal, the music gradually builds without dominating, however it does become quite epic, the mood and feeling completes the circle.

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Quality Not Quantity: Candi's Dog - Bryde - Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children

Candi's Dog - A Light Has Gone Out.

Background promo - Tyneside trio Candi's Dog specialise in acoustic Folk-Pop, combining inventive structures with ludicrously catchy melodies in the essential “A Light Has Gone Out”, released Friday 25th November 2016.

“A Light Has Gone Out” demonstrates Candi’s Dog at the very top of their unique Folk-Pop game with crisp, upbeat melodies and warming harmonies generously supplying a comforting air of familiarity whilst simultaneously providing a fresh take on the Folk-Pop genre. With crystal-clear tones combined with bucket loads of untouchable sincerity, the resulting mash-up is akin to the likes of Bright Eyes and Fleetwood Mac along with the lyrical qualities of Ed Sheeran and Bob Dylan.

It’s just too damn hard not to like these fellows as audiences have been finding out. After supporting The Sons Of Pitches, winners of BBC TV’s ‘The Naked Choir’ on their sold out shows earlier this year, Candi’s Dog are back by popular demand, well and truly winning over the masses and utterly depleting their CD supplies in the process.

Favouring the DIY approach, Candi’s Dog have not only opted to make their own instruments but after being left with underwhelming results at the hands of recording studios, the band have taken to home recording. The decision has clearly paid off with the brilliantly catchy single “A Light Has Gone Out” fresh off the production line, showcasing the song craft of twin brothers, Matthew and Daniel Slee, and Stephen Justice. Facebook here.

We featured Candi's Dog back in February this year. 'A Light Has Gone Out' continues to demonstrate that their take on folk pop based music, is both enjoyable and imaginative. The track reminds me in part of one well known South East London band who have structured songs along these lines in times gone by, consider that a complement albeit I won't squeeze readers, as to whom I refer.

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Bryde - Wouldn't That Make You Feel Good?

Background - Following up from rabble stomper ‘Honey’, London artist Bryde reveals a second track from her upcoming EP. ‘Wouldn’t That Make You Feel Good?’ channels an intimate woosy blues dynamic with an injection of a towering guitar episode bearing the indelible stamp of Bill Ryder-Jones. Such dynamism shows Bryde pushing boundaries emphatically, exploring a grittiness now becoming synonymous with her songwriting.

Since setting out as Bryde, Sarah Howells has proven herself to be one of the most singular vocalists and songwriters in British indie rock. She’s a powerful projectionist with a tonal range that will likely see her drawing a few comparisons to her international axe-wielding peers Angel Olsen, Mitski and St Vincent. With additional overseas artists such as Whitney, Julia Jacklin and Big Thief enjoying a speedily growing audience, Bryde is without doubt a key UK based voice in this space as she continues to build momentum around an unmistakable offering.

Praise for the Welsh songwriter has been well-bestowed from outlets like Consequence of Sound, The Line Of Best Fit, Nylon, 6Music and Radio 1. EP2 is to be released on the 4th of November via Tipping Point Records and having recently played her biggest London headline show at The Courtyard (Shoreditch) Bryde now heads out on tour around the UK. Website here.

Tour dates:
13.10 – London, The Courtyard Theatre
01.11 – Brightom, The Hope And Ruin
02.11 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
03.11 – Bristol, The Old Bookshop
04.11 – Southampton, The Notes Cafe
06.11 – Glasgow, Broadcast
07.11 – Newcastle, Head Of Steam
08.11 – Manchester, Fallow Cafe
09.11 – Leeds, Oporto
10.11 – Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge
17.11 – Norwich, The Shoe Factory Social Club.

'Wouldn't That Make You Feel Good?' demonstrates the versatile vocals of Bryde, who can switch from earthy and passionately edgy through to softer sweeter vocals within a couple of guitar licks. In fact the guitar and vocal juxtaposition makes this one very interesting and likable song.

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Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children - Backdrop People.

Background - Ebbot Lundberg & The Indigo Children drop new album ‘For The Ages To Come’ in the UK, December 2nd. Most well-known as the charismatic former Soundtrack Of Our Lives (SOOL) and Union Carbide Productions frontman, Ebbot Lundberg is finally set to unleash his first full solo release in the UK. Having teamed up with Grammy-nominated band The Indigo Children ‘For The Ages To Come’ will impact December 2nd. Self-produced and recorded throughout last year in his native Gothenburg, the album is over-flowing with Lundberg’s trademark ear for melody; ‘For The Ages To Come’ is the musical odyssey we have come to expect, but has its roots firmly planted in the 1960s beat movement, with lyrical themes and hooks to match.

Witness the effervescence of ‘To Be Continued’, or the raucous pop stomp that is ‘Backdrop People;’ this is clearly an album overflowing with energy and vigour, a vibrancy that Lundberg was keen to capture on record. “The Indigo Children actually supported SOOL a few years ago,” explains Lundberg, “They astounded us with their sheer energy. When it came to deciding who I wanted to work with on this record, there was only one option in my mind…” ‘For The Ages To Come’ represents the first solo release for Lundberg since the epic 43 minute long song ‘There’s Only One Of Us Here’, and to mark the occasion, he is set to play songs from the album at a headline show in London Upstairs At The Garage on December 4th.

It is clear the album represents the beginning of a journey for Lundberg; “This represents where I am, and where I am going. It is the first album, but certainly not the last.” In fact, Lundberg’s creative output shows little sign of abating; whilst already writing songs for the follow-up album, he is also collaborating with members of Spiritualized and legendary Nirvana producer Butch Vig on a project to see the light of day next year. For Ebbot Lundberg, it is clear that age is a barrier to neither creative output nor excellence; for that we need only witness ‘For The Ages To Come’ as living proof.

First taste of the forthcoming album and 'Backdrop People' is a genre mash of feisty folk rock vocals set against something of an alt or maybe indie rock background. Full of chord changing hooks and growing in power as the track unfolds, it's a total tease for what's to follow.

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