Album Review: Ólöf Arnalds – Sudden Elevation
Sudden Elevation may be Icelander Ólöf Arnalds’ third album, but it remains a landmark, being her first sung wholly in English. For this I’m awkwardly grateful as reviewing it is my first encounter with her otherworldly brand of folk. However, as a latecomer I find myself trailing behind an influential admirer of Arnalds who has already hit upon the perfect description of her work. When Björk (who duetted with her on Innundir Skinni track... Read More
NEWS: STUBBORN HEART – DEBUT ALBUM / VIDEO / TOUR DATES
Stubborn Heart – aka Luca Santucci & Ben Fitzgerald – set ears buzzing last year with a then unidentified white label 12” and followed it up with their EP ‘Need Someone’ on Kaya Kaya records. Now signed to One Little Indian, their full length eponymous debut, Stubborn Heart (released on November 5th) revealed a stunning and surprisingly poignant electronic soul record. Hailing from London & Oxford respectively, the duo’s... Read More
Album Review: Cody ChesnuTT – Landing On A Hundred
Soul singer and funk guitarist Cody Chesnutt is back with his second album, a decade and a few EPs separating them both. Landing On A Hundred is a neo-soul and funk album with all the musical flex of a 70s classic. The sound he’s gone for is BIG in every sense –with bold melodies, a big sound and a voice as mature as a motown soul singer. His upbeat vocal strength sounds like a sure-fire safe bet for a great live performance. Depending where your... Read More
SINGLE: Ólöf Arnalds – Innundir Skinni
I know that the current abiding image of Iceland is that of a country with no national bank, and an unpronounceable volcano intent on ruining our travel plans (I was in the US at the time and sadly it didn’t strand me there). But ever since a younger manifestation of myself became obsessed with “Agaetis Byrjun”, Iceland will be forever synonymous with music that evokes a landscape beautiful beyond words. Ólöf Arnalds is the latest Icelandic... Read More
ALBUM: Kathryn Williams – The Quickening
It is ten years now since Kathryn Williams’s second album Little Black Numbers garnered a Mercury Prize nomination. For a select few, including the likes of Dizzy Rascal – touted as Britain’s answer to the likes of Jay-Z but in reality rather more like our answer to MC Hammer – Mercury recognition has been the springboard for commercial success. For many others, it has constituted the fast track to obscurity. And so it has been for one-time... Read More
