SINGLE REVIEW – PIPPA BLUNDELL: BIG BEAR

The new standalone single from Pippa Blundell is a fine example of how to capture an atmosphere. It was written in a crowded artists’ house on the Isle of Skye during Storm Floris in the midst of a three-day power cut. Consequently, it becomes about being in the moment and savouring small pleasures, such as […]
It’s true, the world is in transition not for good reason. It has become a dangerous place, saturated in a drug culture that keeps on growing, that keeps on killing and nothing seems to be halting its progression. War is an issue too; we already knew that and its directionless, aimless in its validation. We […]

SINGLE REVIEW – ALKALINE TRIO: OBLIVION

SINGLE REVIEW – HOTEL MERCY: LUCKY

California’s Gabriel Hart and Tim Paul Gray convey through this lyrical gem lights fading and despair hitting deeply. The talented duo also try to escape the mundane, a humdrum existence, and their song Lucky bolsters their chances of making it through to a utopia fit for living in. The song is weaved with sweet chords […]
With each pluck of a string and every beat to a drum, The Kowloons present their undeniable talents upon a polished platter of silver.  An upbeat rhythm with an infectious nature, ‘I Don’t Care’ draws a hit of jaunty acoustics before exhaling a sweet summer sound. Revealing a narrative, this track is “spoken like a […]

SINGLE REVIEW – THE KOWLOONS: I DON’T CARE

SINGLE REVIEW – LUCY WROE: THE VAULT

It had been a rough winter. Global politics swung with the same volatility as the weather outside—unpredictable, unrelenting, and sometimes disconcerting. Cold, dark days had felt endless, as if the world had settled into a permanent sepia haze, with no sign of spring and the inevitable feeling of hope that it carried. Then, in the […]
When Tom A Smith played Deaf Institute earlier this year, he introduced two new songs into the set.  The closer – a cover of LCD Soundsystems “All My Friends” – was incredible, a fine example of a band reinterpreting and making someone else’s song their own. But the most intriguing song of the night was […]

SINGLE REVIEW – TOM A SMITH: I DON’T WANT YOU TO HAVE TO REMEMBER ME FOR LONGER THAN YOU EVER KNEW ME

SINGLE REVIEW: SHALLOW WATERS – THE GOD YOU KNOW YOU ARE

Arriving at a time of great uncertainty, Shallow Waters new single “The God You Know You Are” gives listeners the keys to a world to get lost in. The band originate from Wigan (aka the pie capital of Britain) and bring with them an expansive single that announces their ambitions clearer than a foghorn on […]
In the preceding summer, I erroneously misheard this song’s name while it was still in its unrecorded, (about-to-be) live-debuted infancy; the unpleasant temperature, noise pollution and the perturbing similarity of piss and kiss as syllables (matter of tongue placement) all proved decisive factors in an error I was powerless to reverse from being carved into […]

SINGLE REVIEW: FURROWED BROW – PISSING SUPERFLUOUS

SINGLE REVIEW: DEATH VALLEY GIRLS – BREAKTHROUGH

Death Valley Girls hit the streets once again with a single release of ‘Breakthrough’. A very charming and inviting success at merging the ‘old rock’ sound into a modern sound. They’ve got their influences tied into their groove without relying to much on just ‘sound like they did okay!’. Having never listened to the group […]
Precipitation, as a literary device, is universally linked thematically to negative topics like the demise of a loved one/barbecue/relationship or even the inability to load a musket if period re-enact were the scenario (appears not). Owning to the 167 second runtime, it is a somewhat more concise and straightforward lament about undefined melancholy, with the […]

SINGLE REVIEW: TINFOILS – SPITTING