ALBUM REVIEW – BOWES ROAD BAND: BACK IN THE HCA

When is a reissue not a reissue? Perhaps this can become the music fan’s equivalent of the “if a tree falls in a forest and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound” philosophical conundrum. The original release in 1972 of ‘Back in the HCA’ by Bowes Road Band was limited to […]
August ends on a bumper week with plenty of excellent releases. Here is the Silent Radio guide. Wreckless Eric                   Leisureland        It marks a return to his more ramshackle world of recording – guitars and temperamentally unpredictable analogue keyboards, beatboxes and loops in conjunction with a real drummer. The album considers the idea of seaside towns […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 25 AUGUST 2023

ALBUM REVIEW: SUN’S SIGNATURE: SUN’S SIGNATURE EXTENDED

The first words on Sun Signature’s extended EP, “the opening of a window onto rapture”, are an apt description of what is to follow. When the original EP was released in 2022, it marked the first new music from Elizabeth Fraser for 13 years. Blessed with one of the few voices that could genuinely be […]
 After witnessing OSEES smash it up big style in Liverpool this year, I was excited to hear the latest recording in a constantly evolving discography headed by the prolific and seemingly ageless J. Dwyer. Playing for around 2 hours at Invisible Wind Factory a few months ago, the duelling drummers and wailing guitar boys brought […]

ALBUM REVIEW – OSEES: INTERCEPTED MESSAGE

EP REVIEW: LEONE: GTFOH

LGBTQ band, LEONE, are emerging from the shadows with new material. Three unheard tracks will join ‘GTFOH’, ‘I Wanna Be’, and ‘Kiss ‘Em Bye Bye’ on August 18, finalising the ‘GTFOH’ EP. After their first, and most recent, album ‘(thisbodyisntmine)’, I found a love for this band that is incredibly special. Their debut album introduced […]
An assorted range of goodies summarised in Silent Radio’s weekly roundup of new releases. Grace Potter      Mother Earth     Singer-songwriter with an expansive and occasionally blistering soundscape of soulful rock, roots, funk, country, and R&B. Final track, the ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’ era Fiona Apple-esque ‘Masterpiece’ wins the accolade of Song of the Week. OSEES                   […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 18 AUGUST 2023

ALBUM REVIEW – WILLIE J HEALEY: BUNNY

‘Bunny’, the third album from Willie J Healey, has a timeless quality. It conjures tunes blaring from the radio on carefree sunny days during childhood but manages the precious knack of sounding reassuringly familiar yet fresh. There are distinct echoes of the 1970s in some of its reference points (David Bowie’s relatively unknown ‘The Gouster’ […]
Manchester’s Jim Noir and Leonore Wheatley have joined forces as Co-Pilot, creating a debut album bursting with intriguing electronica. It manages to combine synth riffs with disco, funk and pop for an album which is mesmersingly enjoyable. From their studio in ‘the least gentrified area of Manchester’ they tell us about their love of disco, […]

INTERVIEW: CO-PILOT (JIM NOIR AND LEONORE WHEATLEY)

ALBUM REVIEW: SPELLLING: SPELLLING & THE MYSTERY SCHOOL

SPELLLING’s ‘The Turning Wheel’ was one of 2021’s happiest musical surprises. A record that was astonishing in its scope, a cosmic soul, alt-pop delight brimming with melodrama and personnel (31 collaborating musicians). It represented a huge leap from Chrystia Cabral’s (who performs under the orthographically challenged name of SPELLLING) previous two smaller scale albums, 2017’s […]
Asthmatic Kitty Records will be hurling a new Sufjan Stevens album, ‘Javelin’, into the world on 6th October 2023. It will be his first solo release since 2020’s ‘The Ascension’ and the first in full singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s ‘Carrie & Lowell’. The ten songs are promised to encapsulate the entire experience of Stevens’ 25-year […]

NEWS: SUFJAN STEVENS ANNOUNCES OCTOBER RELEASE OF NEW ALBUM