Having made waves on the underground UK folk scene and gained positive press claiming them “exquisite songwriters”, the arrival of Ferris and Sylvester’s recorded debut is cause for celebration. ‘The Yellow Line’ might only feature four songs, but each one shows off just enough subtle differences to be a great showcase for the duo’s talents. Between Archie Sylvester’s guitar work – often heavy on Americana styles, but also making time for a little blues and a teeny smidgeon of rockabilly – and Issy Ferris’s full but also soft, almost ghostly vocal tones, the performers are a perfect match for each other. Their songwriting gifts, too, have a near timeless appeal, weaving narratives that should appeal to ninety percent of an Americana loving audience.
Monthly Archives: June 2017
Watch the new video from Ferris & Sylvester
London based folk/Americana duo Ferris & Sylvester release their debut EP ‘The Yellow Line’ on Friday 23rd June. Just ahead of release, they’ve shared an atmospheric video for lead track ‘Berlin’, which you can view in full below. For fans of Lewis & Leigh and the quieter aspects of Mazzy Star, the EP is a must-hear.
The Great 70s Project: 1976
The mention of 1976 for most people over a certain age in the UK will invariably invoke remembrances of one of the hottest summers on record. There’s more to the year than just drought, though. There’s disco, classic rock and pop.
It was also the year that punk broke into the mainstream. A whole new world of music was born.
It was the year we checked into ‘Hotel California’ for the first time…and with it becoming a radio staple, true as the song’s tale, we never really left. Queen followed their ambitious ‘Night At The Opera’ with the equally grand ‘A Day At The Races’ and Jeff Beck continued his voyage into fusion with ‘Wired’. As Real Gone’s Great 70s project reaches 1976, we take a dip into those classic albums and far more besides.
REAL GONE GOES OUT: King’s X, Islington Assembly Hall, London 14/06/2017
The Islington Assembly Hall always feels like a venue of two moods. The stage and balcony areas have a feeling of old theatre about them, much like the Empire at Shepherd’s Bush and fitting for a Grade II listed building. In other respects, visiting other parts the venue feels like stepping into a parochial town hall, albeit a rather large one. It’s easy to imagine a large table set up on a weekday afternoon with a man banging a little gavel, making announcements about Mrs. Jones’s award winning marmalade before alerting the neighbourhood watch team to a potential catastrophe regarding a missing moggie. On this evening, that feeling isn’t quite as strong as when Snakecharmer took the Assembly Hall’s stage in 2013, and even less so as the house lights dim.
THE WHITE SWAN – The White EP
Towards the end of 2016, Canadian doom merchants The White Swan unleashed their debut EP. Although just offering the discerning riff-junkie just three tracks, on ‘Anubis’, Mercedes Lander and her crew of heavyweight sludge lovers proved that quality always wins out over quality. Between the band’s own ‘Blood’ – a perfect fusion of heaviness and an odd, treacly psychedelia – and the heaviest version of Wings’ ‘Jet’ ever – hearing is believing – the release was an instant classic. Several months on, their eagerly awaited follow up doesn’t so much pick up where the previous tracks left off, but tries its utmost to smash the previous efforts into smithereens [in this case, meaning a thousand pieces; at no point do The White Swan attempt to put their heaviest stamp upon anything written by Pat DiNizio, but it might be a fun idea…]