Shrewsbury’s Dan Owen isn’t an artist who can’t by stylistically pigeonholed beyond being called a singer-songwriter. Judging by his 2016 EP ‘Open Hands and Enemies’, he principally uses the piano and acoustic guitar to write material (like so many), but on occasion, also seems happy to enlist many other hands to turn what could have been basic arrangements much bigger adult pop affairs. The four songs featured here range from the downbeat and folky to including big and bolshy strains of electronic beats and bass.
FLESH & BLOOD – Blues For Daze
Following the dissolution of their short-lived band Place Called Rage in 1995, the founding members briefly went their separate ways. Guitarist Al Pitrelli joined power metal band Savatage and drummer Chuck Bonfante stepped away from the spotlight. Reuniting in 1997, the pair provided the driving force behind an almost equally short-lived project entitled Flesh & Blood.
SCANDINAVIA – World Power
London-based indie rock conglomerate Scandinavia are an odd bunch. When they liken themselves to both The Replacements and Hall & Oates and then confront you with music that sounds like neither, well, it’s an interesting proposition to say the leasy. Maybe their own self-chosen comparisons aren’t meant to be direct references, but rather more to assure you that their musical boundaries are wide open – which they very much are: their fourth studio album, ‘World Power’ is nothing if not eclectic.
HERIOT – World Collapse EP
Since some bands can forge decade long careers without even attracting a sniff of attention from mainstream press, the fact that Heriot gained positive press from Kerrang! magazine within a year of formation, meant that their future career looked very bright indeed. Judging by the Swindon based band’s second EP, the appropriately titled ‘World Collapse’, it’s fairly easy to see why they’d become press worthy at such an important time in their growth as a band: they play bigger riffs than most and their musical style absolutely crushes.
THE DIFFERENCE – EP
Active from the mid to late 80s, The Difference were a progressive rock band that, while indebted to the usual influences from Rush and the big progressive hitters of the era, also tempered their sound with various other more contemporary influences – ranging from 80s pop and AOR to the tight quirks of The Police. On their 1988 EP, the coming together of older prog sounds with an eighties sharpness results in some very pleasing music that, although hampered slightly by budgetary contraints, still presents some great ideas.