Previously the bassist with Irish indie rock million sellers JJ72, Hilary Woods embarked upon a solo career following the band’s demise. Her debut EP ‘Night’ – released in 2014 – took a step away from the jangling sounds of her former band and instead took a fascination with dream pop drones and acoustic guitar, creating a kind of dark folk vibe. Two years on, ‘Heartbox’ continues her musical journey, but takes it down a deeper and more foreboding route, often dispensing with the folkier elements, leaving just moody dream pop and electronica for the basis of three surprisingly minimalist soundscapes.
Tag Archives: electronica
Watch ‘Galacticon’, the new video from Ummagma
Cult electronica/dreampop duo Ummagma have just released their new single ‘Galacticon’. You can now watch their new video clip below. The new clip is as dreamy and minimalist as the soundtrack itself.
SAVAGE GOTH – Savage Goth EP
Savage Goth is concrete proof that you can’t judge things by name alone. Such a judgement led to one of the band’s first gigs being support to a tech metal band – their choice of music somewhat lost upon the receiving audience. Led by songwriter Matthew Kenworthy, the name was a tongue-in-cheek throwback to a slur dating back to his school days in the north of England, where anyone who admitted to liking guitar based music was labelled a “savage goth”.
UMMAGMA – Frequency EP
Ummagma are a dream pop/shoegaze duo based in Canada. Despite gaining favourable press from the Russian edition of Rolling Stone Magazine, like so many bands of their style, they’re somewhat of an underground act. Their third release, ‘Frequency’ comes three years after their previous works and, if anything, is a far more chilled out affair. The five original tracks on this 2015 EP are slow burning, almost other worldly in their construction; tracks with a minimalism that really expects the listener to sit and lend a very close ear, for the tiny details are often where the magic lies.
CITIES – Manning Alaska EP
Although compared by others to Mogwai, if Cities’ almost ambient musical approach combined with the use of samples and visuals makes you think of Public Service Broadcasting, you wouldn’t be completely wrong. There are some key differences, of course, but most importantly – unlike the works of Public Service Broadcasting – it’s not at all derivative and boring. Public Service Broadcasting are all about the samples, to the point where they’ve often forgotten to write interesting music; with Cities, their musical arrangements are the heart and soul of everything they do. Yes, you can spot various influences scattered throughout their ‘Manning Alaska’ EP – but there’s rarely a moment passes that where Cities haven’t added their own twist of musical magic.