At the very beginning of 2016, Hector and The Leaves released ‘Little Bee’, a self-financed EP of material drawing influence from The Beach Boys and The Beatles, redressed in singer-songwriter threads, mixing 60s pop with strains of folk from across many decades. While the EP didn’t necessarily gain country-wide recognition, it showed Tom Hector to be a songwriter more than able to take different influences and recycle them with style, while still allowing his own personality to inform the result. Eighteen months on – and after posting a selection of musical sketches and unfinished ideas online – ‘(interiors’), the first proper follow-up, takes more of a lo-fi singer-songwriter path, but the many things that made ‘Little Bee’ worthy of an ear are still very much in evidence.
Tag Archives: singer songwriter
Watch the new video from Leslie Mendelson
In April 2017, singer songwriter Leslie Mendelson released ‘Love and Murder’, a downbeat and thoughtful album, mixing her own compositions with covers of more familiar material by Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison.
As part of the album’s promotion, an atmospheric black and white clip has been released for ‘Chasing The Thrill’, a video that really highlights the sparseness of the track in question. ‘Chasing The Thrill’ really shows off her old style and natural voice against a sparse arrangement and is a great indicator of why you should investigate the full album.
ROGER WATERS – Is This The Life We Really Want?
Roger Waters, ex-Pink Floyd bassist, songwriter and heavy-handed social commentator, released his third solo album, the rather grand ‘Amused To Death’ in 1992. A concept piece about media propaganda and news coverage, the album was one of the best sounding records of the year. It blended a few familiar Floydian motifs with the more atmospheric elements of his own ‘Pros & Cons of Hitch-Hiking’ and resulted in a cult classic. From then on, very little was heard from Waters with regard to studio material. It was perhaps wise to take some time out, of course, for to follow such a near-perfect record (at least for the style) would have been a fools errand.
RUM THIEF – Time To Make A Move EP
In the summer of 2015, singer-songwriter Jot Green (aka Rum Thief) released ‘Reach For The Weather Man‘, an EP of hard jangling tunes coupled with social commentary and an unavoidable sense of Englishness. Like a northern Frank Turner, an underground Alex Turner or perhaps a Mike Skinner with actual tunes and talent, he showed a strong ability to couple grass roots messages with a gruff but fairly timeless indie-rock backdrop. A fair while passed and nothing more was heard. Had the Rum Thief been swallowed up by his day job, or even run out of things to tell the world? It would seem so.
MILES READ & THE TRIP – Ofertas EP
Miles Read is a blues oriented singer songwriter from sunny San Francisco. With his band The Trip, he exhibits a broad spectrum of talents on his 2017 release and the six tracks on ‘Ofertas’ are steeped in tradition. In just over half an hour, Read explores various types of blues, a little Americana and sometimes even a deep and spooky sound that echoes the both the heartbreak of UK performer Charlotte Carpenter and the moodier aspects of Old House Playground warming up. Right from first listen, this release asserts itself as a fantastic one.