Scottish singer songwriter Stephen McCafferty is one of the best artists to emerge in 2025. He’s released a succession of great singles, showing off a writing talent that refuses to be pigeonholed.
Tag Archives: singer songwriter
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #126
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. As usual, we’ve received a huge amount of submissions – this continues to be one of the most popular aspects of our website – and we’ve picked eight tunes that we feel captures the true spirit of the great sounds floating around the underground as we move squarely into a cold, northern hemisphere autumn. Among other things, there’s a 60s cover from a familiar name; some brilliant indie pop; a pleasingly downbeat number with some great orchestration, and a country influenced track from a superb singer songwriter. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!
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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #125
This visit to the Real Gone Singles Bar sees the return of a couple of familiar names – including one that should be known to almost everyone. The choice of music, of course, should be new to most people’s ears. We’ve got a well arranged indie pop number, some fantastic sounding goth-rock, another country tune from a brand new face, and even a really strong world music offering. With tunes covering a broad spectrum of sounds, we hope you’ll find something new to enjoy!
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SAM VARGA – The Fallout
On his debut album ‘Shadow Work’, singer songwriter Sam Varga made the juxtaposition of angst ridden, emo-centric lyrics and radio friendly melodies appear very natural. Despite the fact the record took all of about four seconds for him to confront his audience with the revelation that he felt like he was “rotting from the inside out” and another couple before dropping an f-bomb for extra angst, the album remained very accessible. At its best, tunes like ‘Stories We Tell’ and ‘Apocalypse’ played like the natural successor to the Ryan Adams best-selling ‘Gold’; ‘Up Down’ took the poppy heart of Simple Plan’s more commercial work and transplanted it into more of a singer songwriter sphere, while the chorus of the brilliant ‘Live Up To It’ gave a confident nod to the more contemporary pop rock of Bleachers. All the while, Varga still managed to sound like his own man – a songwriter with an occasionally sharp tongue, but in possession of an even sharper ear for a great melody.
Watch: Noah Villeneuve shares new video for solo debut ‘Kneejerk’
When it comes to reaching for a heartfelt sound, Noah Villeneuve isn’t holding back. His debut solo recording ‘Kneejerk’ begins slowly, presenting his rich vocal tones almost unnacompanied. Bringing in slow, acoustic strums, the melody builds, but clearly aims to draw in the audience gradually. Noah isn’t out to wow people with massive hooks, but to make them…listen – a gift that seems to be fading in this world of short attention spans.