Cult singer/songwriter Brendan Benson has announced four UK appearances for the end of August 2013. Fans can catch the sometime member of The Raconteurs at the following venues:
Tag Archives: singer songwriter
JEFF LYNNE – Armchair Theatre
In 1987, Electric Light Orchestra head honcho Jeff Lynne sat in as producer with ex-Beatle George Harrison on his hugely popular ‘Cloud Nine’ album. The combination of Harrison’s gift for pop melodies and Lynne’s very distinctive production sound (often revolving around filtered harmony vocals and a gated snare drum leading to a very compressed sound) led to the album being a multi-million seller. The sessions also gave birth to the greatest supergroup ever – The Traveling Wilburys, comprising Harrison, Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. While some people overlook Lynne’s contribution to the group, it is his studio expertise which, perhaps, brings the most to what we now think of as the “Wilbury sound”.
ESA LINNA – This Is Who I Am
In the summer of 2012, Finnish power pop musician/singer-songwriter Esa Linna released the ‘She’s Not A Human Being’ EP, gaining a few positive notices from genre-specific websites. On the plus side, Linna more than proved himself in the musical department by playing a variety of instruments himself, while the presence of ex-Jellyfish man Roger Joseph Manning Jr gave things a definite lift. Less fortunately, the vocals were often a little flat. Viewing that EP as a sample of future things, is his 2013 record ‘This Is Who I Am’ stronger?
TANYA DONELLY – Lovesongs For Underdogs
Best known as frontwoman for Belly and sometime member of Throwing Muses, this first solo outing by Tanya Donelly is everything you’d expect. Issued on 4AD records in 1997, ‘Lovesongs For Underdogs’ does not always sound like great departure from previous work with Belly; but while not greatly different, it manages to pull together the soft sounds of that band’s ‘Star’ and rockier parts of ‘King’ on one release. In that respect, it could be viewed as Donelly’s most “complete” record.
STEPHEN LAWRENSON – Obscuriosity
Somewhere behind the retro childrens’ book artwork and drab brown packaging, Stephen Lawrenson delivers ten pieces of relatively sunny adult power pop on his debut release for Kool Kat. Fans of the genre will undoubtedly have fun in spotting the dozens of influences this particular singer-songwriter has twisted into his own vision, but while, by the time of its closing notes, ‘Obscuriosity’ has found its feet to become a great piece of work, it doesn’t actually start off too impressively…