ELIZA CARTHY & TIM ERIKSEN – Bottle

bottleEliza Carthy has carved out a successful career to become one of Britain’s leading folk artists.  Whether tackling traditional folk music (as per 1998’s ‘Rice’), or her adding folk elements to adult contemporary music (2011’s ‘Neptune’), Carthy’s albums are often solid, thoughtful affairs.  Somewhere over the water, Tim Eriksen has made his name taking traditional American folk roots and adding his own charm, firstly as a member of Cordelia’s Dad, but also in a stripped back solo setting.   The talents of these two geographically opposed musicians comes together for the first time on 2015’s ‘Bottle’, a record that’s quite dark in places, but often rich in appeal; the largely unaccompanied talents of both folkies left to stand starkly.

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HANNAH IN THE WARS – Hannah In The Wars

Hannah In The WarsThe stage name of New Zealand born singer-songwriter Hannah Curwood, Hannah In The Wars is a vehicle for soft, dark and occasionally bleak soundscapes – a mix of the piano balladry of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Last Town Chorus and a touch of Mazzy Star.  This, her third release, is rarely anything shy of being a gloom-laden masterpiece.

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SCOTT JANOVITZ – Fall In EP

Scott JanovitzScott Janovitz will be familiar to some retro-pop aficionados as the mastermind behind The Russians – the mysterious indie/power pop band who left us a sole full length album ‘Crashing The Party’ in 2011.  Although a rather melancholy listen in some places, it’s collection of songs were very well crafted, with sounds borrowing from the sixties, eighties and nineties in almost equal measure.  The years passed, but nothing more materialised from either Janovitz or The Russians, leading some listeners to wonder what could have been…

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DELUXE EDITION DREAMLAND: Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes

Few debut albums are as perfect as ‘Little Earthquakes’ by Tori Amos.  Not only is it a recording with barely a note wasted its also a deep and thoughtful experience that leaves the listener emotionally spent upon completion of listening.  In under an hour, Ms. Amos takes us on a roller coaster journey of songs that deal with changing weather and changing emotions – songs dealing with self depreciation, of sexuality, self-worth, rape, missed periods, fitting social situations…or not, and far more besides; almost every line dealing with the deeply personal, uncovering parts of the human condition.  Right from the beginning of ‘Crucify’ to the last notes of the title track with Amos pleading “give me life, give me pain, give me myself again”, ‘Little Earthquakes’ never lets up.

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Awake & Dreaming: Real Gone meets Mick Terry

In 2010, London based singer-songwriter Mick Terry released ‘The Grown Ups’, a debut album with a personal quality.  Its creation came as a surprise, since Terry wasn’t especially planning on recording an album after returning to music after a family-raising break.  Since 2012, he’s been working on a follow-up.  Real Gone caught up with him in January 2015 to find out if it’s almost finished…

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