Gretta Ray released her sophomore album this past Summer, it’s called Positive Spin, and it is adamantly a pop record in all caps. And it completely deserves that very description. This album has catapulted Ray’s career into new heights, it’s already seen her play her biggest headline shows yet in her home country of Australia […]
Author: Charlotte Holroyd
FESTIVAL REVIEW: Live at Leeds In The Park 2023
Perfectly timed on a rather sunny Bank Holiday weekend, Live at Leeds’ annual outdoor gathering in the park returned to the Temple Newsam estate for a day filled with music, food and fun. In the event’s second year running the organisers have taken onboard what worked last time and also added to it, with a […]
LIVE REVIEW: Billie Marten at O2 Ritz, Manchester
Going to a Billie Marten show feels like a comfort. There’s something innately easing about the way Marten carries herself and the way in which this translates across to her audience. Enough so, that on this night, people sit crossed legged on the venue floor (like one would in school) before the show starts, waiting […]
FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Live at Leeds In The Park 2023
Last year’s all-dayer in the park was a roaring success, so it returns again, this May, for Live at Leeds: In The Park 2023. A festival bursting with feel-good energy and a satisfying array of indie’s best and brightest. Happening on Saturday, 27th May, in Leeds’ Temple Newsam park, this is where summer (technically) starts. […]
LIVE REVIEW: James Bay at O2 Academy, Leeds
It’s been a whirlwind of a comeback for James Bay, after a few years of not being able to travel and tour, 2022 has seen the show back on the road in many more ways than one. Never to rest on his laurels, the multi-hyphenated musician released his long-anticipated third studio album (it reached top […]
LIVE REVIEW: The Killers at Emirates Old Trafford
Almost four years had passed since the Las Vegas, Nevada group had played a show in the North West, until they brought their Imploding the Mirage tour to Manchester, at the Lancashire County Cricket Club grounds, in Old Trafford. The Killers’ star continues to rise with each new tour, since 2017 when they played Manchester […]
FESTIVAL REVIEW: Live at Leeds In The Park 2022
The weekend festival is a staple of the summer season, coming in hot with their first-ever staging outdoors, Live at Leeds gave us their In the Park edition. For one incredible day of live music, they took over the grounds of Temple Newsam—a Tudor-Jacobean-era estate hemmed by rolling hills and sprawling vistas of the West […]
FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Live At Leeds In The Park 2022
Festivals are back, baby. Throughout all of this uncertainty over the past couple years, music has remained high on the mind and a longing for live performance has never faltered. So… good news for all music fans: Live at Leeds, in 2022, has not just one event planned, but two—and first up is their outdoor […]
LIVE REVIEW: Foxes at Night & Day Cafe, Manchester
“I’m an introvert, I swear” reads the caption of a recent social media post by Foxes — but how are we to know? When met by Louisa Rose Allen, aka. Foxes, the signs aren’t that clear: a bubbly, vivid image is displayed and danced around the room for all to see, one wouldn’t naturally pick […]
In Conversation with… BILLIE MARTEN
It’s early February, in 2022, and Billie Marten is setting out on a week’s worth of live gigging with indie rock outfit, Palace. Both are out celebrating their respective recent album releases, for Marten, this is 2021’s effervescent foray, Flora Fauna. It represents a time in her music that has symbolised growth for the artist: […]
LIVE REVIEW: James Bay at Night & Day Cafe, Manchester
Independent Venue Week rolls in around this time every year, where the breaking yawns of a new year are gifted some sweet relief by the comings of a celebration, of the UK’s grassroots music venues. Together with the great Can You CIC It? and local promoters and venue owners up and down the country, IVW […]
2021 IN REVIEW: Bitter Sweet Symphonies’ Albums of the Year
It has been a big year for the album, pivotal, you might even say. World records have been set, historic numbers have been sold and creativity has been high. Not only have we experienced new works from some of the globe’s most prevalent stars (including Adele, ABBA, Billie Eilish and Coldplay) but there has been […]
2021 IN REVIEW: Bitter Sweet Symphonies’ Tracks of the Year
Songs tell stories, sometimes these stories have the power to change perspectives, or maybe even inspire change to happen, or at the very least, they can inform and entertain. Opening our eyes to other ways of thinking, other ways of being, enlightening alternate paths to the ones we might currently be taking, but then again, […]
LIVE REVIEW: King Charles at Deaf Institute, Manchester
At this point in late October, in 2021, the Deaf Institute has been reopen for a number of months after a grueling year of uncertainty. Standing resilient after a near closure, not just due to a global pandemic, but a change of hands in ownership. The venue, more than ever, stands as a beacon of […]
WATCH: Bahamas – Live to Tape (Episode 4: Gus Seyffert, Joey Waronker, Sam Weber & Lucius)
Collaboration is something kindred, a bond of connection akin to nothing else in this world. When musicians join together, distant or close, the result can be invigorating and regenerative. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, approaches have had to shift and renegotiate—and live performance has been especially affected. Collaboration has become that much harder but equally […]
WATCH: Jess McAllister – ‘The Bushiest of Beards’
Exeter based Jess McAllister has been busy through lockdown, not only releasing a full-length album in the last year but also sharing a magnitude of excellent homemade videos (including an inspired take on Sugababes classic ‘Overload’) and performing live wherever and whenever possible. Owning your own narrative and voicing personal experience is a large focus […]
Valleyheart: Lostboycrow’s Golden Era
Lostboycrow has always felt more than a simple musical identity, but a source for greater interpretation further than an artist moniker can surmise. Something more akin to a journey, a shared space, a state of home, which might be the reason why like-minded souls have latched on so tightly to the artist’s music. These are […]
2020 IN REVIEW: Bitter Sweet Symphonies’ Albums of the Year
While it is easy to encapsulate 2020 as a year of challenge and global crisis, the last twelve months have also spurred a great deal of reflection, community resilience and spirit. Initiatives like Tim’s Twitter Listening Party, Snow Patrol’s Saturday Songwrite and Bandcamp’s Bandcamp Fridays have shown what pure intention and dedication can create, especially […]
2020 IN REVIEW: Bitter Sweet Symphonies’ Tracks of the Year
2020 beckoned a new decade, and with it a whole host of change erupted. We’re glimpsing a global population gasping for transformation, buoyed by hope with an awareness that things can get better if we speak up and challenge it to be. The musical output of this year reflected a need for comfort as well […]
TRACK BY TRACK // Broken Hands – ‘Split in Two’
It is often dubbed the “difficult” second album, in most cases this statement duly proves to be mere superstition or rather an unfortunate belief in the folklore of artistic stagnation, while the creation of Broken Hands’ sophomore record was fairly straight-forward on the surface, its arrival into the world has been far from it. A […]