Instantly falling in love with music gets harder and harder. At least for me. When you listen to music as a job, it can get more difficult to hear something and like it from the get go. But sometimes, just sometimes, there’s an exception. And in my case, it was when I first heard the […]
It’s been a year of double albums, retrospectives and optimistic introductions—in between we’ve set the record straight with Taylor Swift, campaigned for change with Greta Thunberg (via The 1975 and Fatboy Slim), and gone back to basics with Bruce Springsteen.
A track has the ability to say so much and equally not enough, but in the same breath it has the capacity to launch a career. The single song culture of today is built on this rule. Dua Lipa, Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Mabel and Camila Cabello are just a few artists that […]
YOWL are out with a new EP, and it’s a lush, multi-layered record crafted with a certain ingeniousness and a wise attitude to production, which requires more than one listen to fully catch all that it has to offer. The band has created a deep, rich texture of sound that is best enjoyed slowly and […]
Live music on the small band circuit can be a real mixed bag. Many people who don’t regularly attend small gigs often get dragged by friends to see burgeoning bands in sweaty venues with expensive drinks prices and questionable sound quality, and come away from the whole experience with a profoundly negative view of the […]
From day one Yonaka embraced originality, displaying a fierceness that is breathtaking to behold and a formidable talent that any fresh-faced band would seize if they had the chance. Brighton has been the band’s home base from the start, and it seems that it was always meant to be like that, offering the four-piece freedom […]
It is a busy moment for The Elephant Trees. The Manchester-based band has just embarked on a tour (under the emblematic title of ‘Depressed Kids Disco’), they are now out with their debut EP, quite possibly marking the beginning of a new phase in their production and bringing to the studio some of the immersive […]
For some outfits, the perception of productivity is paramount to their success, the ability to appear as if they are on a creative hot streak and can do no wrong. As is all too often the case, however, this overconfidence can in fact paper over the reality, that a lot of the time their material […]
Seatbelts are back with this mellow, warm-sounding ‘Black Spring,’ with lyrics claiming to be inspired by the writings of Henry Miller and an undercurrent of subtle dissonance running through it, providing it with an unlikely backbone. It’s a track you could almost dance to, albeit with a feeling of vague unease, like something is not […]
Even in the middle of what might well be the wettest Autumn Wales has seen in a long time, the sun shone on the 2019 edition of Sŵn Festival, both literally and figuratively. In its long history, the festival has rarely attempted to fit within its programme not only such a number of quality acts […]
“There were definitely a few nights where we didn’t sleep!” Archie recalls the last month on the road. Issy is typing one last email before she joins us. ”Hi Tom!” She calls down the line. Ferris & Sylvester have just finished their most recent UK tour. 24 shows in five weeks. You couldn’t tell by […]
When you hear the words Leif Erikson, your mind may take you to the name of the Icelandic explorer. Well, Leif Erikson, the band, also explore within the depths of their alternative based music. The London-founded fivesome convey swayful, melodious synths and ambiguous lyrics, creating a deliverance of excitement and tranquillity combined.
Despite labeling themselves “psychedelic indie-pop”, the Sheffield-based indie project Mr Ben and the Bens is much more than that, and the range and depth of their sound is on full display in their new album, Who Knows Jenny Jones? When we talk about music, we often describe it in terms of genres, of influences, of, […]
Two years after their last release, Seattle indie rockers Great Grandpa are back with something that sounds decidedly different from their previous effort, deceptively softer at face value but with a dark depth immediately underneath that surfaces in more than one point of this Four of Arrows, a long player getting its name from a […]
What to say about this year’s round of Neighbourhood Festival? It was eclectic. The programming was focused on a few particular styles of music, yet the acts and what they brought in their live shows ranged from highly conceptualised spectacle, cathartic solitude, breathtaking precision, to beautifully collective uproar – as well as steadily providing entertaining […]
Currently touring the UK with emotive brethren Amber Run, London-living Stereo Honey are deep into a two-plus week span of live shows, utilising this time to unveil a host of new music as well as air beloved favourites, these dates symbolise the band’s first shows of 2019. The four-piece has been rolling under the radar […]
Having hosted numerous music events across the UK such as Goose Island LDN Block Party and more, I was so excited to get the chance to go to their Hop Party with the likes of Shame and Park Hotel performing as well as the fantastic Rockaoke – a live act in itself.
There are artists who approach their first long-player cautiously and others who like to go in all guns blazing, and even on the very first listen it quickly becomes apparent that FEET are definitely part of the latter group. The Coventry band’s debut album, What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham, more than keeps the promise […]
This autumn, Snow Patrol will embark on a UK/IE-wide tour in celebration of their forthcoming Reworked album, due 8th November. Industry accolades and career-affirming milestones have been rolling in since the five piece released their long-awaited seventh studio album, Wildness, last May; completing a third appointment at Bangor’s Ward Park last year (which saw the […]
Back in March, I reviewed Chandler Juliet’s debut EP, Elements, here on Bitter Sweet Symphonies. It was a delightful EP about being a human being, a mix of quiet electronic production and spare organic instrumentation—everything is emotionally internal, and, correspondingly, aesthetically understated. While she lives in Los Angeles, California, she was in Nashville, Tennessee last […]