FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Five in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Five in 2025

_________

SOME might say…

that the fifth anniversary of an album is not important. I grant you it is not as significant as a tenth anniversary, though it is still a milestone. I wanted to mark albums turning five next year. 2020 was that strange year when the pandemic began. As such, I think we related to albums released then differently to how we did before or after. We have a new connection and relationship with them in 2024. Artists unable to tour these albums, there were some fantastic works that gave us all a lot of strength and distraction. The final part of this run of features is all about the best albums of 2020. Some wonderful releases that turn five next year. Cast your mind back to that year where we were separated physically but music still kept us bonded. However strange and stressful it was, music was a real source of focus. As such, I think it is important to…

HIGHLIGHT the best of 2020.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Ten in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Ten in 2025

_________

IN the penultimate…

part of this run of features that marks albums celebrating big anniversaries next year, it takes us to 2015. Albums that have tenth anniversaries coming up. Another strong year for music, that decade anniversary is quite big. There will be a few albums in the Digital Mixtape that you might not remember. Some obvious ones too that are modern greats. Make sure that you take a listen to the playlist below. It is packed with hugely memorable albums that arrived in the middle of the 2010s. Because they have big anniversaries coming along, I wanted to salute them. A host of simply brilliant albums, this is the best of the best from 2015. Let’s take a closer look and listen and flip ahead to next year to the finest albums…

TURNING ten.

FEATURE: Before Lifting the Needle… Ranking Kate Bush’s Best Album End of Side A's/Start of Side B's

FEATURE:

 

 

Before Lifting the Needle…

IN THOS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1981/PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn

Ranking Kate Bush’s Best Album End of Side A's/Start of Side B's

_________

THIS Kate Bush feature…

is back to an album rankings. Whereas before I have ranked her best album openers and closers, I don’t recall ever looking at the middle of the album. The best side A ends and side B starts. I think that Bush’s albums really succeed and speak when the tracks are in the right order. How hugely important sequencing is. I do feel like many people overlook this. I have celebrated her great album openers. How she can leave some superb tracks as closers. Now, and hoping I have not repeated myself, I am thinking about the end of the first side and the start of the second. I know that Aerial is a double album so has more than two sides, so I am just concentrating on the A and B side. The same for 50 Words for Snow. Although not a double album, it has two vinyl. It may seem obvious or like Hounds of Love would win. However, we are talking about two specific tracks. The way you end that first side before lifting up the needle to flip the vinyl. What greets you when you drop it back down. Fans will have their own opinions. It has been good to explore her discography for this feature and consider which albums are best when it comes to keeping you hooked. Finishing up the A side with a great track and keeping that momentum going. Maybe one or two albums not great in that respect, though most of them have strong cuts that mean you are exciting to hear what happens when you flip the vinyl. Here is my opinions as to the best side A-ending/side B-opening combinations. It would be good to…

HEAR your thoughts.

_____________

TEN

DIRECTOR’S CUT (2011): Lily (A)/(B) Deeper Understanding

This is harder to rank as Director’s Cut was re-recorded songs from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes. Many debate whether the originals are better or the reworked versions. In the case of Director’s Cut, there are a few songs I prefer to the original versions. Lily closed side A. I think that the version on The Red Shoes is stronger. However, the 2011 recording is really interesting and we get to hear Bush’s slightly older voice giving new life and meaning to the song. How she stripped it down and reworked this song. You have to give her credit for that. I hope that it means more people connect with the song and maybe go and listen to The Red Shoes. I feel Director’s Cut gets written off and is never viewed highly when critics rank Bush’s studio albums. Her ninth is not her strongest, though it has a few real gems that need to be celebrated and mentioned.

One of the most controversial reworkings on Director’s Cut is Deeper Understanding. The original is brilliant because it was futuristic when it came to seeing how technology would take over. With stronger production and a more effective vocal on The Sensual World, I am not sure whether Bush should have revisited the song in 2011. She also released the song as a single. The impact of the lyrics not as deep and effective then. The video is also quite weird and messy. Not her finest directing outing. It is a shame. I would have loved to have seen another song from the album released as a single. Maybe Lily or Never Be Mine. I would relish seeing videos for either of those songs.

NINE

THE DREAMING (1982): Leave It Open (A)/(B)The Dreaming

This is a case of sequencing perhaps not being perfect. Closing the first side of The Dreaming is the brilliant Leave It Open. One of the standouts, this was a period when Bush was experimenting more. Producing solo for the first time, I love all the levels and layers on Leave It Open. Another song – alongside Sat in Your Lap – about knowledge and the mind, it is fascinating reading what Bush said about Leave It Open:

“Like cups, we are filled up and emptied with feelings, emotions – vessels breathing in, breathing out. This song is about being open and shut to stimuli at the right times. Often we have closed minds and open mouths when perhaps we should have open minds and shut mouths.

This was the first demo to be recorded, and we used a Revox and the few effects such as a guitar chorus pedal and an analogue delay system. We tried to give the track an Eastern flavour and the finished demo certainly had a distinctive mood.

There are lots of different vocal parts, each portraying a separate character and therefore each demanding an individual sound. When a lot of vocals are being used in contrast rather than “as one”, more emphasis has to go on distinguishing between the different voices, especially if the vocals are coming from one person.

To help the separation we used the effects we had. When we mastered the track, a lot more electronic effects and different kinds of echoes were used, helping to place the vocals and give a greater sense of perspective. Every person who came into the studio was given the “end backing vocals test” to guess what is being sung at the end of the song.

“How many words is it?”

“Five.”

“Does it begin with a ‘W’?”

It is very difficult to guess, but it can be done, especially when you know what the song is about.
I would love to know your answers.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982”.

A title track many considered to be her weakest, The Dreaming did divide people when it came out. Released as a single that reached forty-eight in the U.K., many were put off by Bush adopting an Australian accent. Perhaps a little too inaccessible and un-commercial to make an impact, the politics behind the song were also questioned. Whether Kate Bush was qualified to discuss the destruction of Aboriginal homelands by white Australians in their quest for weapons-grade uranium. The fact that the song features Rolf Harris also leaves a bit of a black mark:

“Well, years ago my brother bought ‘Sun Arise’ [by Rolf Harris] and I loved it, it was such a beautiful song. And ever since then I’ve wanted to create something which had that feel of Australia within it. I loved the sound of the traditional aboriginal instruments, and as I grew older, I became much more aware of the actual situation which existed in Australia between the white Australian and the aborigines, who were being wiped out by man’s greed for uranium. Digging up their sacred grounds, just to get plutonium, and eventually make weapons out of it. And I just feel that it’s so wrong: this beautiful culture being destroyed just so that we can build weapons which maybe one day will destroy everything, including us. We should be learning from the aborigines, they’re such a fascinating race. And Australia – there’s something very beautiful about that country.

‘The Dreaming’. Poppix (UK), Summer 1982”.

EIGHT

NEVER FOR EVER (1980): Egypt (A)/(B) The Wedding List

This might be one case of less than brilliant sequencing. I think that Never for Ever is one of Kate Bush’s best albums. However, one of its lesser songs, Egypt, ends side A. I think that a song like All We Ever Look For or The Infant Kiss would have been a stronger way to finish the first side. However, Egypt is a good song. It is one that I like a lot but again divides critics. One of the overlooked tracks from Bush’s early career, we do to listen to it more. This is what Kate Bush said about Egypt and the story behind it:

“The song is very much about someone who has not gone there thinking about Egypt, going: “Oh, Egypt! It’s so romantic… the pyramids!” Then in the breaks, there’s meant to be the reality of Egypt, the conflict. It’s meant to be how blindly we see some things – “Oh, what a beautiful world”, you know, when there’s shit and sewers all around you.

Kris Needs, ‘Fire in the Bush’. Zigzag (UK), 1980”.

One of Kate Bush’s best songs period opens the second side of Never for Ever. Maybe similar in tone and nature to James and the Cold Gun, The Wedding List is much finer. It is a terrifically clever song about a bride who goes on a rampage after her husband-to-be is shot at the altar. It is a song of revenge. One of the highlights from Kate Bush’s 1979 Christmas special, I think it warranted the chance to be released as a single. It would have got a high chart placing for sure. I do think that this deep cut is one of her very best creations. In this interview, Kate Bush talked more about revenge and The Wedding List:

“Revenge is so powerful and futile in the situation in the song. Instead of just one person being killed, it’s three: her husband, the guy who did it – who was right on top of the wedding list with the silver plates – and her, because when she’s done it, there’s nothing left. All her ambition and purpose has all gone into that one guy. She’s dead, there’s nothing there.

Kris Needs, ‘Fire in the Bush’. Zigzag, 1980”.

SEVEN

LIONHEART (1978): Oh Enbgland My Lionheart (A)/(B) Fullhouse

Kate Bush’s second studio album does not have the same strength as her debut when it comes to the end of side A and the start of side B. However, it is still exceptional. With Oh England My Lionheart being a sort of unofficial and almost-title track taking us to the end of the first side, it is a strong and beautiful thing. A song that she performed for 1979’s The Tour of Life, this is a track that needs to be played more. Many think of Kate Bush as being quintessentially English. Even though she is half-Irish, her Englishness is often brought up. Even if she distanced herself from Oh England My Lionheart in years after Lionheart was released, around the time the album came out, she was talking about it as one of her favourites. You can see why. Parodied by Pamela Stephenson on Not the Nine O’Clock News and written by Peter Brewis, this is what Kate Bush said of the stunning Oh England My Lionheart:

“It’s really very much a song about the Old England that we all think about whenever we’re away, you know, “ah, the wonderful England” and how beautiful it is amongst all the rubbish, you know. Like the old buildings we’ve got, the Old English attitudes that are always around. And this sort of very heavy emphasis on nostalgia that is very strong in England. People really do it alot, you know, like “I remember the war and…” You know it’s very much a part of our attitudes to life that we live in the past. And it’s really just a sort of poetical play on the, if you like, the romantic visuals of England, and the second World War… Amazing revolution that happened when it was over and peaceful everything seemed, like the green fields. And it’s really just a exploration of that.

Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978”.

Fullhouse was partly autobiographical. Kate Bush said how it was hard for her to cope with feelings of fear, paranoia and anger. Maybe her getting everything out of her system, it is unsurprising that she was putting this into songs. With two albums released in 1978 and endless promotion, you get a real feeling of how Kate Bush was battling against stress and fatigue. Expected to write new material when she had little time. One of the new songs written for Lionheart, Fullhouse is a standout from the album. Though many critics feel it is one of the weaker numbers. Though for some reason the song has been renamed as Full House, I do prefer the original spelling. A song that deserves more love and is a great example of Kate Bush’s songwriting excellence, it is a brilliant way of opening the second side of Lionheart.

SIX

THE SENSUAL WORLD (1989): Heads We’re Dancing (A)/(B) Deeper Understanding

Many people do not know about Heads We’re Dancing. I do really love the song, though I can understand some people might have found it less appealing or instantly connectable as other tracks through The Sensual World. However, Heads We’re Dancing is a brilliant song to end side A of Bush’s sixth studio album. An underrated jewel that Bush discussed for a 1989 interview:

“It’s a very dark idea, but it’s the idea of this girl who goes to a big ball; very expensive, romantic, exciting, and it’s 1939, before the war starts. And this guy, very charming, very sweet-spoken, comes up and asks her to dance but he does it by throwing a coin and he says, “If the coin lands with heads facing up, then we dance!” Even that’s a very attractive ‘come on’, isn’t it? And the idea is that she enjoys his company and dances with him and, days later, she sees in the paper who it is, and she is hit with this absolute horror – absolute horror. What could be worse? To have been so close to the man… she could have tried to kill him… she could have tried to change history, had she known at that point what was actually happening. And I think Hitler is a person who fooled so many people. He fooled nations of people. And I don’t think you can blame those people for being fooled, and maybe it’s these very charming people… maybe evil is not always in the guise you expect it to be.

Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1, 14 October 1989”.

A track not selected as a single first time around but was when it was re-recorded for 2011’s Director’s Cut, Deeper Understanding is another of Bush’s standout songs. Talking about the pull of technology and how it has power of it, this was prescient and spookily forward-thinking. Bush predicting how technology would dominate our lives. Here is some interview archive, where Bush discussed Deeper Understanding:

“Yes, it is emotional disconnection, but then it’s very muchconnection,but in a way that you would never expect. And that kind of emotion should really come from the human instinctive force, and in this particular case it’s coming from a computer. I really liked the idea of playing with the whole imagery of computers being so cold, so unfeeling. Actually what is happening in the song is that this person conjures up this program that is almost like a visitation of angels. They are suddenly given so much love by this computer – it’s like, you know, just love. There was no other choice. Who else could embody the visitation of angels but the Trio Bulgarka? [laughs]

John Diliberto, ‘Kate Bush’s Theater Of The Senses’. Musician, February 1990”.

FIVE

THE KICK INSIDE (1978): Wuthering Heights (A)/(B) James and the Cold Gun

There is no denying how strong The Kick Inside Is. Opening with Moving and ending with the title track, it also boasts a brilliant end to the first side and start of the second. For all the tracklisting and details (what made up the side A and B (C and D for some albums), I have referred to Discogs. This is a single album but one filled with huge intent and unique brilliance. The teenage Kate Bush putting out an album in 1978 unlike anything around it. Perhaps one of the best incidents of album sequencing, we end that first side of the vinyl with the debut single, Wuthering Heights. It could have been the album lead-off track or second or third. Instead, it is the sixth track. Meaning you get this recognisable and very strong end to side A. It is also preceded by The Man with the Child in His Eyes. So both U.K. singles ending the first side. That beautiful duo on side A that means the listener is in a trance before lifting up the needle.

Opening the second side of the vinyl is a song that was considered as the first single for The Kick Inside, James and the Cold Gun. Often seen as one of the most conventional and ‘radio-friendly’ songs on the album, it is a contrast to Wuthering Heights. It provides a rush of energy and rawness. After that, there are love songs and numbers with a different energy. I do admire the sequencing on The Kick Inside. The strongest tracks are well-positioned to create the biggest impact. Even if James and the Cold Gun is not the most admired or strongest track on the album, it does mean you get a rush and something more accessible to open side B – after the strange and beguiling Wuthering Heights. It is a great partnership that means you are hooked as you go through the second half of the album. A song that is often overlooked and rarely played, I feel it is a great one. A track Bush was honing whilst playing with the KT Bush Band in 1977, it ensures that those buying and hearing The Kick Inside in 1978 (and now) had two golden tracks either side of the needle lift.

FOUR

50 WORDS FOR SNOW (2011): Lake Tahoe (A)/(B) Misty

Kate Bush’s latest studio album is seven tracks. Longer songs that allow for more space and light. Tracks that unfold and unfurl. More Chamber Jazz/Pop than conventional Pop or Art Rock, it was a new direction for Kate Bush. I also think that the sequencing on the album is perfect. 50 Words for Snow perfectly organised. We end side A with the wonderful Lake Tahoe. It is one of my absolute favourite songs from 50 Words for Snow. I would love to see a full-length animation for this song. It would be filled with some potent and memorable imagery. This is what Kate Bush said about the dark and haunting Lake Tahoe:

“It was because a friend told me about the story that goes with Lake Tahoe so it had to be set there. Apparently people occasionally see a woman who fell into the lake in the Victorian era who rises up and then disappears again. It is an incredibly cold lake so the idea, as I understand it, is that she fell in and is still kind of preserved. Do you know what I mean?

John Doran, ‘A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed’. The Quietus, 2011”.

Flipping to side B of 50 Words for Snow, after the hypnotic Lake Tahoe, we then get the epic Misty. A song that some people do not like, this is a bit of a cheat, I’ll confess! I would put this as number one when it comes to the best side A-ending/side B-opening combinations, but technically Misty is side B. It is 13:32, so it takes up that entire side, so it has no competition. However, it is a truly special song that does not get the credit it warrants. Another song that I would love to see animated in its entirety, this is what Kate Bush said about the sublime and magical Misty:

“It’s a silly idea. But I hope that what has happened is that there’s almost a sense of tenderness. I think it’s quite a dark song. And so I hope that I’ve made it work. But in a lot of ways it shouldn’t because… It’s ridiculous, isn’t it, the idea of the snowman visiting this woman and climbing into bed with her.
But I took him as a purely symbolic snowman, it was about…
No John, he’s REAL (laughs).

BBC4 Radio, Front Row, 2011”.

THREE

THE RED SHOES (1993): Lily (A)/(B)The Red Shoes

Although it is one of her most opinion-dividing albums, 1993’s The Red Shoes does have its share of exceptional songs. The most obvious example of an album that could have been re-sequenced to make it stronger, it does have a weak second half. However, two stunning tracks are in the middle. Ending side A with Lily, you get this rousing and driving song that was the track Bush opened Before the Dawn with. She also re-recorded it for Director’s Cut. I think that the 1993 recording is the best. Here is a bit of background to the song:

“The song is devoted to Lily Cornford, a noted spiritual healer in London with whom Bush became close friends in the 1990s.

“She was one of those very rare people who are intelligent, intuitive and kind,” Kate has said of Cornford, who believed in mental colour healing—a process whereby patients would be restored to health by seeing various hues. “I was really moved by Lily and impressed with her strength and knowledge, so it led to a song – which she thought was hilarious”.

Keeping the momentum going, The Red Shoes opens its side B with the sublime title track. The Red Shoes was also released as a single by EMI Records in the U.K. on 4th April, 1994. It was the lead track of the movie The Line, the Cross, and the Curve, which was presented on film festival at the time of the single’s release. I think that this is one of the strongest side B-opening songs. There is not a load of information out there about the track. The Kate Bush Encyclopedia gives us some more information about the various releases of The Red Shoes’ title track:

“There are three versions of ‘The Red Shoes’: the album version, which was also used on the single released, and ‘Shoedance’, which is a 10 minute remix by Karl Blagan of ‘The Red Shoes’, featuring excerpts from dialogue from the movie The Line, The Cross & The Curve. Finally, there’s the version from Bush’s album Director’s Cut in 2011”.

TWO

HOUNDS OF LOVE (1985): Cloudbusting (A)/(B) And Dream of Sheep

Kate Bush’s most acclaimed and known album is perfect when it came to tracklisting and the sequencing. Opening with Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and ending with The Morning Fog, you can’t really fault it! The end of side A and start of side B have no faults. But is this duo of songs the strongest when compared to other others?! Cloudbusting ends side A wonderfully. A successful single and one of her most loved songs, it was another with a really interesting and compelling story:

“‘Cloudbusting’ is a track that was very much inspired by a book calledA Book Of Dreams. This book is written through a child’s eyes, looking at his father and how much his father means to him in his world – he’s everything. his father has a machine that can make it rain, amongst many other things, and there’s a wonderful sense of magic as he and his father make it rain together on this machine. The book is full of imagery of an innocent child and yet it’s being written by a sad adult, which gives it a strange kind of personal intimacy and magic that is quite extraordinary. The song is really about how much that father meant to the son and how much he misses him now he’s gone.

Conversation Disc Series, ABCD 012, 1985”.

Starting side B of one of the best albums ever is And Dream of Sheep. It begins the concept suite, The Ninth Wave. Bush actually recorded a live video for this song that was used in the 2014 residency, Before the Dawn. One of the best songs on Hounds of Love and this emotional and beautiful moment from Kate Bush, it means that we have two genius songs that form the middle of a masterpiece:

“[The Ninth Wave] is about someone who is in the water alone for the night. ‘And Dream Of Sheep’ is about them fighting sleep. They’re very tired and they’ve been in the water waiting for someone to come and get them, and it’s starting to get dark and it doesn’t look like anyone’s coming and they want to go to sleep. They know that if they go to sleep in the water they could turn over and drown, so they’re trying to keep awake; but they can’t help it, they eventually fall asleep – which takes us into the second song. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Issue 18, 1985)”.

ONE

AERIAL (2005): Mrs. Bartolozzi (A)/(B)How to Be Invisible

Perhaps my favourite side A end and side B opener comes from Aerial. The entrancing and dreaming Mrs. Bartolozzi is a song I feel would have made a perfect single. I am taking the tracklisting on Aerial from the 2005 oriignal release when it comes to what ends side A and starts side B. I think it did change when the album was reissued. It is interesting reading what Kate Bush said about Mrs. Bartolozzi:

“Is it about a washing machine? I think it’s a song about Mrs. Bartolozzi. She’s this lady in the song who…does a lot of washing (laughs). It’s not me, but I wouldn’t have written the song if I didn’t spend a lot of time doing washing. But, um, it’s fictitious. I suppose, as soon as you have a child, the washing suddenly increases. And uh, what I like too is that a lot of people think it’s funny. I think that’s great, because I think that actually, it’s one of the heaviest songs I’ve ever written! (laughs)
Clothes are…very interesting things, aren’t they? Because they say such an enormous amount about the person that wears them. They have a little bit of that person all over them, little bits of skin cells and…what you wear says a lot about who you are, and who you think you are…
So I think clothes, in themselves are very interesting. And then it was the idea of this woman, who’s kind of sitting there looking at all the washing going around, and she’s got this new washing machine, and the idea of these clothes, sort of tumbling around in the water, and then the water becomes the sea and the clothes…and the sea…and the washing machine and the kitchen… I just thought it was an interesting idea to play with.
What I wanted to get was the sense of this journey, where you’re sitting in front of this washing machine, and then almost as if in a daydream, you’re suddenly standing in the sea.

Ken Bruce show, BBC Radio 2, 1 November 2005”.

Opening the second side of the first vinyl is the majestic How to Be Invisible. This is a song that not many people discuss but really should. It is filled with so much brilliant and vivid imagery. A song that will stay in the memory and draws you in. It is a perfect way to open side B. I really love it and feel it needs to be played on the radio more. This is my favourite passage from the song: “Eye of Braille/Hem of anorak/Stem of wallflower/Hair of doormat/Is that the wind from the desert song?/Is that an autumn leaf falling?/Or is that you, walking home?/Is that the wind from the desert song?/Is that an autumn leaf falling?/Or is that you, walking home?/Is that a storm in the swimming pool?”.

FEATURE: Access All Areas: Can FLO Kickstart a Girl Group Revival?

FEATURE:

 

 

Access All Areas

PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding for DAZED

Can FLO Kickstart a Girl Group Revival?

_________

IT is a very exciting time…

for Pop at the moment. In  terms of dominance and who is at the top, it is very much about the solo artist. One can say Charli XCX leads the way. I think that a lot of the sounds and songs we hear on BRAT (her latest studio album) are going to influence artists coming through. An award-nominated album that is among the best-rated of this year, I think that she is going to be headlining festivals next year. She is already booked to headline Primavera Sound. Alongside her are other great Pop queens such as Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Intelligent and innovative Pop that is refreshing the genre. There is still a problem with homogenisation, though there are distinct artists showcasing something both fresh and familiar. Challenging music that is also accessible and instantly classic. In terms of the girl group market, that is not as healthy and prevalent as it was in decades past. With its last peaks being in the 1990s and 2000s, I guess you can say more modern groups like Girls Aloud kept the flame alive. In the 2020s, there has not really been a great charge of girl groups. With other sound and genres being favoured, the once-ruling blend of Pop and R&B the great girl groups used to provide is very much in the shadows. However, there are a couple of acts that could well buck that trend. Where once the U.S. led the way when it came to the best girl groups – I am thinking TLC and Destiny’s Child were up there -, there are some great modern British examples. Say Now are a group with keeping an ear and eye out for. I would also say that FLO are right up there. Perhaps the leading girl group of the moment.

There is definite demand and desire for these groups. Think about the reception Sugababes got when they played Glastonbury last year. Girls Aloud may not be recording any new music, though you feel a some more tour dates are on the cards. They did a tour earlier in the year and there is very much this hope they will put something new out. Spice Girls could well reform one day or perform some gigs. Legends of the scene like TLC are still performing. These queens are giving strength and influence to the modern breed. Even if groups like FLO have their own sound, you can hear links to brilliant U.S. and U.K. girl groups. Perhaps we are not going to get the same sort of wave of girl groups as we had years ago. Their debut album, Access All Areas, has won critical praise. Many have asked whether the trio (Renée Downer, Jorja Douglas and Stella Quaresma) could be the next big thing. Their contemporary take on the R&B-driven sounds of previous girl groups has the potential to be huge. As one or two reviews of their albums mention, perhaps a bit more grit and risk-taking with the sounds. An edge, sense of experimentation and swagger that is perhaps lacking. Not that FLO are playing it safe, though you do feel that they need to be a more daring and look at the girl group history books. That will come with time. It does seem that FLO have the potential to lead a girl group charge for the 2020s. I will come to a couple of reviews for Access All Areas to end things. I do want to bring in a couple of fairly recent interviews. They clearly (and rightfully) have confidence in their talent and future. The first interview I want to source from is from DAZED from September:

“The debut album from FLO, Access All Areas, took the best part of three years to find its direction. The number-switching and lock-changing on the good-for-nothing boys chronicled in their viral debut single “Cardboard Box” was a baby-faced introduction to the girls as they were back then. The lyrics were rough and ready (“Ima put your shit in a cardboard box”), but there was an unmistakable quality to their harmonising that was well beyond their years. Now, nearing five years together, the three young women of FLO are (still) in the throes of growth, but it’s the experiences in the past two-and-a-half years that have informed the album. For Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma and Renée Downer, a reintroduction may not be strictly necessary, but there is a story in the journey they have been on – a snapshot behind the scenes of the making of a band, and the breaking of anything (or anyone) that stands in the way of their success.

Seated around a semi-secluded corner table at The Standard’s Decimo restaurant in London, the girls are a few days out from a scheduled performance at Lollapalooza Chicago, but there is little haste. It’s a rare moment of respite they welcome among all the preparations, even though, technically, they’re still at work. After scanning the drinks menu, Jorja opts for a honey and saffron amaretto sour and, when Renée asks for peppermint tea with honey, Stella follows suit. But what will they eat? “Erm…” Renée ponders aloud. “What are we not going to eat?!” Jorja jokes. Our orders are taken and the table is cleared of menus as Jorja circles the table, filling everyone else’s glass with water before pouring her own. “Let’s get it cracking,” Stella prompts as Renée’s signature knotless goddess braids are swept out of her face and she begins to tell me the story behind their naming ceremony.

PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding

“We were coming up with loads of names like ‘Her Story’, ‘Minx’…” she recalls with a slight cringe. “Minx?!” Jorja and Stella shout incredulously. “Oh my gosh,” Stella drones with subtle embarrassment. “Yeah! Minx was in there! What else?” Renée asks as eyes shift between one another in the silence. “A bunch of stuff that wasn’t memorable, clearly.” Stella interrupts. “Her Story was probably the best but it’s also a bit, like… get a grip,” Jorja finishes. FLO was a placeholder name taken from a mysterious white cat milling around at Island House – a residence set up by the label where the artists could “do whatever, really” – that they decided to name. “Anytime we’d say we were thinking of calling ourselves FLO people would laugh and be like, ‘FLO? Like the period app? You guys can’t be called FLO!’ But it stuck and here we are. We’ve given it meaning, you know… Flo[w], we’re in sync and there are three of us. Everything works!” Renée says, before Jorja inserts cheekily: “Period!”

Jorja has a way with words that leaves little room for one’s own conclusions to be drawn. As the eldest, and self-proclaimed “sassy” one of the group, she can be soft and carries mama bear-like qualities and is a witty conversationalist. “I feel like I’m good at making decisions or sparking thoughts that lead to decisions, if that makes sense?” she says when asked what she brings to the group. Stella, the middle child of FLO, maintains a level of calm throughout our conversation that stands in contrast to Jorja. When she does speak, her contributions are well-timed and considered. “I’m definitely the most level-headed one,” she affirms. “I can see different points of view very easily and I’m one to take a minute to assess the situation. I’m a big assessor. I like to assess the room and situation before I speak.” Renée and Jorja both agree that Stella is also the funny one, whereas Stella describes Renée as “very organised. She keeps us in check but she’s also the baby as well. She’s very sweet and caring.” Renée is both beyond her years and endearingly young. She is the youngest in the group but in no way a liability, as can be the case stereotypically. “I make sure that we don’t miss anything, and discuss and stick to deadlines which is very important because this is a business,” she says. “Stella is like my chill sister that will be on anything and Jorja is like my big sister that will clart me and tell me what I should be doing, but she’ll hold me down and always have my back.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Thurstan Redding

The members of FLO are each their own women, but also a sisterhood in sync. Their journey as a band began in 2019 after being formed by Rob Harrison, an A&R at Island Records on the lookout for singers to form a girl group. At the time, the girls were all posting videos singing covers on Instagram: “You know, that’s what the kids were doing and that’s how he found us,” Renée says of their now ex-manager, with whom they parted company this year. “I got an email from Rob saying, ‘I’m putting together a girl group. I’ve seen your videos, can I come to see you sing somewhere?’” says Stella, recalling how the pieces all fell into place. Fast-forward through a few rounds of group sessions mixing with different girls in different groups, and the three of them were put together, with this year marking their fifth anniversary. In fact, the group came together right before the pandemic, which was something of a blessing in disguise for the girls. “With the pandemic came so much conflict, whether it be [with] the label or management, so we had the chance to get totally on the same page with each other and battle through all these issues,” Jorja explains. “We were thrown into the deep end as far as being in business with a bunch of strangers goes. The pandemic allowed us not only to bond with each other but to make our bond unbreakable.”

I also notice how fans, or ‘FLO Lifers’ as the band has dubbed them, can be very opinionated. In fact, generally speaking, fandoms nowadays tally stream numbers and critique era-rollout plans and creative direction more rigorously than the people paid to do so. The girls aren’t blind; they see it all. In fact, they often agree with their assessments. “We kind of agree because of the journey we’ve been on,” says Jorja. “We’ve seen first-hand the flaws and holes where A&R and marketing are concerned. To be honest, it’s kind of refreshing to see that people see what we see. It’s nice to have the majority appreciate and enjoy what we’re doing because we are trying really hard, but it also reminds us that we’re not crazy and that the grievances we have behind the scenes are valid, because other people were noticing them too.

It feels like we’re circling a part of their journey that holds great significance here. When I ask them to go into these grievances, there’s an unspoken resistance as knowing glances are exchanged. When they do speak it’s with a palpable sense of caution, the only time in our conversation you can feel them holding back. There are clear frustrations, but seemingly none great enough to take our talk to a place where past burdens hold weight in their present. “We feel like we’ve been surrounded by a lot of yes-men and people who don’t know what to do with us, which is understandable,” says Jorja. “It’s taken a long time for us to find people we are happy with and want on our team. We love constructive criticism because that’s something we don’t feel we’ve received a lot of, but [the people who] have given us constructive criticism [in the past] weren’t necessarily the right audience or the best deliverers. They didn’t understand FLO and that’s something we struggled with, growing our team – having people who know us, know the music we create and that scene.” However, they all agree that their boyfriends offer great support. “They don’t shy away from us,” says Jorja. “They will tell us all of their opinions, sometimes unprovoked.” “Mainly unprovoked,” Renée confirms with a subtle side-eye.

Clearly, finding people who not only understand them individually but as a group of young women with a vision has been a point of contention for FLO. Even their style has taken a hit as they’ve worked through trial and error with different stylists and creative teams – so what exactly is their vision? “I think it’s ever-changing, to be honest, and we’re gonna keep evolving so people either grow with us or they don’t,” says Stella. “I’m kind of like, I think it’s us? As in, not that we’re the problem, just that we should just do it ourselves,” Jorja continues, before Renée adds: “I think there are people out there that will, like, guide and help us because at the end of the day, we’re still growing, but something which we’ve always done is be involved. So as we learn more and find people who will help us grow and develop, there definitely will come a time where we can do it and we’ll be confident and able to run the ship ourselves”.

It is encouraging that FLO’s brilliance and buzz has reached the U.S. An interview/profile from The New York Times earlier this month heralded FLO as a group matching ambition with nostalgia. How they are reinventing the girl group for modern times. Quite high plaudit for the quite new group. I think that they do have the foundations to be one of the greats. Hopefully lead a revival that could see a range of girl groups rise up. Make a challenge to the mainstream Pop titans:

“From the start, the group was a high-concept project. In 2019, Flo’s initial manager, Rob Harrison, and its label, Island, set out to create an R&B girl group that would revive and update the sound and attitude of acts from the 1990s and 2000s. While that era’s R&B has been a key ingredient in the rise of K-pop, American and British R&B have lately favored solo acts rather than groups. “A girl group was missing from the industry,” Douglas said.

The label auditioned teenage R&B singers, seeking individual and collective chemistry, after it “basically found us all on Instagram,” Downer said.

Flo’s three members were ready. They had grown up in an era of professionalized pop training, youth talent competitions and social-media self-promotion. Quaresma recalled that even when she was in elementary school in Devon, England, she was determined to become a pop performer. “I was 12 and I was, like ‘Mom, I’m behind my schedule,’” she said. “‘Everyone in London is already starting their careers. I’m behind them all, I’ve got to do something.’ So every day after school, I went to dance class and worked on singing.”

Quaresma and Downer met as students at the Sylvia Young Theater School in London, whose alumni include Amy Winehouse, Rita Ora and Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice of the Spice Girls. Douglas was 14 when she won a televised singing competition on CBBC, the BBC’s channel for children, and she continued to post songs online. Downer and Douglas had befriended each other on Instagram, only to meet in person for the first time during the auditions for Flo.

Part of the audition process assigned singers to work up cover versions as a group. Downer, Douglas and Quaresma quickly found that their tastes aligned; they arranged a mash-up of Frank Ocean and Jazmine Sullivan.

Once chosen, the members of Flo began an intense process of self-invention. The lingering girl-group stereotype of Svengali producers controlling naïve singers was not for them. But they welcomed hard work, and they spent two years in preparation — songwriting, recording, costumes, chorography — before unveiling Flo.

“We were like, ‘We want boot camp,’” Downer recalled. “We want to be ready, we want to rehearse and practice. We started doing sessions: learning each other’s voices, and learning about our blend and how we were going to be unique as a girl group. Figuring out what we all liked, what we could bond over.” She said they did write a lot of songs, and wanted to release music earlier. “But looking back, the development time was very necessary because we were very young.”

Holding back their debut album was not a decision to be taken lightly. Flo persisted.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

They found a steady collaborator in the English songwriter and producer Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike, who records as MNEK (pronounced like his last name) and has worked with Beyoncé, Dua Lipa and Madonna. “Cardboard Box” was one of their first collaborations, back in 2020. In a telephone interview, MNEK said, “They were all like 16, 17, and just figuring it out and learning how to be a group and learning how to harmonize together and how to write together.”

Although Flo tried songwriting sessions via Zoom during the height of the pandemic, the group strongly prefers gathering together in one studio. “It’s just all about conversation,” Quaresma said. “You know, what we’re going through. Sometimes we’re not even going through it, we just want to write a story, make something up. Then we’ll do melodies — either on the mic or on the phone or in the room. And then we write to those melodies.”

Holding back their debut album was not a decision to be taken lightly. Flo persisted.

“They really care about their craft,” MNEK said. “In the 1990s they would have released an album they weren’t really happy with — and got dropped. The girls did have the luxury of just being, like, ‘This album isn’t right. We need to improve it. We care about this album and we don’t feel that we have to release music that is subpar — because we haven’t yet.’ They’re all really involved and nothing’s coming out unless they’re happy with it. They are very strong-willed women and they have good instincts.”

While their early material relied on British producers, Flo brought in American collaborators for “Access All Areas,” a way to experiment that could also broaden their audience. “Caught Up,” a single from the album, was co-produced by Pop Wansel; it suavely incorporates the jazz guitarist Joe Pass’s solo acoustic version of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.”

“Cardboard Box” and other songs on “The Lead” had little mercy for errant boyfriends. The lyrics on “Access All Areas” allow more room for affection, juggling self-assurance and vulnerability, independence and lusty attachment. (The title song is not about a backstage pass.) “‘The Lead’ was about shifty men,” Douglas said. “And then ‘Access All Areas’ is a lot more positive, because that reflects where we’re all in our lives.”

The new album also includes an unexpected hard-rock blast — mockingly titled “I’m Just a Girl” — that taunts anyone who underestimates Flo’s ambition or success: “How many Black girls do you see on center stage now?” they sing.

“I think authority is the magic key to Flo,” Douglas said. “It’s just making sure that we always say what we’re thinking. We don’t believe in beating around bushes. And then always making sure our voices are heard. That is one thing that we’ve done from the start, and it’s definitely something that we’ll continue to do.”

She smiled. “It got us this far”.

I do think that all the signs are good. FLO are here to stay. Even though contemporaries like Say Now suggest it is quite a growing market, I think that it will take time before we see more girl groups come through. With FLO gathering a lot of love and spotlight, it is a very exciting time. Even though The Guardian were looking for a bit more risk from Access All Areas, they did have praise and positivity from an excellent debut album:

“Access All Areas makes you abundantly aware that the charts would be a better place with Flo in them. The songs are punchy and well written, as on the poppy Nocturnal, or Check, which has a faint but noticeable UK garage skip to its beat. The trio bring thick, satisfying harmony vocals without indulging in showy over-singing, and an impressive quantity of attitude to sagas of useless boyfriends and relationships gone wrong: you really wouldn’t mess with the girls singing IWH2BMX, or commanding over the stammering rhythm and rock guitar of closer I’m Just a Girl. They can do slow jams, both of the straightforward bedroom-bound variety (Soft), or the kind that traverse more complicated emotional terrain: How Does It Feel marries its measured pulse to a wrathful, vengeance-shall-be-mine mood.

But Access All Areas also demonstrates why Flo haven’t quite exploded. There are plenty of good tracks here, but no undeniable no-further-questions smash hit: you get the link to SWV or Writing’s on the Wall-era Destiny’s Child, but at present, they’re an SWV without a Right Here or a Weak; they’re a LaTavia and LeToya-era Destiny’s Child without a No, No, No or a Jumpin’, Jumpin’.

In addition, the one period detail Access All Areas’ production misses is that R&B in the era it celebrates thrived on sonic risk-taking and adventure. Quite aside from the songs, the big hits frequently worked by snagging listeners with novelty – even the poppiest of their avowed influences, Sugababes, weren’t above throwing the odd spanner into the works, as on the Gary Numan-sampling Freak Like Me. That sense of innovation is lacking here. It’s great to get Missy Elliott to drop a verse on your single; it would be better still to incorporate some of the head-turning surprise that Timbaland brought to Aaliyah’s We Need a Resolution – or indeed, that the Neptunes brought to Kelis, or Rodney Jerkins to Brandy. It comes close on Bending My Rules, which marries a scrabbly guitar sample to a lurching beat, but it feels like a simulacrum of early 00s oddness, rather than a fresh embodiment of its spirit.

Without that – or the aforementioned killer hit – their debut seems more like a solid start than an obvious smash, a good idea that needs fleshing out before it really comes into its own. There’s a spark about it that suggests Flo deserve the space, time and opportunity to do just that: they’re in touching distance of being genuinely great, but their debut album is a stop on a journey rather than an end in itself”.

I am going to end with a four-star review from NME. They were very much behind the wonder of FLO’s Access All Areas. It should rank alongside the best debut albums of this year. A statement of intent from a trio who are very much set on longevity and success. Make sure you follow them and listen to everything they put out:

“It’s been a moment since girl groups have commanded the hearts, minds and radiowaves of music lovers – at least, that’s the case in the West. Gone are the days of Xscape, TLC, All Saints, Spice Girls and many, many more. Fortunately, the time has come for a much needed “bad bitch replenishment”, as Wicked star Cynthia Erivo announces on record opener ‘Intro’: that’s British trio FLO and their debut album, ‘Access All Areas’.

Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer and Stella Quaresma cleverly tap into their reverence for the ’90s, with many of the record’s tracks sounding like they were ripped right out of that moment in time. Their angelic melodies on ‘Bending My Rules’ evoke ‘Runaway Love’-era En Vogue, the soulful ‘On & On’ would be right at home in SWV’s discography, while album highlight ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’ brings to mind Destiny’s Child’s seminal ‘The Writing’s on the Wall’ album.

FLO aren’t one-trick ponies, though. ‘Access All Areas’ ventures beyond the promised R&B girl group formula, such as on certified trap banger ‘In My Bag’, featuring a standout verse from Memphis rapper GloRilla. But not all of their risks pan out as well as that track. ‘How Does It Feel’, for example, is as generic as contemporary R&B comes, while grungy album closer ‘I’m Just a Girl’, despite the strong message of representation behind it, is an overproduced mess that flattens the hell out of the trio’s selling point: their voices.

Thankfully, there are plenty of anthemic, showstopping vocal moments (‘AAA’, ‘Check’ and ‘Walk Like This’) to offset the duds, and even a few ballads (‘Soft’ and ‘Trustworthy’) to really complete the throwback experience – truly a “feast for our ears”, as Erivo puts it in beginning. Throughout the album, the trio are comfortable and in their zone, and this gives them space to imbue the recordings with almost-magical levels of confidence and attitude.

On ‘Access All Areas’, FLO have it all down pat: the talent, charisma and star power are all on display. Riding on the wave of nostalgia has gotten the trio this far, and now it feels as if they’ve within striking distance of a true breakthrough. Even if ‘Access All Areas’ doesn’t overwhelmingly herald the return of R&B girl group dominance, the massive momentum FLO have built over the past two years hint that the dam is about to break”.

I do think FLO will ignite a charge of girl groups. Even if it make take some time to fully materialise, we could see something big. I don’t think it pure nostalgia that Girls Aloud, Sugarbabes and their peers are still very much in people’s hearts. It is their connection and sound that you don’t get with solo artists. Something extra. Even if modern Pop especially is defined by solo artists, we are seeing flashes of brilliance from groups. It is time for a new and exciting period of girl groups. Perhaps on the fringes slightly at the moment, as FLO know, it will soon be a case of…

ACCESS all areas.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Fifteen in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Fifteen in 2025

_________

I am nearly…

at the end of this run of features. I will finish by celebrating and highlighting albums released in 2020. Those greats that turn five next year. I have a couple of playlists to put out before then. Now, I am focusing on tremendous albums from 2010. Perhaps one of the more overlooked music years, there were some modern classics released that year. I am going to get to them for this Digital Mixtape. Saluting those albums turning fifteen in 2025. Most of us remember back to 2010 and what was around them. If you need a refresher as to what was critically acclaimed that year, this feature should be of some use. A needed nod to the very best albums…

FROM 2010.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Twenty in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Twenty in 2025

_________

I am working my way down…

through these anniversary features. Compiling playlists featuring songs from albums celebrating big anniversaries next year. I am moving now to 2005. A wonderful year for music, half way through a new decade (and millennium), we saw sounds and tastes shift. What you will hear from this mixtape is the very best from that year. Some greats and classic albums that turn twenty next year. If you were about in 2005 or not, you should enjoy what I have assembled. Some really terrific albums that have endured over the past two decades and sound amazing to this day. Have a listen through a Digital Mixtape filled with top tunes. Some epic cuts from albums…

TURNING twenty next year.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Tour of Life: A Wolfhound At the Door: 1994 and 1995

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: The Tour of Life

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddart

A Wolfhound At the Door: 1994 and 1995

_________

MAYBE a bit of a downer…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in London in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

subject to bring up when it comes to Kate, I did want to look at the years 1994 and 1995. It was a difficult period for her. Following the release of The Red Shoes in November 1993, Bush didn’t entirely retreat from the spotlight. However, it is clear there was something of a black dog at the door. A fatigue and depression. It is not surprising! After working tirelessly on The Red Shoes and the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve – Bush was promoting it around its release on 13th October, 1994 -, there was this need to step back or focus on herself. It was a fascinating time. Bush was still working quite hard in 1994. Bush was commissioned to write a series of short musical pieces for a $30 million U.S. T.V. advert campaign for the Coca-Cola drink, Fruitpoia. I am referencing once more Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush for guidance and facts. It is interested that she was lured into advertising once more. The first time was when she did a spot for Seiko in Japan in 1978 where her song, Them Heavy People (Rolling the Ball in Japan), was backing her. I think there was this definite sense of drain and exhaustion. The process of recording and promoting an album. A sense of burn-out from making a short film in 1993 too. Bush wanted to keep engaged but did not want to be in album recording mode or do promotion. This opportunity meant that she could do something creative for a good product – and earn handsomely from it. Ever since, Bush has not engaged with any advertising campaigns. The thirty-second pieces had cool titles such as Nice, Soul, and Solstice. Apart from also contributing to an album, Common Ground, which featured artists recording Irish songs (Bush’s beautiful rendition of Mná na hÉireann is sublime), there was far less activity. It was clear that a break was needed. Recording and promoting almost non-stop since she was eighteen, this woman in her mid-thirties was taking on a huge weight. It was a moment when she needed to take stock. It was disheartening getting mixed and negative reviews for The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve.

Kate Bush always disliked what she recorded. In a sense that she was never truly happy with her output. She did her best at the time but there was this lingering sense of dissatisfaction. In 1993 and 1994, there was this negativity pouring out. Critics started to compare Bush to contemporaries like Tori Amos. Focusing on the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities rather than the music. A sense of fascination and approval had gone. It is no surprise that this impacted hard on Kate Bush. It was not only critics that were negative towards Bush. A loyal and diehard fanbase were also not entirely in love with Bush. Through fanzines and messageboards on the Internet, there was this horrible and suffocating pressure. A feeling of a tide turning. The 1994 fan convention was the last one Bush attended. She did say how she was very sensitive to the criticism and feelings around her work. How her energy was sapping and that caused exhaustion. After putting so much effort into an album and short film, Bush would have hoped for some positivity and a chance to ride some critical acclaim. Instead, it did seem like there was more darkness than light. Bush was almost dismissive about The Red Shoes. A tone that suggested resignation and apology. This was quite new and worrying. The interviews around the album are not the best. In terms of what she is being asked and how interviewers approached her. Bush did her best in the interviews, yet you could sense she was ready to sign off for a while. Rather than looking ahead to another album or with her usual energy, something was wrong. One can appreciate how an artist that was so in demand and was not afforded a break would show signs of retreat. Bush, aged thirty-five, had lost a long-term relationship and was dealing with the death of her mother (in 1992). The city was this rather toxic and busy landscape. Not ideal when you are in need of relaxation and calm!

PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Bush whilst filming the video for Rubberband Girl in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

One can look ahead to 2005 and the release of Aerial. How Bush created a new family and was living away from London. Maybe that desire was there as early as 1993 and 1994. In 1994, the press were still very much not letting up. Taking digs and spreading rumours, all of this fuel was added to a fire. One can only imagine what Kate Bush was feeling. Not being afforded enough time to grieve her mother’s death and process the end of a fifteen-year romance, something had to change. In Graeme Thomson’s book, he notes how the years 1994 were 1995 were ones defined by isolation and depression. This was not something new. After 1982’s The Dreaming was released, Bush suffered nervous exhaustion and was prescribed bed rest. After such intense recording and promotion, she had to regroup and take steps so that she could continue her career. Bush did come back with 1985’s Hounds of Love. This time around, the break between albums was longer. That desire to be in the studio and record was a lower priority. Watching bad sitcoms and quiz shows, Bush slept a lot and I would assume she was not eating healthily. Bush was in a very low mood and it was a troubling time. It is easy to look at this time and feel like it was Bush suffering a massive low. Hitting rock bottom. In fact, it was only a brief period of isolation and depression, though it is significant. I don’t think many Kate Bush fans know about what she was doing in 1994 and 1995. There were few professional engagements. The last promotion duties for The Red Shoes were completed in 1994. Bush performing And So Is Love on Top of the Pops. A bit of travelling and interview. You can sense and feel that she was suffering. The sheer demand of recording and promoting took its toll. I am trying to more eloquently put it into words! Even if there was this down period where Bush slept an awful lot, watched television and wanted to be alone, she did also manage to engage in a normal and sociable form soon enough. Whether it was eating out at a high-end restaurant in London, attending David Gilmour’s fiftieth birthday (in 1996) or enjoying a play, she was keeping busy enough.

Look ahead to 1996, Bush wrote and recorded the demo version of King of the Mountain. That was the single released from 2005’s Aerial. Sunset and An Architect’s Dream were written in 1997. Bush welcomed her son, Bertie, into the world in July 1998. That period between The Red Shoes coming out and giving birth. Quite interesting bookmarks. 1994 and 1995 are fascinating. How there was this turbulence and personal struggle. Bush was asked about whether she wanted to have children in an interview from 1994. She was very much open to it. I think the loss of her mother and the cessation of her relationship with Del Palmer meant that she was looking to create new comfort and meaning. The loss that she suffered turned her mind towards children. She was in a new and strong relationship with Danny McIntosh. It is remarkable that Kate Bush rode through a very difficult time and soon came out the other side. Starting work on a new album and starting a family. The strength she found to begin writing and recording only a few years after The Red Shoes came out. However, this was a slow creative build. Aerial would arrive nine years after its first song was written. A double album that was incredibly generous and accomplished, it is also one of her most positive and hopeful works. Quite a contrast to the mood and aesthetic of 1994 and 1995. These years were not completely defined by blackness and isolation, yet it was a definite bridge. Bush could not carry on and push herself hard. The energy and motivation was not there. Blown back and stunned by some bad reception from fans and critics, I do think about Kate Bush in those years and it is heartbreaking. Spending so much time at home and needing a lot of sleep. Similarities to 1982 but a much more severe version of that.

I am going to end this feature soon. I wanted to feature 1994 and 1995, less in a negative and downhearted sense. It is important to highlight this time. The endless work and push through 1993 and a lot of 1994. Making an album and short film. Having to promote both when I am sure Bush would rather peel away and be left alone. She needed some time to recalibrate and reflect. During a heavy time when she was not in the spotlight, Bush did manage to engage with music and make contributions. It was not too long before she opened up to the possibilities of a bright future. New material and new life. The lessons of The Red Shoes were present in her mind. From that point on, she would conduct her career differently and her working life would shift radically. In terms of how she promoted her work, where and how she recorded and the time she would take to complete an album. In a future feature, I am going to discuss how Kate Bush sort of pushed away from EMI after the release of Aerial. There was this definite sense of wanting independence and not wanting to engage in the same sort of promotional cycle. Not being held to deadlines. Even if Aerial was a long gestation, she was still very much aware that EMI were keen for Bush to release an album. That expectation would have been there from 1994. Get back on top after a mediocre period. Regain some of that traction and love that was around after the release of Hounds of Love and The Sensual World (1989). Rather than 1994 and 1995 being a time that ruined Kate Bush, it was a reset and chance for thinking about her future without obstacles and distractions. The positives we can take from that. From the days when a black dog was waiting at the door to Bush relocating, working in her own studio, starting a family and creating a masterpiece eighth studio album, one has to applaud her strength and focus. Rather than being finished and out of favour when Aerial was released, the phenomenal Kate Bush came backed adored and…

STRONGER than ever.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Twenty-Five in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Twenty-Five in 2025

_________

IN the next part of…

this run of features, I am now up to 2000. That incredible year where we welcomed in a new decade, century and millennium. It also saw an interesting shift in terms of music. The 1990s still quite fresh, there was this transition and change. As such, the best albums from 2000 are quite varied and unique. I was keen to assemble a playlist to include songs from the best albums of that year. Phenomenal albums that are turning twenty-five next year. I was sixteen when the year 2000 started and it was a time when I was bonding with music in a new and stronger way. Below is a playlist containing songs from albums that heralded in the new millennium. The first greats of the twenty-first century. If you were there at the time or not, you will find much to enjoy…

FROM this mixtape.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Thirty in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Thirty in 2025

_________

KEEPING this feature going…

I now turn my attentions to albums celebrating thirty years in 2025. It is one of the most packed and golden years for music. That is 1995. A time when Britpop was rising and there was this huge array of wonderful music around, the year spawned more than its share of classics. I have compiled songs from the best albums of 1995. Again, if you were not around in 1995 it doesn’t matter. These songs and albums transcend the time in which they were released and still sound fantastic and relevant today. Some classics that are turning thirty next year. 1995 might be the best year of that decade for music, so it is a pleasure to collect together cuts from the absolute best albums. Here is a Digital Mixtape of songs from gems turning…

THIRTY next year. 

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Thirty-Five in 2025

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Thirty-Five in 2025

_________

EVEN though I would say…

1990 is one of the weaker years of the decade for music, that is less a reflection on the artists and more the incredibly high standard that came from 1991 onward. To mark albums that came out in 1990 and are turning thirty-five next year, I have compiled a playlist featuring songs from the very best albums of the year. I remember 1990 and the music that was out that year. It was an interesting transition from the very end of the 1980s. Still some of those sounds around, but a distinct new wave of genres and sounds emerging. I will capture as many as I can in this Digital Mixtape as we look ahead to golden 1990 albums that…

TURN thirty-five next year.

FEATURE: Feel It: The Texture of Kate Bush’s Albums

FEATURE:

 

Feel It

The Texture of Kate Bush’s Albums

_________

I am racing through Kate Bush features…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1981/PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith

as there is a lot to cover off before the end of the year! I have some Christmas-related features to explore. I wanted to discuss something different for this outing. I want to look at her albums in a different way. Influenced by something I read in Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, it has made me think about the textures of and in her albums. The feel of them. Think about all of her ten studio albums and the dynamics and compositional qualities. We can examine the songs individually and the sound and lyrics. Think more generally about the albums. Maybe I do not mean textures. I previously wrote how Bush’s albums tend to have their own colour schemes and palettes. Whether there is the pink and reds of love and femininity or the blacks, greys and darker colours through to the clear purple and silvers. This made me think about the sort of weather and dynamics you get from each albums. Let’s work from two particular ones and source our way back. Think about 2005’s Aerial. I have written about domesticity and motherhood is at the heart of this album (much like Laura Marling with this year’s Patterns in Repeat). Psychologically, Bush very much in a happier space after 1993’s The Red Shoes. Embracing nature, her garden and home more and sourcing inspiration from this environment, it is small wonder that you listen to Aerial and feel a lot of air and space. There is this physical sense of atmosphere. Natural sunlight and warmth that one gets from the music through the album’s second disc, A Sky of Honey. On the first disc, A Sea of Honey, there is space and embrace. It is a very personal record, and not one that excludes the listener. It is this undeniable sense of intimacy and tenderness, together with this real need to let songs breathe. I will come to The Red Shoes. That was a more eclectic and loaded album in terms of its layers and production. Aerial is an ambitious and majestic work, though it is one that consciously feels accessible and expansive.

Graeme Thomson notes how there was less need for percussive guidance and technological fuss. More traditional instruments on Aerial. A range of guitars, pianos and percussion. With Bush’s voice deeper, that also gives the songs more gravitas and this wonderful gravity. Aerial is abound with birdsong, leaves, wind, sunshine, the natural world and the fine details of home. A brown jug, a washing machine, the kitchen and dirty floor. The comfort of new life and the joys of new responsibility. Not that Aerial is a purely English album. In terms of its sonic palette, it travels far and wide. Spanish and Italian influences. The domestic is very much a touchstone, yet there is so much imagination and fancy. In terms of the texture and feel, you get this warm glow and distinct scents and emotions. One feels calmed and soothed, yet Bush as a producer and songwriter allows the listener to escape into her world. A Sky of Honey’s summer’s day. We can feel and hear the sunrise and the coming dawn. There are elements of this in Bush’s first two albums, 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Rather than think of those albums in terms of colours and shades, how about the emotions and textures. In terms of compositional elements, there are threads of Aerial. The use of piano, percussion and guitar. Quite sparse in some respects with plenty of space. However, I think that The Kick Inside especially is less international and wide-ranging than Aerial. Apart from a jaunt to Berlin in The Saxophone Song, we have this real sense of home. Domesticity playing a different role. If Aerial is more about home and new life and purpose, The Kick Inside is about exploration and embracing sexuality. As such, there is this feeling of eccentricity and sensuality. Bush’s vocals quite high on a number of songs. If Aerial has a slow pulse, The Kick Inside’s changes rapidly. We have calmer and more contemplative moments alongside shocks and sharp rises. Vocals that are gymnastic and flexible. Background vocals and this feeling of a cast. If Bush used the outside world and nature to create textures on Aerial, The Kick Inside and Lionheart is all about voices and personas.

At the centre if this teenage Kate Bush. This real sense of touch and feel. I think that it is the physicality of expression on these albums. When Bush sings of passion and sex. Thar real sense of urge and the tactile. I think the objectives on these first two albums was more about relationships and desires. The compositions less expansive and full of air and light. Graeme Thomson felt Aerial was about “pastoral sensuality” and the elemental. The younger Kate Bush much more concerned with the intricacies and complexities of love. Exploring the physical. There are characters and fantasies. There is horror and darker elements together with a sense of anxiety. I was compelled to think about the textural feel of each Kate Bush album as nobody has really expanded on it or written about it in that sense. You can definitely feel some of that air and space of Aerial on Never for Ever. A real sense of ethereal and dream-like. There is this mix of space and the compact. Think about how we get this on songs such as Blow Away (For Bill), Delius (Song of Summer) and even Night Scented Stock. Coupled with the sounds of Army Dreamers and Breathing. How the former is quite light and has a jaunty spirit yet is dark and about loss. Breathing is smoky and suffocating. The sense of impending destruction. Bush looking out to the world in a political way for the first time. Perhaps less personal than later works, Never for Ever is the sound of a woman still exploring her body and mind but developing as a producer. With one foot in her teenage past and one stepping ahead, it is fascinating to feel all the different textures on this album.

The Dreaming is one of the most fascinating in terms of textural feel. It is a widely far-flung album. There is domesticity and the personal in a few of the numbers such as All the Love. Even though percussion and the Fairlight CMI are at the heart of the album, there is also more vocal layering than previously. Gravel and growl. Bush’s voice huskier and more dominating and hard-hitting then ever before. With very little space or air through the album, you do get this sense of tension and fear. The propulsion and nightmare of Get Out of My House gives The Dreaming this quite rough and gloomy feel. Maybe sparks of electricity. Some might think it quite a cold album, though I think that it is one that is full of different emotions and nuances. If the colour scheme is blacks and browns, you have all manner of complexity and layers. So many details and sounds mix with Bush’s most varied vocal palette. Such a stark contrast to her first two and most recent few albums. It is hard to put into words what sort of textures are on The Dreaming. Night and shadows. Fog and cigarette smoke. I think The Dreaming is one of Bush’s most itinerant albums. We follow a Vietnamese solider in the undergrowth and trees. The smell of war and the sticky heat. The overload of sound effects and sounds. Fretless bass, subtle time signature switches and this metallic haze. The Dreaming takes us to Australia; Night of the Swallow to Ireland. There is air and light on some numbers, yet the weather through Bush’s fourth studio album is stormier and wetter. A sticky heat and humidity. We race through history and time-zones. Houdini takes us back to early-twentieth century. There Goes a Tenner a London crime caper.

What to say about Hounds of Love and The Sensual World? The former sort of nods to what Aerial would sound like. There is nature and the natural world. Bush, influenced by the countryside around the family home at East Wickham Farm. She also wrote a lot of the album in Ireland. The landscape and emerald isle. A sense of the open. It is an album that is not quite as airy and warm and Aerial, though there are comparisons. This domestic sensuality. Bush very much rooted and inspired by home but taking us far and wide. The sea, salt and darkness of The Ninth Wave. There are fewer traditional instruments. Greater emphasis on the Fairlight CMI and its percussive elements. Irish instruments and more esoteric touches. It creates its own texture and dynamic. Inspirations from Ireland and further afield. However, I think Hounds of Love is Bush safe and happy at home. If her first few albums found Bush exploring her body, mind and sensuality, her fifth studio album is more about human relationships and something wider and deeper perhaps. The epic fight for survival and strength against the scariness of the deep sea on The Ninth Wave. What we think about and fight for when in that situation. Men and women exchanging places to understand one another. The way love can chase you like hounds. Bush, in her mid-twenties, more attuned to the capriciousness and complexity of love. There is plenty of sky and sunshine on The Big Sky. Plenty of weather too on Cloudbusting. Icier and skeletal notes on Mother Stands for Comfort. This DJ Mag feature from 2021 explores how the Fairlight CMI opened Bush up to electronic textures:

“The use of the word ‘tool’ is critical: The Fairlight was important for what it did, not what it was. And what it did was to open up Bush’s world to a new range of sonic possibility, as she explained to Option like a proto-Matthew Herbert: “With a Fairlight, you’ve got everything: a tremendous range of things,” she said. “It completely opened me up to sounds and textures and I could experiment with these in a way I could never have done without it.”

What is perhaps most striking about ‘Hounds Of Love’ is that, rather than settling down into a new electronic habit, Bush used her new digital equipment in a number of different ways, depending on the song’s demands. ‘Running Up That Hill,’ the album’s gorgeous opening song, uses a subtly propulsive, rolling tom pattern on the LinnDrum (the work of Bush’s collaborator and then romantic partner Del Palmer) that lays alongside cello samples from the Fairlight, which Bush manipulated to create both the main riff and backing strings”.

There is a more masculine energy to Hounds of Love. The Sensual World would change things. A move towards the feminine. Bush proclaiming it to be her most female album at that time. Also, there was more in the way of traditional instruments. Perhaps a slight return to and update of her first few albums. The production on The Sensual World is over-compressed. Something Bush would address when reworking songs from that album for 2011’s Director’s Cut. Even though there is less jumping around through time and space compared to The Dreaming or Hounds of Love, we do get more Irish influence. Especially on the title track. The Trio Bulgarka bringing Bulgarian music and vocals to several numbers. Graeme Thomson also notes in his Kate Bush biography how the sensuality is more imagined and less tangible. A less tactile record. The heat and flame simmering at a lower temperature. There is this warm and sensual hue that never ignites but is a constant. Perhaps a less mechanical percussion sound than on albums like The Kick Inside or 50 Words for Snow, there is this different tone and texture. A simmer and smoulder rather than a red-hot fire. Maybe Bush wanting The Sensual World to be more female meant there was this lack of punch and percussive power. Not reigned-in or conventional, there was this feeling of a deliberate shift. The Red Shoes is perhaps less tactile than The Sensual World. Perhaps the production sound contributed to that. However, there is a sense of the variegated on The Red Shoes. The flavour and scents that dance from songs like Eat the Music. A host of less traditional and more international instruments. Bush once more taking us around the world when it comes to the sounds. Moments of Pleasure could have been a song from The Sensual World. This is still this sense of discovery and need to pleasure; touch and togetherness. However, The Red Shoes has this sense of division and loss. Things ebbing away. Cracks starting to form.

Let’s finish with Kate Bush’s most recent album, 50 Words for Snow. An album once more open with plenty of space. In a different way to Hounds of Love and Aerial. If Hounds of Love took us to the sea and clouds, Aerial had this domestic joy and the slow reveal of a summer’s day. 50 Words for Snow is a chillier album by themes and lyrics, though there are complexities working in the songs. Bush stripping things down to mostly piano, guitar and percussion. The drumming of Steve Gadd key to so many songs. That perfect heartbeat that gives 50 Words for Snow its distinct tone and timbre. I do want to take slightly from Graeme Thomson’s observations in Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush about 50 Words for Snow. He notes how Bush was no longer concerned with Pop’s repetition, hooks and and conventions. Working more on the outskirts, her tenth studio album is more Chamber Jazz. The relationship between piano and drums essential and crucial. Bush exploring the wilds and wilderness. Drawing comparisons to artists like Scott Walker or John Martyn. In terms of spirit rather than sound. The softness and purity of Snowflake. How there is a contrast between the two vinyl sides. The second half more upbeat and energised. The first half unfolds more. Longer songs that take time to unfurl. Among Angels taking us back to Bush and her piano. Comparisons to Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave in some spots.

Although, as Thomson notes, the water is deeper and icier. There is mythology throughout the album. The unknown or the undefined. The transient nature of snow. If previous albums had a tactility linked to sensuality, nature and passion, there is more of the ephemeral on 50 Words for Snow. However, there is a tactility to the album. A distinct warmth that might not be instantly obvious. There is this seasonal quality to the album. Whereas the energy, passion and excitement of her previous albums are not tied to time or place, 50 Words fort Snow feels more appropriate this time of year. Winter and Christmas. It has sadness, softness and sensuousness. It is not a downbeat album, though the records throughout feel the cold. You can immerse yourself in the snowy landscapes and the colder environments. The pulse is slower but there are genuine moments of expansiveness and the epic. Sweeping and tender at the same time. It makes me think about the future and the possible texture and dynamics of a new Kate Bush album. Will the stories be far-flung and widespread? Will we have air and space or will there be a denser feel in terms of the instrumentation and production? Is the album going to be a warmer and more domestic affair or steeped in imagination and the otherworldly? A return to more of the Pop and Art Rock of her previous albums or move more to the fringes, albeit with some new twists and scents? I was intrigued to explore the textural feel of Kate Bush’s albums and the differences between them. How you do get distinctly different feels and experiences with each album. How some of her later albums like to her earliest work. The connective chemistry of an older songwriter bonding with her younger self. This being Kate Bush, there is this sense of mystery and enigmatic. If she does grace us with a new album in the next year or two…

WHO knows what will come!

FEATURE: Spotlight: Man/Woman/Chainsaw

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Sophie Barloc for The Line of Best Fit

Man/Woman/Chainsaw

_________

A group that everyone should know…

and are making big waves right now are Man/Woman/Chainsaw. Even though I am not a big fan of that name, I do love the music! Comprising of bassist and vocalist Vera Leppänen,  guitarist/vocalist Billy Ward, drummer Lola Cherry, violinist Clio Starwood, vocalist and keys/synths player Emmie-Mae Avery, and guitarist Billy Doyle, this is a crew that have delivered one of the best E.P.s of the year with Eazy Peazy. I am going to end with a  review of that E.P. Before getting there, it is worth introducing some features and interviews. First, I want to come to a recent interview from The Line of Best Fit. They spoke with the teenage London band. One that are Art Punk but sort of hard to define. A band ripping up the rulebook:

“Songwriting for this collective is fluid – a collaborative process dedicated to merging individual visions into something unique to the Man/Woman/Chainsaw outfit. That’s not to say there isn’t still some vulnerability in bringing a song to the table only to watch it turn into something else. “I think we all probably start a song thinking it should sound a certain way,” Avery muses. “If you listened to the inside of our brains, we’re all probably thinking: ‘this person’s suggestion is shit’,” she laughs, as bandmates shared pointed looks at one another lightheartedly. “But I think the best part is when a song does go in a completely different direction than what you expected, you know?” Leppänen poses. “Because there’s a reason you needed somebody else's brain to think of it.”

“Yeah, the song is so much better once you’ve surrendered it to six people’s mishmash of influences,” concludes Ward. It’s a particular patchwork of creativity that not only makes their music so rich but also embeds within it a sense of that very collaboration. In the sounds they produce, their instruments never compete, instead interweaving a musical push-and-pull. Lighter orchestral notes balance against boisterous fuzzy guitars and sometimes they shape shift, the twinkling now pouring from the guitars while the violin and keys take on the grit.

But, before Man/Woman/Chainsaw were even thinking about writing in this way, before even Eazy Peazy was in the works, this DIY outfit was founding their dynamic approach to making music in the raw energy of live performances. “There was something chaotic about the early gigs,” Ward recalls. “We try to tap into that now, but with more filtering out of the crap.” Cherry carries on the thought: “It started as writing for live performance. Since recording though, we've kind of played the songs a bit differently live. The backbones are the same, but they feel tighter,” she concludes, looking around at the nods of agreement. With over 100 gigs under their belts since debuting at just 16, it's impressive – and a bit surreal – that these young musicians can already tap into their early days for inspiration from their unfiltered expression. “The earliest songs were like, ‘this has a verse where the lyrics are one line repeated four times, a noise section, then the chorus’,” Leppänen recalls with a laugh.

Man/Woman/Chainsaw seem to be a band full of contradictions, their youthful energy contrasting sharply with the depth of their musical maturity. They maintain a DIY ethos while collaborating with seasoned professionals like Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox, who's production helped bring a more polished edge to their output. Despite being firmly anchored in their local scene, they also hold ambitions of touring further afield — Europe and beyond (“O2 arena, 2026”) – already in motion with their recently announced SXSW debut next year.

Yet, there aren't many bands with the same conviction in their own musical language as this indie outfit. As they prepare to unleash Eazy Peazy on the world, the group look forward to what’s next. When Starwood sheepishly asks if she can “dare say we’re on the short little road to finding our sound,” she is met with an answer from Ward that encompasses Man/Woman/Chainsaw: “We found our sound and now we’re taking it apart”.

One thing I am trying to piece together is how many members of Man/Woman/Chainsaw there are. In some interviews they are referred to as a six-piece. However, the review I am ending this feature  with labels them as a five-piece. They may need to confirm that, though I will just refer to them as a band and we can quibble over exact numbers. In any case, it is worth coming to Stereogum and their spotlight of the amazing Man/Woman/Chainsaw. Here is a band who are definitely going to be a festival mainstay. I think they will have the same sort of rise and success as bands like English Teacher:

“The youthful London combo, makers of “noisy, unadulterated art punk” by their own description, are dropping their Eazy Peazy EP Friday. Produced by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox, who’s also helmed great LPs by Sprints and Silverbacks, it’s Man/Woman/Chainsaw’s first release for the longstanding American indie label Fat Possum. With multiple lead vocalists and structures that never seem to repeat from track to track, it’s one of those records where every song has its own unpredictable flavor but they all seem to flow from the same collective consciousness.

Opener “The Boss” surges forward with an intensity that only seems to ratchet up as it goes, bassist Vera Leppänen railing against a composite of awful authority figures as Clio Harwood’s violin morphs into gnarly squalls of noise. One track later on “Sports Day,” guitarist Billy Ward is reliving traumatic adolescent athletic experiences over an off-kilter discordant groove. Next comes “Maegan,” on which Pixies-esque banter quickly gives way to a delightful sonic blitzkrieg. The second half of the tracklist ventures into territory both soft and surreal while bringing back the explosiveness in strategic increments. One of the lessons they learned from Fox in the studio: “If everything’s loud, nothing’s loud.”

The band has come a long way since Ward and Leppänen were 16-year-olds covering Nirvana and Lana Del Rey in a bedroom. (They also cooked up a noise-rock version of Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me,” sadly not for public consumption.) The duo spent lockdown learning how to play music, then recruited a rotating cast of bandmates and gigged like crazy around London DIY venues once they hit college. “We would do three, four shows a week sometimes,” Ward says during a boisterous video call with four of his bandmates. “We were just doing lots of shows around London. There’s so much music here that you can just do that when you’re young.”

All those shows helped Man/Woman/Chainsaw figure out where they thrive — “on the thin line between pretty and noisy, often trying to jump between the two,” as Ward has explained in press materials — and to build up a reputation as one of London’s most exciting young acts. The collective approach and orchestral flourishes lend themselves to comparisons with London contemporaries Black Country, New Road, while the interplay between Ward and Leppänen reminds me of indie-pop bands like the late, great Goon Sax.

Last year, the lineup settled into consistency with the addition of Harwood’s violin plus vocalist/keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery and drummer Lola Cherry. A sequence of early singles on Bandcamp — best of all “What Lucy Found There,” on which Ward and Leppänen trade vocals over hyperactive bass line straight out of a jazz or drum ‘n’ bass track — now play like snapshots of the growth leading up to the roundly accomplished Eazy Peazy. The band members are only 19 or 20 now, but they’re sounding like a seasoned unit.

The EP is full of sharp songwriting and engaging arrangements. Tracks feel epic without extending much beyond the three-minute mark. Each one is full of savvy details, like the dance between Harwood’s strings and Avery’s keys on “Sports Day” or the way Cherry elevates “EZPZ” with drumming that shifts from cavernous half-time to eruptions Ward compares to black metal blast beats. At the center of the tracklist is “Ode To Clio,” so named because Harwood’s violin melody transformed it from its Coldplay-esque beginnings. The band has highlighted it as an ideal introduction to their sound so far.

“I feel like it was the song that best summed up the different kinds of things that we’ve got on the EP. Like obviously we got like ‘Grow A Tongue In Time,’ which is more singer-songwriter-y, kind of pretty, and ‘The Boss’ is a bit heavier and more punky,” Leppänen says. “We wrote that somewhere in the middle, and I feel like it’s kind of brought the kind of two sides [of the band together].”

Although much of the Eazy Peazy material is new to the outside world, to Man/Woman/Chainsaw these songs are old hat compared to the new material they’ve been working on. “For the EP we wrote the songs to play them at gigs because we needed material,” Avery says. “And when we are writing now, we’re obviously writing them to play for gigs and stuff, but it’s nice, ’cause it feels like they’re tied to a project, that we’re writing them towards an album.”

Ward says the band is looking to get more music out soon rather than “taking 10 years to do the album.” In the meantime, there’s lots of touring on deck for early 2025, including a winter UK jaunt and Man/Woman/Chainsaw’s first trip to the States for next year’s South By Southwest. It’s a milestone the band is looking forward to, even if the results of this week’s presidential election have them feeling more wary about the future of America. “I’m scared,” Leppänen says. “But other than that, I’m really looking forward to next year”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sophie Barloc for The Line of Best Fit

Eazy Peazy is one of the great E.P.s. One that distils and highlights all the band’s strengths but also leaves you wanting more. A sign of where they are now and where they might head. NME were among those who sat down to offer their thoughts on Man/Woman/Chainsaw’s remarkable new work. One that has them tipped as one of the breakaway acts to look out for next year:

“There were multiple points throughout the last decade where it looked like UK indie rock might end up forever stuck in a post-punk loop. Fortunately amidst the familiarity of this latest revival, a crop of young bands went in the opposite direction; jettisoning post-punk’s wiry, pared-down approach in favour of something more ornate, progressive and grandiose.

This thrilling new branch of UK ‘indie’ (if there’s any meaning left in that ageing term) took on myriad shapes, from the resplendent melodrama of Black Country, New Road to the bad trip mania of Black Midi. These ambitious, forward-thinking bands served as welcome evidence that alternative rock music had yet to wholly capitulate to retro revivalism – and Man/Woman/Chainsaw are a quintessential product of this genre-busting era.

Few debuts are as simultaneously bold and accessible as ‘Eazy Peazy’. The likes of ‘Ode to Clio’, which swells from gentle embers to a finale inferno, throws rock music’s familiar structuring out the window, whilst retaining a firm sense of internal logic. Closer ‘EZPZ’ offers a more brute force example, maintaining a gripping intensity across three minutes of intricate and constantly shifting orchestral heaviness.

The band’s fusion of grand strings and pianos with more traditional, riff-based rock chaos is a broad success. ‘Sports Day’ contains one or two ideas too many, with the orchestral melodies erring close to unnecessary cacophony. Elsewhere, however, this OTT approach works with impressive elegance; see the simple but potent violin motif that recurs throughout ‘Ode to Clio’ and the interlocking strings and keys that arrive with immaculate precision midway through ‘The Boss’.

This instrumental melange reflects Man/Woman/Chainsaw’s ultra-contemporary, post-ironic lyrical voice. Like the internet-dominated culture in which they were raised, the band smash through the traditional boundaries that separate irony and sincerity, tilting from arch but soulful school memories of ‘Sports Day’ to the abstract literary musings of ‘Ode to Clio’ (“sprawled across my kitchen floor / she’s only arms and legs / her limbs like hairs / spread out starfish”).

Crucially, these metamodern tonal jumps possess real emotional power, matching the musical bravura. ‘Eazy Peazy’ practically fizzes with youthful energy and the possibilities of musical creation. It’s raw and throws everything in its sizeable arsenal at the wall, however, basically everything sticks. The resulting effort’s audacious energy is a sight to behold and whips with enough force to spin your head clean off your shoulders”.

Go and follow the remarkable Man/Woman/Chainsaw. You are going to hear a lot more from them. Check out Eazy Peazy though their Bandcamp or Spotify page and go and see them live if you can too. They have some great dates in the diary for next year, and they will play London’s Scala in April. An exceptional young band with many years ahead, make sure they are on your radar. I am quite new to them but I am compelled to follow them closely. They are a very…

EXCITING force to be reckoned with.

_____________

Follow Man/Woman/Chainsaw

PHOTO CREDIT: Sophie Barloc for The Line of Best Fit

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/manwomanchainsaw

Twitter:

https://x.com/mwctalks

Bandcamp:

https://manwomanchainsaw.bandcamp.com/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0KheksMhWogVV4frHAihPJ

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvEI1tJO_a1010nPdrim6Q

FEATURE: Deemed to Be Worthy: Who Might Headline Glastonbury 2025?

FEATURE:

 

 

Deemed to Be Worthy

IN THIS PHOTO: Eminem

Who Might Headline Glastonbury 2025?

_________

I know that I…

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

always do a pun around Worthy Farm (where it is held) for Glastonbury features, as I am not really sure what to title them! In this feature, I am thinking about the acts that may headline in 2025. It is not long until we find out who will be performing at Glastonbury next June (25th-29th). Last year was a big one in terms of the headliners. We had Dua Lipa, SZA and Coldplay. It as rare to get any female headliners, let alone two. This is the thing about Glastonbury. In over fifty years, it has ignored women as headliners. No year has had more than one, until we got to 2024. If you count the total headliners, women are vastly overlooked. Organiser Emily Eavis said she wanted to tackle and address this, though it is a case of instantly reversing the male bias. Last year proved there are women who can headline. That was also the case in 2023, though potential headliners like Lana Del Rey were lower down the bill. It is a sorry state. However, let’s hope that last year’s female headliners suggested we no longer had to endure all-male acts. It is very boring and depressing having men dominate the headline slots. However, I am hopeful that 2025 will see more women headline. I believe next year is the last one before a fallow year. Glastonbury will not happen in 2026, to allow their fields and site to recover and rest. Others are already speculating who might headline next year. I think last year’s headliners were good. Coldplay seemed quite an obvious and rather uninspired choice. It is a shame that Glastonbury could not do an all-female line-up and put someone fresher in that spot. Dua Lipa and SZA performed incredible sets, though there were some who were critical.

It does seem that there is a shoo-in for headliner. In June, she is playing at Primavera Sound. Charli XCX might also be available to headline Glastonbury. I think it is hugely likely that she will headline the festival. Having released BRAT earlier in the year, it seems there is a huge demand to bring that to Glastonbury. One of the highest-rated albums of the year, she is dominating Pop right now. I know there would be a massive demand and cheer. She would be an awesome and captivating headliner. I would be very shocked if Charli XCX has not been booked in one of the slots. Maybe as the Saturday night headliner. It leaves two other slots. There are sites like this that predict some of the artists who might be in the running to headline. I think that there will be one band who will headline. It would be unusual to have three solo acts. In terms of possibilities, one hopes that it will be someone other than Coldplay or Foo Fighters or anything that predictable. As they have just released one of the best albums of their career, Songs of a Lost World, who would bet against The Cure headlining?! There is nothing in their diary that would preclude them from appearing at Glastonbury in June. That would be a massively popular booking. Although I personally would not want them to headline – as I think Nick Cave’s attitudes towards the genocide in Palestine is worrying -, Maybe Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds seems like another possibility. Offering a contrast to Charli XCX., perhaps a Sunday night headline slot would suit them. I don’t think Glastonbury will be bold and brave enough to have an all-female line-up, so there will be two female acts at most. Many have speculated how Olivia Rodrigo could headline. Having released one of the best albums of 2023 with GUTS, that is not out of the question. Perhaps another modern Pop titan, Sabrina Carpenter?! She is definitely on the rise and is also booked to headline Primavera Sound 2025. Chappell Roan is also headlining Primavera Sound. They are a festival who are progressive and have no issue finding women to headline. Glastonbury should definitely consider Chappell Roan.

IN THIS PHOTO: Sabrina Carpenter

In terms of a legend who might fill the other headline slot, Oasis have shot that down. They are not available. I don’t think it is evasiveness. They are busy preparing for your dates next year. Also, as great as it would be to have Madonna headlining, I am think it is a long shot. Maybe we will have a legend like Bruce Springsteen headline. However, I get the feeling that there will be a younger line-up for Glastonbury 2025. In terms of bands, what about Fontaines D.C.? As we have the Legends slot, opening up the headline slots to newer acts would be a pretty good move. I would love to see Charli XCX and Olivia Rodrigo headline. It seems like there is a name that is a strong frontrunner. Eminem has apparently been in talks to headline already. I guess that would make a degree of sense. He has not headlined before and would provide a thrilling set. Maybe not popular with everyone, it would provide something alternative and edgy. Charli XCX could bring her own brand of edge and, alongside Eminem, it would definitely be an interesting and varied festival! I know Taylor Swift was supposedly booked or in the frame to headline Glastonbury last year but she had scheduling conflicts. I think she is very unlikely to headline next year. In terms of cost, she would be very expensive. I am not sure whether a festival is what she wants to do. I am not sure what her diary looks like for next year. She has been busy with the Eras Tour. However, if Glastonbury could secure a good deal, maybe it is not out of the question. I said in another feature how it would be wonderful for Spice Girls to reform. They are unlikely to owing to disagreements and disputes between Mel B and Geri Halliwell-Horner. It seems that they might not be able to heal the rift, though it would be perfect having Spice Girls in the Legends slot! I know Billy Joel is a name that has been thrown around. I think a Spice Girls reunion for Glastonbury 2025 would be a huge booking. That would get a massive reaction! The Legends slot is one that could go any way. I have seen names like Cher thrown around. She would be great. Last year, Shania Twain booked in that slot.

IN THIS PHOTO: Spice Girls backstage at the BRIT Awards in February 1997. PHOTO CREDIT: Ray Burmiston/Avalon/Getty

Others in the running for a headline slot or Legends space are Harry Styles and Sam Fender. I have also seen Stevie Wonder talked about. Even though she was not a headliner last year, it would be awesome seeing Little Simz booked as one of the headliners. Perhaps a Legends slot for a Hip-Hop group such as Public Enemy or someone completely unexpected. You can never truly predict who might be booked for the slots. I think the only sure bet is Charli XCX. It would be a massive oversight if she was not confirmed as a headliner. My ideal line-up would be The Cure on the Friday night. Charli XCX then does the Saturday headliner, and she could then be followed by Olivia Rodrigo for the Sunday night closing headline slot. Have either Spice Girls or Billy Joel in the Legends slot. That would call into question a lack of racial diversity in the headline spaces. I do think Glastonbury will book a Black artist to headline, as they are aware of ensuring that there is that representation and diversity. As they have made small steps regarding female representation, let’s hope at least one woman is booked to headline. In terms of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, that is an area that has been represented but could do more – Elton John headlined Glastonbury in 2022. I think that Eminem is probably another safe bet, so perhaps he would take the place of Olivia Rodrigo. That would give us two male headliner. That would definitely be a step backwards in that sense. I think the Legend slot should go to a woman. Though you can’t bet against a band like Pet Shop Boys getting that call. Who knows. Tickets go on sale in a matter of days, so it will not be long until we see who is headlining. Maybe that first headliner announced. Will it be Charli XCX? Eminem? The Cure? Perhaps a long shot like Spice Girls, Taylor Swift or even Sam Fender. It is a great guessing game. After last year’s incredible headline sets, there is pressure to keep that quality high. The rumours and speculation have already started, so it will be fantastic to know exactly who will headline Glastonbury…

NEXT year.

FEATURE: The KT Fellowship Presents… Kate Bush’s Before the Dawn Live Album at Eight

FEATURE:

 

 

The KT Fellowship Presents…

 

Kate Bush’s Before the Dawn Live Album at Eight

_________

FOR most Kate Bush fans…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during the shooting of the video for And Dream of Sheep, a song that is part of her suite, The Ninth Wave/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

listening to the Before the Dawn album was the closest we got to that 2014 residency. It is interesting listening to an interview Kate Bush did with Matt Everitt in 2016 where she discussed the shows in Hammersmith. She also said that, as of then, there were no plans to record any new music. Of course, eight years later, and she has invited that possibility. I mark this anniversary because it is important. The second live album from Kate Bush, it would have been a different creative process and working routine bringing it together and getting it mixed. In terms of what she experienced. For a studio album, there is this complete take and something that is deemed to be worthy of inclusion on an album. You may notice the odd blemish here and there, though the job of producing a studio album is different to that of producing a live album. On 25th November, 2016, we got the release of Before the Dawn. I remember when it came out. Disappointed not to have been able to go to one of the concerts two years previous – due to the fact I was very slow off the mark thinking about getting tickets -, it was a treat having the live album. Though one can never truly get a sense of what it was like being at the Eventim Apollo in 2014 during that twenty-two-date run of shows, you get a feel of the atmosphere and electricity that was in the air. From the stirring and epic opener of Lily, through to the encore that included Among Angels (from 2011’s 50 Words for Snow), it is a dazzling and extraordinary experience! There are questions and possibilities that come to mind. I will end with them.

Things were different producing Before the Dawn. Bush’s first live album was in 1994. That was when it was released. It was a release of an abridged video recording of the 1979 The Tour of Life. That was first introduced on home video in 1981, together with a C.D. version of the video soundtrack. The video and C.D. comprise twelve songs recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon on 13th May, 1979. It was a different process approaching the 2014 recording. Somehow more epic in scale. With twenty-nine songs spanning three acts, it was a lot of work ensuring that the sound and quality was almost as good as seeing the show. I will end with a couple of reviews for Before the Dawn. Apologies if there is any repetition from previous features about it. The collaborations on the album are great. In terms of the writing. Astronomer's Call, Waking the Witch, and Watching Them Without Her Bush co-wrote with author David Mitchell. Jig of Life was written with Bill Whelan and John Carder Bush (her brother). The main thread of Before the Dawn was tying together the suites from 1985’s Hounds of Love and 2005’s Aerial. The magnificent The Ninth Wave and A Sky of Honey were brought to life for the first time. Almost like two short films working together. From albums separated by two decades, there is this sense of unity and cohesiveness. Even if the drama and struggle of The Ninth Wave is different from the calm and scope of A Sky of Honey, I guess there is a nice contrast that meant the audiences got to engage with different emotions. The reactions both must have received. Alongside these suites were other tracks from Hounds of Love. Lily, Top of the City and Never Be Mine (the latter of which was not recorded in front of an audience) were in the first act. Some cuts from The Red Shoes and The Sensual World performed live. I do like how there were songs from The Red Shoes. An album that was perhaps not a favourite of Kate Bush. She did re-record Top of the City and Never Be Mine for 2011’s Director’s Cut – Lily too for that matter.

In a way, Act 1 was setting the scene and providing a mix of songs. Hounds of Love and Aerial getting some recognition in that act. Act II was The Ninth Wave and Act III was A Sky of Honey. After the atmospheric and moving realisation of The Ninth Wave, there was this sense of light and new dawn for A Sky of Honey. I always wonder if Before the Dawn was a reference to the space between The Ninth Wave and A Sky of Honey. With an encore featuring the only outing from 50 Words for Snow and another Hounds of Love classic, Cloudbusting, ending things, it is a set that highlights two masterpieces. Her most popular album, Hounds of Love, and Bush’s favourite and perhaps most personal, Aerial. I could talk about all the personnel. How Bush’s brothers (Paddy and John) both feature. An incredible band with her, the album was actually credited to The KT Fellowship. Maybe nodding back to her band, the KT Bush Band, from 1977, I love how this was seen as a collaborative live album. To be part of a fellowship like that must have been an honour for the musicians. You can hear the connection. The hard work that goes into every song. I do think that Before the Dawn should be available on Spotify. The vinyl can be expensive and it is not as easy to buy around the world as her studio albums. When I wrote anniversary features for the 2014 residency to mark a decade, I did discuss all the celebrities that were there. The leadup to the show and the reaction from critics. It was this almost spiritual event. Something that many consider to be the best moment of their life. The live album does a great job of giving a glimpse into that magic concert. Being among the thousands who travelled from all around to witness Kate Bush and her Fellowship on stage. Returning to a venue where she ended The Tour of Life in 1979. Reaching number four in the U.K.,

“It was an extraordinary experience putting the show together. It was a huge amount of work, a lot of fun and an enormous privilege to work with such an incredibly talented team. This is the audio document. I hope that this can stand alone as a piece of music in its own right and that it can be enjoyed by people who knew nothing about the shows as well as those who were there.
I never expected the overwhelming response of the audiences, every night filling the show with life and excitement. They are there in every beat of the recorded music. Even when you can’t hear them, you can feel them. Nothing at all has been re-recorded or overdubbed on this live album, just two or three sound FX added to help with the atmosphere.

On the first disc the track, Never Be Mine, is the only take that exists, and was recorded when the show was being filmed without an audience. It was cut because the show was too long but is now back in its original position. Everything else runs as was, with only a few edits to help the flow of the music.
On stage, the main feature of The Ninth Wave was a woman lost at sea, floating in the water, projected onto a large oval screen – the idea being that this pre-recorded film was reality. The lead vocals for these sequences were sung live at the time of filming in a deep water tank at Pinewood. A lot of research went into how to mic this vocal. As far as we know it had never been done before. I hoped that the vocals would sound more realistic and emotive by being sung in this difficult environment. (You can see the boom mic in the photo on the back of the booklet. This had to be painted out of every shot in post-production although very little of the boom mic recording was used. The main mic was on the life jacket disguised as an inflator tube!) The rest of the lead vocals on this disc were sung live on stage as part of the dream sequences. The only way to make this story work as an audio piece was to present it more like a radio play and subdue the applause until the last track when the story is over and we are all back in the theatre again with the audience response.
Unlike The Ninth Wave which was about the struggle to stay alive in a dark, terrifying ocean, A Sky Of Honey is about the passing of a summer’s day. The original idea behind this piece was to explore the connection between birdsong and light, and why the light triggers the birds to sing. It begins with a lovely afternoon in golden sunlight, surrounded by birdsong. As night falls, the music slowly builds until the break of dawn.

This show was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever been involved in. Thank you to everyone who made it happen and who embraced the process of allowing it to continually evolve.

Album Liner Notes”.

Before rounding up, I want to introduce two critical reviews for the live album. There were some interviews around the release of Before the Dawn. Although this FADER interview is not exclusively about the album, Bush was asked about it and the 2014 concerts. It was a nerve-wracking and exciting process dusting off some older songs and, in many cases, performing them live for the first time:

“You really dug into the archives for your 2014 live shows. How has your relationship with your older material evolved?

Well, part of the decision to do the live shows was because it was such an interesting challenge to work with the two narrative pieces [“The Ninth Wave” and “A Sky of Honey”], rather than just doing a bunch of single tracks.

It was within such a specific context, because [the setlist] was very much put together for a live event. Through that process, the songs naturally evolved because I was working with a band, a lot of whom I never worked with before. I just chose tracks that I wanted to do, that really worked with the band, and to keep it really focused in a rhythmic way.

Although the music was always kept as the lead, I didn't want the visuals to feel separate. What I had hoped was that what had been created was an integrated piece of theater that worked with the music — that it wasn't just music that had theatrics added to it — that there was a real sense of it being something that worked as a whole.

As a performer, do you you get lost in the moment or do you focus on the technical intricacies?

I had to stay really focused as a performer because I'm quite nervous, and I wanted to make sure I was really present when I was performing so that I could try and deliver the character of the song. And actually, the first set was the most difficult part to perform for me, because almost each song is from a completely different place.

Before the 2014 shows you hadn’t toured since 1979. When your return to the stage was so well-received, did you wish you’d done it sooner?

I don't know really. The original show was of the first two albums that I’d made, and I had hoped that to do another show after I had another of two albums’ worth of material. And as I started getting much more involved in the recording process, it took me off into a different path where it was all about trying to make a good album. It became very time-consuming, so I moved into being more of a recording artist. And every time you finish an album, there's the opportunity to make visuals to go with some of the tracks. So I became very involved in that, as well”.

I will end with a couple of reviews. Even though there were four and five-star reviews for the residency, that is not to say that would automatically be reflected with the release of the live album. If the mix was poor or it was seen as too bloated or flawed, then it could have got some worse reviews. In The Guardian’s review, Alexis Petridis noted how the live album was surprisingly raw. He commended Bush being on dazzling form:

“Meanwhile, it’s hard to work out whether the original show’s solitary misstep – the clunky, ostensibly comedic playlet by novelist David Mitchell inserted in the middle of The Ninth Wave – is amplified or minimised by appearing on an album. Divested of the accompanying action, its dialogue sounds even more laboured, even more like a particularly spirit-sapping scene from perennially unfunny BBC1 sitcom My Family. On the other, well, there’s always the fast-forward button, although long-term fans might suggest that it wouldn’t really be a Kate Bush project unless an array of dazzling brilliance and original thinking was offset by at least one moment where she felt impelled to follow her muse somewhere you rather wish she hadn’t. You can file the playlet alongside The Dreaming’s Australian accent, dressing up as a bat on the back cover of Never for Ever, and The Line, The Cross and the Curve, the short film that accompanied The Red Shoes, later appraised by its author as “a load of bollocks”.

Clearly a degree of tinkering has gone on with the music. A beautiful take on Never Be Mine, from 1989’s The Sensual World, seems to have mysteriously appeared in the middle of the initial act, which never happened during the actual concerts, raising the tantalising prospect that far more material was prepared than made it to the final show. Perhaps they were off in a rehearsal studio somewhere, trying out versions of Suspended in Gaffa and Them Heavy People after all. But the really arresting thing about Before the Dawn – given that Bush is an artist whose perfectionism has led her to make a grand total of three albums in the last 22 years, one of them consisting of pernickety rerecordings of old songs – is how raw it sounds.

Of course, raw is an adjective one uses relatively, when considering an album that features a band of blue-chip sessioneers, celebrated jazz-fusion musicians and former Miles Davis sidemen: you’re not going to mistake the contents of Before the Dawn for those of, say, Conflict’s Live Woolwich Poly ’86. But, unlike most latterday live albums, it actually sounds like a band playing live. There’s a sibilance about the vocals, a sort of echoey, booming quality to the sound, the occasional hint of unevenness: it doesn’t feel like a recording that’s been overdubbed and Auto-Tuned into sterility. Given their pedigree, you’d expect the musicians involved to be incredibly nimble and adept, but more startling is how propulsive and exciting they sound, even when dealing with Bush’s more hazy and dreamlike material. It’s a state of affairs amplified by Bush’s voice, which is in fantastic shape. On King of the Mountain or Hounds of Love, she has a way of suddenly shifting into a primal, throaty roar – not the vocal style you’d most closely associate with Kate Bush – that sounds all the more effective for clearly being recorded live. Furthermore, there’s a vividness about the emotional twists and turns of A Sea of Honey, A Sky of Honey – from the beatific, sun-dappled contentment associated with Balearic music to brooding sadness and back again – that just isn’t there on the studio version, great though that is.

That answers the question about what the point of Before the Dawn is: like 2011’s Director’s Cut, it’s an album that shows Bush’s back catalogue off in a different light. And perhaps it’s better, or at least more fitting, that her 2014 shows are commemorated with an album rather than a film or a Blu-ray or whatever it is that you play inside those virtual reality headsets people are getting so excited about. They were a huge pop cultural event, as the first gigs in four decades by one of rock’s tiny handful of real elusive geniuses were always bound to be, but they were shrouded in a sense of enigma: almost uniquely, hardly anyone who attended the first night had any real idea what was going to happen. Even more unusually, that air of mystery clung to the shows after the 22-date run ended: virtually everyone present complied with Bush’s request not to film anything on their phones, and the handful that didn’t saw their footage quickly removed from YouTube. Before the Dawn provides a memento for those who were there and a vague indication of what went on for those who weren’t, without compromising the shows’ appealingly mysterious air: a quality you suspect the woman behind it realises is in very short supply in rock music these days”.

Prior to rounding things off, I want to source from Pitchfork’s review. To them, the setlist was obscure. As it features a mix of singles and deeper cuts, perhaps it was not as obvious and hits-filled as some would like. However, what was staged in 2014 was much deeper, more intriguing and interesting. Rather than repeat what went before, Bush was more interested in concept and story. Mounting what was almost like a play for an adoring audience. Perhaps a film with three distinct acts. To be there must have been awe-inspiring:

“Rather than deliver a copper-bottomed greatest hits set, Bush reckons with her legacy through what might initially seem like an obscure choice of material. Both Acts Two and Three take place in transcendent thresholds: “The Ninth Wave”’s drowning woman is beset by anxiety and untold pressures, with no idea of where to turn, mirroring the limbo that Bush experienced after 1982’s The Dreaming. That suite’s last song, the cheery “The Morning Fog,” transitions into Aerial’s “Prelude,” all beatific bird call and dawn-light piano. The euphoric, tender “A Sky of Honey” is meant to represent a perfect day from start to finish, filled with family and beautiful imperfections. “Somewhere in Between” finds them atop “the highest hill,” looking out onto a stilling view, and Bush’s eerie jazz ensemble anticipates the liminal peace of Bowie’s Blackstar. “Not one of us would dare to break the silence,” she sings. “Oh how we have longed for something that would make us feel so… somewhere in between.”

Purgatory has become heaven, and in the narrative Bush constructs through her setlist, “A Sky of Honey” represents the grown-up, domestic happiness that staves off the youthful fears explored on Hounds of Love. For her final song, she closes with a rendition of “Cloudbusting,” a song about living with the memory of a forbidden love, which is even more glorious for all the hope that it’s accumulated in the past 30-odd years. Bush’s recent life as a “reclusive” mother is often used to undermine her, to “prove” she was the kook that sexist critics had pegged her as all along. These performances and this record are a generous reveal of why she’s chosen to retreat, where Bush shows she won’t disturb her hard-won peace to sustain the myth of the troubled artistic genius. Between the dangerous waters of “The Ninth Wave” and the celestial heavens of “A Sky of Honey,” Before the Dawn demystifies what we’ve fetishized in her absence. Without draining her magic, it lets Bush exist back down on Earth”.

On 25th November, Kate Bush – or The KT Fellowship – released Before the Dawn. A stunning live album that Bush spent so much time and passion on. It makes me think about the future. Recently, David Gilmour was interviewed and asked if Kate Bush will ever return to the stage. He said the only person who could convince her to do that was herself. In the recent Today interview, Bush was asked about that response from David Gilmour. She said she was not quite there yet in terms of live plans! Now that Bush has suggested new music is on her radar, how about live work?! Maybe, at sixty-six, repeating what she did in 2014 might not be possible. The commitment and effort needing to do something like that again. Although it would be wonderful seeing her perform live, maybe it would be something more stripped-back or singular. I have suggested this before. Bush performing in a space like Abbey Road Studios or somewhere smaller. Tackling different songs. If a new album does arrive, Bush might want to take the songs to the stage. We are very fortunate that she came back to the stage in 2014. The reviews were ecstatic. In 2016, the live album was released. I wanted to mark the approaching eighth anniversary. It is a wonderful album. You can buy the C.D. version here. It is a wonderful audio experience that everyone needs to experience! Even if Kate Bush has said performing live again is not on her mind, it not completely…

OUT of the question.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Forty Next Year

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Forty Next Year

_________

CONTINUING this series…

of features that collates songs from albums celebrating big anniversaries next year, it takes us to 1985. Arguably one of the biggest years for music, there are some real classics in this playlist. Huge albums that have their fortieth anniversaries in 2025. I was born in 1983, so some of my very earliest musical memories are of songs from albums released in 1985. Vague but important. If you are not sure of the artists and albums that were gaining incredible reviews and riding high in the charts in 1985, then you will definitely get a feel and flavour from this mixtape. One of the most eclectic year of the 1980s, there are some masterpieces alongside albums that were acclaimed but not as discussed as they should be. For those who were around at the time or might not be familiar with these albums, below is a snapshot of 1985. Great tracks from albums that turn…

FORTY next year.

REVIEW: 33 1/3: Kate Bush – Hounds of Love by Leah Kardos

REVIEW:

33 1/3: Kate Bush – Hounds of Love by Leah Kardos

_________

THE author…

IN THIS PHOTO: Leah Kardos/PHOTO CREDIT: Madeline Randall

Leah Kardos has given interviews about a very exciting book. You can read one here. The 33 1/3 series are smaller, handy deep dives into great albums. Published by the great Bloomsbury. Many of the classics have been covered off through the years. There has been a bit of a gap in the series. Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love might seem hard to distil into a smaller book. However, you can pre-order it ahead of its release on Thursday (14th November). Before going inside the book, here is some information about Hounds of Love and Leah Kardos’s must-own guide to one of the best and most important albums ever:

”Hounds Of Love invites you to not only listen, but to cross the boundaries of sensory experience into realms of imagination and possibility. Side A spawned four Top 40 hit singles in the UK, 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)', 'Cloudbusting', 'Hounds of Love' and 'The Big Sky', some of the best-loved and most enduring compositions in Bush's catalogue. On side B, a hallucinatory seven-part song cycle called The Ninth Wave broke away from the pop conventions of the era by using strange and vivid production techniques that plunge the listener into the psychological centre of a near-death experience. Poised and accessible, yet still experimental and complex, with Hounds Of Love Bush mastered the art of her studio-based songcraft, finally achieving full control of her creative process. When it came out in 1985, she was only 27 years old.

This book charts the emergence of Kate Bush in the early-to-mid-1980s as a courageous experimentalist, a singularly expressive recording artist and a visionary music producer. Track-by-track commentaries focus on the experience of the album from the listener's point of view, drawing attention to the art and craft of Bush's songwriting, production and sound design. It considers the vast impact and influence that Hounds Of Love has had on music cultures and creative practices through the years, underlining the artist's importance as a barrier-smashing, template-defying, business-smart, record-breaking, never-compromising role model for artists everywhere”.

I am going to come to the book soon. It is a timely moment to release a book about Hounds of Love. An album always played and talked about, it is in the spotlight in a big way now. Kate Bush News were among those who reported how the new Special Editions have been nominated for a GRAMMY. In fact, Kate Bush and her son Albert have received a nod for their work on it. At a time when Bush has teased the possibility of new music, it is nice that her most acclaimed album is still getting focus and adulation. It would be great for Hounds of Love to get a GRAMMY! Forbes provide more details:

“Kate Bush has not released new music in many years, though lately, she’s shared publicly that she’s eager to work on more material. The British superstar has been nominated for several Grammys throughout her career, but not for quite a long time, and she’s never won anything. As of this morning (November 8), the singer-songwriter has several more chances to finally collect some gold—but will she take home a prize?

The somewhat reclusive musician is nominated for two Grammys this year. She’s up for a pair of related awards, for very similar projects, as clearly Recording Academy voters seem interested in recognizing her work and her talent.

Bush is nominated for both Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, for different versions of the same album. She’s up for the first prize for The Baskerville Edition of her hugely popular full-length Hounds of Love. Another take on Hounds of Love, known as The Boxes of Lost at Sea, is competing for the latter award.

These nods mark Bush’s first time at the Grammys as a nominee in nearly 30 years. She was last up for any honors in 1996, when The Line, the Cross and the Curve was in the running for Best Music Film.

Before then, Bush had already earned a pair of Grammy nominations. The Whole Story made the rising star a first-time possible winner in the late ‘80s, as it was included in the Best Concept Music Video category—a trophy that was only given out twice.

Three years later, The Sensual World was up for Best Alternative Music Album in that vertical’s first time at the ceremony. Bush ended up losing that golden gramophone to Sinéad O'Connor’s I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.

Bush faces tough competition in the two fields, but she should be considered a serious contender for one, if not both awards. She is one of many artists who have never won a Grammy whose legacy has grown throughout the years. The English star is often listed among the musicians who haven’t yet claimed a trophy but who are overdue for such an honor. After returning to prominence not long ago following her years-old song "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" becoming a global viral sensation, and a recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Bush’s time may finally have come.

In the Best Recording Package category, Bush is the most famous actual nominee, though her album is up against projects from stars like Post Malone, Charli XCX, and The Avett Brothers. If Bush wants to win Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, she’ll have to beat John Lennon’s son Sean Ono Lennon, who earns his first nomination this year after reworking his father’s album Mind Games. That title is likely her biggest competition, though any of the other four nominees could rise to the top”.

How do you possibly go about assessing and unpacking Hounds of Love?! People have written about it before. Graeme Thomson dedicated a lot of pages in his book, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, to the album. However, this is a book solely dedicated to Hounds of Love. One that goes inside the songs, talks about Kate Bush as a producer – which is not discussed about enough – and the legacy of Hounds of Love. I love how Leah Kardos opens talking about the impact of Hounds of Love and how it is this high watermark of Art-Pop and Rock. This classic that was not recorded at a hurried pace. After some stress and going from studio to studio for The Dreaming and the personal toll that took, Hounds of Love was an album given more time to breathe. Recorded in a bespoke specially-constructed studio right by her family home at East Wickham Farm, this was an artist in a position where she could mould an album more in keeping with her own vision and timespan. As such, what resulted is an album that Bush was very proud of, as Kardos notes in the book: “As years pass, the album continues to accrue cultural value. Music publications like Rolling Stone, Q, NME, Uncut and Mojo have voted Hounds Of Love among the greatest albums of all time. In their 2016 retrospective review, Pitchfork gave the album a perfect ten out of ten, with critic Barry Walters lauding it as ‘the Sgt. Pepper of the digital age’s dawn; a milestone in penetratingly fanciful pop’ In a 1985 interview with Musician, Bush said her newest album was ‘the one I’m most happy with’. Twenty years later, speaking to Tom Doyle for Mojo, she admitted that she still felt proud of how Hounds Of Love turned out, calling it, ‘probably my best album as a whole”.

Kardos reflects on the success Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has been afforded through the years. From the 2012 remix for the Olympics through the new wave of success it was afforded after appearing in Stranger Things – where it reached number one in the charts in 2022 -, its sister album is never far from public consciousness. Kardos acknowledges how fortunate she is to write the book at this time. Rightly noting how the 33 1/3 series has lacked Kate Bush’s presence. It is good to go in learning about Hounds of Love and how important an album it is. It is striking how Kardos wisely notes how Bush’s music provides a place of escape and comfort. For outsiders or those who are struggling, one reason why Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was so powerful in Stranger Things is because of its placement. The marriage between song and scene. How many hold Hounds of Love up because it spoke to them. It is an album many people identify with. Its songs give voice and strength to so many. I also feel like 1985 was a time when Bush was perhaps revealing more of herself. I always feel songs such as Hounds of Love are autobiographical. At least more personal than she would let on. The album’s second side, The Ninth Wave, about this struggle to stay afloat and alive in water with no sign of rescue – until it does happen. Definitely, Bush letting out some of her fears and demons. Hounds of Love remains timeless because of its spectacular production and the incredible brilliance of the songwriting. Ahead of its fortieth anniversary next year – Hounds of Love was released on 16th September, 1985 -, it is a perfect moment to order this book. I know there will be huge celebration next year. Magazines dedicated to the album, perhaps.

In addition to discussing the making of Hounds of Love, the beauty of the songs and the acclaim the album has won, Kardos also discusses its architect. How the album gets a lot of acclaim, but maybe Kate Bush as a producer, innovator and visionary is not quite as acknowledged as she should be. As Kardos observes early on in her book, Kate Bush was and is “A woman who kicked some big doors down, making so much possible for everyone who came after her”. I do love how the chapters are organised and the fact we do not race straight into the songs. The First Woman explores achievements from Kate Bush. How 1980’s Never for Ever went straight to number one and, in the process, making her the first women to enter the U.K. album chart at that position. She was only twenty-two. One error in the recent Today interview was when Emma Barnett said how Wuthering Heights reaching number in 1978 made Kate Bush the youngest woman to have a self-written song hit the number one spot in the U.K. singles chart. Not the youngest. She was the first (and, technically, the youngest by default)! It was clear Hounds of Love was not a fluke or a massive leap forward. The genius and brilliance was always there. However, as a number one album and one that remains a favourite for many, it is understandable why we need a book that goes into depth about a masterpiece. Before we get to Hounds of Love, there is this chronological run-up. Words on how Bush was able to exert more influence and was given more responsibility to craft music her own way. Kardos notes how the murder of John Lennon at the end of 1980 showed how nothing good could come from fame. How EMI almost returned 1982’s The Dreaming to Bush because they were not happy. With the time it took to make and the fact there are no short Pop songs on it. That is because Bush consciously didn’t write any! It is important to note all of this history and context. It gives us the necessary texture, palette and depth that means we can truly appreciate why Hounds of Love is such as a remarkable achievement.

Leah Kardos discusses the sounds and instruments on Hounds of Love. How there are some similarities on the 1985 album and its predecessor. The importance of the Fairlight CMI is especially key and striking. I think it is important to note how Bush created songs. Her thinking. It is not only about the lyrics and themes. She has a very visual mind, yet there is this very music-driven one where she considers the resonance and impact of the sound. The contrast of lights and darks: “As Bush described to Keyboard, ‘the combination of very acoustic, real sounds and very hard, electronic sounds is fabulous. I like to create contrasts and extremes for the atmosphere that you’re building around a  particular song.’ The deliberate fusion of contemporary and traditional instruments, a distinguishing feature of The Dreaming, is an approach that is further explored and refined on Hounds Of Love”. One of my favourite sections is when Leah Kardos talks about Kate Bush as a producer. How women producing, especially in the 1980s, were never given credit. How few women in music had access to high-tech equipment and studios. It was a breakthrough when an album produced by a woman was a big success and reached number one. Hounds of Love was a real landmark in some ways. How important that remains to this day. Bush’s tact and approach as a producer on Hounds of Love was different to how she did things before.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during The Ninth Wave photoshoot/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Whereas The Dreaming seemed more brutal and involved a multistep process, she was more economical and direct this time around. Songs built from the demos and seeming more organic and uncluttered.  Learning more about the working process (“The tracking of Hounds Of Love in the studio was a slow, incremental process, not reliant on the collective synergies of group collaboration but rather on careful, individual selection”) is key when it comes to our understanding of Hounds of Love and how Kate Bush approached it. How the Fairlight CMI meant Bush had access to an array of sounds and could work out various parts before committing musicians to the songs. How the importance of this new technology changed the way she conducted the studio and approached songs and how musicians played. It is fascinating reading Leah Kardos’s observations and the well-selected and important quotes from Kate Bush. Kardos also notes how the Nagra recorder allowed Bush clean and crisp sonic access to natural sounds: “The second side of the album has a theme running through it and there were lots of sound effects we had to get . . . Trying to get a bit of sea is unbelievable. We got in sound effects albums but they’re awful – so noisy, or it’s the wrong kind of sea. I’d never really thought about the wrong and right kind of sea before, but as soon as you put it in context with the track you suddenly realise there’s all different kinds of sea.‒ Kate Bush, International Musician and Recording World, 1985”.

Alongside keen and warm observations such as how Bush’s family and the comfort of home was a big factor on Hounds of Love, we also get a real sense of the musical family she was raised in. How some of those early experiences made their way into Hounds of Love. Whether it is the Irish influence from her mother Hannah or her brothers’ musical and poetic passion. All of these seeds and strands can be heard flowing right through her 1985 masterpiece. There are some interesting facts I did not know. How Kate Bush had to get herself into an ‘altered state’ – code: a little drunk – in order to feel uninhibited enough to record the vocals for The Big Sky and Waking the Witch. How Bush produced pages of notes when it came to the final stages of the album. The mixing and mastering. Those who saw them were flabbergasted! It is testament to the detail and passion Bush expended. Kardos also notes an observation Graeme Thomson makes in his biography about Kate Bush: the fact is that Hounds of Love is a ‘purple’ album. Not only is its iconic cover (shot by her brother John Carder Bush, Bush lies with his two hounds, Bonnie and Clyde) purple. There is a purple energy (“According to the Maitreya School of Healing, co-founded by Bush’s friend, the late healer Lily Cornford (the addressee of the song named after her on Bush’s 1993 album The Red Shoes), this colour (‘wisteria amethyst’) promotes strength, dignity, spiritual growth and courage”).

There are many things to recommend about Leah Kardos’s contribution to the 33 1/3 series. You get such a rich and passionate love letter to Hounds of Love. Rather than merely focusing on the album and obvious elements, there is so much backstory and context. Incredible facts and some pertinent observations. It is a book for diehards and curious new fans alike. I will round up soon, though there are a few more chapters and sections in the book I want to highlight. I think I know Hounds of Love and Kate Bush quite well, but I learned that The Big Sky – the final single released from the album – was considered for inclusion in 2014’s Before the Dawn. It got as far as being rehearsed. We get some words and examination of the one song on Hounds of Love that has never been performed live or had a music video made for it: Mother Stands for Comfort. Maybe the odd child on Side A, it is fascinating. Kardos notes how Mother Stands for Comfort talks of “the comfort of family, the primal nature of love and the fierceness of Mother Nature. It explores the unconditional nature of maternal love, which, far from being simply warm and cuddly, is more often made sharply manifest in the messiest moments of life”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush accompanied by Del Palmer during the premiere for Hounds of Love at the London Planetarium on 9th September, 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Perhaps my favourite chapter is the one for The Ninth Wave. The glorious masterpiece that is Hounds of Love’s second side, it has as yet never been committed to film or turned into a cinematic piece. It should be. My favourite song of the suite, Jig of Life, is a stirring moment that overflows with hot blood, energy and Irish joy: “Jig of Life’ doesn’t just draw from Greek folklore. Bush also taps the traditional music of her own maternal ancestors. The ‘B’ section at 1’40” shifts to an instrumental break built around Celtic folk melody. Beginning on John Sheahan’s fiddle with a deft melodic turn that flips between A major and A dorian, the music intensifies to a boisterous jig that’s thrillingly physical and full of blood”. After all of the songs have been examined and dissected, there is the aftermath and legacy. How Bush performed most of the songs from Hounds of Love for 2014’s Before the Dawn. We get an act-by-act rundown of her incredible set, together with the reviews and opinions from critics. There is a brilliant collation of words from artists who cite Hounds of Love as an influence. How far and wide that album has connected with people. Leah Kardos reveals how Hounds of Love has affected her: “Even though I am not a famous musician, the influence of Hounds Of Love has been profound in my creative life. The album gives you permission to work the way you know how – the way you know is best. To follow your muse uncompromisingly. To give creative labour only on your own terms. It is a reminder that having a safe space, and privacy, is crucial”.

I have given a bit of an overview and quick tour through Leah Kardos’s Hounds of Love book – even though I have typed quite a few words! So many features and books that explore Hounds of Love concentrate on the album and maybe go back as far as 1983/’84 (when Bush started to make plans and build foundations for Hounds of Love). Kardos draws us back to the 1970s. To her childhood and family influence. How that all led to Hounds of Love. How experiences on previous albums did too. How it also changed her as a producer and creative. That important history gives new context and layers to Hounds of Love. It makes us appreciate the album in new ways. Kardos also discusses the legacy and the ways in which Hounds of Love has touched so many people in different ways. Showing what a masterpiece the album is. What a genius Kate Bush is! Diehard and decades-long fans will learn new things and should add this to their bookshelves. For those new to Kate Bush who want to know about Hounds of Love will not be overwhelmed. It is a detailed book that is easy to read and has a very personal touch. Informative but with a tone that is less academic and more conversational. On 16th September, 2025, we mark forty years of Hounds of Love. Kate Bush has reissued the album, and the Special Editions of Hounds of Love are GRAMMY-nominated. Bush may win her first GRAMMY in thirty years. It is so timely to have this book in the world! Affordable, deep but small and compact enough so that you can carry it around and reference whenever you want, this is an essential guide from a brilliant author who clearly has a lot of love and respect for Kate Bush. I hope Bush reads the book as she would be very proud! Not only is Hounds of Love a masterpiece from one of the finest producers and songwriters ever. The album is also one of the…

GREATEST ever released.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Picks from the GRAMMY Nominations

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX 

Picks from the GRAMMY Nominations

_________

ONE of the biggest dates in the music calendar…

we will discover who walks away from prestigious GRAMMY awards in February. The nominees were revealed this week. There are some heavy-hitting artists lining up against some newcomers. It is a year when female artists are dominating. It reflects the way the scene is shifting. Women are very much at the top. I wanted to take a selection of nominees and combine them in a playlist. Covering some of the main categories. Variety reacted to the news of a terrific year for nominees. Some incredible work being included:

“Beyoncé just earned herself another sash. As numbers go, she is easily the queen of the rodeo that is the 2025 Grammy nominations, racking up 11 nominations for her “Cowboy Carter” album and its attendant singles. That’s a personal high for her, besting the 10 nods she got back in 2009.

But Beyoncé has to share the headlines coming out of Friday morning’s announcement. Because she is just one of five powerhouse women who are nominated in all three of the Grammys‘ top general categories this year — record, song and album of the year. Joining her in being nominated for all three of those major prizes are Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter.

Three other artists picked up nominations in two of the three top categories and accrued major nomination tallies: Charli XCX, Post Malone and Kendrick Lamar.

Following Beyoncé’s leading 11 nods, it’s Eilish, Lamar, Malone and Charli XCX who have a four-way tie for the second-largest number of nominations this year, with seven noms each. Close behind with six nominations apiece are Swift, Roan and Carpenter.

(Scroll down to see the full list of nominations in 94 categories.)

Is this the Grammys’ year of the woman”? You’d have to say yes, with female artists claiming six out of the eight nominations for both album of the year and record of the year. But then, last year was really the year of the woman, with seven out of eight spots taken in those categories. In other words, this “stepping up” has been the norm and not the exception for several successive years now.

The dominance of all these women on the charts as well as in the larger pop culture made predicting the Grammys a little easier this year, for many. (Variety’s predictions a month ago were largely on the nose, getting six out of eight nominees right in each of the four general-field categories.)

It was only when the Recording Academy’s voters deigned to recognize men in top categories that inclusions occurred that were less expected… if not head-scratchers. Andre 3000’s album of the year nomination, for his instrumental free-range-flute album “New Blue Sun,” is sure to set off a rash of WTF comments; although the collection certainly had its defenders, there was not a prognosticator in the world who considered that even a dark horse. The sewn-together Beatles track “Now and Then,” which is nominated for record of the year, had at least popped up in the conversations, as a possibility to fill the surprise-veteran slot taken by ABBA two years ago”.

To celebrate and highlight the brilliant work that has been shortlisted this year, below is a small selection of the artists included. From The Beatles through to Charli XCX and Billie Eilish, below are some terrific tracks. The GRAMMY Awards are so sought-after, so it will be interesting to see who walks away with prizes. These are some of the terrific artists who could walk away with a GRAMMY…

IN February.

FEATURE: The Right Profile: The Clash’s London Calling at Forty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

The Right Profile

The Clash’s London Calling at Forty-Five

_________

EVEN though its forty-fifth anniversary…

IN THIS PHOTO: (L-R) Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Joe Strummer of The Clash on the road with a baseball bat, in the California desert. February 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Gruen

is not until 14th December, I wanted to feature The Clash’s London Calling now. It is one of the all-time great albums. I am going to come to some features soon. In December 1979, when Punk was rising and Disco was declared dead, The Clash put out their third album out at an interesting and changing time. More sophisticated than most Punk around them, there is plenty of urgency and rawness, though various genres are mixed together beautifully. Recorded at Wessex Sound Studios in London over a six-week period, London Calling arrived after a spell of writers’ block from Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. At a time when bands such as Blondie were mixing Punk Rock and New Wave, The Clash added their own take. They went far beyond that. Incorporating Lounge Jazz, Reggae and R&B, the band tackled and spotlighted racial conflict, unemployment and social displacement. I have taken quite a bit from Wikipedia for this. To give an overview of the album. I will go deep with London Calling. I wonder whether there is anything special planned for the forty-fifth anniversary. A new vinyl reissue or some form of celebration. There are some really interesting features about London Calling. This feature explores the gear the band used for the recording. I would also suggest people read features such as this which help contextualise London Calling. In December 2019, the BBC wrote as to why the album is still relevant. I think, sadly, it is an album relevant today. Simply because a lot of the issues it highlights in 1979 are still present today. This new wave of fascism in the U.S. is something that would definitely have compelled a band like The Clash in ’79.

I want to start off by bringing in a feature from The Ringer from 2019. Marking forty years of a seminal album, they looked at the lead-up to the release of The Clash’s third studio album. How their sound and vision truly evolved. I think London Calling is one of those albums that anyone can pick up and be affected by. You do not need to know about The Clash and their history or the context of the album. Even if you were not alive in 1979, you can relate to what The Clash are singing about:

“The Clash’s first two LPs, 1977’s self-titled debut and 1978’s Give ’Em Enough Rope, thrilled critics and galvanized a large and loyal following. Now it was up to them to consecrate their standing as the biggest band in the world, or at least “The Only Band That Matters,” a nickname they had self-applied. Brimming with talent, energy, and esprit de corps, the Clash sensed they were close to something monumental—a commercial breakthrough and a masterpiece. They had material to spare and an unbreakable date with destiny. They just needed someone to bring it all together, to bring it out of them. They sorted through their options. And then they hired Guy Stevens.

“To the Opium Dens / To the Barroom Gin”

But why Guy Stevens? Thirty-five years old at the time of the album’s recording, Stevens had a well-earned reputation as a surly and dangerous figure, a historic consumer of speed and alcohol who had done hard time for possession in London’s Wormwood Scrubs penitentiary. The notion of retaining Stevens as producer understandably sent a chill through the Clash’s label, CBS. It was like hiring Sam Peckinpah to helm a Hollywood blockbuster. What could possibly be the rationale? Even the Sex Pistols, for god’s sake, had ultimately elected to work with the decorated industry pro Chris Thomas for their big commercial swing.

But for the Clash, it had to be Guy. Trouble was, no one could find Guy. No one had a number for him, and anyway he never stayed in any place very long. Joe Strummer combed the pubs of Oxford Street, where Guy was known to dwell. It took a while but he finally discovered Stevens slumped over a bar, the specter of a much older man. “Have a drink!” Guy insisted, and Strummer obliged. London Calling was off and running.

“So What Will All the Poor Do With Their Lives / On Judgment Day?”

I’m suspicious of anyone whose heart doesn’t swell during “Spanish Bombs,” the deeply moving, remarkably catchy account of a doomed group of antifascist insurgents pinned against the rocks and ultimately slaughtered by General Francisco Franco’s forces during the Spanish Civil War. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a hit, but wait until you hear it. The Clash are a bit like The Wire. The atmospherics and storytelling tend to be so spectacular that it is only in the gripped and exhausted aftermath of experiencing a song that it might briefly flash before your mind: Wait, am I learning?

And you are. When was the last time you thought about Montgomery Clift, the brilliant and troubled Method actor from The Misfits and From Here to Eternity, dead at age 45 under lightly lurid circumstances? “The Right Profile,” Strummer’s wry and sad eulogy to Clift, is a rollicking anthem for a doomed figure who not coincidentally resembled Guy Stevens.

London Calling’s loneliest song is “Lost in the Supermarket,” a meditation on consumerism and the alienation of the suburbs, whose images of consumption and ennui—“I came in here for the special offer”—evoke an escalating sense of dread in an already claustrophobic milieu. In Jones and Strummer, the Clash were gifted with two great vocalists who sounded nothing alike and yet fit together perfectly. Jones’s vocal on “Lost in the Supermarket” conveys all the tender anguish of the song’s shy-but-desperate-for-action protagonist. Joe wrote it for Mick knowing he could never have pulled it off himself.

Toward the back end of the Stones’ Exile on Main Street, the closest double-album analog to London Calling, Mick Jagger practically browbeats the listener: “Let it loose / Let it all come down.” It’s tragic and beautiful. It’s giving in without giving up. “Clampdown” is the Clash’s response. Four minutes of pure rage and melody that indicts everyone from the exploitative bosses to the picket line holdouts, it’s the centerpiece of London Calling, taking John Lennon’s caustic critiques on “Working Class Hero” and turning them into actionable steps: “Let fury have the hour / Anger can be power / Did you know that you can use it?”

“When We Were Talking / I Saw You Nodding Out”

Before the Clash, before Mott the Hoople, before Wormwood Scrubs, Guy Stevens had an obsession with American music: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Link Wray, Jerry Lee Lewis. He prided himself on having every Motown single and every Stax release.

Joe Strummer was playing the piano on a London Calling track and Guy Stevens decided he didn’t like the way the piano sounded, so he rushed out of the control room and poured red wine all over Strummer’s hands and into the piano. This is bullshit. The band didn’t hire Guy Stevens; they enabled him. The problem with people like Stevens is that while they are off on their paths of destruction, someone has to mop up the wine. Someone has to mop up the blood. And someone has to actually record the music. That job fell mainly to London Calling’s engineer and unsung hero, Bill Price, who meticulously and brilliantly oversaw the tedious process of overdubbing and mixing while Stevens went about the business of being a “vibe merchant,” which mainly meant breaking furniture and falling down stairs. But even still, no one disputes Stevens’s contributions to the finished product. He was not facilitator, he was obstacle. He was a duende.

“Trenches Full of Poets / The Ragged Army / Fixing Bayonets to Fight the Other Line”

The Spanish poet, playwright, and revolutionary Federico García Lorca believed that the muse was all fine and well, but for an artist to achieve something greater they needed to engage with their duende. A duende is a demon that exists within us, that sleeps in our bones and feeds on our marrow. When the artist awakens their duende, it is at their own peril and is seriously risky business, because the duende will battle them at every turn and challenge them to be transcendent. And this is often a fight to the end, because by its very nature the duende embraces and seeks out death.

The poet Edward Hirsch says this: “Duende means something like artistic inspiration in the presence of death. It has an element of mortal panic and fear. It has the power of wild abandonment. It speaks to an art that touches and transfigures death, that both woos and evades it.” The duende wounds the artist in order to show them true pain and ecstasy, and the artist who is being driven by a duende (and simultaneously dueling with it) is truly fearless, which lends to limitless creativity and intuition. The duende makes them scream and howl and scratch and claw because their very existence depends on it, and from that comes heroic bravery, surpassing beauty, and an unreplicable artistic innovation and imagination brought to life.

So anyway, that’s why Guy Stevens.

“Don’t You Know It Is Wrong / To Cheat a Trying Man?”

So goes the refrain from the Clash’s ebullient reimagining of the 1923 murder ballad “Stagger Lee,” which concerns the barroom death of a St. Louis gangster named Lee Shelton. Three sides in and we’re a long way from the Thames. But we’re never far from a rising river.

The slow-burning “Death or Glory” is a repudiation in real time of the band’s knee-jerk rebellions of years previous. It’s easy to call for a riot without acknowledging the real-world consequences for those who participate and lack the resources to extract themselves from arrest and the bail process. Besides: “He who fucks nuns / Will later join the church.” The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gem “Koka Kola” is an act of comic revenge against the encroaching advertising world, in the style of early Who, and its future colonization of both our whims and habits.

Finally, at the end of Side 3, there is the piano-driven set piece “The Card Cheat,” a horn-abetted ballad that is probably the most ornate thing the band ever recorded. Stevens is quoted as saying, “There are only two Phil Spectors in the world, and I am one.” This is Stevens’s attempt at “River Deep, Mountain High”; it’s a tale of a hard-traveling gambler meeting a long-time-coming demise.

Side 4 is a tonic. The easygoing Strummer-penned “Lover’s Rock” is an oasis of pure romance amid an endlessly complicated battlefield of global and interpersonal dynamics. “Four Horsemen” is a straightforward reaffirmation of Joe, Topper Headon, Paul Simonon, and Mick: the men making the music happen. “I’m Not Down” is the brilliant Jones-sung final word on all the misery and magic and possibility of the new great depression: “I’ve been beaten up / I’ve been thrown around / But I’m not down.”

The group play to their strengths on a transporting cover of the Danny Ray and Jackie Edwards reggae anthem “Revolution Rock,” apparently ending London Calling on a thematically appropriate act of joyous defiance. But then they turn tricky. “Train in Vain,” the unlisted 19th track, is a Mick Jones tour de force of bouncing hooks and romantic alienation, an instant classic headlined by the desperate Marvin Gaye–worthy exhortation to a lover he can’t stop from leaving him: “You must explain why this must be!”

“I Know That My Life Makes You Nervous / But I Tell You I Can’t Live in Service”

Upon its release, London Calling received rapturous reviews and sold in the neighborhood of 2 million copies—not enough to qualify as a genuine blockbuster but certainly confirmation of the band’s steadily rising stature. The following year’s Sandinista! was more ambitious still—three discs of dub, synth-pop, and straight rock that ran to nearly two and a half hours. That record has no shortage of brilliant and memorable moments, but the overarching lack of focus stands in stark contrast to the ambitious but surgical London Calling. The Clash elected to produce Sandinista! themselves.

Guy Stevens died in 1981, less than two years after his last great triumph. He, too, had fought pugnaciously, but circumstances and substances overwhelmed him. He was 38. That year, the Clash recorded the memorial track “Midnight to Stevens,” a languid, ambling tune freighted with the sort of melodramatic hyperbole that the producer would have loved. “It’s that company trick / We’re all jumping through.”

London Calling is a landmark four decades later, improved by time and the album’s vision of a world growing both smaller in technological terms and more imperiled by permanent class inequity. More so, it is one of the most generous, gratifying, and galvanizing works of art the 20th century has to offer. It begins with apocalypse and then lights a way out. The path is an arduous one and filled with peril. But win or lose, the principled fight is always worthwhile. “Yo t’quierro y finito, yo te querda, oh ma côrazon”.

I am going to end with a couple of reviews. In 2004, Pitchfork provided their take on the 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition of London Calling. Offering an expanded view of The Clash’s creative mind at that time, it does add extra weight and significance to London Calling. It is a treasure that every music fan should endeavour to own. I do hope that something is released or written about to mark the approaching forty-fifth anniversary of London Calling. It is a seismic album that will always be influential and meaningful. The fact that London Calling still packs a punch all these years later is testament to its genius:

“For those who came of age in the late 80s and early 90s, calling The Clash a punk band was (and remains) more a matter of affect than honesty-- in 2004, wholly and completely divorced from a context that never fully resonated with a global audience, The Clash are a rock band, and 1979's London Calling is their creative apex, a booming, infallible tribute to throbbing guitars and spacious ideology. By the late 70s, "punk" was more specifically linked with rusted safety pins, shit-covered Doc Martens, and tight pink sneers than any steadfast, organized philosophy; The Clash insisted on forefronting their politics. This album tackles topical issues with impressive gusto-- the band cocks their cowboy hats, assumes full outlaw position, and pillages the world market for sonic fodder and lyric-ready injustice. A quarter-century after its first release, London Calling is still the concentrate essence of The Clash's unparalleled fervor.

As always, London Calling's title track holds steady as the record's cosmic lynchpin: Horrifyingly apocalyptic, "London Calling" is riddled with weird werewolf howls and big, prophetic hollers, Mick Jones' punchy guitar bursts tapping little nails into our skulls, pushing hard for total lunacy. Empowered and unafraid, Strummer reveals self-skewering prophecies, panting hard about nuclear errors and impending ice ages. He also spitefully lodges some of the most unpleasantly convincing calls to arms ever committed to tape, commanding his followers-- now, then, future-- to storm the streets at full, leg-flailing sprints. Even if The Clash were more blatantly inspired by the musical tenets of dub and reggae, "London Calling" unapologetically cops the fury of punk's blind-and-obliterate full-body windmilling, bypassing the cerebral cortex to sink deep into our muscles. From "London Calling" on, The Clash do not let go; each track builds on the last, pummeling and laughing and slapping us into dumb submission.

And now, we get to watch how it fell together: Using only a Teac four-track tape recorder linked up to a portastudio, The Clash inadvertently immortalized their London Calling rehearsal sessions at Vanilla Studios (a former rubber factory-gone-rehearsal-space in Pimlico, London) in the summer of 1979, several weeks before the album sessions officially opened at Wessex Studios. One set of tapes got left on the Tube. Another got crammed into a box.

The intricate (and generally convoluted) mythology of the "long lost recording" is embarrassingly familiar to rock fans-- even non-completists are awkwardly prone to chasing down bits of buried tape with insane, eye-bulging intensity. With precious few exceptions, the anticipation of a hidden, indefinitely concealed secret generally supercedes the impact of the actual artifact. Still, the possibility of stumbling into transcendence keeps the search heated, and sometimes stupidly dramatic. Earlier this month, Mick Jones bravely explained to Mojo's Pat Gilbert exactly how he uncovered the tapes: "I sensed where they were and that took me to the right box. I opened it up and found them... It was pretty amazing."

Snicker all you want at the supernatural, sixth-sense implications, or at the idea of Jones' third eye blazing hot for misplaced Clash recordings-- the 21 tracks that the constitute The Vanilla Tapes are just revealing enough to justify all the smoky mysticism. The tapes feature five previously unheard cuts-- "Heart and Mind", "Where You Gonna Go (Soweto)", "Lonesome Me", the instrumental "Walking the Slidewalk", and a cover of Matumbi's version of Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me", plucked from Dylan's 1970 album New Morning and reproduced in full reggae glory-- and together they reveal producer Guy Stevens' influence on the final sound of London Calling: muddy, raw, and insistently vague, The Vanilla Tapes see The Clash working hard, but also grasping for a muse.

Professionally, Guy Stevens was best known for "discovering" The Who and producing a handful of Mott the Hoople records, but it was his recreational exploits that carved the deepest cut into Britain's collective pop memory. With a frenzied halo of tightly curled brown hair and a penchant for destroying property, Stevens came to rule Wessex Studios, hurling chairs and ladders, wrestling with engineers, and famously dumping a bottle of red wine into Strummer's Steinway piano. Fortunately, Guy was far more concerned with encouraging "real, honest emotion" than with achieving technical perfection (true to form, London Calling has its fair share of slipped fingers), and consequently, the band's determination at Vanilla, coupled with Stevens' shitstorming, led to London Calling's odd and glorious balance of studied dedication and absurd inspiration.

And if The Vanilla Tapes aren't enough to satisfy your voyeuristic tendencies, there's more. For The Last Testament, documentarian/DJ Don Letts (also responsible for Clash on Broadway and Westway to the World) weaves together bits of live footage, interviews with punk pundits and band members (they spout tiny clarifications between snickers and cigarette huffs), promotional videos, and a few small, grainy glimpses of the band recording at Wessex. The studio shots were culled from footage that, like The Vanilla Tapes, had been unknowingly cardboard boxed for years-- in early 2004, former manager Kosmo Vinyl up a crate containing 84 minutes of hand-held footage of the London Calling sessions. Most of the film turned out to be unusable, but Letts salvaged some revealing shots of Stevens in fine form, wrestling with ladders and banging around chairs, in a curious reversal of classic producer/band hijinx.

As an instruction manual, the 25th anniversary edition of London Calling offers up bits of helpful, ordinary wisdom (he who fucks nuns will later join the church, no one gets their shit for free-- and "Balls to you, big daddy!" is an infallible exit line), but the album's biggest lesson is still spiritual. Like a bit of good gossip or a dog-eared copy of On the Road, Clash tapes tend to get passed around, and wind up forming countless intimate, enduring, and cathartic bonds. That Joe Strummer's handwritten lyrics and modest scribblings have finally been tucked into the liner notes is only appropriate: London Calling is just as precious”.

I am going to wrap up with some words from Rolling Stone from 2021. In their list of the 500 best albums ever, they ranked London Calling at sixteen. I would say that is a fair placing. It is right up there with the best and most significant albums ever released. If you have never heard it or not heard it for a while then do spend some time with it today:

“London in 1979 was plagued by surging unemployment and rampant drug use. The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher had just come to power and there was growing discontentment with the youth. London’s premiere punk band, The Clash were in disarray themselves. Following their second release, they had parted ways with their manager, left their rehearsal studio and hit a major period of writer’s block. One thing was for certain, though, their musical interests had extended beyond punk music and they were keen to explore other genres; Rock ‘n Roll, Ska, Reggae, Rockabilly, Jazz and even an influence from the sounds coming out of New Orleans. They were set up at a new rehaearsal studio and found themselves in a very disciplined and regimented schedule; afternoon rehearsals, followed by late afternoon football, drinks at the pub, and finally more rehearsals. The band created a strong bond with each other during this time which led them to start writing during these rehearsal sessions. And writing and writing. The drought was over and music started flowing out of Mick Jones and Joe Strummer, with contributions from Topper Headon and Paul Simonon.

The result is a two-LP Post Punk record spanning multiple genres and killer songs. The title track discusses the rising unemployment, racism and drug use in England. ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ is about a fun-loving man with a refusal to grow up; “How you get a rude and a reckless?/Don't you be so crude and feckless/You been drinking brew for breakfast/Rudie can't fail (no, no).” It’s a fun Reggae-Pop song featuring a horn section. ‘The Guns Of Brixton’ is bassist, Simonon’s first recorded composition with The Clash, inspired by the film, ‘The Harder They Come’ (soundtrack featured at #174). Recorded in no more than two takes, Simonon sang his lead vocal while staring directly at a CBS executive that had visited the band in studio. ‘Lost In The Supermarket,’ one of the pop songs on the record, deals with an increasingly commercialised world and rampant consumerism. Inspired by a Taj Mahal concert he’d seen the night before recording, drummer, Topper Headon replaced his snared with a tom-tom drum, giving the drums a non-conventional sound. Brilliant drum performance on this track! While this album spans so many different styles and genres, it remains cohesive throughout. A tight collection of 19 well-crafted songs. It ends with the uncredited ‘Train In Vain,’ a song added after the sleeves were printed, it became The Clash’s first song to enter the Top 30 in the US. Trainspotters might find the drums in the intro sound familiar. Garbage sampled the beat for their 1995 hit single, ‘Stupid Girl.’ Another record with an iconic cover, it features Paul Simonon smashing bis bass on stage in New York because security wouldn’t let audience members stand out of their seats. The cover is a parody of Elvis Presley’s debut record, or a homage, if you will. In the 24 years since the release of that record, Rock ‘n Roll had changed and grown bigger than anyone could have ever expected. Similar to The Clash, they weren’t just another punk group, they had established themselves as a diverse band that had created a refreshing album for the time. To be honest, it still sounds as fresh as ever”.

On 14th December, it is forty-five years since The Clash released London Calling. Such an important album in the history of music, I am looking forward to reading how journalists approach it on its anniversary. Often cited as one of the greatest albums ever released, it is one that…

FEW artists have surpassed.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Forty-Five Next Year

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Forty-Five Next Year

_________

I started this run of features…

going back to 1975 and collated a playlist with songs from great albums of that year. A big anniversary, some treasures from nearly fifty years ago. Next year, some other legendary albums will celebrate a big anniversary. Forty-five years. I am traveling to 1980 and a really interesting time for music. At the start of a new decade, this was a really innovative and strong year for music. With some truly exceptional albums out, I have collected together songs from the very best of that year. In the next feature I am heading to 1985 and tracks from albums that turn forty next year. For now, below is a playlist of eclectic music. Some brilliant gems and great tracks from some astonishing albums that turns forty-five next year. It is evident that 1980 was…

A wonderful year. 

FEATURE: Spotlight: Luvcat

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Luvcat

_________

I have had my mind…

on The Cure recently, because BBC Radio 6 Music had them in for a live session and, this being BBC Radio 6 Music, they went on about it for some time! Fair enough I guess. One of their songs, The Lovecats, is a tenuous link to Luvcat. A mysterious and hugely intriguing artist, I wonder if her fans are called Luvcats?! In any case, I will focus my thoughts entirely on her. I am going to get to a couple of recent interviews. There are few recent interviews out there with her, though that is likely to change very soon. This fascinating young artist has a backstory and sense of allure which is hard to ignore:

“Born in Liverpool with a longing for mischief, Luvcat ran away with a Parisian circus on the eve of her sixteenth birthday. There she became a magician’s assistant for many years; in feathers, silks and sequins. After a tragic trick gone wrong, Luvcat performed a final disappearing act, fleeing on a train through the ocean to the heart of London and slinking back into society. Inspired by the dark, playful romance of Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave & The Cure, Luvcat began penning songs of her travels and all the lovers and libertines she met along the way”.

With a few singles under her belt so far, there is this early anticipation and expectation. A distinct sound and something special that has emanated from songs like He’s My Man. I am very new to her music, but I am already really invested in Luvcat. An artist who is standing out from her contemporaries. I think so much is given away in the current scene. Artists revealing so much about themselves online. Although we can gleam a little about Luvcat, there is a lot kept back. I guess it makes you focus on the music. Taking everything from that rather than being distracted by the artist and their personal life.

Rather than label Luvcat as a solo artist, they are actually a band, though their lead is the one who handles interviews by and large. I want to come to the first interview. Take a few snippets from it. Next year is going to be a massive one for Luvcat. She and the band are playing The Great Escape festival in May. There are other dates in the diary, though this showcase will be a big one. I would not be surprised if there was a slot at Glastonbury beckoning soon. At the end of last month, Rolling Stone spent some time with Luvcat. She discussed the mystery behind the name. How she does not give too much of the personal away. Also, as she is called Luvcat, that is indeed connected to The Cure:

“Congratulations on writing a song called ‘Dinner @ Brasserie Zedel’. It’s about time that place got the recognition it deserves. I’ve got to say it’s very affordable.

I really love it. It’s my favourite spot in Soho and I was just going there over the years and every so often I’d think I’m going to marry the first man who takes me here on a date, so that’s why I wrote that song.

And has that happened?

Yeah, there’s been a few. I think the place should endorse me and give me free prawn cocktail for life now.

For someone who hasn’t heard your music before, how do you describe Luvcat?

I think, sound-wise, it comes from what I’ve grown up listening to. It’s my dad’s record collection combined with my grandad’s. My granddad raised me on Sinatra, the Rat Pack and musical theatre, while my dad raised me on The Cure, Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. It’s all about mixing those two into this strange cocktail of Gothic romantic drama.

There’s a lot of mystery in the theatrics of your backstory too. Your bio manages to speak of being born on a riverboat in the River Seine and running away to join the circus…

Well, I guess I got a little bored of knowing the ins and outs of artists that I love. I miss those old days when there was an element of mystique and a bit of playfulness where you don’t quite know where the line is drawn between truth and fiction. Isn’t that just a bit more fun?

And I grew up with bands where they had fun names you know, like Rat Scabies from The Damned. I love all that stuff, rock and roll has lost a bit of mischief and playfulness I think. It also came from when I was just sitting at home and I had to send a bio for the first show we played in Paris last year and the promoter wanted a biography about Luvcat. I sat there and thought I could state the facts, or I could have a bit of fun. I wanted to dance that line because the stories I sing about are real, but some of them are even toned down because I choose that life of chaos.

The name Luvcat…does that stem from your love of The Cure?

Absolutely, they influenced me since the age of maybe six or seven when my dad first showed me the ‘Lullaby’ video of Robert Smith in the candy striped pyjamas and the dead marching band.

All of that was just me all over because I was obsessed with vampires and dark stuff growing up. He showed me that and it went hand in hand. The tunes are so cool and when I was naming this project I had a few options for names. One name was Elisa Day from Nick Cave and Kylie’s ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’, but Luvcat just felt fun and summed it up. The minute it came out of my mouth it felt like everything else made sense.

There’s been a pretty receptive reaction among your fans too…

It’s been really overwhelming. I’ve been making music since I was a young teenager, but this feels very much a whirlwind all of a sudden. Suddenly, quite a few people care about the tunes I’m writing and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to comprehend that. You know, people are flying in from Berlin to come to a show at the Kazimier Garden in Liverpool and last year I was begging my family and my mum’s mates to come down. I was just talking to the boys in our band and we did a rehearsal yesterday because we’re going to Paris at the weekend for our first headline show. We had this nice rehearsal room and we had it for six hours.

I’ve never done a rehearsal more than two hours with the boys because I couldn’t afford it and we used to rehearse in an ex-public toilet the size of a postage stamp in Kentish Town under the ground. And now suddenly we’re in a nice room. That’s all I wanna do, you know, be in the room with the lads making music and then being able to go on the road. That’s the difference of 12 months”.

@luvcat.mp3 me & my man 🌡️ #fyp #foryou #myman ♬ me and my man - luvcat

I am going to come to an interview from NME to end. In fact, when I said Luvcat had some good gigs planned for next year, it is worth noting that there are some incredible live dates in the diary for this year. They are currently playing gigs in the U.K. and have already visited Brighton and London. Getting around the country and playing to some incredible crowds. If you can grab a ticket to go and see Luvcat, then make sure you do. This is an act that is going to go a very long way. One of those names that you know if going to be in the mainstream before too long. Even though Luvcat is a band on the road, there is focus on the lead, Sophie Morgan. In terms of the talking and the music itself, the spotlight is very much on her. I know that magazines and websites will be proclaiming her as one to watch for 2025. Recently, DORK hyped the brilliant Luvcat:

“The theatrical nature of Luvcat’s work stems from influences that read like the record collection of a particularly dramatic teenager who’s just out to start a rebellion. “My Chemical Romance were my childhood band, so I think a lot of their gothic theatrics seeped into me,” she explains. It’s a foundation that makes perfect sense – take MCR’s flair for the dramatic, add a dash of decadence, and you’re getting close to Luvcat’s particular flavour of musical absinthe.

These influences run deeper than mere aesthetic choice. “I’m the only person in my family who actually plays an instrument, but everyone is completely mad about music. My dad’s taste has completely informed mine, which I feel very lucky about.” It’s a musical education that has allowed her to build something both timeless and distinctly modern – as if The Cure’s Robert Smith had a torrid affair with Liza Minnelli, and their love child grew up watching old Hollywood films in Liverpool basement bars. Which, frankly, might be yet another potential Luvcat origin story.

The path to releasing music wasn’t exactly straightforward – but then again, nothing in Luvcat’s world ever is. “I definitely wasn’t planning on releasing any music for a while, but a video from one of our first gigs in my local pub in London blew up online, so we released the single independently as quickly as we could.” From there, things escalated with the kind of dramatic pacing usually reserved for more fantastical novellas. “We put out another single and have been playing as many shows as possible, including our first headlines in London and Liverpool at the Kazimier Garden.”

These shows have become notorious for their intensity – and occasional drama when ex-lovers attempt to gain entry [Proper Heathcliff-at-the-window stuff, this – Ed]. The story goes that, at that Liverpool show, Luvcat was greeted by three former beaus gawping back from the crowd, and another trying to break in up

Away from our less romantic haunts, Paris remains central to the Luvcat mythology, a city that seems to have been waiting for her arrival since the days of Edith Piaf. “Our first headline show in Paris will stay with me forever, definitely,” she reflects. “Seeing beautiful people in another country singing every word to unreleased songs was kinda overwhelming. Especially because our first show ever was actually on a riverboat on the Seine last May. I only had about four songs to my name, so we played lots of Leonard Cohen – it felt like a proper full-circle moment to be back.”

The dark romanticism that permeates every aspect of Luvcat’s work isn’t just for show – it’s the engine that drives her creative process. “The twisted romance thing has always been my muse,” she acknowledges. Her songs feel like love letters written in lipstick on mirror shards, beautiful and dangerous in equal measure. When asked about her recreational pursuits, her answer is characteristically direct: “I really like kissing. That’s fun.”

Even the Halloween release date of ‘Dinner @ Brasserie Zedel’ feels less like a marketing strategy and more like cosmic alignment. “I love it, yeah. Something about the air always smells different on All Hallows’ Eve,” she reflects, before revealing a delightful crack in her gothic facade. “But for someone who writes dark songs, I am actually such a scaredy-cat. When I was a teenager, I once worked as a ghost actor for a Halloween event at an old stately home in Liverpool. They sent me home because I was more scared than the guests.” Her Halloween costume of choice? “Morticia Addams, always.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ♱ ˚ ⋆ 𝐋𝐔𝐕𝐂𝐀𝐓 ⋆ ˚ ♱ (@luvcatband)

The autumn holds both glamour and shifting fates. “We’re going to be on the road for most of November,” Luvcat recounts, “which I couldn’t be more excited for, opening for The Last Dinner Party in Europe in some of the dreamiest venues I’ve ever seen.” While the full European run has since been condensed due to The Last Dinner Party’s need to prioritise their wellbeing, Luvcat is still gracing stages from Paris to Prague, including stops in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Berlin. It’s a perfect pairing – both acts understand the power of presentation, though Luvcat’s take feels more like cabaret noir to TLDP’s baroque pop fantasia.

And for those seeking a piece of that thickly layered mythology to take home? “We’re just about to have merch silk panties available on our website shop,” she reveals. “They are so cute and cheeky and always get snapped up after our shows.”

Wherever the truth and fiction actually do meet, Luvcat’s particular brand of dramatised truth-telling feels like rarified air – albeit air perfumed with incense and expensive French cigarettes. She’s writing her own deep lore in real-time, one that exists in the spaces between story and substance, between the grandiose and the intimate. While other artists recount their real lives in lurid detail, Luvcat is weaving an augmented reality that understands that escapism is a balm to the grey skies and daily churn. Her songs hang in the air behind her – intoxicating, mysterious, impossible to replicate.

That twisted romance that defines her music shows no signs of fading. If anything, it’s growing stronger with each release, each performance, each dramatic tale of love gone wrong. As ‘Dinner @ Brasserie Zedel’ arrives, it marks another chapter in a story that began on a Parisian riverboat – or maybe on a Liverpool street corner, or perhaps in a circus tent. The truth is complex and layered, revealing different notes to different noses. But with songs like these, who really needs to know what’s real? Sometimes, the story is sweeter than reality could ever be”.

I am going to wrap up with NME. With three songs out, it shows how potent and original Luvcat is that she has already got such attention and love from the press. NME featured her on their Radar feature. Reserved for breakout artists that we need to keep an eye out for, it is going to be exciting to see what next year offers for Luvcat. Maybe there will be an album coming at some point. As she says in the interview, her and the band will hopefully be making space for an album next year. At the moment, Luvcat is taking things at her own pace and does not want to give too much away just yet and rush in:

“It’s been a big year for you. Have there been any smaller, more inconsequential moments that felt significant to you?

“Something funny happened a couple of days ago, which might seem silly to some people, but we were rehearsing for this tour coming up, and I’ve only ever been able to afford a two hour rehearsal with the boys. And it was the first time we’ve had six hours in a rehearsal room, and I didn’t have to settle at the door, because obviously they’ve got people looking after that now.

“We used to rehearse in – it’s actually brilliant – but it was an ex-public toilet in Kentish town. I’m not dissing it, but it suddenly felt like, ‘Oh my god, we’re actually progressing, because now we get to rehearse.’ I get the privilege of playing with the boys for longer, which is all I really want to do.”

Do you think walking that line and maintaining some level of mystery is the reason fans are so desperate for a full album?

“There’s always space to uncover more things. I think it’s all in me, I’m just slowly uncovering and bringing out certain things and when the time is right. I get a lot of questions about ‘when are you putting an album out?’, and that obviously is something that I’m dying to do. It’s lovely that people are hungry for it, just got to make sure the art is right, and then we’re working as fast as we can to get it all out and keep feeding it.

“Hopefully by next year, there’ll be a bigger body of work. I’m not in it for anything other than to be able to get on the road and make an album. I want to do something outrageous for the cover – I can’t tell it here, because I’ve not fully decided it in my head, but I want to do something naughty.”

Outside of an album, is there anything else in the distance?

“We’re going to Tokyo in January for a show, and I think we should film while we’re there. We’ve got my best mate, Barnaby, who’s an amazing photographer and videographer with us, and I just want him to film everything. All the fights, all of the highs, lows. Because I think this year, it’s never going to happen again and everything’s new.

“I’d love to be able to look back and have it documented and how it all feels. Even the past month, that much has happened, I can’t remember half of it, there’s been so many cool things. I love those docs about life on the road – Dig! is one of my favourites, so we’ll see what we get”.

If you are new to Luvcat, then make sure you follow her (them). Catch her and the band on the road if they are playing near you. Festivals are sure to be lining up to book her for next year. It is an exciting time for a young artist with many years ahead of her. What we have seen and heard so far is testament to the fact that Luvcat has the talent…

TO endure for a very long time.

_____________

Follow Luvcat

 Official:

https://www.luvcat.co.uk/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@luvcat.mp3

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/luvcatband

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2IprcYDAYTYzCl4AJH3AuT?si=1kRq8IE9SwO8B1T4TZPgyw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@luvcat27