FEATURE:
Golden Year
IN THIS PHOTO: Rhiannon Giddens/PHOTO CREDIT: Ebru Yildiz
My Favourite Albums of 2021 So Far
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THIS year has been a struggle…
IN THIS PHOTO: Squid/PHOTO CREDIT: Holly Whitaker
in terms of artists touring and things not being back to normal. Even though we are in June, I wanted to think about some of the albums that I think have made the biggest impact. Quite a few of the albums are quite recent - though there are one or two that are from earlier in the year. There is a lot more golden and brilliant albums to come. I am looking forward to seeing what else 2021 has to offer up. Many other people are putting together their lists of the best albums of 2021 so far. Here are the albums that I have particularly loved. In each case, I will bring in a review and a link where you can buy the album. Here is my rundown of the very best…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Staves
OF a great year for music.
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The Anchoress – The Art of Losing
Release Date: 12th March
Producer: The Anchoress
Label: Kscope
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-anchoress/art-of-losing/lp-x2
Standout Cuts: The Exchange (ft. James Dean Bradfield)/Unravel/Paris
Review:
“A concept album this is not, but the with the veins running deep with recurring themes, as a second album, Davies has managed to construct a weighty signifier of impassable change. Certainly, when deep into the throes of a sun-kissed summer, this isn’t an album that can offer any further escape - it’s purposeful, it isn’t supposed to retain - this is an album for healing.
Packing a punch musically; twisting and turning; immersing with piano interludes branching elegantly from the albums introductory roots (“All Shall Be Well”), the softest nature is held for later cut “5am” which feels as vulnerable as it does honest.
The titular track, which Davies has referred to as the centrepiece of the album, comes packed with undulating synths and action-packed rattling drums to create a sense of befitting urgency. Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield comes in early doors on the whirring and raging, “The Exchange”, where the two’s voices find equal pegging in failed romance. “Unravel” concocts an eighties gift for all those ready to feast upon a buffet of delicate ethereal synths, tribal drums and emotional pleading “If you don’t want me / then I don’t want me”.
“My Confessor” is a reckoning which sees Davies bellowing “Is this love?”, leading nicely into the tapering off rear. There’s an air of exhaustion that echoes through the closing moments, where the fight, depending on the situation, finds a conclusion or leads back, ready for round one with the lunar bookend “Moon (An End)”, but not without a gentle, hopeful swell before a voice advises “For once in your life just let it go”.
Grief will always exist; in the truest of relationships, to the blood we wrenchingly say goodbye to. It’s as natural as the trees we watch wither and wilt on a yearly basis, but how we deal with it is up to us, and Davies’ fight back is well worth remembering in those times of grave need” – The Line of Best Fit
Key Cut: The Art of Losing
Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over the Country Club
Release Date: 19th March
Producers: Jack Antonoff/Lana Del Rey/Rick Nowels
Labels: Interscope/Polydor
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/lana-del-rey/chemtrails-over-the-country-club
Standout Cuts: White Dress/Chemtrails Over the Country Club/Tulsa Jesus Freak
Review:
“Perhaps it’s a case of the grass always being greener – pre-fame Lana surely wouldn’t have imagined achieving all she has and wanting to be back bussing tables – but she closes the song rationalising her desire to go back: “Because it made me fee… like a god/ It kind of makes me feel like maybe I was better off.”
The sublime, dreamy float of the title track is similarly nostalgic, calling back to a time where “there’s nothing wrong, contemplating God / Under the chemtrails over the country club”. It’s gorgeous and idyllic, distilling a scene of quintessential Americana into its most poetic form. Del Rey even manages to make the most mundane of chores and activities sound magical: “Washing my hair, doing the laundry/ Late night TV, I want you only”.
Conversely, on the romantic waltz of ‘Wild At Heart’, she’s in the here-and-now, evoking a scene of being chased by the paps, fingers on the shutter. “The cameras have flashes / They cause the car crashes,” she sighs, with an important distinction to make lest anyone get things twisted: “But I’m not a star.” ‘Dark But Just A Game’, which shifts from brooding trip-hop atmospherics to brighter folk licks, was inspired by a party at Madonna’s manager’s house and finds Del Rey explaining she doesn’t “even want what’s mine / Much less the fame” – NME
Key Cut: Let Me Love You Like a Woman
Squid – Bright Green Field
Release Date: 7th May
Producer: Dan Carey
Label: Warp
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/squid/bright-green-field
Standout Cuts: Narrator (ft. Martha Skye Murphy)/Paddling/2010
Review:
“An energetic shouting match of vivid new wave, Krautrock, and post-punk influences, Bright Green Field is the much-anticipated debut album from U.K. combo Squid. Since forming in Brighton in 2016, the London-based quintet have delivered a consistently befuddling array of eclectic singles and EPs that, in addition to their frenzied live shows, have agitated the hype machine in a big way. And for good reason: Squid is a legitimately exciting band whose generally unclassifiable sound feels tapped into the weirder currents of the zeitgeist. As with their 2019 Town Centre EP, Bright Green Field was helmed by Dan Carey, the sympathetic producer who has helped finesse interesting Mercury-nominated records from artists like Kae Tempest and Fontaines D.C. In some ways, their debut carries the absurdist lineage "Houseplants'' and "The Cleaner," two of the Squid's best-known singles, though it's also clearly its own monster. Like an avalanche gathering up everything in its path, Squid seem to thrive on evolution and an inherent sense of danger. Out of the gate, the thrilling "G.S.K." (a reference to British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline) roils with a mixture of hip-hop swagger, prog-funk chops, and brazen post-punk proclamations, recalling Public Image Ltd.'s early records, mid-period King Crimson, or a less-filthy Mr. Bungle. As both frontman and drummer, Ollie Judge wields his arresting commentator/barker vocal approach to great effect while muscling the group through sprightly grooves punctuated with horns, spiky guitar licks, freak-outs, and breakdowns. Clocking in at about 50 minutes long, Bright Green Field somehow manages to hold the attention with a range of dynamics and ear-catching techniques like the staggered vocals stacks on the alternately mellow and chaotic "2010." The music is busy, but rarely familiar, and certainly stimulating. Truly a band for the times, Squid feels like a wild jumble of thoughts come to life, effusing anger, confusion, humor, detachment, and even joyfulness in their pursuit of true creative freedom” – AllMusic
Key Cut: Boy Racers
Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
Release Date: 29th January
Producer: Gianluca Buccellati
Label: Transgressive
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/arlo-parks/collapsed-in-sunbeams/lp
Standout Cuts: Hurt/Caroline/Black Dog
Review:
“Parks describes her teenage self as “that black kid who couldn’t dance for shit, listening to too much emo music and crushing on some girl in her Spanish class” and what shines through on this lovely album is her ability to communicate with real empathy. So often it seems as if young singers taking on mental health are doing it to show us what wonderful people they are. That is not the case on the languid, subdued Black Dog, written for a friend suffering from depression and featuring the refrain: “It’s so cruel, what your mind can do for no reason.”
The authenticity of feeling is devastating. On Hurt, another ode to outright misery, albeit cheered up by some funky drumming, Parks sings: “Wouldn’t it be lovely to feel something for once?” Alternately sung and spoken, with the glottal stops of a native Londoner, the song is a straightforward articulation of generational ennui.
Parks has a way of evoking small moments that tell bigger stories, setting details against a musical style that falls between jazzy soul and the introspective indie rock of Elliott Smith. “You put your hands in his shirt/ You play him records I showed you,” she gripes on Eugene, a pretty lament about the agony of listening to her best friend complain about her boyfriend while being secretly in love with her. Then comes the ultimate betrayal for a sensitive teenager: “You read him Sylvia Plath/ I thought that was our thing.”
Everyday observations are delivered with lyrical colour and melodic sweetness. Caroline describes seeing a couple fighting on a bus, “Strawberry cheeks flushed with defeated rage,” before the man accidentally spills his coffee over the woman. “Reminiscing about the apricots and blunts on Peckham Rye,” Parks sings on Hope, a tale of getting through isolation by thinking about happier times.
It’s all very unforced, making this a rare thing: an album about mental health and the ever-so serious business of being young that’s actually a joy to listen to” – The Times
Key Cut: Hope
St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home
Release Date: 14th May
Producers: Annie Clark/Jack Antonoff
Label: Loma Vista
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/st-vincent/daddy-s-home
Standout Cuts: Pay Your Way in Pain/The Laughing Man/My Baby Wants a Baby
Review:
“The lyrics sound similarly unsettled, about everything from the prospect of parenthood – My Baby Wants a Baby wittily reworks the chorus of 9 to 5, Sheena Easton’s unironic 1980 paean to the pleasures of housewifery, slowing it to an agonised crawl in order to wrestle with the proverbial pram in the hall – to the very business of being St Vincent. For a decade now, Clark has invented a persona to inhabit on each new album: the “near-future cult leader” seated on a throne on the cover of 2014’s St Vincent, a latex-clad “dominatrix at a mental institution” for 2017’s Masseduction. There’s another on the cover of Daddy’s Home, in a blonde wig and stockings, the “benzo beauty queen” mentioned in the lyrics, who exudes such sleazy energy that, on opener Pay Your Way in Pain, parents feel impelled to shield their children from her (“the mothers saw my heels and they said I wasn’t welcome”).
But elsewhere, Clark seems conflicted about the whole business of playing with identity, flipping between songs projecting a character and songs that are clearly personal: not just the title track, but The Laughing Man’s eulogy for a late friend. On The Melting of the Sun, she lists a succession of soul-baring singer-songwriters and some of their most personal work – Tori Amos’s harrowing depiction of her rape, Me and a Gun; Nina Simone’s livid Mississippi Goddam; Joni Mitchell’s self-baiting exploration of musical “authenticity” Furry Sings the Blues – and finds herself wanting in their company: “Who am I trying to be? … I never cried / To tell the truth, I lied”.
Perhaps her confusion is linked to the fact that constructing a persona is what her father seems to have done: “You swore you had paid your dues then put a payday in your uniform,” she sings on the title track. Or perhaps the album’s fixation with the early 70s, a high-water mark era for pop stars gleefully reinventing themselves, cast a troubling shadow over the whole enterprise. David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Elton John are justly revered artists, but they’re also cautionary tales about the dangers of playing with identity: one of the reasons they ended up in deep trouble was an inability to square their real lives with the images they projected. Whatever her reasons, the sound of Clark’s confusion, and its wilfully warped musical backing, is significantly more gripping than the gossip” – The Guardian
Key Cut: The Melting of the Sun
Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs
Release Date: 15th January
Producer: Andrew Fearn
Label: Rough Trade
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/sleaford-mods/spare-ribs
Standout Cuts: Shortcummings/Nudge It (ft. Amy Taylor)/Mork n Mindy (ft. Billy Nomates)
Review:
“Nottingham punk duo Sleaford Mods are a relentless tour de force when it comes to attacking a range of unpleasantries in British life.
This time they depict the value of human lives, addressing their expendability in the view of government and the elite, critical comparisons are made between lives and ‘spare ribs’ in capitalism. Sonically, connections are adjusted to the theme. It is the strong, self-assured and grounded sound of two people who understand their role as musicians and take responsibility for it.
Confidently hinting at what the next phase in their music partnership might be, the featured guest appearances from Amy Taylor of Melbourne punk rockers Amyl and The Sniffers and Bristol-based Billy Nomates add finesse and energy to this record.
A raw snapshot perfectly designed to capture the ugliest sides of Britain, it’s obvious that the duo is happy to knock at our doors once again. There’s an ongoing need for this portrayal of relevant topics, and their sharpness and humour are as strong as ever.
Brexit, immigration, lockdown and the fight for the independent venues, it’s all in there. Never before has there been a greater need for the full Sleaford Mods treatment than there is now, and the goods are delivered with crisp urgency and precision” – CLASH
Key Cut: Elocution
Billie Marten – Flora Fauna
Release Date: 21st May
Label: Fiction Records
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/billie-marten/flora-fauna/lp-plus
Standout Cuts: Garden of Eden/Creature of Mine/Human Replacement
Review:
“The intelligent thing about ‘Flora Fauna’ is that you can think about this record in every single one of those ways. For this album, Billie has taken her minimalistic acoustic folk and given it a more intricate soundscape. She uses a bass guitar as the backbone of her rhythm, a choice that was inspired by an impulsive drunk decision. Or so we’ve heard.
Openers ‘Garden Of Eden’ and ‘Creature Of Mine’ find Billie shedding the skin of her youth, exploring different synaesthetic textures and elements of the nature that surrounds her. She finds empathy in the earth, being the one constant in this ever-changing and unpredictable life.
Billie doesn’t give us time to mourn the loss of the waif-like, earth-child that we became so familiar with in ‘Writing Of Blues And Yellows’ – and quite frankly we don’t need to. ‘Human Replacement’ sees a different side to Billie Marten. Like another Billie that we know and love, she takes ownership over image. She puts on her war-paint and prowls down the streets of London in a massive tank. No one dares to raise an eyebrow.
In ‘Pigeon’, we imagine Billie sitting on the tube, humming to herself as she becomes more and more pissed off by the sight of the advertisements plastered on every flat surface, images that demand her attention. In a stream-of-consciousness, she pokes fun at the irony that we are constantly being fed dirt, and being told that it’s good for us. Modern life is suffocating, but Billie provides sweet relief in her buttery tones.
Brought to a close with ‘Walnut’ and ‘Aquarium’, these peaceful affirmations let us float within them. These tracks are like messages in glass bottles, making their journey from one continent to another, across a calm sea. Pure serenity.
‘Flora Fauna’ is proof that a woman can be many things. She can eat the earth and become it, or like an archer with a bow and arrow, she can throw heavy clumps of mud at the things that stand in her way” – CLASH
Key Cut: Heaven
Black Country, New Road – For the First Time
Release Date: 5th February
Producer: Andy Savours
Label: Nina Tune
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/black-country-new-road/for-the-first-time
Standout Cuts: Athens, France/Science Fair/Sunglasses
Review:
“Sonically it’s looser yet more cohesive with a warmer, more harmonious outro that delivers us seamlessly into the first single to be taken from the new record, “Science Fair.” A track in which squalling guitars interrupt sprawling viola and sax loops, each vying for your attention while cymbals jitter in the background, providing a platform for Wood. An unassuming song at first “Science Fair” soon descends into madness, (as Black Country, New Road songs so often do) as Wood delivers his narrative with unrivalled speedy, tenacity, anger and eloquence - screaming “It’s Black Country out there” as the whole thing collapses in on itself in a wild frenzy.
A frenzy that then leans into the new growling distorted guitar intro to “Sunglasses”, which too has been revamped to fit the flow of For The First Time. “We wanted it to sound exactly how we love to sound live,” Evans said when speaking about their choices to re-record. It’s eruptive, beautiful, self aware, visceral and all the things we know that song to be but it also finds a more melodic core, with Wood embracing his singing voice and harmonising with the band. It lends greater grace to their satire whilst losing none of the bitterness - pointed squarely at the distance between what our generation was promised and reality.
Latest single “Track X” continues the focus on Wood’s singing voice as the band present their most vulnerable face. Gentle saxophone notes play with tense violin strings while a deep baritone voice slowly dances over the top of a warm array of textures with heartfelt, earnest sentiments - still peppered with amusing nods to modern pop culture (throughout the record we get stans, influencers, Tik Tok glow ups, Phoebe Bridgers and contemporaries Black Midi to name a few).
Just like “Instrumental” came in at the beginning, the aptly named 8 minute “Opus” marks the end. It’s the most outright jazz inspired track on the record, the first half mostly leaving behind the prowling bassline of post punk in favour of frenzied sax howls that demand movement before the slow crawl and fuzz returns. Repetition in this song, like in the whole record, is the key to Black Country, New Road’s power - Wood howling in increasingly apocalyptic broken vocals: “Everybody’s coming up, I guess I’m a little bit late to the party.”
With only six tracks spread out across 41 minutes, For The First Time is a tornado of a record. Conjuring all the sights, sounds and moods of endlessly intimate and universal experiences, it pulls you up with rallying cries and drags you down with spiralling jazz freakouts. For The First Time is ferocious and endlessly intelligent, highly considered and wildly improvised, eked out with bristling tension and set alight with a burning intensity and a knowing smile” – The Line of Best Fit
Key Cut: Track X
Ghetts – Conflict of Interest
Release Date: 5th February
Producers: BLK VNYL/Reiss Nicholas/Rude Kid/Sir Spyro/Smasher/TJ Amadi/Ten Billion Dreams
Labels: Ghetts Limited/Warner
Standout Cuts: Mozambique (ft. Jaykae and Moonchild Sanelly)/Autobiography/No Mercy (ft. Pa Salieu and BackRoad Gee)
Review:
“The subject of relationships is frequently revisited throughout. On “Dead to Me”, he reflects on past breakups and life with ADHD, while on “Proud Family”, he praises his single mother’s parenting and vows to serve as a positive role model to the younger generation, inviting his guitarist brother Kadeem – a member of Little Simz’ band – to take the reins on the outro. This sentiment is reaffirmed on the album’s stirring closer, “Little Bo Peep”, where Wretch 32 and Dave join him in guiding listeners away from the temptations of crime. The latter lyricist also offers a searing social commentary, pointing out the hypocrisy of government-sanctioned atrocities committed by the military, and Ghetts himself is similarly outspoken on the outstanding “IC3”, in which he celebrates Black British excellence while challenging institutional racism and the nation’s colonial legacy.
Opting for atypically pared-back productions, he’s able to achieve a cohesion like never before, with close collaborators TenBillion Dreams and TJ playing to his strengths at every turn. Gone are the twinkling arpeggios and gospel features of yesteryear, replaced by G-funk synths, decorative choral chants and slick, rolling basslines which ensure minimal distraction from his dense multi-syllable rhymes. This barebones approach is pushed to its very limits on the low-slung, patois-inflected Giggs team-up “Crud”, which consists almost entirely of trappy percussion.
Interestingly, another recurring theme on the album is reminiscence—a fact that’s seemingly overlooked on its opener, “Fine Wine”, in which Ghetts asserts “I don’t care ‘bout nostalgia”. “Autobiography” finds him quite literally chronicling his career highs and lows, demystifying the tales behind his infamous beef with SLK and his departure from N.A.S.T.Y Crew. Elsewhere, there’s an abundance of old-school grime samples – Dizzee’s “Ice Rink” freestyle; D Double E’s legendary adlib; a Logan Sama set rip – and even a dedicated section of “Hop Out” where he recites early wheel-up bars.
At the same time, he’s firmly grounded in the present. Men of the moment Pa Salieu and BackRoad Gee are both on top form on the menacing “No Mercy”. The music video for the Stormzy-featuring hit “Skengman” is a bona fide blockbuster, featuring a guest appearance from hotly tipped rapper Shaybo. And with Warner now in his corner, it’s looking like Ghetts may have been onto something when he prophesised in the album’s intro: “My best years are ahead of me” – The Line of Best Fit
Key Cut: Proud Family
CHAI – WINK
Release Date: 21st May
Labels: Sub Pop/Otemoyan Record
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/chai/wink
Standout Cuts: Donuts Mind If I Do/ACTION/Miracle
Review:
“Though their delivery has mellowed, CHAI maintain the unwavering commitment to self-love and community that makes their music so endearing. On PUNK, they celebrated the virtues of curly hair, having lots of friends, and eating lollipops, dumplings, and beef. On WINK, food—a symbol of beauty, desire, and more abstract concepts like longing and confidence—is the primary motif of their joy. The body becomes a site of pleasure and curiosity on “Maybe Chocolate Chips,” where moles decorate the skin not as flaws but as sugary treasures. The sensual love song “Karaage” envisions the members of the band as a meal of fried chicken waiting to be eaten. On “It’s Vitamin C,” CHAI ask, “What’s good for you? What’s good for me?” and find their answer in “yummy kiwi fruit/yummy orange juice.” Consume enough healthy fruit, they say, and no mistake can hold you back. In domestic spaces, women are often expected to cook as a means of caring for others, but rarely are they encouraged to take the same pleasure in eating. It’s affirming to see these four women so explicitly link the love they feel for themselves to the foods they enjoy.
The mood on WINK is more consistently pleasant than memorable, and it’s hard not to miss the frenetic energy of CHAI’s first two albums. When the hazy mood occasionally breaks—like the rage punctuated by slippery synth blips in “END” and the 8-bit video game sounds of “PING PONG!”—it’s a welcome change of pace. Still, there is something thrillingly strange about hearing a band find fulfillment in the sheen of a glazed donut, or longing in the salty succulence of a salmon ball. It’s easy to get protective over your happiness, especially when it feels fleeting or hard-earned. But CHAI generously extend their wonder-filled perspective to anyone who will listen. In turn, they ask us to find our own joy, wherever and whenever we can” – Pitchfork
Key Cut: Nobody Knows We Are Fun
Rhiannon Giddens (with Francesco Turrisi) - They're Calling Me Home
Release Date: 9th April
Label: Nonesuch
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/rhiannon-giddens/they-re-calling-me-home-with-francesco-turrisi/lp
Standout Cuts: Avalon/I Shall Not Be Moved/Amazing Grace
Review:
“Rhiannon Giddens’ new album with Francesco Turrisi, her partner in life as well as music, explores two subjects that occupied them (and, frankly, the rest of us) over the last tumultuous year. One is often comforting: home. The other is usually the opposite: death. But for this American and Italian, locked-down in their adopted Ireland, they found that exploring these subjects through songs from the perspective of their respective upbringings was uplifting. “Every culture has these songs that are laments,” said Giddens. “Those feelings that you have … you experience them through the song and at the end, you’re a little bit lighter.”
This is a big, beautiful album, a showcase for direct, punchy emotions and Giddens’ vocal versatility. She trained as an opera singer and executes astonishing levels of beauty and control on Monteverdi’s Si Dolce è’l Tormento and When I Was in My Prime, a folk song previously covered by Pentangle and Nina Simone. Old-time staple Black As Crow is different and delicate, its banjo-plucked tenderness further softened by Emer Mayock’s Irish flute. Then O Death lands with a whack, as heavy, funky gospel blues: Turrisi does propulsive work on the frame drum. Giddens goes the full Merry Clayton.
There is mournfulness on a joint a cappella, Nenna Nenna, an Italian lullaby that Turrisi used to sing to his daughter, as the couple’s close harmonies twist and yearn with great feeling. But there’s also hope in Niwel Tsumbu’s beautiful nylon string guitar on Niwel Goes to Town, and even on the title track, by US bluegrass singer Alice Gerrard, about an old friend “on his dying bed” leaving songs behind him, his “sweet traces of gold”. This album is full of dazzling examples in this vein. They’ll live on” – The Line of Best Fit
Key Cut: Black as Crow
The Staves – Good Woman
Release Date: 5th February
Producer: John Congleton
Label: Atlantic UK
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-staves/good-woman
Standout Cuts: Good Woman/Next Year, Next Time/Satisfied
Review:
“Six years is a long time to leave between albums, but one listen to the title track and opener for the third full-length from The Staves reveals both all that can change with the passing of time and all that remains from the things that have made this trio of sisters such a potent and wonderful musical force over the last several years.
Still in place are the ubiquitous beautiful harmonies, clever, sometimes sweet and sometimes biting lyrics and the deceptively powerful musical flourishes that make the band so special, but added to the mix is a dash of increased musical power, undoubtedly from the band but aided by clever production from John Congleton. And that’s just the first song.
These thirteen tracks, detailing joys and sorrows, love and loss, indicate that The Staves are as vital as ever. “We could be better than, better than all of them” they sing together on ‘Best Friend’ and while the song is probably about the excitement of a developing relationship, it could also be a comment on the potential status this band could be lifted to by this fabulous album.
Whether on the restrained ‘Nothing’s Gonna Happen’, splendidly infused with Cello and brass, or on the more driving ‘Devotion’, one of several songs to be propelled by cleverly-deployed loops and electronic inflections which add much to the palette of the band ( or in several places besides) 'Good Woman” serves as a fine artistic statement of a developing musical institution” – CLASH
Key Cut: Devotion
Lou Hayter - Private Sunshine
Release Date: 28th May (digital release)
Label: Skint
Pre-order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/lou-hayter/private-sunshine
Standout Cuts: Cherry on Top/Time Out of Mind/Still Dreaming
Review:
“Best known as one fifth of primary-coloured nu rave stand-outs New Young Pony Club, in the decade since parting ways with that band Lou Hayter has dipped a toe into various musical projects but never managed to skewer the zeitgeist quite as brilliantly as with her first outfit. Debut solo offering ‘Private Sunshine’ - a slick slice of glimmering yacht pop that may as well come with a free pair of designer sunnies - might not be destined for dizzying commercial heights either, but it does showcase Lou as a songwriter with a distinct knack for an atmosphere: an expensive-sounding, plush playground where beautiful people brush shoulders in the beating sun. From the more downbeat, Sky-Ferreira-goes-’70s eyelash flutter of the title track, to the slow-jam, synth strut of ‘Telephone’, ‘Private Sunshine’ is a polished affair - but it’s this slightly-too-perfect detachment that often also stops the album from truly hitting deep. Though ‘Cold Feet’’s relatable tales of a “momentary love” say all the right things, Lou’s vocal is too glossy to convey the necessary emotion, while a cover of ‘Time Out of Mind’ stays reasonably true to the Steely Dan original but again removes much of the warmth. There are moments where it works; ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ in particular has a more playful hint of early-’90s Madonna to it. But though ‘Private Sunshine’ comes wrapped in a desirable, effortless package, you’re left wanting a few more layers to unpack beneath it” – DIY
Key Cut: Telephone
Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
Release Date: 4th June
Producer: Markus Dravs
Label: Dirty Hit
Order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/wolf-alice/blue-weekend-rsd-2021
Standout Cuts: Lipstick on the Glass/Feeling Myself/No Hard Feelings
Review:
“In broad strokes, ‘Blue Weekend’ is a study on relationships – yes, with romantic partners, but also with friends, with yourself and with the world at large. The sparse and minimal heartbreaker ‘No Hard Feelings’ contains evocative scenes within its exploration of a separation. “It’s not hard to remember when it was tough to hear your name,” Rowsell sighs. “Crying in the bathtub to ‘Love Is A Losing Game’.” The song referenced might change for different people, but the feeling that sucker-punches you from within is universal.
If that track takes you into the depths of lovelorn grief, sunkissed album closer ‘The Beach II’ whisks us off to somewhere much calmer. Here, Rowsell is by the shore, drinking lukewarm “liquid rose” with her mates, but in her narration positions herself as an observer looking on fondly. “The tide comes in as it must go out, consistent like the laughter/Of the girls on the beach, my girls on the beach, happy ever after,” she sings softly. Combined with the gently surging guitars and buzzing synths beneath her, the song captures a moment of magic that makes you feel like you’re hovering above your own memories of the tableau it depicts” – NME
Key Cut: The Last Man on Earth