Annie Hamilton - the future is here but it feels kinda like the past

 

New album by Australian Annie Hamilton out today (May 20th) via PIAS

Annie Hamilton debut studio album is a reach for the mainstream, it feels like the title of the album suggests, a work that is something you may have heard before but is fresh and new.

A dreamy journey that is full of juxtapostions, raw but soft in her vocal delivery, electronic but stripped back, real but fantastical. Hamilton has taken the chance that the pandemic gave to look inwards and has created a work that is universal, escapist and nostalgic.

Opening single 'Providence Portal' is a harbinger for the album, soft melancholic keyboards with her wonderful vocals soon married by a slowly thudding drumbeat underneath. This promises to be an album you want to go back to and listen to again immediately.

Hamilton states, 'It's about the passing of time, how sometimes it flies by and sometimes it drags on forever and we're always looking ahead wanting something more or wallowing in nostalgia', this writer has heard similar platitudes from the artist SOAK, about the impact the pandemic has had on her personally.

'Exist' is the lead single, anthemic but has an internal monologue by the character Hamilton is portraying running through it, as if she is having a conversation with herself.

Working in collaboration with Pete Covington and Jake Webb (Methyl Ethel), Hamilton has created moments of emotion that every listener can relate to. Harking back to the debut album of Ladyhawke, this has little prisms of pop piercing throughout the work. 

Highs of the album include the trippy 'Night Off' and the panoramic 'Labyrinth', in this album that maintains its thread and course throughout the eleven tracks. It is a beautiful joy to listen to this shimmering work from a brand new artist.

Part dream pop and shoegaze, part indie-pop, part electronica, this album has a little bit of something for everyone. If you are fans of Mint Julep or Julia Jacklin you may know what I am talking about.

the future is here but it feels kinda like the past is out now from PIAS Recordings.

Annie Hamilton will headline a show in London on July 31st at The Social, London

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Oscar and the Wolf - The Shimmer

New album from Belgian artist Oscar and the Wolf out on 22nd October

The alter ego of Max Colombie returns in a new work with his contemporary influences of electronica and soulful RnB delivery colliding with the heritage of European electro-pop and beats.

Hailing from Belgium, his debut album Entity (2014) went platinum in his homeland selling out arenas in the lowlands. 2017 saw the release of Infinity that went gold and has helped garner him a huge fanbase in Turkey and beyond into the Middle East - Israel, Egypt and Iran.

The new album 'The Shimmer' is a culmination of his sound and vision crystallizing into a record of transformation and lo-fi perfection with bold and rich production entwined as he becomes a more mature artist.

Lead single and album opener, 'James' sounds like a dream in its structure and to Colombie it came in a dream, 'the complete structure, with the chords and a beat, a vocal melody, even lyrics - is multi-faceted all on its own', and this dream-like quality to his work can be appreciated as not only coffee-shop chic but desirable magic music.

Going from lamenting love songs such as 'Ghost of You' to the instrumental 'PIC' you are never far from a track that can be relatable and holds universal appeal to any listener, even the summery 'Live Stream' about falling for a movie star has this sense of unrequited love and is a well told short story in the lyrics

This album is not merely a work of music, but an experience that can help the listener and performer become one as they gravitate towards each other to seek understanding in this confusing day and age.

Reminiscent of Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, for Colombie this is revered company to be mentioned in the same breathe as but a work of this maturity and dynamism deserves such platitudes.

The Shimmer is out from [PIAS] Recordings on October 22nd

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Other Lives - For Their Love

The long awaited album from Oregon band, Other Lives, is out from Play It Again Sam Recordings.

A band that has a richness of sound and unity in their performance, and a timeless nature to the compositions as if they are songs pulled from the collective consciousness with a universal appeal and general freedom in their sound.

This comes from the overlong hiatus the band have subjected themselves to since the 2011 debut Tamer Animals and out of creative uncertainty the band have re-emerged in a personal necessity and it is a joyful rebirth we witness on For Their Love.

The album starts off slowly, admittedly, but slowly the band creates this aura of Americana with great ear worm songs such as 'Lost Day' which epitomises the ear that the band has for swooning melody coupled with mystical lyrics and lush harmonies stemming from the band as a unit but also where the album was recorded in the Oregon mountains as featured in the video above.

The songs evoke visions of this great lost American soundtrack to an indie film from Jim Jarmusch or John Sayles ('Cops'), images of road trips on lost highways ('For Their Love'), landscapes blowing in the ever changing environment which harkens back to this genuinely organic feel of the album layout.

This is the sort of album that will be great to listen to in most environments, from a festival backdrop to garden barbecues to listening parties. Hopefully in spite of the current climate, this album will find a willing and deserving audience for this swooning soundtrack to Americana by way of Stillwater, Oklahoma.

For Their Love is our on 24th April on all platforms

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

White Lies 'Five'

Some years ago, the band had a massive hit with single 'Fairground' and were set to break the ceiling; yet it did not happen.  That has not stopped the band writing and have created a nine-track album that is the broadest and most commercial friendly songs they may well have written; an album full of an expansive sound declaring a new territory both artistically and commercially.

It takes a bold band to have as the opening track to a highly anticipated album be a plus-seven minute track but in 'Time To Give' you get a statement of intent from White Lies, in that this is our belief that you will like this music so if they make an attention grabbing opener then they are onto a winner.

There are numerous highs in the album from 'Finish Line' to the excellent 'Tokyo' which maintains a grip on the listener as the work navigates lyrics of alienation and loneliness in this world of ever decreasing circles due to the domination of social media.

White Lies (L-R) - Jack Lawrence-Brown (drums), Harry McVeigh (lead vocals/guitar) and Charles Cave (bass/vocals)

White Lies though make a claim that you are not alone in this world, you can be loved, you can love in return and this comes to ahead with penultimate album track 'Believe It' - the lead single of the album and a song that is the earworm of the record - a hummable, toe-tapping thumper of a track that will grow beyond this album's life and be the song audiences will clamber to hear on the upcoming British tour in February by the group.

This is an album of genuine elation and joy driven by an amalgamation of electronica and guitar reminiscent of Depeche Mode married with the club nuance of Bastille and euphoric reach of Editors.

Five is out from 1st February from PIAS Recordings.
They tour Britain and Ireland through February and late March

My thanks to One Beat PR for the audio link and chance to review.

White Lies 'Tokyo' New video

PIAS Recordings are pleased to share a new video from White Lies for single 'Tokyo' in anticipation of the album release on 1st February.

Directed again by David Pablos, and was shot back-to-back with previous video release 'Believe It' which was shot in Mexico. This video encapsulates the big anthemic noise coming from the band who are returning to the mainstream after a long absence from the public eye.

White Lies are releasing 'Five' on February 1st from PIAS Recordings, and this writer has had the privilege of listening to a preview of the new album and it promises to be a huge smash full of larger than life hits yet has universal appeal - its a big world but it can be lonely sometimes, yet there is somewhere out there for you to fit into.

From 'Believe It' which has the ear worminess of Bastille to the opus 'Time To Give' which opens the album and is reminiscent of Depeche Mode. White Lies it seems are making up for lost time with this synth-laden soundscape they have produced.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the preview and video link.

White Lies 'Believe It' New Video

White Lies are back and returning with a new album out on February 1st from PIAS Recordings. Below is a taste with new video for 'Believe It' from the album Five.

Some years ago, the band had a massive hit with single 'Fairground' and were set to break the ceiling along with contemporaries Editors; yet it did not happen.

That has not stopped the band writing and have created a ten-track album that is the broadest and most commercial friendly songs they may well have written.

The song 'Believe It' would be familiar to those fans of Bastille and the undoubted influence of Depeche Mode; a band who who able to marry between electronica and rock. White Lies are a band who embrace both the keyboard and the guitar; lyrics of alienation fit perfectly with this mixed up world we are living in currently.

Directed by Mexican David Pablos, in his hometown of Tijuana, he wanted to shoot about 'the "otherness", that is, the people who are rarely seen, but also confirm the identity of the city.'

The album is released on February 1st, the band then embark on an extensive European tour in February and March featuring a show at London Forum on Valentines Day.

You can pre-order the album here.

White Lies are Harry McVeigh (lead vocals, guitar), Charles Cave (bass, vocals) and Jack Lawrence-Brown (drums).

Follow the band on Twitter @whiteliesmusic