Margaret Glaspy - Devotion

Second album from American songstress Margaret Glaspy via ATO Records

The album is a collection of a dozen compositions that are about love coming in when you do not expect it, there is a soulful to this record in contrast to her debut 'Emotions and Math' which had a grittier sound and purpose. This is a record which has an energy of its own.

Songs that take on a life of their own, starting soft then becoming more universal as they ferment in the ether, much like the opening salvo 'Killing What Keeps Us Alive' a song that takes on this political comment but has a very personal energy to it due to the auto-tune nature with it being stripped back led by Glaspy's hypnotic vocal lead.

The distant cousin of Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill but perhaps without the vitriol against men, this is an album that shows an artist spreading her creative wings and going for broke by putting her heart on the table and coming up trumps.

From the winning 'Without Him' and 'You've Got My Number' there is a yearning for love and the importance of love between two people, how a relationship can bring the best out of someone culminating in the brilliant 'Devotion' a song that is both about strength in each other and yourself.

Devotion is out from ATO Records on Friday 27th March.

My thanks as always to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

Eerie Wanda 'Pet Town'

Eerie Wanda returns with her second album, Pet Town, released from Joyful Noise on 25th January.

Eerie Wanda is the brainchild of audio and visual artist Marina Tadic, born to Croatian parents and resides now in the Netherlands.

Her second LP, following her 2016 debut Hum, is a credit to creativity fostered in isolation. Tadic along with band mates - Jasper Verhulst and Jeroen de Heuvel - utilises minimal recording techniques incorporating her unique vocal quality to create ten songs of loneliness yet become jaunty warm numbers.

Lyrics cover topics such as boredom to isolation, to a love of hometown and why it keeps calling you back yet based around the notion of solitiude.  Yet there is a drive and determination to this record which can be heard on tracks such as 'Magnetic Woman' with its lovely harmonies and repeating basslines, to the wistful 'Moon' which winningly shows Tadic's vocal dexterity.

Eerie Wanda - Marina Tadic 

From title track, 'Pet Town' there is a perkiness about the album helped by the homespun sounds of repeating handclaps, finger snaps - as heard in 'Rockabiller'.  This sunny feeling is in contrast to the aforementioned lyrics of remoteness, but this juxtaposition and mesh of contrasting emotions makes for a record that is both winning and reassuring.

Pet Town is available from Joyful Noise Records

Kevin Krauter 'Toss Up'

Debut album release from Kevin Krauter, Toss Up is released from Bayonet Records

Indiana native Kevin Krauter has built up a loyal following in his home state, and whilst the music has slowly gathered a wave of momentum; Krauter is releasing his debut album and the result is Toss Up.

Toss Up proudly wears a wide range of influences from 60s flower pop, 80s yacht rock and upto the modern day indie rock.  There is a shimmer to the music that is both transcendent and illuminating; full of good will and a smoothness that is rarely heard in music recently.

From the ear worm radio friendly 'Suddenly' to the chilled out 'Keep Falling in Love' there is a confidence in the music that permeates from the earphones and yet there is a richness in the complexity of the production; a mixture of rhythmic intricacies and bold melodic artistry.

Krauter has composed an album that is full of lushness and beauty, one that should be shared by all at poolsides, equally aspirational and ambitious it is one of the better albums to come from America in recent times one that is easy on the ear that slowly penetrates your memory and consciousness.

Toss Up is released from Bayonet Records on 13th July.
My thanks to One Beat PR for the opportunity to review.