Rebecca Schiffman - Before The Future

New York born singer-songwriter, Rebecca Schiffman, releases her fourth album on 25th July entitled Before The Future.

Born and raised on the East Coast, Schiffman has seemingly found her musical home on the west coast and the city of Los Angeles. This album features a multitude of guest artists and collaborators ranging from Deerhoof's Chris Cohen and Tim Carr (Perfume Genius) to name a couple. These new collaborative forces also changed her style of recording from the ten day relocation to the studio as she did with her first three albums; instead this album was recorded in more piecemeal due to the input of others. 

Starting with the title track and another with Cohen, creating this euphoric and anthemic sound for said title track that runs to nine plus minutes (an usual feat to front end an album with a long track). That track is about the grief from the untimely death of a childhood friend. It is the difficulty of grief and understanding of that emotion that is the underlying theme of the album throughout, as heard on 'Rudy's Song' which is about her bereavement for her beloved dog.

Schiffman has a gorgeous lilting voice, a soft delivery that works well with the pleasant melodies being played. Reminiscent of Margaret Glaspy in terms of singing style and Lori Anderson from yesteryear; Schiffman has crafted an album of a sunny disposition but with a more serious undercurrent to proceedings.

And yet there is joy such as 'Little Mr. Civility' about her two year old son, the new life in the world can change your outlook on many things. For Schiffman she did not want to become demonstrative in terms of making the rules and being strict, and this juggling of nature and nurture is the touchstone of the song.

All in all, this is an album of being aware of your feelings, expressing them the best way and how moments can channel or alter creative output. Schiffman is seeking balance between her long in the tooth East coast attitude and new found West coast sensibility; and in some ways she may have found it.

Before The Future is out on all platforms from 25th July

My thanks to OneBeatPR for the review opportunity.

Under the Glass - Anna Vincent

New album from Anna Vincent via Ultimate Blends released 29th October 

This sumptuous new release is from much heralded singer-songwriter Anna Vincent; the album is a late taste of summer full of sweeping harmonies and melodic production that whisks you along on a fever dream of a getaway trip.

Flush with Laurel Canyon influences ranging from Crosby, Stills and Nash to the incomparable Joni Mitchell; Vincent's soft vocal delivery makes her sound from some faraway place when she originally heralds from New Cross, South London.

Having made music for twenty years including work with two groups - My Tiger My Timing and Heavy Heart - she is slowly beginning to understand the passing of time and in her own words, 'the limitations that entails'

Embracing such weakness if you want to call it that is a running theme throughout Under The Glass an album that was recorded during lockdown with her boyfriend Max Bloom (formerly of band, Yuck). Tracks in regard to this vulnerability range from 'Thin Skin' which shows defiance to the more tender 'Love You Twice'; this is such an emotional record of indelible resonance in common with her name sake Anna Burch

Vincent grew up in South London and was raised on guitar records ranging from The Beatles to Iggy Pop, and she gravitated towards the guitar after learning piano and clarinet, teaching herself at the age of 14. When Covid hit in early 2019, Vincent overcame the fear of the new by sorting through old lyrics or 'loose poetry' that was written when falling in love with Max. 

The album shows Vincent to be a good listener and her tastes range from CSN to Simon and Garfunkel to the more up to date Wilco and Elliott Smith. This Americana feel comes through on album opener 'Naxos' which imagines a sun kissed road trip along the Pacific Highway and coupled with the halycon tinge of recent single 'Nothing Wrong' this wonderful marriage of piano and guitar, reminiscent of Australian group Still Corners and Angus and Julia Stone to a keen listener.

The album overall is a real joy and deserves more listens to garner the full appreciation of the work involved and the maturity of what is on display - the full gamut of human emotion is on display here from love and loss to hope and panic.

Under the Glass is out now from Ultimate Blends.

Anna Vincent is having an album launch at The Waiting Room on Monday 1st November. Purchase tickets here

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.

S. Raekwon 'Where I'm At Now'

 

Debut album by S. Raekwon, NY based artist out via Father/Daughter Records on 8th October

S. Raekwon, born Steven Raekwon Reynolds in 1995 is a singer/songwriter/producer from New York by way of Buffalo - the pseudonym of S. Raekwon embodies Reynolds upbringing in the Big Apple and the various genres that he would grow up around from a mother who adored musicl theatre and the sound of piano in the house.

Recorded over a six-month stint during the pandemic at his girlfriend's parents home in Illinois, extracting him out of his New York City lifestyle - Raekwon wrote a feverish demo of tracks in his studio apartment which gave him a purpose to write and finish with the sounds around him.

Snippets of the album cut in and out with amazing frequency of influence ranging from Frank Ocean and D'Angelo to the sound of rap troupes yet there are flourishes of rock, pop and folk popping up throughout the ten track album.

You need only listen to album opener 'Darling' and not be hit by the similarity in beauty of the track with that of Bon Iver's sophomore self-titled album from 2011. The pacing and momentum of the album is a joy to experience, moving through all manner of emotions ranging from turmoil to love as from 'Do You Feel the Same?' to the social message of 'T.D.T.K.A'

The end result is an album by an artist who refuses to be pigeonholed by a specific genre either as a musician or a person; an album full of sweeping moments that will be embraced by those far and wide from New York to old York.

Where I'm at Now is out from Father/Daughter records now.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.