Well, we’ve got to the last of the 2016 crop and what a way to finish. Amanda Rheaume’s “Holding Patterns” is a velvet punch of an album. On the surface it’s a very polished and musically accomplished piece of work with more than a nod in the direction of Nashville, but when you dig a little deeper, it mines some deep lyrical seams. With a variety of musical textures, the element holding everything together is Amanda’s pure, clear and beautifully controlled voice delivering across the musical spectrum from the quiet pathos of “All that You Need” to the raucous energy and amped-up blues harp of “Blood From a Stone”, the album’s Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” moment, which references that song in the lyrics.
I’m not normally a fan of albums using a lot of co-writers, but Amanda Rheaume has made it work here, possibly because she went into the project with a very clear idea of the album’s message and every element is harnessed in that cause. There’s a sense of loss that pervades the album, relating to the death of a friend at a tragically young age and the end of a troubled long-term relationship, but that’s what performers do; they make sense of the chaos around them by turning it into beautiful music. Interwoven with sense of loss is a strand of identification with place and family in the true story of a distant relative who survived a landslide at the age of eighteen months (“The Day the Mountain Fell”) and the use of her grandfather’s phrase “Wolf of Time” about the dangers of allowing life to happen around you without taking time to do the things that are really important.
And even after all this, there’s still an ace in the hole. The hauntingly gorgeous “Red Dress” seduces you into falling on love on a musical level while delivering a powerful message about victim-blaming in the cases of indigenous women who are murdered or go missing. The power of the message is amplified by the steady, matter of fact delivery. The album is a triumph of subtle musical settings for historical stories, folk wisdom and the difficulties of human relationships, all delivered by a perfect voice.
“Holding Patterns” is released on Friday December 2 and Amanda Rheaume will be touring the UK in January/February 2017.
When I spoke to Rachael Sage a couple of months ago, we spent quite a lot of the interview talking about this album. At the time I’d only heard two or three tracks that were being featured and we talked a lot about the songs that would appeal to the lyrical dancers that form a large part of her following. I realise now that we talked about less than half of the album. As good as the uptempo ‘colourful chamber pop’ (that’s Rachael’s definition) songs are, there are slower, more introspective songs that have more emotional depth while still featuring inventive textures and combinations of instruments centred around Rachael’s classical piano style.
The album opens with the slightly faster songs such as the whimsical “Heaven is a Grocery Store Clerk” and the weightier “Loreena”, before “Try, Try, Try” pulls you in with its naggingly insistent and maddeningly catchy fiddle hook. The powerful anti-bullying song “I Don’t Believe It” follows the album’s anthem “Home (Where I Am Now)”, which also appears towards the end of the album in a stripped-down, acoustic version. Beyond this, the album moves into darker, more personal songs taken at a slower pace and evoking the American singer-songwriters of the seventies, particularly Carole King, whose song “So Far Away” Rachael covers in almost a Carpenters style to close the album. And talking of the seventies, I thought I caught a scent of Randy Edelman’s pop piano style in there as well.
As the album progresses, the songs range through empowerment (“French Doors”), the end of a relationship (“Clear Today”) and obsession (I’ve Been Waiting”) before finding the tragic emotional depths of “7 Angels”, with its segment of Hebrew lyrics. The only way the album could possibly go from here is the redemption of “It Would be Enough” and a Carole King cover.
If sounds a bit sombre, it really isn’t; when the subject matter of the songs is dark and adult, the instrumental arrangements act as a counterbalance to the lyrics, featuring the usual rock instrumentation plus cello, trumpet, glockenspiel, oboe, English horn and accordion and Kelly Halloran’s melodic violin contributions, which shine out whether she’s playing catchy riffs, counterpoint or a duet with the lead vocal on “It Would be Enough”. “Choreographic” is a hugely varied selection of songs played superbly by a great bunch of musicians. It’s hard to believe most of it was written over a week in a hotel in Camden.
“Choreographic” is out now on Mpress Records (MP-5444-2).
There was something different about The Borderline; you could sense it in the air. It wasn’t the wall-to-wall double denim and hundred-times-washed black tour t-shirt crowd that I normally see at blues/rock gigs there. No, this was something very different; at least half of the crowd was Texan. Before you ask, yes, I did hear quite a few yee-hahs and I even saw a Stetson. I’m not even sure there weren’t a couple of longhorns lurking over by the cloakroom. The reason for this Texan invasion of W1 was that singer-songwriters Wade Bowen and Willy Braun (of Reckless Kelly fame) were opening their UK tour in London.
As co-headliners, they opted for the song swap format, both players on stage from start to finish and playing songs in turn. If you judge these things by quantity, at around thirty songs, that’s a pretty good deal. Add in the fact that they were all great songs, beautifully performed and that’s a pretty good night. The differing vocal styles added another bit of variety; Willy has more country inflections whereas Wade has more of a modern Nashville style voice, crossing over into a more rock intonation. The whole show was held together by the rapport between the two performers and with the audience, with plenty of chat between songs, explaining their origins, talking about visiting London for the first time and, inevitably, the result of the presidential election two days before.
From Wade, there were a few songs about drinking, including “Saturday Night” and “Sweet Leona” as well as the inevitable hangover song “When I Woke Up Today” while Willy did his bit with “Pennsylvania Avenue”, Tee Champ” and a country version of the Beatles’ “ I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”. The standouts for me were Willy’s new song “Moment in the Sun” and Wade’s “A Battle Won” with a special mention for Willie’s cover of the Lukas Nelson song “Georgia”. It was an entrancing evening watching two people do what they love.
Just another couple of things; I was gobsmacked at the number of people who thought it was ok to hold conversations during an acoustic performance despite repeatedly being told to STFU. To counterbalance that, with a performer’s instinct, Wade managed to home in on a Spanish fan and his son (both Luis), who had flown into London on the day of the gig and were flying back the same night. Luis and Luis, I salute you; that is true dedication and I’m pleased you had a great night in London.
Well, it was certainly an interesting night out in Camden. I’ve been looking forward to seeing Underhill Rose since I had to miss a show earlier this year and what could be better than watching them play at Green Note. Just one little problem; the queue outside and the absence of any kind of lighting didn’t look too good, but it takes more than a power cut to close Green Note. After a slight delay to position dozens of tea lights around the room, the venue opened and things went ahead pretty much as normal, Underhill Rose had decided to play a completely unplugged set rather than disappoint the sellout crowd. Not having power isn’t necessarily a problem for players brought up in acoustic tradition, and a candle-lit gig does have a certain romance to it. In a typical twist of fate, almost immediately after the stage had been cleared of mic stands and DI boxes at the interval, the power was restored but by that stage, neither the audience nor the band wanted to move away from the acoustic format.
Underhill Rose is Eleanor Underhill (banjo and harmonica), Molly Rose Reed (guitar) and Salley Williamson (upright bass) and they all sing, creating some of the most gorgeous harmonies you’re likely to hear. The songs are all beautifully crafted and the live performances make good use of all the vocal and instrumental textures available to them. After the drama of creating a scene that took us back almost a century, it was appropriate that Underhill Rose opened their first set with “Not Gonna Worry”. It’s difficult to pick favourites from a set packed with lovely songs and performances, but a song dedicated to friends, “They Got my Back”, the swing-tinged “Whispering Pines Motel” and “Montana” did it for me and a cover of “These Boots Were Made for Walking” was a huge crowd-pleaser.
Watching Underhill Rose at any time is a pleasure and a privilege; an intimate performance by candlelight is a once in a lifetime experience. I’ve never been so happy about a power cut (or should that be outage). A wonderful night.
They also played their current single “One Time a Year” which is out now. It’s a great single and a portion of the proceeds from each sale will go to Women for Women International.
You can see some photos from the night here.
You might not have heard about this, but today is the first day of Anti-Bullying Week. You might wonder what that has to do with a music website, so I’ll tell you. The incredibly gifted singer-songwriter Rachael Sage (who we interviewed a few weeks ago) is supporting the anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label by donating the proceeds of her latest single to the charity.
The single, “I Don’t Believe It” has been taken up as an anti-bullying anthem following the online success of the video featuring eleven-year-old Kaci King, three-time national dance champion who contacted Rachael on Facebook after hearing her songs. The video and the song are both superb, so why not buy a great song and feel good about yourself because the proceeds are going to a good cause?
And have a look at the video as well:
There was a time in the mid-eighties when the north-west of England, and Liverpool in particular, dominated the music scene. The Crucial Three, Pete Wylie, Ian McCulloch and Julian Cope, were at the top of the pile, bursting with creativity, vision and sheer audacity and never short of an outrageous quote for the press. Fast forward thirty years and Ian McCulloch’s in semi-retirement, Julian Cope’s a scholar and novelist, and Pete Wylie’s still doing what he does best; as the t-shirt says ‘Part-time rock star, full-time legend’. Which is why I was wedged in to a heaving crowd at The Water Rats in Kings Cross, watching him prove it, with the current incarnation of The Mighty Wah. He’s still got it.
The room was packed with fans from the eighties, London-based Scousers and even Liverpool-based Scousers, so he didn’t really have to warm them up. As soon as the stage lights went up, it went, well, chicken oriental, as they say in these parts. Pete Wylie’s gained something that you wouldn’t have expected from his eighties pronouncements; he’s learned to have a bit of a chuckle at his own expense. The chats with the audience between songs are sometimes funny, sometimes political (Thatcher and Trump) and sometimes fond reminiscence (Pete Burns and Wylie’s good friend Josie Jones, who was commemorated with the criminally under-rated “4 11 44”). There was plenty of nostalgia, but some powerful new material as well.
When the band kicked into “Come Back” as the second song in the set, it was an acknowledgement that Pete Wylie has anthems to spare, he didn’t need to save this classic for the end of the set. The rest of the set included “Heart as Big as Liverpool”, “Seven Minutes to Midnight” (record of the week in four music papers), “Story of the Blues” and a version of “Sinful” which morphed into “Heroes” as a Bowie tribute. Just when the audience thought he’d run out of anthems, for the encore the band blazed through “I Still Believe”, a new song from the album that’s as good as anything he’s ever written. The album’s called “Pete Sounds”; now that’s what I meant by audacity.
For ninety minutes, a little corner of Kings Cross turned into mid-eighties Liverpool. Trust the t-shirt; Pete Wylie is an absolute full-time legend.
You get to the end of an extensive tour, your band have been taking the roof off every night, but now they’re world-weary and road-raddled; they just want to go home and spend time with their families, so what do you do? Well, you book a studio for a couple of days to catch them while they’re still hot and blast through some of your favourite old blues songs. Well, that’s what Canadian bluesman Colin James did, and the result is “Blue Highways”, recorded live in the studio in two days at the end of his last tour. It captures the raw energy of live performance with studio quality without compromising either side of that delicate balance.
What about the material? Well, it’s thirteen of Colin’s favourite blues(ish) tunes covering a pretty good chunk of the blues canon, from the opener “Boogie Funk” (more boogie than funk, I think) with harmonica, Hammond, a simple electric riff and the classic guitar/Hammond solo interplay to the solo acoustic closer “Last Fair Deal”. It’s a pretty good demonstration of Colin’s feel for the whole blues spectrum. The Muddy Waters song “Gypsy Woman” evokes, well, Muddy Waters, as does the honky-tonk “Hoodoo Man Blues”, sounding like seventies McKinley Morganfield with his sidekicks James Cotton and Pinetop Perkins.
“Lonesome” is a jazzy uptempo shuffle with some lovely guitar fills and “Big Road Blues” is great fun with a slide riff and two lead guitars, but it’s when the band moves away from the standard blues that things get really interesting with the acoustic blues of “Last Fair Deal” and the harmonica-driven “Riding in the Moonlight”; the electric material’s good, but the acoustic songs really stand out. Finally, it’s a brave singer that takes on a song that’s been performed superbly by Otis Redding and William Bell in the past, but Colin’s slow soul take on “Don’t Miss Your Water” is a creditable effort, with a vocal that has hints of the UK’s own Aynsley Lister. It’s not breaking any new ground, but it’s a good demonstration of a band at the top of their game.
“Blue Highways” is released on True North Records of Friday November 25.
We’ve reached the point in the year where traditionally no-one releases serious music; it’s all about seasonal tunes and greatest hits for the dad market, so it’s really refreshing to hear another contender for High Fives 2016 (coming soon with even more guest contributions) released in November. Winter Mountain is the nom de guerre of Joe Francis and “I Swear I Flew” is his second album. Let’s get this out of the way right now, it’s a stunningly powerful and beautiful piece of work packed with ethereal and evocative songs, blowsy and blustering songs, and intricately woven arrangements mostly played by Joe, but helped out by Seth Lakeman and a few others. I think it might even be new genre; Kernowcana, anyone?
“I Swear I Flew” is a potent cocktail, mixing up influences from the great late twentieth century American songwriters with twists of Celtic and English folk styles. It’s all blended perfectly to create a confection that feels smooth on the surface but has plenty of bite underneath. Even the quiet, contemplative songs have a widescreen feel to them; the breathy vocal on “Dragonfly” is underpinned by delicately picked acoustic guitar, bass and cello, but the sound is full and resonant. By way of complete contrast, the next song, “Before the Flood” features a full band (and then some) with thudding bass and drums and then keys, harmonica, fiddle, tenor guitar, banjo and pedal steel. And it’s all topped with a great vocal performance that has a few hints of Don Henley at his very best; it’s a big, beautiful beast of a song.
No filler at all here, and definitely a couple more to single out for attention. “The Morning Bell”, which gives the album its title, is (almost) a solo acoustic lovelorn ballad packed with the natural imagery that permeates the album, contrasting starkly with the full band songs. “Fireworks Night” (Promises we Make) is an absolutely gorgeous five minutes that pulls off the spectacular trick of starting like Springsteen and morphing into what I can only describe as a stripped-down acoustic version of The Blue Nile. I defy you to remain unmoved.
This album is inspired by the greats of rock, roots and folk, twisted together until they form something shiny, beautiful and new. It’s a lovely piece of work.
“I Swear I Flew” is released on Friday November 18 on Astral Fox Records.
