Nadia Reid releases her third long-player and the first on Matthew E White’s Spacebomb label, capturing the New Zealander in full bloom. The Kiwi singer-songwriter Nadia Reid initially sprang to prominence with a strain of indie-pop-folk best described as wispy, contemplative and drowsy. As demonstrated by new album, Out Of My Province, she has grown in leaps and bounds, … [Read more...] about Nadia Reid: Out Of My Province – Review
In Memoriam: A Tribute To Andrew Weatherall
Michael Sumsion bids farewell to Andrew Weatherall, a true icon, cosmic traveller and musical shape-shifter, who ploughed his own furrow and transcended pigeon-holes and boundaries. Andrew James Weatherall changed my life in the 1990s, and I wasn’t the only one; the bewildering news of his early demise is still sinking in. This influential DJ, producer and remixer, an … [Read more...] about In Memoriam: A Tribute To Andrew Weatherall
U.S. Girls: Heavy Light – Album Review
The latest missive from experimental art-pop connoisseur Meghan Remy eschews the avant-garde and continues a move towards slicker arrangements, razor-sharp tunefulness and piercing introspection. Heavy Light, the seventh U.S. Girls record and her second on the 4AD imprint, takes its pensive sonic cues from her pop-laced, ‘Hamlet’-referencing 2018 opus, In a Poem Unlimited, a … [Read more...] about U.S. Girls: Heavy Light – Album Review
The Orielles: Disco Volador – Review
Halifax’s finest purveyors of indie ear-candy, The Orielles, stretch out and expand their art-rock sound into dizzy dream-pop and giddy space-funk textures on their magisterial second album, Disco Volador. On their vivid, buzz-generating 2018 calling-card, Silver Dollar Moment, West Yorkshire’s The Orielles honed a refreshingly idiosyncratic and expansive take on those … [Read more...] about The Orielles: Disco Volador – Review
Caribou: Suddenly – Album Review
Caribou marshals a crisp, organic and affecting meditation on love and loss that joins the dots between orthodox song-writing structures, grainy sample sorcery and electronic bangers whilst landing an emotional sucker punch. Dan Snaith aka Caribou has never been an artist drawn towards ostentation; his bittersweet creations tend to percolate and unfurl rather than erupt. As … [Read more...] about Caribou: Suddenly – Album Review
Squirrel Flower: I Was Born Swimming – Review
The guitar confessionals of the Bostonian singer-songwriter Squirrel Flower pack an exquisite punch as she hits her stride with a beguiling collection of sombre and brooding mediations. Ella O’Connor Williams’ new album, I Was Born Swimming, under her Squirrel Flower moniker sets out its stall immediately on its first song, I-80, an opening salvo whose enticing lament … [Read more...] about Squirrel Flower: I Was Born Swimming – Review