Alexandra Sauser-Monnig’s sparse collection of softly spoken folk confessionals inhabits the drowsy terrain of late summer nights out on the front porch or around a campfire. Daughter of Swords’ Dawnbreaker is a dusty, bare-bones evocation of the texture of languid, long summer nights, a soundtrack for tranquil moments of solitude and contemplation. At its best, when summoning … [Read more...] about Review: Daughter of Swords – Dawnbreaker
Review: The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth
In which Oklahoma’s frazzled psychedelic explorers raid and hone the more cohesive, melodic and accessible strand of their oeuvre for an album that wields genuine emotional clout. The Flaming Lips’ fifteenth studio album, King’s Mouth, marks two decades since the Oklahoma stoner trio’s leap into the big time with their ecstatically received The Soft Bulletin opus, a record … [Read more...] about Review: The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth
Bobby Krlic: Midsommar Soundtrack – Review
Experimental composer The Haxan Cloak’s brilliant soundtrack for Ari Aster’s ominous new folk horror, ‘Midsommar’, works equally well as a stand-alone piece. The British electronic producer Bobby Krlic, otherwise known as The Haxan Cloak, has carved out his own shadowy niche in the firmament of contemporary music as a purveyor of transportive and queasy soundscapes which … [Read more...] about Bobby Krlic: Midsommar Soundtrack – Review
The Time Is Now For Kit Sebastian
The extraordinary sounds of Kit Sebastian, a band whose time has come. There are moments in pop music when an artist seizes an opportunity on the back of aggressive marketing and others when the inherent majesty of a sound or an aesthetic rises to the surface with a modicum of hype. The latter surely applies to the stylish multi-instrumentalist duo Kit Sebastian, who are about … [Read more...] about The Time Is Now For Kit Sebastian
The Soft Cavalry: The Soft Cavalry – Review
Husband and wife pairing The Soft Cavalry produce sonic magic by pooling together shoegaze, folk and orchestral pop for an intoxicating debut. The forward-thinking Bella Union label’s latest release is the eponymous debut by The Soft Cavalry, a twinkly-eyed, sure-footed hybrid collaboration between Slowdive singer Rachel Goswell and her husband Steven Clarke which dips into … [Read more...] about The Soft Cavalry: The Soft Cavalry – Review
John Barry: Walkabout Soundtrack – Review
Long thought to have been lost, legendary film composer John Barry’s cult score for Walkabout gets a release on The Roundtable label. Nicolas Roeg’s 1971 masterpiece, Walkabout, has long been regarded as one of the British auteur’s finest works; its atmospheric cinematography, defining themes of loss (of innocence as well as of a culture), madness, modernity, communication, … [Read more...] about John Barry: Walkabout Soundtrack – Review