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Showing posts from November, 2022

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Nice Guy: Corona

on November 04, 2022

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New release horizon scanner:

11/1/25 - Rosie Gault: Dim lights
29/1/25 - Dictator: Middle of the road (EP)
7/2/25 - Arliston: Disappointment machine (Album)
28/2/25 - Hachiku: The joys of being pure at heart (Album(

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Every so often a song comes along which leaves me speechless. 'Through' is one of those songs. Carla Aakre is a Helsinki-based singer-songwriter who has a profound and rare ability to focus in, very closely, on small details – brief, fleeing moments and gestures which paradoxically say so much. With a piece of music like this, I sometimes need time to let it sink in. There's an immediate reaction when I listen and am struck dumb; but I need to give some time and space before I come back and try to write something vaguely coherent. 'Through' begins (after a moment of studio chatter) with softened piano chords, accompanied by minimalistic drums and the hint of a violin note. That sound of strings is like a hanging moment of suspense, held in the air, balancing on the edge of something yet unexplored. It's an unrequited promise, a faraway glimpse of beauty. The remainder of the song develops in subtle waves, delicate rises and falls which lull us through the almos...

Amber Saqladi: Becoming a modern-day Siren [Interview]

Amber Saqladi began her journey as a song-writer scribbling poetry at age seven, before graduating to writing songs with a felt-tipped pen on sheets of A3 paper. But it took some time for this pastime to evolve into a way of life. "It's always been something I've done but it was never anything I really took seriously growing up. I was a very academic kid, so that's what I expected to do," Amber explains. By 15, though, she had started writing music more seriously, and gigging. "Since then, it's become undeniable that that's the thing I enjoy the most - being able to be creative, and be academic at the same time," she says. Amber quickly established herself as a familiar name on the music scene in her home town of Leicester, where she also recorded her first three singles at HQ Studios . "The music scene in Leicester is absolutely lovely - it's very community based. I can always count on the other musicians there to support me, and I...

Announcement: Transitioning to Substack...

I've decided to migrate this blog to Substack as it seems to offer me a lot more scope for the projects I want to do in future! New link: musicobserved.substack.com For now, I’ll be posting here and there in tandem, and you can find all my old posts there too, but in the New Year I'll make the full transition...

Blue Violet: Out of the rabbit hole [Interview]

Blue Violet have produced some of my all-time favourite songs ('Rabbit Hole' was one of my top 10 in 2022 ) and have even helped me get some words on the Guardian website . So I was incredibly excited to have the chance to speak with them recently. Sarah and Sam Gotley have a long history of making music together, but their focus and style has developed and morphed over time. Under the name Broken Bones Matilda, they were an Americana band but while an album was in the works, they realised their British identity was becoming more important to them. When Covid and lockdowns hit, that gave the duo some time to decide where they really wanted to go with their music. The result was Blue Violet and their debut album 'Late Night Calls', a record which was more indie in style but with folk elements and tinges of that Americana past. I recently had the chance to speak to Sarah and Sam for LeftLion as they prepared for their Nottingham gig (supporting Echobelly) and the relea...

The Felice Brothers + Anthony D'Amato: Electric Ballroom, London [Live]

There’s a special kind of atmosphere in Camden tonight. Yes, in many ways it’s the same old vibrant, restless, gritty and cool-meets-tourist-tacky Camden, but inside the Electric Ballroom we feel a distinctly North American air, too. Accompanying The Felice Brothers on tour is Anthony D’Amato , a New Jersey singer-songwriter with an infectious smile and a keen, yearning voice. He’s performing solo, armed only with a guitar and a great sense of humour, dry and self-deprecating yet always positive at the core. His music is straightforward in some ways, but the storytelling is clever and often involves interesting characterisation or intriguing metaphors. “It’s a bit of a strange week to be an American,” he tells us with a resigned grin, setting expectations immediately before launching into the overt ‘C'mon Armageddon’. It's heavy in terms of subject matter, but performed with such cheer and engagement that the mood is lifted immediately. 'Passing Through' is amusing but...