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Showing posts with the label Soot Sprite

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Music Observer: June & July '24 highlights

on August 06, 2024

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The Music Observer 10: Looking back at 2021 [EPs]

on December 22, 2021

2021 Alice Robbins best of Bleach Lab Charity Stow EP Graywave Holly Humberstone JJ Lovegrove Lossline music retrospective Soot Sprite Swim School Thyla

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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(

Labels

2021
2022
2023
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222
A Cause In Distress
about me
acoustic
Africa
Album

Alela Diane
Alex Jayne
alexandra leaving
Alice Robbins
alt-country
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IDLES
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Lastlings
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Medium Build
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MEMES
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Metric
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music
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NewDad
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RAYE
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ROSIE
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The Empty Page
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The Howl and the Hum
The Innocence Mission
The Lumineers
The Merchants
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The Murder Capital
The Musician
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The National
The Royston Club
The Shed Project
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The Staves
The Tenters
The Wind and the Wave
Thom Yorke
Thrillhouse
Thyla
Tim Buckley
Tiny Desk
Tizane
Todd Snider
Tom Jones
TOMI
Tove Lo
Transviolet
Twist Heilx
Twisterella
Tyler Gelrud
Union Chapel
video
Virgins
Vona Vella
Wales
Warren Ellis
Wet Leg
Wilco
William Doyle
William The Conqueror
Wolf Alice
Wrest
Wyldest
YNES
YONAKA
Youth Lagoon
YOVA
Yumi and the Weather

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Carla Aakre: Through

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...

Wolf Alice + Matt Maltese: UEA LCR, Norwich [Live]

Saturday night marked a live performance I'd been waiting for since April last year, from a band that have made a huge impact on me over the past 12 months. So I walked into the cavernous LCR with high expectations, but also with full confidence that Wolf Alice wouldn't let me down. It was a shame that I only caught the last few songs of the support set from Matt Maltese (due to unexpectedly early stage times) - I enjoyed what I saw. He and the rest of the trio were very skilled, present in the moment but relatively mellow, and provided a good base to ease the audience into the evening. Matt's a great pianist and has a very good voice, too - a smooth baritone. He ended his short set with an engaging performance of 'As The World Caves In' (throwing in a surprise by skilfully beginning it with a snippet from the Succession theme ). It's a moving song, and it was a thoughtfully delivered performance, capturing attention and holding it to the last note. Then, Matt ...

Tove Lo: Dirt Femme [Album]

Tove Lo is a bit of an enigma, in many ways. I’m not quite sure how I managed to avoid knowing about her before last year, or exactly how I became aware of her (awesome) music. I think it was through hearing a cover of ‘Habits (Stay High)’ by Greysha but, as with many things Lo-related, I can’t be entirely sure. What else is mysterious about Lo? It’s her ability to transcend pop/alt-dance boundaries; she writes very good songs, in the most traditional sense of the word, but those songs are anything but traditional. They’re beautifully structured, bringing a real sense of satisfaction as you listen; they’re highly varied in their themes and style; and they’re delivered in a way which is frequently surprising: the smile-factor is strong with Lo. This album, ‘Dirt Femme’, has been on my playlist since its release in November, and on my mind almost continuously. The delay in getting this blog post finished has been entirely due to my struggle to translate what I feel and hear from this re...

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...

Grace Calver: My Life and Its Disasters [EP]

It’s just over a year since Grace Calver released arguably one of the best ever songs related to the undead - her debut single, ‘Zombie Conversations’ - pivoting from popular music blogger to accomplished artist in a way which felt natural and preordained. And now, here’s her debut EP, building on the success and catchiness of that first release. The brilliantly named 'My Life and Its Disasters' is five tracks of Grace Calver's well polished, finely honed brand of dream-pop-meets-grunge, sugar-coated angst rock. It’s an infectious, deceptively innocent style of writing - like a rainbow with a pot of boiling oil at the end. And let's also not forget that Grace plays all the tuned instruments, too, leaving only the drums to be outsourced (in this case to Oscar Liddiard). Two of the tracks on this EP are brand new, and perhaps best represent where Grace is now as an artist. She’s come a long way in a very short time, playing countless live shows, including several festiva...