TRACKS WORDS: LAURA DOYLE
T-B, L-R: Butterjunk, Firesites, Talk Like Tigers The nights are drawing in and the year is winding down, but that doesn’t mean our music scene has to. In fact, it’s admirable that so many artists are still finding ways to create during these very strange times. First up is Suddenly We Stopped Dreaming’s latest dream pop single, A Thousand Lullabies. Think Shania Twain crossed with Stevie Nicks, but if she was singing down one of those echoey toy microphones. Mesmerising. Men Behind The Sun take things down a rockier path with Wolfman, a perfect soundtrack for a midnight roadtrip across Route 66. Odd that such a track would have been written and produced in Tyne & Wear, but there you go. Contradictorily, you’d expect Simon Taylor’s Ibiza Nights to be a top tier dance track perfect for those hazy, hot nights. It turns out it’s actually an autumnal anthem, better suited to the hangover breakfast of 2020 with its mellow, lo-fi beats and murmuring vocals. Sunderland’s answer to RHCP, Hivemind are back with trademark melodic guitar lines and mildly depressing philosophical explorations. Medicine serves as an analogy for the mind-altering, potentially addictive power of drugs. Sonically, so does Firesites’ track Chemicals, with its whirring, dizzying indie synth sounds, accompanying smudged vocals and unexpected 70 era guitar solo. Meanwhile, Tobias Sarra must have spent a few nights by the campfire to create the chill, minimal acapella-infused So Long. Pierce The Heart, the debut single from rock outfit Coral Snake, is a rich, heavy track guaranteed to get your blood pumping. They’ve started out real strong with this one. The spookiest number on the list
comes from glam goth icon MXYM, who fully embraces all things romantically morbid for Vampires. The moody electronic rock spectacular is a far more realistic representation of what a vampiremortal relationship would look like than Twilight could depict. (And the question, “Vampires don’t come out in the morning, so why am I awake?” is all too relatable for us fully grown emos.) On a much lighter note, Cortney Dixon’s Man Made Time (taken from her recently released EP) takes us on a trippy, sweet and innocent journey which is so bubbly that it’s almost unnerving. Anyone nostalgic for John Hughes throwbacks should refuel on the Bueller/Back to the Future crossover that is Talk Like Tigers’ Annabel’s Calling. It’s the perfect 80s synth-pop tribute: familiar enough to hook you, but dialled up to keep your interest. They’ll give the track an official launch via an in-studio livestream on Wednesday 7th October on their Instagram. Edenthorn pull no punches with riff-charged rock anthem A Matter of Opinion; this deep, gritty melody fuels any residual, embedded angst and lets it flourish. Look out for this lot when the gigging scene is back up and running – this track can only improve in a live setting with an audience’s energy to bounce off. Rounding us off this month is some ambient sounds courtesy of Butterjunk’s Woodside. Twinkly guitar is set against a backdrop of lovely, deep bass which sets the perfect mood for everything autumnal.
35
