TRACKS
PALMA LOUCA US AND THEM Words: Damian Robinson Imagine you’re playing a game of pop/rock Top Trumps. And imagine your pop/rock star scores high on the ‘slurred vocals and lyrics of For Lovers-era Pete Doherty’ skill. And imagine they also score impressively high for the ‘Jeff Buckley/falsetto vocal delivery’ and ‘smacked out, dark yet peaceful, delivery of Scott Weiland’ skills. Now imagine that your pop/rock star is produced in the ‘Josh Homme deep bass, rock, choruses bookended by gentle rock electronic verses’ style. And now you can stop imagining; what you hear is Us And Them, a four-and-a-half-minute tour de force trip around the darker edges of rock, where angry choruses are counterpointed by heartbroken verses and a devastated central character. Dark with a soft heart. Released: 12.04.21 www.palmalouca.bandcamp.com
CEITIDH MAC BIRDS Words: Ali Welford “I noticed during the first lockdown that as the city slowed down, the birds were still belting it!” Notes Ceitidh Macleod, on the inspiration behind her fourth and by some distance finest single to date. “I think they always were…I just hadn’t been listening. It gave me a little lift, and I’m hoping this song is a nod to appreciating the small things around us.” Casting her trademark cello and smoky vocal in a delightfully vivid rolling arrangement, Birds’ pacific folk mirrors nature’s resplendent allure with such fluidity its component parts seemingly coalesce into a serene, seamless whole. If – or indeed, when – Ceitidh Mac transcends her standing among the North East’s best-kept-secrets, there’s every chance this sublime stunner could prove a key milestone. Released: 09.04.21 www.ceitidhmac.com
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REVIEWS OF SINGLES AND EPS BY NORTH EAST ARTISTS. WANT YOUR MUSIC FEATURED? EMAIL NARCMEDIA@GMAIL.COM (PLEASE TRY TO GET IN TOUCH 8-6 WEEKS AHEAD OF THE MONTH OF RELEASE)
JENNY LASCELLES DYING 2 GET 2 U Words: Ali Welford Flush with feelings of guilt, helplessness and regret, Dying 2 Get 2 U is a rousing yet intimate rumination on mortality, dwelling on the fragility of existence and our inability to help those we love from its inevitable endgame. It’s a stirring preview of what the Newcastle singer-songwriter promises will be a more personal and emotionally complex third album, and this sense of growth extends far beyond the song’s lyrical core. Liberated from the self-imposed limitations of acoustic folk, this new expanded vision laces Lascelles’ looping piano with layered, moulded vocals and cinematic electronic flourishes; subtle steps which nevertheless add significant depth from a raw and exquisite starting base. Marvellous stuff. Released: 02.04.21 www.jennylascelles.com
PATRICK GOSLING MEANTIME Words: Paul Jeffrey The young South Tyneside singer-songwriter has been making serious waves recently with his euphoric brand of indie pop, and latest release Meantime will certainly only add to the excitement. Kicking off with a joyous cacophony of synth riffs and dissonant guitars, Gosling launches into the track with twitchy abandonment before hastily hitting the brakes to allow full focus on his vocal, expertly demonstrating that he’s completely mastered the art of loudQUIETloud, and as he tears into the absolute belter of a chorus, it’s glaringly obvious that this is begging to be blasted out on the main stage of a major festival with 20,000 alcohol-fuelled teenagers bouncing along. If Gosling isn’t selling out venues nationwide in the next 12 months, there’s something very wrong with the world. Released: 02.04.21 www.soundcloud.com/patrickgoslingmusic
