TRACKS

Image: Palma Louca

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

JEN DIXON - WHICH WAY IS DOWN?

Words: Ali Welford

Considering the window of her bedroom studio harbours a view of the North Sea, it hardly requires a genius to decipher the watery threads connecting much of Jen Dixon’s songwriting. Certainly, the not-particularly-covert influence of its deep, icy depths is felt again on the Teessider’s third single – her second burning question of the year, following January’s Where Did We Crash? Certainly, Which Way Is Down? is nothing if not relatable; its reference to drowning (“I’m underwater, screaming for help / but nobody’s helping, nobody cares”) a suitably inescapable metaphor for the suffocating effect of endless lockdowns. It’s well executed – from its stuttering inaugural beats to its rapped final verse – though sentimentally it feels like an inadvertent agent to what’s already become 2021’s most omnipresent musical trope.

Released: 09.04.21 www.facebook.com/jendixonmusic

Jenny Lascelles

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

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

DANICA DARES - ODE TO SELF

Words: Laura Doyle

This one does a lot of heavy lifting: usually an artist goes for big concept or interpersonality, but Ode To Self could easily be called Ode To Selves. The borders of which Danica Dares advocate we rid ourselves are both national ones as well as our own walls for the ultimate pan-human ideology. Such subject matter meshes perfectly with this proper folk music that could have come straight from the Celtic back catalogue. That is, if it weren’t for the smattering of Numan-esque synth scattered at the opening and closing of this track. Think of wor Gary, but if Kate Bush provided vocals. The structure could be livened up a bit with more of this sprinkled throughout, but it still doesn’t detract from this powerful message.

Released: 09.04.21 www.facebook.com/danicadares

TIPPS - IF KARMA WAS REAL YOU’D BE DEAD

Words: Laura Doyle

You know you’ve screwed up when someone can take such issue with you in the most calm, collected manner. Whoever did Tipps wrong must have the fear of God struck in them listening to If Karma Was Real You’d Be Dead. Conditional tense error aside, this is absolutely the song to get over someone. The bitterness encapsulated in this twinkly, acoustic folk song makes it so unnerving, yet simultaneously so soothing. Only occasionally does the brutality of the insults creep into her melodic vocals, while the jovial tune continues to mask the full trauma of these events. Let it be known that sometimes a blunt knife cuts deeper, and sharp wit cuts deeper still.

Released: 09.04.21 www.soundcloud.com/tipps-music

SALT HOUSE LAVISH - ALLEY CAT

Words: Paul Jeffrey

Multi–instrumentalist and producer Salt House Lavish returns with Alley Cat, the follow up single to last year’s Quarantet, and first release from his forthcoming album Fraternise–Collaborate. Based around a stonking soporific drum loop, Alley Cat slinks and creeps its way into your affections, claustrophobic synths oscillate and weave their way around a hypnotic two-note guitar riff, acting as perfect counterpoint to the sumptuous Billie Holiday-esque vocals that entice you into their neon-lit seedy night world, the smoky shadows of Moloko and Tricky hanging heavy in the air. With Alley Cat, Salt House Lavish has delivered a delectable slice of box fresh 21st Century trip-hop.

Released: 23.04.21 www.facebook.com/salthouselavishmusic

Patrick Gosling

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

SPIDER NOISES FEAT. BLOSSOM CALDERONE - YEAR IN AMBER

Words: Paul Jeffrey

Spider Noises (aka Jack Calvesbert) makes a very welcome return with his wonderful new single Year In Amber. As swathes of reverb heavy vocals and cat whisker radio tones bathe the listener in a somnifacient giddiness, you descend into a befuddled world of dreamtime, where things are never quite as they seem. Beautifully layered, yet Instrumentally sparse, the track reveals itself with each play. A simply gorgeous cello and eerie background vocal, courtesy of Blossom Calderon, adds to the overall narcotic feel. Deeply disorientating, dangerously delicate and utterly delicious, this is another wonderfully woozy song from under the floorboards of Spider Noises.

Released: 02.04.21 www.spidernoises.bandcamp.com

SOJOETAYLOR - MAYBE I

Words: Damian Robinson

They say that patience is a virtue but God knows what a decade of waiting around is? A miracle? After a staggering ten years working as a live-only musician, during some of which he played guitar for Newcastle band Prize, it’s finally time for Joe Taylor (sojoetaylor) to get around to recording and releasing his own work. And it’s well worth the wait. Maybe I, a love song so perfectly designed for the pop charts, is almost flawless in its song writing and production. Starting of as an acoustic ballad, building up through double tracked vocals and an increased tempo, Maybe I ends up as one of the most upbeat, perfect pop songs you’re likely to hear this year.

Released: 04.04.21 www.sojoetaylor.com

DIRTY CHIPS FEAT. LEX RUSH & DALE NOVELLA - ESCAPE THE MATRIX EP

Words: Laura Doyle

Get immediate good vibes with Dirty Chips’ latest EP Escape The Matrix. House music is generally relegated to the club – but with that area currently cordoned off, it’s excellent to find a corner of the genre that can be as easily enjoyed doing housework. This record came together in the most appropriate way for such electronicsheavy work: the North East-based production team communicated across the Atlantic with NY music duo Lex Rush and Dale Novella, who give a masterclass in rhyming convention (seriously, who else could rhyme with Neutrogena™?) These feel-good, ambient synth beats should be the soundtrack to everyone’s productive time, until such time as they can make it to a dance party near you.

Released: 02.04.21 www.facebook.com/dirtychipsuk

CAMERON SCOTT - A TRIO OF VIGNETTES

Words: Damian Robinson

Almost entirely carved out of minimal piano ballads, A Trio Of Vignettes is the new three-track EP from Cameron Scott, and aligns closely to the raw, honest, moments of Nick Cave circa The Boatman’s Call. Written in the cycle of pre-winter isolation, the EP tells the tale of broken relationships, missed opportunities and deep regret. Standout track Bedlam nudges Scott towards the more broken and desperate moments of Spiritualized, whilst opener Second Magpie sounds like something from Tricky’s Pre Millennium Tension album with its bleakness, sense of confusion and lapses of paranoia. A fantastic collection, Scott’s work may not be the soundtrack to a Saturday night out, but it does soothe in the right places.

Released: 05.04.21 www.soundcloud.com/cameroscott