TRACKS

THE AVELONS - SETTING SONS

Words: Jake Anderson

A full of life, emotional piece, Newcastle’s The Avelons release their second single – Setting Sons. Sonically much tighter and cleaner than their previous single, with semantics revolving around loss and the pensive feelings such an emotion brings, the track incorporates a nostalgic sound to its sonic environment that further emphasises the themes. I frequently found myself reminiscing while being sucked into the song’s engaging narrative. The held back vocal performance could be seen as a detriment, but it elevates the intimacy of the track, as the band understand the perfect points to raise the intensity in the structure, which culminates in an excellent bridge that truly flexes the artistic strength of this group.

Released: 03.06.22 www.soundcloud.com/theavelons

NTGB - THE END WE ALL KNOW

Words: Tom Astley

There’s a kaleidoscope of Britpop sounds in NTGB’s The End We All Know. A jangle-fest intro that’s part Stone Roses, part The Coral, a Taxman-esque bass riff and driving drums, close harmonies and lilting melodies. A wah-wah guitar solo that’s a little bit Ocean Colour Scene. There’s even some Animals influence in the organ solo. All in all, it makes The End We All Know sound like a song we all know, a song that’s familiar from the first play. That’s not to say that it’s generic. There’s some really ear catching aspects to this song. The harmonies are ridiculously satisfying and the change in feel into the middle eight equally lifts the song. I’d love to see this tune performed live.

Released: 03.06.22 www.nt-gb.co.uk

THE DAWDLER - CUCKOO

Words: Tom Astley

Cuckoo offers a tender folk-inflected song, melded with synthetic, yet nonetheless romantic, sounds. Coming in advance of an EP due in July, Cuckoo’s lyrics are personal, idiosyncratic and hard to pin down. This makes them all the more intriguing. Meanings are hinted at, rather than made overt, and the music supports this ambiguity perfectly. A vast ocean of reverb trails that are both relaxing and slightly disconcerting prop up the delicate finger-picked guitars and falsetto vocals. The machine and the human blur together by the end, the bass synth gaining a sinister edge, and swells of sound eclipsing the guitar, only to evaporate and leave the guitar to end the track alone. This is a beautiful piece of music, well worth multiple listens.

Released: 03.06.22 www.facebook.com/thedawdlermusic

COSIAL - ALIEN

Words: Jake Anderson

Character filled lyrics are at the forefront of Cosial’s newest single, Alien. The 18-year old’s words carry a lot of weight, despite the playful tone, expressing the wordless connection that can form in a mixed-race household, becoming a very compelling narrative for such a new songwriter. The deadpan performance couples nicely with the bouncy bedroom pop beat that acts as the base for the single. With a structure akin to a wave, the song never becomes too overwhelming, but constantly changes, building up in intriguing ways. The pieces are all there for the Teesside singer, who is already mastering her skills in the genre, I’d be interested to hear the walls torn down and see how far Cosial can take her sound.

Released: 10.06.22 www.linktr.ee/cosialmusic

SOEVER - HOT NIGHTS EP

Words: Luke Waller

Bursting open with Enough To Begin – a heavy, prog-infused polemic against fascism – you instantly know that Soever’s Hot Nights is not destined to disappoint. Though only three songs long, each offers up a very different style, all fronted by the wispy, androgynous voice of Samuel Cornmell: following Enough To Begin (which alone ranges from complex hard rock to spaghetti Westerntinted riffs) comes the indie rocker The Ones You Love, inspired by 1973 French-Italian cult classic La Grande Bouffe. Contrasting with this depiction of the nightmarish and psychedelic is a much more chilled-out (though hardly more sober-sounding) Just Want Out, a gentle acoustic-centred song from Cornmell’s teenage years. You may struggle to find another three songs so simultaneously compelling and diverse; Hot Nights is a journey of its own.

Released: 04.06.22 www.facebook.com/officialsoever

SUCCOUR - S/T EP

Words: Evie Lake

Succour’s self-titled debut EP is a tension-building, chord-bashing blanket of grunge, which is apt considering their final track is entitled Blanket of Misery. Wormhole initiates the EP as self-assured and confident. Leaning towards their softer side, the coolness of the verses cuts through the heaviness of the intro and chorus to create something familiarly accessible in its head-bobbing punk. Cymbals and shouting infiltrate the entire EP, but find interesting meaning in the third song Endo, initially released during Endometriosis Awareness Month to draw attention to the condition. Succour ends with its heaviest track, leaving a lasting, head-tingling impression reminiscent of a live performance. Invasive, weighty and proud, Succour pull their weight and more.

Released: 11.06.22 www.facebook.com/succourband

PATRICK GOSLING - SHE’S A WOMAN

Words: Evie Nicholson

An ode to the songwriting of the 60’s and 70’s, Patrick Gosling’s latest single seems softer and more vulnerable than his earlier releases. Although still retaining a contagious catchiness and indie jingle, it’s Patrick’s lyrics that draw you in. It shouldn’t still feel refreshing to hear a woman be described as “intellectual and sexual” in equal measure, but alas it does. Patrick proclaims “she’s a woman, I’m just a boy”. It’s heartfelt and charming, void of all indie rock arrogance. The bridge is particularly alluring, with Patrick flirting with warm psychedelic arpeggios that furnish the track with a lustful dreaminess. Recorded, produced and performed entirely by Patrick, She’s A Woman is an honest labour of love.

Released: 17.06.22 www.facebook.com/patrickgoslingmusic

SLOBO & KHABS - SILENCED PISTOL NIGHT CRAWLERS EP

Words: Luke Waller

Silenced Pistol Night Crawlers is, in its way, the tale of a friendship forged in rural Northumberland between two passionate but divergent musicians. Following three years apart, a rendezvous in a Mancunian flat in the summer of 2021 begot this delicious EP, created in only five days. As Slobo’s acoustic, folk-suffused tendencies encountered Khabs’ dark dub, downtempo production, the two converged marvellously, epitomised by its opening track and first single, To Turn Into Water. An introspective and absorbing song born of a recurrent dream at a deeply personal time, it was released alongside a music video depicting the duo as spacemen exploring the Northumbrian wilderness amidst the destruction of last winter’s storms. Small yet mighty, vulnerable yet indomitable; character oozes from each minute of this wonderful EP.

Released: 03.06.22 www.soundcloud.com/khabss www.soundcloud.com/owen-sanger

Image by Saint Sophie

NADEDJA - HOLOGRAPHIC SICKENING LOVE

Words: Tom Astley

Nadedja’s latest single Holographic Sickening Love gives a burst of unapologetic, dancefloor filling pop. The track is flawless, really. The shade of palm muted guitars, panned delicately to the right; the eminently danceable drum beat; the shoulder shimmying hi-hats; the a capella title line before the bounce of the sing-alongable “oohs” in the chorus; the little break and build up at the end. The structure is textbook too, hitting all the right emotional points at all the right moments – arriving, announcing itself and leaving the dancefloor jumping in just over three minutes. If you’re in the mood for some well-made perfect pop music (and who isn’t at some point in the day?) then this is the track to go to.

Released: 09.06.22 www.nadedja.com

HEYMAN AUMS - WHAT IS WITHIN IS ALSO WITHOUT EP

Words: Evie Nicholson

Debut EPs are often slightly haphazard assemblages of material without much clarity or structure, but Heyman Aums radically challenges this tradition. The Newcastle-based electronic artist’s music is ambitious, multimodal and spiralling. I listened to the EP all in one sitting with the volume turned right up and it was intoxicating in its hypnotism. Inspired largely by Jung’s seminal Psychology And Alchemy, Heyman takes us on an oblique synth-wave journey through the collective unconscious. Jung stresses the relationship between alchemy’s chemical and mystical composition, and here Heyman does the same. The music is both algorithmic and ethereal. Tracks like Whitening and Yellowing contain industrial synths, but also delicate Chromatics-inspired vocals. While this probably won’t appeal to all, for those drawn to a kind of uncanny Lynchian transcendentalism it doesn’t disappoint.

Released: 03.06.22 www.instagram.com/heymanaums

TIRED TRACE - 14A: HAUNTED BY THE NIGHT EP

Words: Luke Waller

Tired Trace, already the third musical venture of alternative artist Jake Anderson since 2019, is making its debut with the six-track electronica EP 14A: Haunted By The Night. The idea for the EP was conceived in the wake of an unfortunate random mugging upon Anderson during a brief break from his musical career, in order to make something good of his terrible experience. The result is a collection of tracks exploring Jake’s anger and sadness through a range of beats, synths and samples. Entirely self-produced, but for the mixing of the final track Phoenix Anew, which Anderson says represents a rebirth, Anderson’s third endeavour marks a leftfield foray in its experimental and minimalistic approach to hip-hop.

Released: 10.06.22 www.tiredtrace.bandcamp.com

SAM THOMAS - YELLOW

Words: Evie Lake

Yellow is doused in summer; the notion of the warmth and pleasure the season can bring, encompassing a state of mind as well as better weather. Soulful and lo-fi, sunny and breezy, the single mimics the feeling of sauntering down a street with the unassuming beat easily confused with the footsteps made in tandem. The chorus is possessed by mantra-esque statements and convinced “the world is singing” for the listener, getting swept up in the joyousness feels easy. Still, there remains elements of awareness of what’s come before – the vibes of the day aren’t just naturally beautiful, but the result of choices made: “I say hello to the people I like”. A song for when life is good, or when you need that little extra push to remember that it can be.

Released: 03.06.22 www.facebook.com/samthomasmusicuk