Cory Pensa has released his debut album ‘Night Light’. An album which has taken 3 years in the making to be released, Cory created the entire album himself, playing each instrument and mixing the album afterwards. Using his own home studio in Northern NJ, Cory has been able to build his album from the comfort of his own home.
‘Night Light’ is a blazing album of alternative rock that boasts the tight, cohesive and mighty sound of Cory Pensa. Pensa takes catchy melodies and backs them with shredding guitar hooks, pounding drums and vibrant bass grooves to create an album that explodes with an array of pop-punk anthems, rock smashers and dark brooding grunge moments. The album flows seamlessly to create a satisfying listening experience. From the heavy onslaught of thrashing drums and soaring guitars in ‘Satisfied’ to the gritty rush of ‘Afraid Of The Dark’, the album surges with adrenaline and vigour. As ‘Night Light’ rolls through themes of resilience, youthful fun and hope the instrumentation remains tight throughout and with heavy outbursts and little anthemic gems such as ‘Bonfires’ keeping a sing-along vibrance. It’s a thrilling album to listen to.
Cory Pensa has created an impressive mosh ready album brimming to the seams with rich, dynamic musicianship.
Singer/songwriter Tom Euler has released his latest album, ‘OBEY’. The project is a result of seven years of work by the musician, recorded in a small room and remotely during COVID restrictions. Tom Euler is an award-winning singer/songwriter and internationally recognized guitarist. His journey with music first began in the realm of blues, and his album ‘Blues Got My Back’ took him to the finals of the International Blues Competition. His success also earned him opening slots for great acts including Patti LaBelle, Davy Knowles, Delbert McClinton, Ramsey Lewis, Thompson Square and DNCE.
‘OBEY’ blends a plethora of intricate guitar work and emotive songwriting to create a thoroughly satisfying listening experience. Euler weaves acoustic, indie toned and classic rock embellishments on guitar into each song to create a refreshing and passionate collection of tracks – ‘Color’ and ‘Chasing Shadows’ are fine examples of this. With jazzy elements on the piano in ‘Feel Love’ and frenzied indie-rock guitar surging through ‘Fly’ Euler displays his diverse and compelling wall of sound. His smooth vocal delivery expresses the album’s themes of mortality, acceptance, addiction, adversity and individuality with ease.
Laced in passionate tunes, catchy melodies and rich musicianship ‘OBEY’ is an enjoyable new album from Tom Euler.
Hudson Taylor’s eagerly-awaited third studio album ‘Searching For The Answers’ is set for release on June 3rd. This album is a glimpse into a more personal facet of Hudson Taylor and musically the album is a triumph. Filled with bittersweet melodies, earnest lyrics and gentle instrumentation, this album might come as a surprise to fans who loved the fast-paced catchy ditties the band have become known for.
I spoke to Harry Hudson-Taylor about the maturing and natural growth of the album, his debut main vocal song which features on the album, as well as the duo’s return to touring.
“I’d say its a whole host of different things influencing it. I obviously couldn’t really not factor in the whole big you know, that thing that happened there for the last couple of years, the big C. I think that affected the chilled way that we approached singing. You just start singing differently, when you’re at home and you’re not playing in gigs all the time, playing in front of people in loud venues. It’s like, you desire a little bit of a more chill thing, but if anything, for us….[it] just felt more natural. It’s our third album as well, the first one that’s the one you get to work on for years before you actually release it. Then the second one, it’s the hard, second album and we were really lucky with that, we were lucky with what it did for us, except we didn’t get to tour it at all because of the pandemic. Then with this third one, Alfie and I actually didn’t speak for the rest of 2020. Basically,the pandemic came and all of our shows are cancelled. We’ve been living in each other’s pockets, you know, emotionally, physically, financially, for 10 years, and just naturally, without either of us saying anything, we just didn’t really speak for the rest of the year. Then the start 2021 our record label were like, Yo, do you lads have anything? We want to do another album with you and so at the start of last year, Alfie and I got together over a zoom call and just discussed what we want to do, and if we were going to do it, how we would want to do it. So this is the combination of that. Essentially, half of the songs were written by Alfie, half of them were written by me initially and then we shared our favourites that we’ve been writing over the past year and collaborated on them to finish them and turn them into Hudson Taylor songs.”
I wondered when the duo reunited to write the album if Harry and Alfie slipped back into the old way of doing things or if it was very different once they had that break.
“It was very different for a couple of reasons. I mean, one was that we weren’t in the same place. Alfie lives in the UK at the moment. During the pandemic, I moved to Berlin, Germany and so we actually wrote the initial stuff over zoom and Dropbox, sending each other ideas and helping each other finish them. The first time we played any of these songs together was in the studio so that’s different because in the past, we’d be playing songs on the road, we’d be touring them, we’d be practising them, we’d be refining them. These are songs we’ve never played live so it was very different in that sense but also just the wealth of experience from getting a chance to just chill out and reflect having been pretty much back to back constantly on the road or promoting something for the previous 10/ 12 years. So there was a bit more time to reflect, there was a bit more time to question what we want to actually say, who we want to work with, how we want to do the album. The guy we worked with Luke Potashnick, to bring this stuff over the finish line, he’s a chap that we wrote with. We wrote a song in 2015 and we really wanted to work with him back then… with this third album, the record label were a bit more, you know what, lads, what do you want to do? and that was beautiful. We came up with a plan. We said we want to work with this person [Potashnick]. We said, realistically, we think we can get the whole thing done by this date and they were just like cool, here you go, here’s some money, go and do it. So it was in many ways a huge breath of fresh air to get to work on a body of work, fully having creative control over it, and working with people who we love.”
The title ‘Searching For The Answers’, is a perfect title for this collection of songs and similarly, the title track is a beautiful representation of the duo’s musical and lyrical growth. The song is earnest and delicately composed and uses the sweet harmonies of the brothers, warm guitar, steady beats and pristine piano embellishments to highlight themes of longing to great effect.
“Oh yeah, we had a good feeling about that song from the off. It was actually written about three/four years ago, on a break from touring. It was the only song that we brought, from the past. All the other songs were written in 2020 and 2021. That one was floating around since 2018, or ’19. It was written with a really good friend of ours, Jack Morris, and another friend, our bass player in our band, Ronan Sherlock, and Alfie’s partner Gabrielle [Aplin] also helped. So it felt like a really nice community that represented me and Alfie’s two part harmonies, structure around the song. It was one of those ones that came out of a jam. It didn’t sound anything like the production that you hear now. It just was piano and guitar but yeah, I think that song encapsulates the whole thing really well. Not just lyrically but also the sound, it really captures the two part vocals, the harmonies, and it was entirely recorded live as well. So there’s a few songs on there like ‘Searching For The Answers’ is one of them, ‘Overloaded’ is another one, there’s about six songs on there that were recorded, entirely live and you wouldn’t know it. I’m really happy about that.”
There are plenty of well-placed thoughtful slow burners on the album. ‘Overloaded’ in particular is a heartbreaking musical gem. With just soft vocals and twinkling piano, the duo create a raw, stripped back tender tune to indulge in. The song, however, encases some surprising musical treats within as it builds to an eerie and dark crescendo.
“That one was written in the studio. Actually, the two main singles, ‘Hold Out Hope’ and ‘You Me Myself’ were written in the studio and ‘Overloaded’ was also written in the studio. So we actually came in only wanting to do 10 songs and we came out with 12. Essentially, ‘Overloaded’ it was written just at a certain moment. Alfie sat at the piano and started doing this back and forth piano thing and we wrote a song and it had themes about relationship toxicity thematically it’s like dealing with mental health really. A good few of the songs on the album really have mental health themes, and that was one of the ones that was mental health-related and everyone will relate to it differently. The people who wrote it was myself, Alfie and the producer, and we all had our own different ways of interpreting what was going on. For me, that song spoke directly to a relationship that I had been in that was really painful and toxic. For my brother I’m sure, he was bringing his stuff in and then the producer, I think around the same time there had been, a death close by. So it was very much cathartic writing for all of us that just came out in the moment, written over a few hours, recorded and that was it. The instrumentation just felt right. We were taking influences from like Radiohead, for that song, just this kind of eerie stuff using some weird synths. Yeah, really fun. To be honest a lot of that stuff was just instinctual. It was not really a decision like, Oh, well, this is definitely going to have this instrument on it. It just kind of unfolded. A lot of the time, the producer would be mixing, or just cleaning up something that we’d record and then one of us would be in the background, holding an instrument and playing a note or something and then we’d be like, Oh, that’s cool. Let’s put that in there. “
“Me and Alfie, both coming from different perspectives being able to marry them to [create a] Hudson Taylor song, you know, because the songs could be in theory, solo songs from Harry or solo songs from Alfie sometimes, and it’s just like we decide between us. We either say Oh, do you think that could be a Hudson Taylor song or just leave it for some future project and we made a good few decisions like that. That led to us refining what we ended up choosing in the end.”
It feels as if the band eased listeners into this generation of Hudson Talyor. The singles released this year give a glimpse into different facets of the album from the peppy ‘You Me Myself’ and the most recently released ‘Hold Out Hope’. They hint at something special and different but maintain a hopeful and upbeat tone.
“Yeah, in some ways we give our finished body of work to the record label and they’ll have their pick and we’ll have our pick and it seemed like they aligned in some ways. We probably would have chosen slightly differently. I think ‘Honest’, was our favourite collectively, between me and Alfie and the producer. We thought that was probably the strongest and so it’s cool it got released and actually in some ways we were affirmed because it got really good traction by the different digital service providers, putting it on playlists and stuff. So that’s nice to know that your, own instinct can get affirmed by it. But in terms of the choices, from the get-go, we were all like Oh yeah, these ones are definitely doing the right thing. Getting a song put on some radio stations, regional radio station can just be really helpful for us for when we want to do a show because then you’re in people’s consciousness or you know, oh yeah, those lads were on the radio, that kind of thing.”
“But in this case, though, none of the songs were written with that kind of angst that we used to have when we were younger, where it’d be like oh God we need to make this thing, it has to be for the radio.A lot of that stuff, just with time and age and I guess some of the immaturity has evaporated a good bit. Obviously always having an ear to the ground and to hear for yourself and be critical and be like, oh yeah, this could have a bit more commercial success perhaps. But really, for me, definitely, I can say, I just felt really proud of all of the stuff we wrote this time. There was no compromises made. It’s just like, No, this is what we’re doing and we’re enjoying it and if people like it, great.”
“Actually, I got so much healing out of just not caring too much whether other people would find it appealing. It was just a really nice experience for connecting deeper to our truth, you know, and me and Alfie as brothers as well getting to basically have a bit of a conversation through the music.”
For me, ‘You Decide’ is a special moment in the album the harmonies are beautiful and the ambient textures and warm guitar show how Hudson Taylor don’t need much instrumentation behind them to create a compelling listening experience.
“That’s my first time ever singing a song in lead and [in] Hudson Taylor as well.So yeah, there’s no other songs on there or really ever before in Hudson Taylor where I have a lead song and that’s a song that really I wrote and brought for the project. I’ve always wanted to have a song that I sing, because Alfie tends to be singing the lead most of the time and over the years I’ve been building my confidence to do that. So just really happy about that song. I think it really represents a moment in time in my mind and in my experience and getting to share it and having Alfie sing on it and just again that was one of the ones that was recorded live as well. I just really enjoyed that experience.”
Harry explained the mixed feelings that come with releasing his first main vocal song.
“Yeah, I am a bit nervous. But I’m also excited. I’m excited because down the line me and Alfie will end up doing our own stuff outside of Hudson Taylor and for me to know that there’s something out there at least that represents the timbre of my voice… I love being able to sing harmony, but you know, this was like cool. It’s was nice.”
Hudson Taylor have announced an Irish tour which will be the duo’s first tour since 2019 and includes a 3Olympia Dublin headline show on Saturday 4th June.
“Yeah, cannot wait because we’re playing some of these songs for the first time. We have rehearsals just before the tour and then we’ll be playing some brand new songs. We’re playing some of the ones that have been on the radio now in Ireland, and then just doing the old ones. We have a slightly different band lineup and stuff though. It’s really exciting for us. Just to get home as well, as I said I live in Berlin. So it’s any opportunity to get home, I aways want to get home you know.”
‘Searching For The Answers’ is a captivating body of work. There are elements of soul, jazz, pop, blues and more all delicately blended into an emotive album that lays bare emotions of loneliness, anxiety, joy and love. It’s a fantastic album that showcases the ever-growing talent of Hudson Taylor both as a duo and individual artists.
‘Searching For The Answers’ is set for release on June 3rd.
UK based Hard Rock Act SkyQuaker have released their first full length album, ‘1.5°’.SkyQuaker is composed of frontman Stephen Hope-Wynne, lead guitarist Ben ‘Ferdy’ Ford, drummer Josh Brown and multi-instrumentalist and producer George McFarlane. Each one of these members have been highly accredited throughout their musical careers and boast a combined client list of Prince, Gabrielle, Sham69 and the Sex Pistols. So far, SkyQuaker have released 2 rare version singles “Thank God for Rock and Roll” and “Queen Kong” with accompanying music videos through Aurora Eclipse Productions.
‘1.5°’ presents the blistering and diverse sound of SkyQuaker as the band blend an array of genres to create a thrilling listening experience. With Bhangra elements and Punjabi vocals from Bhangra composer and radio DJ, Dav Singh blended between powerhouse 80’s rock in ‘Claw’ and ballsy rock bravado surging through ‘Armistice Day’ the album showcases intriguing soundscapes within each track. The band sprinkle surprise soundbites throughout the album from earthy birds and rumbling storms to whispered vocals to create a unique aspect to their sound. This album has a theatrical element to it as well. Tracks like ‘Love Under Fire’ are a fine example of this and boast dramatic vocals, shredding guitar riffs and pummeling rhythms. SkyQuaker display their various musical talents by mixing rock, jazz, funk and stage theatrics to create an album that rushes with adrenaline from start to finish. Featuring collaborations with Paul Jordanous and Mike Garson, the career pianist for David Bowie, the album displays a unique blend of different musical tastes and styles. ‘1.5°’ is a mighty album from SkyQuaker.
Ambient electronic trio Dirty Dreamer have released their glorious debut album ‘The Everyday in Bloom’. I caught up with two-thirds of the band Daithí O’Connor and Louise Gaffney to chat about the album, creating music with their improv style and their upcoming show in The Workman’s Cellar.
Filled with ambient soundscapes and lush textures ‘The Everyday in Bloom’ was four years in the making mirroring the band’s relaxed pace in meticulously creating each song.
Daithí: “Yeah, just taking our time. There was no rush on it really, we were just having fun and obviously the pandemic happened and all that. But even before, we were just having fun and really had no timeline. I think that was something lovely about this. There was no timeline as such or any pressure at all because we’ve been in a situation before that we set aside that time to write and that time to record all that kind of stuff. This was all a little bit more natural, laid back, I suppose.”
The band were part of the choice-nominated electro-folk outfit Come On Live Long. Dirty Dreamer showcases a different side of the trio. I wondered if it was exciting and liberating exploring this new sound.
Louise: “Whether it was a premeditated change or not I’m not sure. When we started this project, we didn’t even really call it a band for the first little while. We sort of went away and we were playing together and improvising around different sounds and a key part of it was we all changed our instrumentation a little. We were all trying different instruments a little bit as well. So it was really slow figuring out what we liked and what we wanted to pursue. That happened before we even put a name on it as a project. When we started realising it had a sound of its own, and it seemed that we had been crafting that, that was when we were like okay, this project now needs a name and it needs, a look and feel as well as maybe a goal, not necessarily deadline but definitely a goal and we started recording basically everything we did from that point, once we had that sound. We just pressed record on every rehearsal session and started gathering a huge archive of recordings.”
The songs on the album at times appear to refer to the beauty of the world around us, and the importance of taking in the small moments of serenity between the chaos of modern life. However, Daithí and Louise explained to me the album isn’t intentionally a concept album.
Daithí: “ I would say no, I don’t think it’s a concept album. there are threadsthrough it. We would write and rehearse all after a day’s work. We come in here in the evenings so all the highs and lows of the day just anyone’s day, kind of informs everything else. So maybe you could tie content onto that, I suppose.”
Louise: “I don’t think there is, the songs all have their own micro themes within them. Some of them maybe link and some of them maybe don’t. But if there’s a concept in there it was the way of writing actually. So all of the origins of each song just come out of hours of improvisation. So just literally free. Someone might do something someone responds to it, and then someone adds a thing and all of a sudden it starts to build into a song or starts to approach something with a bit of structure. Because we recorded everything that happened in the room, for every rehearsal session we had or writing session we had, we’d have a couple of hours that we would go and listen throughout the week. We would take the sounds, everyone would listen and then highlight little parts that we thought we loved or thought we could work on again and revisit. So as a process that was really new. Having, individual time to listen and decide what was working and what maybe wasn’t and then to come back next week and go again.”
The band created a lot of material over the four years. We discussed how overwhelming the task of filtering through all that material was.
Daithí: “ Yeah we have hours and hours of stuff. So what would happen is, we play and jam away here. Then Ken [McCabe], who’s not here at the moment, he was like the archivist and he’d be the filter as well. He would listen back and say, I think this is good, I think this is good. Then he would send it on to us two. Very often there was loads of that and there was weeks where you would just constantly be doing new stuff. You’d have to go back and say hold on, let’s just put the brakes on now because we have folders and folders of so much stuff and we’re just gonna keep writing new music. We need to stop. So for maybe a month, say, one in four months, we would put the brakes on and develop those ideas a little bit more. Then when we got tired of doing that, we would come in and say okay let’s work on that song we were doing two months ago. But then what we always do is we start off playing and then we would just play for the rest of the evening. We wouldn’t actually come back to that. So we had to be a little bit strict on ourselves to say okay, let’s stop improvising and playing and let’s put a bit of structure on it. “
‘The Everyday in Bloom’ is an ambient album filled with soft instrumentation, hazy synths and ethereal soundscapes. ‘Caddy’ is a fine example of this. The track revolves around a wonderful vocal melody accompanied by subtle guitar, earthy elements and electronics. Though the song is filled with intricate instrumentation the trio manage to maintain a sparse and light atmosphere throughout.
Louise: “That one’s an interesting one because it could be the oldest one on it. That would have been a really old archived recording that Ken had written just the guitar part for. It was resurrected when we were in the middle of maybe…. we’d maybe done a few of the other tracks and I remember it in an email thread and I pulled it up and was like this was really cool. We should maybe try to work this… when we brought it back, we just played it a lot in the room and just tried to see where the melody is going to come from, where all the other instrumentation is gonna sit, how it will layer up to make it more interesting. So it could have just been guitar and vocals and nothing else but it has a lot of ambient stuff going on in it.”
Daithí: “ That recording is recorded live in this room and I didn’t know it all that well. So I’m looking at Ken constantly to see what he’s doing on the guitar and I’m following him. Which is something that we’ve never done. Usually, when you go into studio, you know every note that you’re going to play. It’s premeditated, you know what to do. But for this one it was kind of just very reactive. I was definitely reacting to what Ken was doing. I had to look at his hand constantly to see what he was going to do next. But it worked. That’s the recording that you hear on the album”
Louise: “I think in terms of a song where you’re using words to create meaning somehow, that’s the one that I always go back to as maybe one of the more coherent songs because it does have a really strong theme and it’s about something and it’s a story told over time, in a way that maybe some of our others aren’t maybe as explicit. So I always liked listening to that one myself and quite pleased with the writing side of it”
‘Downhill’ is another special moment within the album. The distorted intro is a bit of a shock when you first hear it, especially after the peaceful and soothing nature of the previous track ‘Caddy’. It beautifully shows the experimental nature of the band’s music as they momentarily break away from the tranquilising wall of sound of previous tracks to inject a dash of edge into the album.
Daithí: “Again, that comes back to what Louise has mentioned before, a kind of stepping outside your comfort zone and find a new territory. That sound is just off a piece of equipment that we use all the time in this room. We knew we wanted to incorporate that because it’s the sound of the room. It’s the sound that we make in the room so we knew it had to be recorded. I suppose it might be difficult for the listener, maybe at the start because it’s quite a juxtaposition sound, quite… harsh ..to start and then the guitar comes and that’s what was nice about all of this. Before we would have second-guessed that and said oh they’re two really clashy sounds and for somewhere else, it might not have worked but where we are now is in a huge rehearsal space.There are loads of bands playing all the time. So when you’re walking down the corridor, you’re hearing the sound of loads of bands inside a room. So the soundscape going down to the kitchen for cup of tea is massive. So that definitely fed into it. “
Dirty Dreamer have masterfully created an album that captures the free expressive nature of their sound. The ability to capture this element of their art in a piece of music let alone for an entire album is sometimes a difficult task for artists. However, Dirty Dreamer have pulled it off spectacularly.
Daithí: “Yeah, That’s it. That’s the mission accomplished for saying that yeah “
Louise: “Yeah it’s a really interesting thing. I only happened across it recently in a podcast and it got me thinking but that’s exactly what we did there. There was this psychologist she was talking about how you have to use a very childlike free state of mind to create something original. Then you need to use a very different mindset to edit it.So if you’re already using your edit brain when you’re trying to create, you’re not going to get very far down the road or you won’t get somewhere interesting. So it reminded me [ of us ] – the improv its the child brain, we don’t actually police ourselves and we just do whatever. Then there were those months where we would act different in the room and itwas all business we’d all be sitting at the table and that struck me, that is the process that we use, you know, we didn’t try to edit in the moment or try to think about the outcome. Because it didn’t matter. It was like we were generating so much, the outcome, we couldn’t even think about it in the moment.”
Daithí: “It’s striking the balance between that I suppose”
Considering the trio were working on these songs for over four years, I wondered if all the songs had evolved and taken new directions since their first inception.
Daithí: “Good question. I would say some have, some definitely haven’t. The likes of Caddy again. That sounds like when we played it in the room. We played it a couple of times, but it really didn’t change all that much.“
Louise :“Yeah. ‘Did You Think I Would Forget’, that longer ambient one. That changed quite a lot over time because the initial idea was a different type of track. It wasn’t a song structure as much as it was a soundscape and so it had to evolve over time to get somewhere interesting. We were working with a small little nugget of something that needed quite a bit added to it. So that was quite different.”
The track ‘Anywhere’ was the one that sparked my previous question. It is a beautiful song with balmy guitar and soft dance-like beats. The track’s soft layering and melodic progressions made me think the song had been meticulously crafted and could have originated as a different concept altogether from what we hear on the album.
Louise: “That is a good question. That song was kind of like that”
Daithí: “yeah, that I suppose went through a couple of iterations. The thing that got us with that was the arrangement. The sound was always there, butit’s just the arrangement as to what goes where. That was recorded quite a lot.“
Dirty Dreamer are set to perform live on Thursday 2nd June at The Workman’s Cellar. We discussed what fans can expect from the show
Daithí: “So the idea for the live show is to recreate what we do in this room. But put it on a stage. Now, obviously not like the constant tea breaks and stuff like that but to have it quite fluid, like it is in here and try and represent that as best we can in the live environment which is what we’re trying to do at the minute and it’s loads of fun.”
The live show promises to deliver the same experimental and free approach the trio took to create the album resulting in slightly changed versions of the songs.
Daithí: “Yeah, exactly changed versions of the songs and then trying to see how we can link songs together without a break.
Louise: “Yeah even allowing space for us to actually improvise a little bit where there’s longer pauses that we can noodle around and find that same improv that we would have used to create the songs somewhere in the live set, in between the more structured pieces.”
The band experimented and learned a lot about themselves and their music during this process. I asked Daithí and Louise from their experience so far, what advice would they give to a budding young artist.
Louise : “ I can only speak to maybe the lessons I’ve learned as opposed to solid advice. I think that big one of not worrying about the outcome too much comes back to me constantly because that just scuppers you so much and it’s the one thing you want to do when you’re trying to start. It’s like I want to make an album or I want to make an EP and that’s really to be thought about later. You got to go in and create a load of stuff first before you start aiming for that and know what you’re about and what you want to sound like. You have to play a lot and play with other people, involve other people that’s a huge thing. Find your people that you want to make music with because it’s lonely on your own.”
Daithí: “ Find people on the same wavelength and spend time playing – just play and don’t worry all that kind of stuff. That’ll come and if the music is good that will all fit together. Yeah, don’t worry too much about the outcome because if you’re into music, you’re into music, that’s the bottom line. It’s not about all the other stuff, if that happens, that happens it doesn’t really make a difference, you’re still going to be in a sweaty rehearsal room jamming away”
Dirty Dreamer have a unique and experimental sound that is raw and melodically rich. They don’t shy away from allowing their artistic unconscious write the music. This lucid way of creating is what makes ‘The Everyday In Bloom’ such a compelling album. It’s a wonderful listening experience filled with expressive soundscapes, hazy atmospheres and refined musicianship.
Rock singer SymLa-3000 has released her debut album, ‘The Spectrums’. Written and arranged by the singer herself, she delivers light and airy vocals alongside metal sounds performed by Akira Tejima in nine of the songs (Guitar), Makoto Kitamura (Bass), Takayoshi Ochoco Saita (Drums). Other musicians that were involved in this album include Yuki Hayashi, Miho Okazaki and Makoto Togashi. SymLa-3000 fell into music when she first discovered the world of Japanese anime as a child. Insistent about learning the lyrics of the songs, she would get her mother to write them down whilst she watched her favourite shows. After picking up the classical piano and starting vocal lessons, she realised that she wanted to deliver her own messages, so she began composing her own music in Cubase. In 2020 she released her first single under the name SymLa- 3000, a combination of Japanese words meaning ‘universe’.
‘The Spectrums’, presents the dynamic metal-infused rock of SymLa-3000. Filled with soaring guitars that ricochet off pummeling drums and rampant bass rumbles the album is a passionate display of musicianship from the artist. SymLa-3000’s sweet vocals add an ethereal quality to songs such as ‘Cracks’ and ‘White Memory’ – her voice contrasts the track’s kinetic atmosphere while at the same time anchoring the listener within the song’s expressive soundscapes. Between the frantic alternative rock tracks, SymLa-3000 provides moments of release in the form of softer tunes like ‘Aqua’. This song is tender and delicate with soft vocals caressing a dreamy melody while the backdrop of pining guitar and steady beats ooze heartfelt emotion into the song.
The concept behind the album focuses on the seasonal changes in Japan. The first song ‘The Darkness’ begins with the rainy season around June and cycles through summer, fall and winter. The journey ends with the spring season in Japan, the more laid back title track leaves you with images of the famous Japanese cherry blossoms shedding their petals. SymLa-3000 displays these themes through an intriguing blend of energetic instrumentation, heavy mosh moments and sweet gentle melodic arrangements. ‘The Spectrums’ is a well crafted, energetic debut album from SymLa-3000.
Stephen James Smith has released his debut album ‘See No Evil’. The 9 track album was recorded during lockdown in Co. Wexford, after Stephen found himself moving there from Dublin during the pandemic which presented the opportunity to work with Gavin Glass in Orphan Recording Studios. Stephen was awarded the Music Industry Stimulus Package under the Recording Stimulus fund to help with the making of the album which is due for release on ‘Nymphs & Thugs’ an independent record label based in the UK. Stephen is the first Irish artist they are working with. The album is produced by Gareth Quinn Redmond and features a host of other artists such as; Conor O’Brien (Villagers), Jess Kav, Laura Quirke (Lemoncello), Cormac Begley, Camin Gilmore (Sun Collective / Crash Ensemble), Aidan Murphy, Conor Cunningham and Albert Karch.
‘See No Evil’ is an absolute delight. Throughout the album, Stephen James Smith creates vivid imagery through the medium of evocative poetry and expressive instrumentation. ‘An Ode to Tony MacMahon’s Den’ is a fine example of this; through eloquent lyrics and supple instrumentation ( enhanced by traditional lilts ) Stephen James Smith brings the exciting scene to life “come gather round and listen there’s a ramblin session beginning, Kerry is descended upon Dunlin in Tony MacMahon’s Den“. The pieces of composed music behind his stirring poetry is at times cinematic while at other times brooding and bubbling with tension underneath – his depiction of isolation in ‘Iomramh’ is wonderfully emotive and the icy piano and eerie soundscapes within ‘I’ve’ Had Lovers’ is simply a joy to listen to.
The characters within his tracks are relatable and James Smith narrates his stories with flawless commitment. Perhaps this is best displayed in ‘The Gardener’ – a powerful display of James Smith’s musicianship. Lines such as “her hands are warm, the flesh loosened by age….. Her eyes are still young, still, life to be lived” are combined with soft twinkling piano to express the artist’s complicated relationship with his mother “A sick child and a broken marriage all this and I don’t know how to speak to her. I always want to hug her and I don’t know how. So a veiled kiss laced with courtesy will do“. It’s one of many heartbreaking and earnest tracks on the album, that spark contemplation within the listener. Another line within the track that leaves the listener in lasting grimaces is the hard-hitting “nor did I expect to be knocked by the answer to my question, would you like grandchildren? I asked my father. I’d have liked a daughter, he said” – the lingering music and pause after this line enhances the emotional weight behind the lyric. It is an excellent display of James Smith’s deft musical prowess that creates a sense of shock and leaves the listener aghast by the words themselves.
‘See No Evil’ is a powerful thought-provoking album. James Smith creates poems filled with honest moments and emotive chills. There is much to admire from this album from sincere emotive lyrics to cinematic soundscapes and expressive instrumentation. Love it.
Ruchie Sharma has released her debut album, ‘Xtraordinary’.This energetic collection of tracks is an exciting display of Sharma’s driving guitar-heavy rock and provides a satisfying and engaging experience for listeners to enjoy. The album exudes gritty riffs, pummeling drums and catchy melodies as Sharma refines her vibrant wall of sound with elements of pop-punk ( ‘Fallen In Love’) and grunge hues ( ‘Strong Girls’). Filled with shredding guitar, soaring bass grooves and oodles of heartfelt melodies ‘Xtraordinary’ is a tight and impressive debut. There are powerful anthems throughout the album, however, the emotive and bittersweet ‘Should’Ve Left You Behind’ with its catchy “nah nah nah” lyric is perhaps the pinnacle moment on the album and displays Sharma’s raw and emotive songwriting “should have known you were coming with a knife under those roses”. ‘Xtraordinary’ is a dynamic debut album that highlights the growing talent of Ruchie Sharma.
Award-winning composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Fitzpatrick, aka Badhands, is set to release his second album ‘Far Away’ on Friday, 1st April 2022. I caught up with Fitzpatrick to talk about the album, writing during the pandemic and plans for his upcoming full-band album launch in Whelan’s main room on Saturday, 9th April 2022.
“It’s not really a concept album, most of the songs were written a few years ago. So I guess if there’s any consistent themes, it’s just from the nature of whatever was going on at the time, but no there’s definitely no real kind of overarching concepts to it.”
‘Far Away’ is a sublime easy listening experience as Fitzpatrick ventures between classic rock and indie with some pop sensibilities. ‘Quiet and Still’ is a fine example of this. Oozing elements of classic rock, country and an irresistible melody, the track pivots around an ominous beat while twinkling guitar flickers throughout.
“That song, it’s so long since I’ve written it. I wrote that about four or five years ago. This is the thing with this album, I was supposed to have it done and out really before covid hit. Then it was a nightmare trying to finish it off during covid. So, there was a couple of songs that I rewrote, like ‘Wasted’ which I would have written the lyrics for during Covid. So there’s, a couple like that, that I kind of feel [ are ] a little more current to me. Funny, a couple of songs on it now, I wrote them so long ago I can barely remember much about them, which is very strange. It’s a very strange thing to just be releasing it now, you know”
“When I was trying to finish off the album early in covid I got quite disillusioned with it. I was listening to it and I [ was ] just like these songs don’t really mean anything to me now. It was such a strange time I was like, what’s the point of any of this? I just took a break from it. I ended up doing a different project, a concept piece about the oceans, which was a five-track EP and I got really into that then, recorded and released it after about a year. Then when I came back to the album, it did have more of a freshness and I was into it again, and I finished it. It was around this time last year, [ I ] probably finished it and it did seem a bit more fresh to me again. Then we did a gig last year and playing the song live with the band again, you know, gave it a new lease a life. So thankfully, I did fall back in love with it after a period of really just being disinterested, kind of disinterested in anything I was working on at the time, it was a strange spell.”
“It was weird, funnily enough at the start of it, I was really productive. I was writing a lot. I was working on stuff and I really thought it was having quite a positive effect on my work and productivity so for a while that seemed like a benefit. Then there was spells, like this time last year, January, February, March last year, I just found it impossible to work. I couldn’t do any of those I was just absolutely lethargic and drained so it was just a real funny up and down experience. unlike anything, I’ve ever experienced. Well, unlike anything any of us have experienced before, I guess.”
The album was recorded chiefly at Ailfionn Studios, with musicians Chris Barry, Tom Cosgrave, Aoife Ruth, Ken Mooney, and David Tapley. We discussed how these talented musicians bolstered Fitzpatrick and helped him with any difficulties he went through.
“I’ve been really lucky, it’s pretty much that core band now, Chris, Tom, Aoife and Ken and then there is also David Tapley from the band Tandem Phoenixso he’s been pretty much full time in playing as well. They’re all just amazing musicians and they bring their own unique elements to the party. I’ll go in with a song and then – take that song ‘Quiet and Still’, for example, really just hinges around this delayed bass thing, you know, which Tom came up with so as soon as we went in, he just started doing that and then suddenly the song was just built around that because it’s like a heartbeat, you know, it just suited it perfectly and that was just something he came up with in the rehearsal room. I love that, it’s great when somebody else adds something and suddenly it changes you know. The song is suddenly a completely different beast when that happens”
Each song exudes warm melodies that are soothing to the ears. But there is a dark, ominous undertone that broods throughout the album.
“I think, especially with lyrics, I find a lot of the lyrics I write seem to come from maybe a place of anxiety or something like that. I think when people write often, for whatever reason, different aspects of their personality come out. So a lot of the time whatever you’re writing doesn’t necessarily define youor sum you up as a person. I guess the darkness in the song probably has something to do with, being anxious or self-conscious about things. So even something that I’m writing that might be a love song or something, always seems to have an undercurrent of just tension or anxiety in it. I guess that’s where that comes from. I tried to balance that with the music because say a song like, ‘Wasted’ would be one where the lyrics are extremely downbeat, but the music contrasts with it. It’s pretty upbeat. So, yeah, it’s always trying to blend that so it’s not just depressing or just miserable. I’m generally a fairly cheery person, but I think if you listen to the lyrics on my music, you probably wouldn’t think that”
The piano is a prominent instrument on the album and Fitzpatrick manages to convey many emotions and textures with just the piano alone. Fitzpatrick explained how he wrote some of the songs on piano.
“I used to write mainly on guitar. I think, for the most part, I tend to write everything on piano. Well, it’s a mix. I might start writing something on the piano and then I’m sitting down with a guitar and coming up with bits on that. But yeah, I think now for the most part it’s usually on piano and especially now we are just close to finishing a third album. We went in with the band in January. It was actually just after I’d watched the, The Beatles Get Back and I loved it so much. I got onto the band and they’d all just watched it as well and everybody was just really keen to get in and do something. So I just booked thestudio even though I hadn’t fully finished the songs and really knuckled down and tried to get the thing finished. Then we went in and I did this one really piano-based. I was playing just a grand piano and we did it all live in the room and it was great. So the new album is especially piano-led on a lot of the songs”.
There are plenty of memorable moments on the album filled with passionate, evocative musicianship and poignant songwriting. However, the dark and theatrical elements are intriguing aspects in Fitzpatrick’s songs and a theme we continued to return to when talking about the album. ‘Atlas’ is a perfect example of this. It has a Tom Waits ‘Little Drop Of Poison mixed with Nick Cave Red Right Hand Vibe’. Fitzpatrick expresses this wonderfully through ominous piano and intoxicating soundscapes.
“ Yeah, I’m a big Tom Waits fan. Actually, ‘Atlas’ was one that I did right at the start. In fact, I have quite a vivid memory of writing that. It was, I’d say maybe a week into the covid hitting and lockdown. So I can really remember that specifically, I was just in my room all the time with the piano. I remember writing that song at that stage. So I guess it was a bit of an ominous time. It was a mix of things going on that probably inspired that one”
Lyrically the tracks are deep, well thought out and profoundly expressive. Fitzpatrick explained to me he strives to express genuine deep thoughts through his music.
“Yeah, I never really set out to write any particular lyrics. A lot of the time I wish I could write about certain things or certain types of songs but anytime I tried to do that …it just never works. I think you can hear that in music when you hear a song from an artist or something. You can just tell maybe it doesn’t seem totally from the heart or genuine and that’s what I’ve felt anytime I’ve set out to write a specific type of song. So I just stuck with whatever comes really and that’s why that I feel sometimes you know the lyrics I’m writing, I find sometimes this is a bit repetitive or this is a bit depressing or something but it’s just…I find with the lyrics, anything that I write, that hasn’t come natural tends to be pretty, pretty bad for the most part.”
‘So Alive’ is quite different to the other tracks on the album. It’s more experimental and psychedelic and the track sits snugly between ‘Atlas’ and ‘They Know You Better’. On hearing the album each song holds its own and warrants its place while blending superbly into the album’s aesthetic. Fitzpatrick explained how he struggled to decide on the tracklist order.
“It was in some respects. Yeah, there was a couple of tracks I found hard to place like ‘So Alive’, ‘Quiet and Still’ the last song [Take Me Far Away] which were I guess just a little bit more understated well not so understated its got strings on it. It felt more understated than some of the other tracks and I tend to find them harder to place, I guess than the ones that have a lot of you know, gusto or something in them. But I always had it in mind for ‘Atlas’ to flow into it. So in that respect, I at least knew that those two songs would go one after the other. So that was at least some help. For a couple of the guys in the band that would have been one of their favourites. That would have been one I wrote on guitar just with that picky riff or whatever. Initially, it was quite a stripped-down piece, which I had toyed with but then you know, as is often the case, less is more but then you just keep adding more. Then suddenly it’s like, throw a lot of strings on there and you’ve got this big, psychedelic orchestral thing but I was happy with how it turned out”
Fitzpatrick has a launch for ‘Far Away’ with a full band show in Whelan’s main room on Saturday, 9th of April and he told me what fans can expect from the show.
“Well, probably a lot off the upcoming album for sure. I’d say that will be the dominant one. I think we will try and do one or two off the one [album] that we just recorded and then a couple of hits off the first album. Now we are playing with the six-piece band for the bigger gigs, it’s great. Aoife who plays in the band she does keys and violin and she’s really great. When she switches over to violin she has a lot of weird effects and stuff. She’s a bit like Warren Ellis, [Nick Cave and] The Bad Seeds. So that’s always a nice aspect. But yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. I look forward to actually arranging some rehearsals and getting everyone in because it’d be rare that the six of us all play together. That would be a thing for, you know, a show like this or whatever. But you know, for the most part of doing other gigs it’d be a four or five-piece set up so it’s great. It’s great to get to play with a full complement, but it’s rare enough.”
‘Far Away’ is a musically rich and deeply immersive album. Each track is a joy to listen to and highlights the expressive sound, refined musicianship and eloquent songwriting of Badhands.
British band, The Len Price 3, have released their 7th studio album ‘Ip Dip Do’. The Len Price 3 are a high energy trio from Kent, UK. Formed 20 years ago, The Len Price 3 includes Glenn Page (guitar and vocals), Steve Huggins (bass) and Neil Fromow (Drums and BV’s). The trio started out playing in bars, from having to find an audience who enjoyed their ‘revved-up, no-nonsense sound’, to sharing stages with well-known artists such as The Lovely Eggs, all whilst writing and recording six albums. With the continued album releases, The Len Price 3 had the opportunity to support Sir Paul McCartney at Hyde Park, alongside touring Europe, the UK and playing in America at the “South by Southwest Music Conference”.
‘Ip Dip Do’ is a fast-paced album that surges with the energetic pop-punk sound of The Len Price 3. The band take lush pop melodies and coat them in a punchy backdrop of jaunty guitars, driving rhythms and swagger to create a dynamic listening experience. From the sharp strutting guitar of ‘Mr Spong’s Miraculous Leap’ and ‘Billy the Quid’ to the alternative angst of ‘Bag of Bones’ and intense rush of ‘She’s Making a Film’; the band create a light and kinetic atmosphere that is difficult to resist. The stings on guitar lacerate through the pounding drums and rampant bass grooves to create an edgy wall of sound that contrasts the smooth vocals and sunkissed melodies. With surprise harmonica adding blues tones to ‘Bad Vibe Machine’ and lush 60’s-esque melodies shimmying through ‘Strange TImes’, the album has something for everyone. ‘Ip Dip Do’ is a fun, spirited album that boasts the refined and cohesive sound of The Len Price 3.
Stream ‘Ip Dip Do’ below
Author: Danu
Indie: (n) an obscure form of rock which you only learn about from someone slightly more hip than yourself.
