One of Bentley Records’ newest artists Katherine Appello emerges with a six-track album of unique instances of story-telling amidst an ongoing, engaging, delicate and distant soundscape.
EPs
Security contrasts with uncertainty, stable moments of melody jar with sudden hits of rhythm and spontaneity. Meanwhile you can feel the strength of the title concept, these waves, this ocean surrounding you, the night sky dark and still above.
Dedicating every aspect of her life to music, the new project showcases an artist with a vast range of influences and a clear love for the art form on multiple levels.
The careful hints of emotion that Lily injects into her performances help really bring the lyrics alive, letting them connect on a profound and lasting level. This is the kind of escapism that embraces the darker parts of life and somehow turns them into a strangely warming arena of understanding.
Each song creates a gentle and satisfyingly human take on Roensch’s subject matter, which is ruminative and delicate and a little bit trippy. It’s distinct and idiosyncratic and I dig it for that.
A three piece of guitar, bass and drums comes powering out of the traps here. It’s a fizzy capture, washes of cymbals and some heavy riffing on guitar creating a robust, muscular backdrop for some vocals with attitude.
Occupying the ground between Julian Cope during his Fried period and then the snarl and belligerent punky attitude of John Lydon, the lead vocal punches hard on the track Someone You Know. It then wanders into something more wistful and lyrically more exploratory on Waste of Time. There’s an ever-present natural vibrato when the vocal is more relaxed. But melodically, the vocals are making some very deliberate dissonant choices which reek of swagger and confidence and an overall looseness to proceedings which is genuinely original in the current climate.
Someone You Know also boasts interesting rhythm and arrangement choices. ‘Your expectations are too much,’ posits the singer. But they are actually served pretty well, thanks, with some smart arrangement chops which retain the interest well. These include a wandering exploratory guitar solo part and, in particular, a proper diversion into new territory just before the track’s conclusion, when a bridge part suddenly offers a sonic treat before resolving beautifully into a meaty post-chorus riff and the song abruptly concludes.
Waste of Time is more of a workout dynamically, with some questing guitar riffs adding a mystical air to the mix and the vocal gets to explore more tones, at times coming across like Gary Numan in terms of word-chewing delivery.
‘Waves crashing over waves,’ gets repeated in an intense repeating pattern in an exciting bridge part which again makes a welcome impression just before the song’s conclusion. It’s exciting and unexpected and really delivers.
A shot in the arm lyrically and in terms of attitude and energy, Microcosm’s EP is a breath of fresh air.
Is there such a genre as ‘stoner country’? If not, it’s possible that Jesh has invented it! Warm and woozy in the way that a bottle of firewater shared around a campfire on a cold night might be.
The band set things up with style, progressing with endless levels of flair & ability. Their unity is on form, the music is ready & waiting to be that addictive little anthem that gets you geared up to take on the world with the best possible energy.
We are talking impassioned vocals. We are talking some pretty meaty riffing on guitar. All wrapped up in some smart production, great songwriting and a healthy little shot of gently snarling punky attitude. But it’s got mood and heart, and tunes and thoughtful lyrics, too.
Alana reminds us of her strength as a singer, her passionate connection to the words at hand, and her sincere love for music in all of its forms.
The four-track release that is Don’t Panic, beginning with the industrially heavy yet spacious and rhythmically hypnotic BlackHeart, is everything the classic techno fan might once have been drawn to, and everything the contemporary, alternative EDM fan has been craving in recent years.
There’s an artistic whole at work, every layer building further on the ideas and the poetry within, and for all of these reasons the song is a pleasure to lose yourself in for a while.