Prior to the release of her new EP Fool’s Fire this weekend, we caught an interview with artist and musician Lily Dooner to find out more about the project and her approach to songwriting. Here’s how it went. * * * Hi Lily – thanks for the chat! Congrats on the new EP. How would … Continued
Folk
There are so many stories within this project – so many scenes and sounds and artistic conversations. Sometimes things feel classic and familiar, sometimes they feel completely out there and impossible to pigeon-hole.
“I’ve definitely learned to roll with the punches and take whatever is coming. As long as you keep your goals and your morals, your principles, you can push through what comes your way.”
Leo Harmonay writes and performs because it’s simply a part of who he is – you can hear this, and you can feel it, throughout Naked Rivers and indeed throughout all of his music to date. Always an artist worthy of a listener’s trust.
Though it sounds like easy listening from the outside – calming folk vibes, plenty of optimism and beauty – there’s an element of depth to much of the writing that adds a subtle layer of intensity. A brilliantly unique artist and a really well captured new playlist. Absolutely worth discovering.
Fusing the singer-songwriter purity and doubled vocals of Elliott Smith, with a Bon Iver level of delicacy, and a Passenger-inspired poetic optimism, Jameel Farruk quickly manages to melt the heart and calm the soul with this single.
“I believe in the power of prayer; and I also appreciate sincerely expressed condolences when tragedies occur. However, sharing one’s thoughts and prayers after a mass shooting is NOT enough – we need to do more, MUCH more.”
Maxime fuses an organic folk sound with a mildly theatrical performance style for this EP, paying tribute to effective and raw musicality as much as his family background in theatre.
The simplicity of the composition can either seem heavily juxtaposed with, or completely at one with, the very idea of infinity.
It’s a dizzying and somewhat psychedelic experience, building to a schizophrenic whirlwind of deliberate dissonance and beauty that’s mashed together before being led to a marching string finale. It’s a singular listening experience that I‘d whole-heartedly recommend, with an extraordinary accompanying video that provides a complementary, slightly unnerving experience. Try both!
An achingly poignant lyric that (sadly) still holds true today, By My Silence essentially details how it’s wholly possible to be complicit in awful (or just unfair) things coming to pass by remaining fearful, passive and silent about them. It’s a lovely version of a melancholy-drenched tune.
All-in-all, The Rocky Coast of Maine is a stand-alone triumph, fulfilling its own mythology in its own run time. It’s beautifully played, beautifully told and is a haunting testament to folk music songwriting. Lovely.