a music blog
Five years after her last album Nadia Reid is in a different place now, literally. She moved to the UK from her native New Zealand and became a mother. Enter Now Brightness reflects the changes in her life, bringing a fresh and lighter feel to her music.
Continue reading “Album Review: Nadia Reid – Enter Now Brightness”
After the glorious achievement of producing two epic modern classics in ‘Seventeen’ and ‘Like We Used To’ Sharon Van Etten’s last album was more understated, hazy and, for me, a little bit of a let down overall. After regrouping Sharon decided to try something new for this project – working collaboratively with her band on the songwriting and vision for the first time. The results are still resolutely a Sharon Van Etten album but there’s something more edgy and dramatic to the style and the sound.
Continue reading “Album Review: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory “
Released fifty years ago this week, ‘Pieces of the Sky’ is the album that launched Emmylou Harris’s career. She has often referred to it as her ‘debut’, attempting to gloss over her first failed release ‘Gliding Bird’.
Continue reading “Emmylou Harris’s Discography – Pieces of the Sky (1975)”
Lilly Hiatt’s last two albums were released during the pandemic and like many other artists at the time, she felt the negative effect of not being able to tour or promote her music in the way she wanted to.
During her last few years off the road she’s got married, adopted a dog, bought a house and installed a home studio where she began songwriting in a different, more immediate way. The results on this new album ‘Forever’ sound like someone shedding old skin, finding her way back to a more natural, looser kind of musical identity.
Continue reading “Album Review: Lilly Hiatt – Forever”
It’s fitting that this collaborative album is being released in January, the traditional month of Celtic Connections festival where these three artists first performed together. In the spirit of Transatlantic Sessions these three women, two Scottish and one American come together to show that more unites us than divides us.
Individually Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart have blazed a trail for women in Scottish folk music, helping to light a clear path forward for other artists to follow. Mary Chapin Carpenter has done the same in her own Americana/country sphere.
Continue reading “Album Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart – Looking for the Thread “
After a disappointing week for women in country music, what fans need is some new, young fresh blood, someone who has a bit of spark, personality and who can restore some faith in the future of the genre. Enter Willow Avalon with her new album Southern Belle, Raisin’ Hell.
Continue reading “Album Review: Willow Avalon – Southern Belle, Raisin’ Hell”
As a teenager growing up in the 90s I thought Kim Deal was cool in the best way – talented, fun and like she just didn’t give a fuck about anything. In the early 00s I met her while I was working at a venue she was playing at and she was super nice, even if a little out of it. She spoke of her addiction troubles during that time in a recent Guardian interview, saying ‘I would like to do those years again. I. Did. Not. Like. Them.”
What also resonated with me about that interview was how she spoke about the beauty of failure saying ‘…there’s something about trying to do something and then just getting utterly clobbered by life.’ If you’re not afraid of fucking up then you can do the unpredictable, like releasing your debut solo album at 63. In the end that fearless attitude has made ‘Nobody Loves You More’ a little triumph.
Continue reading “Album Review: Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More”
A few years back I went to see Lindi Ortega play live in Glasgow, hoping to write a review of the show. I loved all her previous albums, especially the last one Liberty, and was looking forward to seeing her talent on stage.
Unfortunately a few songs into the show I realised something was off. At first it seemed like an issue with the sound mix, Lindi’s vocals being too high or perhaps she couldn’t hear herself sing. When she played acoustic or quieter songs her voice was perfect, beautiful. At other times, she sounded strained, a little out of time and tune. I felt unable to write any kind of review of the show, considering how much she was struggling.
The issue, it turned out, wasn’t confined to that one evening. Later she admitted to having issues with her in-ear monitors, which caused her to overcompensate and damage her voice. Soon she was terrified to play live and quit music altogether for four years.
But then after dealing with some difficult personal circumstances, she began writing songs again. With so much new music to share, she worked with vocal coaches to regain her confidence performing live.
The result of this work is ‘From the Ether’, an album of haunting, unusual songs on a ghostly theme. Somewhat surprisingly considering her issues, there’s a stripped back, sparse sound to the record. Her vocals are given time to breathe, to work their quiet magic again without the crushing sound of a full band.
Continue reading “Album Review: Lindi Ortega – From the Ether”
Susan Cain, in her brilliant book ‘Quiet’, celebrated introverts and argued ‘culture is biased against quiet and reserved people, but introverts are responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements.’
The problem with being ‘quiet’ unfortunately is that sometimes you don’t get noticed for what you’ve achieved. Those who can shout and dance and sell themselves, or who can pay others who can do this for them, grab most of the attention.
Twenty years have passed since Mindy Smith won the ‘Emerging Artist of the Year’ trophy at the Americana Awards, and twelve years since her last album. She’s been busy in that time, writing for others, working on songs, searching for herself in other ways by reconnecting with her birth family. This new album ‘Quiet Town’ is a welcome return and a chance to celebrate her quietly powerful artistic achievements.
Continue reading “Album Review: Mindy Smith – Quiet Town”
Highway Queens 