Album Review: King Princess, 'Hold On Baby'
"Glinting in the smouldering wreckage of a relationship is the promise of freedom, just as, in Straus’ quest for heartbreak, she has found much to celebrate."
Music
Album reviews and music features, published in Our Culture, Beautiful Freaks, and Moment Bulletin.
Album Review: MUNA, 'MUNA'
"Sounds shift like tectonic plates; synths shudder in the manner of small earthquakes, and the end of the chorus sweeps in like an eruption."
The 50 Best Albums of 2021
"Lucy Dacus has a knack for evoking the past with breathtaking precision – even if the scenes she describes are brimming with the messiness and unpredictability of adolescence."
Album Review: Silk Sonic, 'An Evening With Silk Sonic'
"This is a record that compels its listeners to devote themselves entirely to the world of funk and sentimentality that it so painstakingly produces. And if this succeeds, everything – including some ridiculous writing – begins to feel effortless."
Album Review: FINNEAS, 'Optimist'
"'Optimist' offers a set of tracks that are never adventurous enough to challenge the precedent that FINNEAS himself has set."
Album Review: Sam Fender, 'Seventeen Going Under'
"Fender’s stories don’t feel repetitive: he is skilled at examining the different shadows cast by the same looming demons."
Album Review: Villagers, 'Fever Dreams'
"O’Brien’s portrait of paradise certainly isn’t sketched in pastel colours. The magic exists in the record’s vivid hues, its psychedelic richness."
Album Review: Charli Adams, 'Bullseye'
"For all the chasms and fault lines Adams attempts to cross in these songs, there is a pleasing sense of fullness and vibrancy in even her gloomiest tales."
Album Review: JP Saxe, 'Dangerous Levels of Introspection'
"For an artist so captivated by language, it is unsurprising that Saxe places extraordinary weight on the power of a connection figured specifically in verbal terms."
Album Review: Rostam, 'Changephobia'
"For all the sonic layers with which he composes his stories, that the strands often blur together is his only downfall – but the portrait he paints is still pleasant, even if the colours run."
Album Review: Sinéad Harnett, 'Ready Is Always Too Late'
"This is R&B so smooth that it seems almost to draw out time; for all of Harnett’s self-declared alacrity, her music exudes a kind of inexorable languorousness, an ability both to advance and to pause and reflect."
R&B artist Thilo on growth, German music, and the digital age
"At the heart of Thilo's debut project lies a bare-boned kind of honesty, a championing of feeling."
Girl in Red - if i could make it go quiet
"Facing both anarchy and emptiness, it seems near impossible for Ulven to excavate her craved serenity from within the chaos."
8 German musicians to freshen up your playlist
"The opening track is a luxuriant blend of soulful riffs and acoustic guitar, creating an old-school R&B sound so indulgent your playlist could survive on these four minutes alone."
Julien Baker - Little Oblivions
"Such is the paradox Baker presents: despite the cheerlessness of these songs, there is something intensely colourful about them. They unfold like bruises blooming on delicate skin."
Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams
"Parks is skilled at drawing out abstract philosophies from her anecdotes and portraits, meaning even the smallest details become the vehicle for more extensive rumination."
Martha’s Year in Review
"More than ever, music is a source of comfort amid uncertainty, and whether unknowingly or not, many artists have created anthems that capture both the highs and the plunging lows."
Album Review: 12 - AnnenMayKantereit
"The band has created a space in which misery can grow and retreat when commanded, with shadows that linger but do not eclipse the album’s more hopeful sentiments."
Keaton Henson - Monument
"He finds a way to channel loss into an intimation of fluency. The beauty of the work does not negate his suffering, but Henson manages, deftly, exquisitely, to give his grief a voice – and that is all one can ask of an artist."
Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
"Cascades of mournful melody and electronic production ache with undisguised uncertainty, providing a melancholy undertone to what lies ahead."
Bruno Major - To Let a Good Thing Die
"Liberated from any restrictions of the music industry by virtue of his status as an independent artist, Major’s creativity soars .His true feat with this record is in offering both the glory of the bigger picture and the profound joy of small discoveries."
Jeremy Zucker - love is not dying
"As layers of synth and vocals surge and fade, Zucker evokes sonically the luminous orange sky pictured on the cover of the album; I get the feeling while listening to these tracks that the sun has set and risen many times."
The Artist As a Recluse: From Kate Bush to Keaton Henson
"Music industry fame is, after all, of a curiously corrupting kind. Far too often we see artists reach the most awe-inspiring points in their careers before becoming utterly overwhelmed by publicity and pressure."
Gold Baby + EB - The Library, Oxford
"The drum-heavy rawness of their sound is difficult to dislike; their lyrics span heartbreak, memory, and even the unique struggles of female musicians, a topic much appreciated in today’s industry and brilliantly expressed."
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