Things Will Change feels both familiar and refreshing. Familiar because folk, country and rock traditions are discernable throughout, and refreshing because of the exceptional song writing that melds these genres together. Reid Morrison’s voice is soft and rough, harmonised backing…
Category: Reviews
Album: Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
Okkervil River’s I Am Very Far has an immediate quality that affirms the album’s title. Reverb and echo give the listener a sense that they are hearing a message that has come from either at a great distance, or that…
Live: Villagers @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 21/05/2011
This gig did not start well, given that the average height of the audience seemed to be about 6’2”. As someone who normally can’t stand those idiots who prefer to enjoy gigs through the screens of their cameras and iPhones,…
Album: Anna Waronker – California Fade
Former That Dog frontwoman Anna Waronker has kept fans waiting for her second solo album. While a little acting and film scoring may have got in the way, it’s nine years since her debut Anna was released, and no matter…
Album: Dodos – No Color
Dodos are one of those bands who dangle in musical purgatory, regarded highly enough to have fans but not enough to have fanfare. This is a real shame because the quality of songs on their debut release Visitor and sophomore…
Album: Rubik – Solar
We’ll admit we don’t follow the Finnish music scene that closely, but were any of us to do so, we’d find Rubik somewhere near the top of the pile. Solar, released here in the UK only now, has already been…
Live: The Woods in Spring @ Komedia, Brighton
As we arrived at Komedia and went upstairs to their biggest room for the first of a series of four events running throughout the year, it became clear that The Woods was not your ordinary gig. Through a magical door…
Live: Alessi’s Ark @ The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
This is far from the first time FFS has seen Alessi Laurent-Marke perform live, but it might as well be. The shy girl whose last two gigs in Leeds were the lowest of low-key affairs in the corner of a…
Album: Austra – Feel It Break
Having been around the Toronto music scene as a solo artist and a member of the band Galaxy, as well as collaborating with a number of other artists, Latvian-Canadian Katie Stelmanis is now fronting so-called electro-goth trio, Austra. There’s no…
Album: The Antlers – Burst Apart
The Antlers’ last release, 2009’s Hospice, was many things – a story of love and loss, a tragedy, an allegory, a (say it softly) concept album – and could be described in many ways – emotional, heartwrenching, shattering, beautiful. To…