End Of The Road Records’ flagship band, The Young Republic, have returned with their second album. Stuffed full with virtuoso performances and the kind of epic orchestral arrangements not seen since The Arcade Fire’s debut. Balletesque has all of the hard-hitting edge of their debut 12 Tales From Winter City but is even more glorious for its complexity and softness.
Category: Reviews
Album: Boo Hewerdine – God Bless the Pretty Things
Firmly grounded in folk and country, with harmonies that would be perfectly at home on a porch swing in the deep south, Boo Hewerdine’s latest album is a sweet stroll through life, love and the like. That said, this dude doesn’t sit comfortably in a musical box. He’s a wanderer when it comes to musical styles, and that makes for an album of kaleidoscopic shade and tone.
Album: A.A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Loose
Ten years since Scott Bondy and his band Verbena caught the eye of grunge legend Dave Grohl, who then produced their second album (the averagely received Into the Pink), an older and (perhaps) more mature Bondy has released his second album under the name A.A. Bondy, When the Devil’s Loose.
EP: Treetop Flyers — To Bury the Past
Reid Morrison’s gentle, yearning voice opens this timeless gem of an EP as he introduces the troubled protagonist of ‘Mountain Song’, before raw guitar and subtle harmonies melt into the beautifully crafted tale, and rather than burying the past, this London-based band marrying minds from both sides of the Atlantic effortlessly transport you to a different musical time and place entirely.
In pictures: End of the Road festival
End Of The Road festival returned in its fourth year with more magic and sparkle than ever before. All of the old favourites were there, including the secret disco, hidden piano lounge and of course the free-roaming people-loving peacocks.
EP: Withered Hand – You’re Not Alone
Withered Hand’s gnarly name reflects his sound perfectly – warts and all folk music that’s more world-weary than we will ever be.
Album: Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
She may have lost the Mercury Prize to a Sarf Landener who don’t get emotional but perhaps quite ironically Lisa Hannigan has created a debut solo album that is ethereally soft and floaty and packed to the rafters with the stuff.
Single: Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man
Fans of Mumford and Sons have waited a painfully long time for their debut album, Sigh No More, which is finally due for release on 5th October. One week before, the waistcoat-sporting gents will release the single “Little Lion Man”. We can all breathe a collective sigh of musical relief.
Single: Fanfarlo – The Walls are Coming Down
Fanfarlo’s newest single, from the magnificent album Reservoir, might have something rather pertinent to say to our suited and booted friends in the city:
“They swallowed it whole, they went for the gold, for the gold / We fall for the same lies we all have the same shoes to fit / The preachers and books of your empire will fight here alone / Some day the will be forgotten and die one by one”
Album: Múm – Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know
There must be a name for the act of singing along to songs you don’t know. It’s the sort of silly thing that academics deem worthy of giving a name to. The sort of thing they report on in the ‘And Finally…’ section on Sky News. Maybe if there isn’t a name for it we should give it one now. And maybe, if we’re to do that, we should call it ‘múmming’ in honour of the new album by Múm.