Grimes - Art Angels

Grimes’ long-awaited new album is finally here. Claire Boucher delivers once more. Just looking at the album art, a terrifying illustration of an entrancing three-eyed girl crying tears of blood, this album will deliver just as much of a curve-ball as Visions did. The collaborations confirm this, with tracks that feature the RnB darling Janelle Monae and another one with Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes. Typically, it’s confusing, it’s eclectic, and it’s 100% Grimes.

Art Angel marks a definite shift in direction for the Canadian singer. Featuring everything from dramatically orchestral pieces (laughing without being normal sounds as if it’s been taken directly from a movie soundtrack) to the Graceland-inspired opening for Butterfly. One particularly surprising change is the sunshine and sugar-infused California; it’s how Grimes would sound if Simon Cowell produced her and she had her own brand of below-average perfume. It’s not the paradox that we expect with Grimes: predictably original. It’s electro pop, pure and unashamed.  It would be an alright song had anybody else done it, but for Grimes, it leaves you a little flat.

The whole album is far catchier than Visions; there are discernible verses and choruses, and you’re unwittingly drawn in so that before you know it, you’re on a tennis court in a Victorian wedding dress re-enacting the Flesh Without Blood video. Art Angel has an undeniable energy to it that bounds along from track to track like an excited puppy that bounds off in the park and drags you along on the lead. Realiti is a particularly stand-out track, with typically beautiful, dark, twisted and fantastical lyrics like ‘when we were young, we used to live so close to it/And we were scared that you were beautiful/And when I peered over the edge and seen death, if we are always the same’. 

Seeming non-sequitors suddenly assume an utterly new meaning when put in the context of this brilliantly ascending track, climbing higher and higher. In spite of its name, it almost transcends reality.

It’s different, but brilliant. It’s pop-y, but perfect. It’s great, so it’s definitely Grimes.

Oh Wonder

Photo: Allmusic

The London-based duo may have only just released their debut album, but they are pretty much pros in the music biz by this stage. Releasing one track every month for a year, Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht created a gradual hype that has built and built around them: a much-deserved hype that continues to grow, selling out shows in New York, Amsterdam and London even before the release of the album. That is, if nothing else, impressive for a rookie band from The Big Smoke.

With beats and synth reminiscent of Jungle, Oh Wonder pose a similarly difficult-to-pigeon-hole conundrum. The duo also employ the same tactic of double-tracking their vocals, both singing simultaneously. However, the contrast in timbre between the male and female voices allows far more room for experimentation, and they use this to their advantage. It stands out particularly well in simpler tracks like All We Do, adding variety and interest to an otherwise simply produced track.

Oh Wonder possess the handy knack of knowing how much is too much, and when to ease off. In Lose It, the introductory piano becomes the foundation on which they build the rest of the track, with layers drifting in and out as necessary; drums are built up and reduced throughout, synth becomes an ornament rather than a necessary part of the track, and the sparse bridge is the perfect lead-up to the chorus. It's everything a pop song needs to be: catchy, restrained and then loose in all the right places.

The lyrical content of the album is beautifully optimistic; take Landslide, for example. Once you brush aside the immediate Fleetwood Mac associations, you realise it's a rather lovely song of encouragement. Lyrics like 'I know your hope is heavy/But you'll get over it/You'll find another life to live' are supported and carried perfectly by the instrumental parts. The beat of Midnight Moon picks you up and takes you with it; the opening lyrics 'You with the wide eyes, don't lose your courage', along with the repeated last word, might be rather generic, but the crafting of the lyrics around the beat refreshes the old technique and draws you in.

To sum up Oh Wonder in three words: simplistic, minimalistic, and actually rather sweet. Oh Wonder definitely isn't a misnomer. If anything, it's an invitation.

Rating: 7/10

Recommended tracks:
Livewire
Without You
Technicolour Beat

The Maccabees - Marks To Prove It

After a dry spell of nearly 4 years, the Maccabees are finally back. Following their widely praised reappearance at Glastonbury, they are definitely, certainly, undeniably, back.

Marks To Prove It is a testament to what The Maccabees can do when they cut loose. The album was brought about after four years of creative stagnation, unsure of how to follow the ethereally layered Given To The Wild, and they've found the answer in unashamedly turning their backs from their previous work and embracing a more nocturnal, haunting quality that they've found.

It's a very self-contained album, kicking off with the rawness of the title track; every song, from the beautiful and heart-wrenching River Song to the unexpectedly tragic Something Like Happiness, ties and flows in to one another. The band relies on the stripped-back pianos in Spit It Out and Silence to provide a tenderness, although far from feeling worn or clichéd as a device, it adds the perfect amount of emotional sensitivity to the songs.

The album brings to light a darker, more thoughtful side of The Maccabees. Even the title of the song WW1 Portraits demonstrates a broadening of their material, which pays off. There's no pretending to be the nation's sweetheart band; there's a brutal candidness contained with the simplicity of the lyrics 'just so beautiful', repeated throughout the song and most notably at a point when you think the band are about to break down into their trademark guitar-heavy, high-flying vocals bridge, but which remains at the same volume level as singer Orlando Weeks' murmured intro.

Lead singer Orlando Weeks

The feel of the other tracks grounds the album in the band's native Elephant and Castle in its frankness: it doesn't pretend to be bubbly and upbeat, as Toothpaste Kisses was, because it isn't. Songs like Ribbon Road may, from the title, promise a certain amount of alliterative joy in the way it rolls of your tongue, but the rolling drums and darker, crunching chords undercut Weeks' soaring voice.

Yes, Marks To Prove It is absolutely nothing like Given To The Wild. Yes, it will be a disappointment to fans who were expecting it to be. No, this is not a bad thing. In fact, it couldn't be better.

Rating: 8/10

Recommended tracks:
River Song
Dawn Chorus
Spit It Out

Lianne La Havas - Blood

With her 2012 debut Is Your Love Big Enough?, Lianne La Havas took everyone by surprise, including herself; the titular track from her debut claims 'never thought it would happen/But I found myself in a secondhand guitar'. Ya know what, Lianne? We're so glad you did.

Where Is Your Love Big Enough? was a very raw portrayal of heartbreak, Blood displays a distance that shows how much La Havas has grown up. Wonderful and Good Goodbye are beautiful not only in their composition but their forgiveness and maturity. La Havas' voice transports the listener to a place that's built on the purest strain of each emotion, and when you arrive with her you can't help but cry at how beautiful and terrifying this place is. La Havas is far from your typical Identikit female singer-songwriter who plays guitar, and the sheer purity of her voice and lyrics is enough to prove this.

The trick to La Havas is that she doesn't dwell on one aspect for too long. Although she is undeniably brilliant at the more elegiac songs, she injects beautifully unexpected punches into her tracks that make her music so hard to pin down: the horns in Green & Gold that provides funk for the chorus and a floating melody for the bridge; Never Get Enough starts off as a typically acoustic guitar-driven song, with the unexpected feedback of an electric guitar kicking in for the chorus, shifting effortlessly between the two for the rest of the song; the reverb on 'turn' halfway through Grow; the entrancing intro of Unstoppable that shifts effortlessly to the wonderful pop song it is. Lianne La Havas is much more than a soul singer, but it doesn't do to pigeon-hole her. We'll only end up confused.

With many artists, there's a tendency to abandon completely what made them famous in the first place. With Blood, La Havas recognises that her guitar makes her special, and every song is carried in some way by this. Everything from Unstoppable, which expands to the size of a galaxy as it goes on, to Midnight, is upheld in some part by the familiar pangs of a guitar. Far from inhibiting the development of her songs, these two examples alone show how it merely provides a platform for La Havas to make dazzling leaps and bounds in development.

I don't think we even need to mention the sheer bedazzling power and range of her voice. She's astounding.

Lianne La Havas crept onto the scene in 2012. Blood boldly pushes the door open, proclaiming her presence.

Rating: 8/10

Recommended tracks:
Unstoppable
Green & Gold
Never Get Enough

Florence + the Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Coachella, Glastonbury, an incredible new album: 2015 is Florence Welch's year. She's moving effortlessly from height to height without even pausing to take a look around at the distance she's covered. It's impressive, scary, and oh so pleasing to watch.

Anyone who attended a school disco between the years of 2009 and 2011 will remember You've Got The Love blasting out at full volume at the end of the night to calm down all the crazy 14 year olds, high on too much coca cola and large amounts of over-enthusiastic dancing. When Welch released her debut, Lungs, there wasn't a critic out there who didn't consider the double-edged sword that such a masterpiece presented; 

it was a marvel of an album, but was problematic in terms of posing the question 'so where can she go from here?' Onwards and upwards, my friends.

The beauty of HBHBHB is that it switches seamlessly between huge, confusing, anthemic organised messes like Ship To Wreck, Queen of Peace and Mother, to quieter, more considered tracks like Various Storms and Saints, St Jude and Caught. It's an album of contrasts that exaggerate and reinforce their opposites, not forcefully or clumsily, but skilfully, as though Florence is weaving a bigger picture, encouraging us to step back and look at it instead of examining the details in the individual tracks. HBHBHB takes us back to a time when music was just as much about the experience of an album as the hit songs it contained.

Not only does it present to us a wider picture, but this picture is clearly deeply personal to its painter. Lyrically, HBHBHB is moving and considerate. What Kind of Man deplores a tempestuous love affair, presenting us with Florence's insight that seems to contain the wisdom of a kung fu master as she bitterly spits 'sometimes you're half in and then you're half out/But you never close the door'. The titular track explores the excitement of a new relationship, setting in our laps such a killer opening line as 'between a crucifix and the Hollywood sign, we decided to get hurt'. In bringing her own feelings and experiences to her songwriting, Florence creates a mysticism even deeper and esoteric than tales of self-sacrifice in Rabbit Heart, or demon lovers in Howl. 

Welch also seems to have grown apart from the hippy trippy persona she had been given by the media. Although she remains an ethereal being not worthy of our earthly praises, the instrumentation of her tracks has developed far beyond the odd harp and some heavy timpani. She utilises the brass section much more frequently, and even when she has the normal line-up of guitar, bass, piano, drums, she makes it work to her advantage. Take Delilah, for example. The multi-tracked vocals provide far more texture, where the strings and piano add atmosphere to the pounding drums. As the song builds and swirls, more and more instruments put in their tuppence worth to make Delilah one of the most beautiful and dance-inducing tracks on the album.

If there were doubts that Florence was up to headlining Glastonbury, this album surely proves that not only is she up to it, she surpasses all expectations. We bow before you, our ginger-haired queen.

Rating: 9/10

Recommended tracks:

Delilah

Mother

Ship To Wreck

Glastonbury 2015

Source: Wikipedia

After so many years of gazing longingly at the BBC coverage of Glastonbury, sitting warm and dry on my sofa at home, the Eavis' gigantic creation always seemed like a bit of a myth. Couple that with the astronomical ticket prices and the fact that they sell out within minutes, actually going never quite seemed like it was on the cards. Glastonbury was always a far-off fairy tale which changed with each telling, like a folk story passed down through generations, the true meaning always shrouded in mystery. However, with 200,000 people there, the experience itself was sharply real and not at all mysterious.

First off, I would like to make something very clear: the mud is not exaggerated. Although 2015 was relatively dry compared to recent years, the tramping of huge crowds up and down the huge site meant that the mud remained and was impossible to escape, However muddy or cold or rainy it was though, this did not dampen the spirits of either the crowds or the bands. There was always a smiling face wherever you looked, and a cheerful word said in passing. The spirit of Glastonbury is so communal and welcoming that it's impossible to feel like an outsider; the hippie origins of the festival have survived in its open-mindedness towards complete and utter strangers, and everyone is willing to have the best possible time with the best possible people, whoever they might be.

Source: Wikipedia

A few of the more difficult things about Glastonbury are (a) the crowds and (b) the size of it. We'll deal with (a) first. When there are 200,000 people all crammed into one space, all desperate to see the same things at the same time, it's an understatement to say that moving around is a wee bit tricky. Getting anywhere near the front of the Pyramid stage is a challenge of enormous size, unless you're willing to sharpen your elbows and push your way to the front, or you fore-go all calls of nature for the entire day, be they stomach or otherwise related. Ok now onto (b). The site is 900 acres. That's many many acres to be trudging from one end to the other throughout the day and night in desperate attempts to see all the bands you want to and soak in every last bit of the festival that you can. It is, therefore, impossible to do and see everything. Although this does mean that your legs ache by Monday morning, it's worth it to see the huge range of people, acts and entertainment that there are at Glastonbury. However if you do want to avoid running up and down 900 acres of farmland, pick the things that you really want to do and spread them out on different days so you do the things that are close together all on one day. It saves a lot of necessary leg-power.

Source: Wikipedia

And as for the music, I don't know if I can talk about it all here. Literally whatever you are into, there will be something for you, guaranteed. From Burt Bacharach to Jungle, Lionel Richie to Slaves, Glastonbury is the definition of 'something for everyone'. Some stages are dedicated to certain genres, such as Leftfield and The Park, and others, like the Other Stage and the John Peel Stage, cater to huge ranges of tastes, from the rising stars to old hats. Seeing as you pay so much for a ticket, you are given a free guide to the festival upon arrival, outlining the schedules for the weekend and allowing you to plan out what you want to see and where you want to go. One thing in common for all artists performing is how thankful they are to be there. They all recognise the cultural importance of Glastonbury Festival, and all know how lucky they are to be performing their music to thousands upon thousands of people, and to watch them give thanks to the audience in the middle of a set is
rather beautiful, especially when it's as heartfelt and genuine as they all were.

Where would a festival review be without a couple of highlights, eh? Patti Smith bringing the Dalai Lama on-stage so a crowd of at least 50,000 could sing him happy birthday for his upcoming 80th birthday. A man dressed in a mantaray costume running around the stage at Slaves for their song Feed The Mantaray. Kanye West flying above the crowd on a crane. Florence placing a flower crown on an adoring fan's head whilst singing 'this is a gift'. George Ezra's dad handing him his guitar for his change-over. FKA Twigs' insanely beautiful outfit. Wolf Alice's not-so-secret set on Thursday evening. Pussy Riot acting out overthrowing an advocate of Putin's regime whilst standing on top of a huge Russian tank. Jamie T joining The Maccabees for their song Marks To Prove It. Everything about The Who. Years & Years' frontman's beautiful rainbow besequined top to mark London Pride. There are far far more than I can put here, which just goes to show the absolutely high standards of the festival itself.

In spite of having just written rather a long review of the festival, I'm speechless in thinking of a way to sum it up, so I'll do it in three words. Just. Fucking. Go.

Shura

Source: Allmusic

One of the (many/thousands/bajillions) of reasons why Shura is so admirable, both in her music and work ethic, is that she does everything herself. Not only does she sing, but she produces, remixes and shoots her own music videos; in a world where it's only too easy to ring up the expert to get the job done quickly and easily, it's astounding that she still has the energy left to write the damn songs. The west London gal has gained critical acclaim very quickly, not just from the BBC's Sound of 2015, but from fellow Shepherd's Bush pals Jungle, as well as Chloe Moretz and Huw Stephens. The world is currently awaiting the release of her debut album, which, if her recent tracks are anything to go by, will most certainly not disappoint.

There's a fabulous mystery to Shura in that she's everywhere and yet nowhere all at once. The swirling, gorgeous build of songs like Touch gradually fills the space, but the very low-key production and whispering beauty of her voice mean that it remains just on the edge of your consciousness whilst you're listening to it, and seeps gradually in to your awareness. She pops up for the first few seconds of her video for Touch, and then not a trace of her can be found for the rest of it. Her songs are almost gloriously introverted, just the kind of music that proper headphones were invented for. This is added to by the fact that she produces all of her songs in her bedroom, it's where, she says, 'they start out as little ideas and forays into craziness'. It adds that irreplaceable personal touch to her music that adds to the meticulous care taken over everything, and what draws us in.

Source: Allmusic

Just Once is, quite honestly, one of the best songs about one night stands that doesn't involve the phrases 'all night long', 'baby right there' or 'timber'. It's strikingly similar to Daughter's Amsterdam in that it's quite tragic in its depiction of the need for human company to break the monotony of unbearable loneliness. The rising synth motif and the tentative question 'have you ever been lost' is quite plaintive in its reverberating subtlety, but as it fades out it you're left feeling unfulfilled, in need of so much more. Unfortunately, the only song available to buy from Shura is Indecision, and it's far bolder and surer (haha, so punny) of itself than the other tracks. It starts off with a echoey, clear drum, swiftly followed by a very clear synth line that's lightly and briefly decorated with a beautiful falling phrase that's soon swallowed up by the vocals. It's put together so masterfully, and the lyrics are such a good example of master-crafted banality interwoven with emotional insight, you can't help but bop along.

Not only does Shura do her own tracks beautifully, she adorns other people's absolutely wonderfully. Well, more than adorn. Complete, really. Her collaborations with Hiatus (a.k.a. Cyrus Shahad) are the most astounding example of how two artists can work together to utilise the best of what the other has, not just to name drop. The close harmonies on Cloud City are - I don't know, I've used up all of the positive superlatives in my vocabulary. All I'll say is you have to hear it to believe it.

The delicate certainty with which Shura operates is worthy of much more attention than she has received so far. Her songs are arresting in their simplicity, and all I can say is that I want so much more from her before this year is out. Watch this space

Rating: 9/10

Recommended tracks:

Touch

We Can Be Ghosts Now (actually Hiatus ft Shura)

Just Once