Video of the Day #58: Haroula Rose

I’ve been meaning to write about folk singer-songwriter Haroula Rose’s debut album These Open Roads, but so far I haven’t found the time to do so (= I’ve been lazy). I got it through Reviewshine and it’s a really lovely album. Hopefully one day I write more about the album, but I just saw this video and had to post it at once. Free To Be Me is one of my own favourite songs of that debut album and Ové Pictures have made a really magnificent music video for the song. This is not just a video of the day. This is more like the video of the year.

Free To Be Me from Ové Pictures on Vimeo.

Haroula Rose at Bandcamp
Haroula Rose at Facebook

Ové Pictures Website

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Video of the Day #56: Dean Fields

Josh Rouse was one of my favourite artists 6-7 years ago and his albums 1972 and Nashville are classics. I haven’t been that impressed with Josh’s latest albums, but here comes an artist that reminds me of the days when Josh Rouse ruled the world. Dean Fields is his name, he comes from Richmond, Virginia and has just released his new EP Under A Searchlight Moon. Forever Never Knowing is an outtake from the new EP. A perfect blend of pop, folk and americana. The whole EP is brilliant and a welcome reminder that it is worth it to go through all those promo emails my amateurish blog gets. Most of them contain music that I don’t find that interesting, but sometimes you might find real treasures like Dean Fields.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBGQy4z7Ik]

Dean Fields Website

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Review: Snowbirds – Snowbirds

Snowbirds: Snowbirds (Self-released, 2011)

This was one of those instant love affairs. Great power pop blog Absolute Powerpop reviewed this the other week. I red the review, checked out a couple of song samples I found and instantly knew this is my kind of band and my kind of music.

Snowbirds comes from Wisconsin and just released their self-titled debut album. It’s a fabulous album full of pop melodies, mellow country sounds and beautiful singing. The music reminds me of such fantastic alt.country heroes like The Jayhawks and Grand Drive (and the verse of the song Lila Nae sounds like Jellyfish going country). Especially The Jayhawks comes to mind a couple of times and one could certainly picture Gary Louris & Mark Olson singing the chorus of Dirty Streets Of Downtown. The song material is strong throughout the record and there’s only a couple of songs that I’m not that thrilled about. The last track Shakedown is the weakest one for me. That’s an ok rocker, but nothing earth-shattering especially when compared to their wonderful americana songs that are heavy on the pedal steel and light on useless nonsense. The lyrics wouldn’t win a poetry competition, but when they are wrapped around warm country-tinged pop melodies and are injected into your veins with such a beautiful voice, they are bound to find the core of your heart. A cynical mind probably could find some kind of minor flaws, but my romantic heart loves the sound, the style and the songs. A really strong debut.

Snowbirds Website
Snowbirds at Facebook

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Video of the Day #55: Stephen Ambrose

Ok, I’m going with a song of the day once again and this one is also an old treasure. Thanks to Fading Yellow guru Jörgen for this one. He posted this on his facebook feed and I instantly fell in love with this song. Previously I had never heard of Stephen Ambrose and what a big loss that turned out to be. This song called Friend is the opening track of Stephen Ambrose’s album Gypsy Moth that came out in 1972. Some reissue label should pick it up and introduce it to the world, because it seems like this is a stunning folk album and a real lost gem.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO67LMoDAuA]

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