Philippe Bronchtein, Holly Arrowsmith, M G Boulter & Doug Paisley

Following yesterday’s footsteps. It’s another trip around the world (or well some English speaking countries). This time in a slightly folkier setting.

We shall begin from Nashville, Tennessee. Philippe Bronchtein left Portland and the moniker Hip Hatchet behind and is now living in Nashville and releasing wonderful music under his own name. He has a new album Me and the Moon coming out on the 5th of October. The lead single and title track of the album surfaced a couple of weeks ago and it’s one of my favourite songs of this fall. I can’t wait to hear the full album in a few weeks. You can pre-order CD/casette from his website.

Philippe Bronchtein Website

Time to travel to Christchurch, New Zealand and spend an afternoon in the garden with the great folk singer-songwriter Holly Arrowsmith. Her second full-length A Dawn I Remember came out on the 22nd of June and it’s a really beautiful folk album with powerful songwriting. Here’s the album opener The Gardener. Follow the links on the Bandcamp player to hear/buy the whole remarkable album.

Holly Arrowsmith

Moving on to UK where folk songwriter M G Boulter and string quartet The Froe joined forces and created a compelling and beautiful EP called Blood Moon. It came out on the 31st of August on Hudson Records. I’m somewhat obsessed with the song Frances Forlorn, but maybe it’s better to go with stunning title track on this little blog post.

M G Boulter Website

Last stop Toronto, Canada. Travelling wears one down, so time to rest our minds and hearts by drinking with our dear friend Doug Paisley. Oh well, actually this Drinking With a Friend contains some heavy pondering, so it might not lift the spirit of the worn down traveller. Except that it does, because it’s an amazing song and the first outtake from Doug Paisley’s forthcoming album Starter Home that is due out on the 2nd of November. That’s going to be a late entry to the amazing 2018 album vault, so keep a slot open on your albums of the year list.

Doug Paisley Website

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Lac Belot, Future States, Monnone Alone & The Wave Pictures

Tonight we’ll take a quick trip around the wondrous and magical pop world.

We shall begin our journey from Finland, because there should be a national holiday scheluded for this Friday in order to properly welcome Lac Belot’s magical debut full-length into the world. Here’s the latest single Friendly Beast from one of the finest Finnish albums of recent years. The album ABRACADABRA! is out on the 28th of September on Solina Records.

Lac Belot at Facebook

Moving on to Canada. I already posted the b-side Bugaboo of this single by Future States a couple of months ago. Still love that wonderfully arranged, warm and beautiful slice of pop heaven, but hey the a-side Heaven also rules the world and all other universes and there’s a music video for it too. The digital single is out on Golden Brown.

Future States Website

Let’s row the boat across the pacific and listen to the new marvellous and super catchy Monnone Alone single Cut Knuckle. Monnone Alone is a pop group from Melbourne, Australia and it’s led by ex-Lucksmiths member Mark Monnone. The new single is the first outtake from Monnone Alone’s second album Summer of the Mosquito, due out sometime in 2019.

Monnone Alone at Facebook

Last but not least we stop in London UK where the insanely prolific pop group The Wave Pictures is currently getting ready to release their second album of the year. While waiting for that to drop into our hearts, let’s stare at The Little Window with Dave Tattersall and co. This one is from their earlier 2018 album Brushes With Happiness.

The Wave Pictures Website

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St. Lenox – Hashtag Brooklyn Karaoke Party (single/video)

The music of St. Lenox has been a huge thing in my world during the past month and now we are finally approaching the release of his gorgeous album Ten Fables of Young Ambition and Passionate Love. The album is due out next Friday on the 28th of September on Anyway Records. The latest single First Date is on the new weekly playlist, but here’s the one from last week companied with another lovely music video. Besides making unique and inspiring pop songs, St. Lenox masters this visual thing equally well. Of course together with the director Elliot Lyman. I hope I manage to write a proper piece about the album during the next few weeks, but meanwhile you can investigate the science of love with the help of this tremendous song/video combo for the album opener Hashtag Brooklyn Karaoke Party.

St. Lenox Website

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Grand Salvo – In The Water (song)

One of my most anticipated albums for these last months of 2018 is the new Grand Salvo album Sea Glass that will drop into our hearts on the 2nd of November. Paddy Mann from Melbourne, Australia is an extraordinary songwriter and I’m sure this new album will be one of the finest of the year. It will be released by Mistletone. Grand Salvo never plays it safe and the first single from the forthcoming album is this exceptional, epic and beautifully arranged 10 minutes long baroque folk song In The Water. This is so serene, beautiful and devastatingly sad. Incredible song. Listen to In the Water below and check out the latest single on the new weekly playlist that I posted earlier today.

A lovely live version of the same song from On Random TV.

Grand Salvo Website

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