Joey Kneiser, Aaron Lee Tasjan & Jeffrey Foucault
Catching up by posting some wonderful music videos. First we have Joey Kneiser and the lyric video for his excellent song Heaven Only Wants Us Once We’re Dead. It’s an outtake from his 2015 album The Wildness, which was one of my top 10 picks for the year. The song, the album, the video are all monstrously highly recommended.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=9JPRF2al2iQ]
Next up is Aaron Lee Tasjan and his new music video for the song Don’t Walk Away. I think it actually premiered on the same day as Joey’s video some weeks ago. Excellent stuff once again from ALT.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=JGTUvYl7JJs]
And last but not least, Jeffrey Foucault and the song Slow Talker from his gorgeous 2015 album Salt as Wolves.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=GX6Ir_G5EgE]
Rayland Baxter – Soho EP
Rayland Baxter recently dropped a new Soho EP that contains four stripped-down versions of songs from his really good Imaginary Man album and a My Morning Jacket cover Bermuda Highway. The lo-fi twat in me fully approves these raw and bare new versions and actually probably prefers them over the album takes. These sound absolutely marvellous to my ears and in some weird way stripping these down has lifted them up to an ever higher level. This is Soho EP version of a great song called Yellow Eyes.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=GiBSnOBy2uk]
Swaying Wires – I Left a House Burning
Swaying Wires kickstarted the year in great fashion when this beauty of an album came out 15th of January on a UK-based label Battle Wordwide. It’s been fun to see a wonderful Finnish album getting good press in places like Sunday Times and Popmatters. That doesn’t happen too often. All the recognition is totally deserved as well. I think I already did love the first demo, but in this case it hasn’t been only downfall since then. They are getting better all the time. I Left a House Burning sounds richer and more colourful without losing that gentle, dreamy beauty of it. Oh and the vocals. Absolutely mesmerizing. This is Suddenly from the new Swaying Wires album.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cLp_cLzvrGI]
Jeremy Squires – Shadows
February 2016 has been a good month for new music. Several of my personal favourites have released new music. North Carolinian Jeremy Squires is one of them. I become a big fan a couple of years back when his Central Nervous Station EP and When Will You Go album combo won my heart over. His new album Shadows came out last friday on Shaker Steps that has expanded into a little label. Previously I’ve seen them provide some excellent music videos and Doc is obviously a great tunesmith himself as well.
Shadows is fragile, dark and beautiful folk album that isn’t afraid to deal with difficult personal issues. Listening to it might hurt for a while, but it won’t let those gloomy shadows drag me down. There’s also a certain almost unexplainable gentle warm humanity present even during the darkest of moments and in the end that’s what stays with me overshadowing the melancholy. This is Your Love from the new Jeremy Squires album Shadows.