Darren Hanlon – Where Did You Come From? & Ben Mason – She’d Need a Heart
A couple of Australian gents on this little blog entry. First we have the legendary pop troubadour Darren Hanlon. A man who can create a moving pop song about pretty much any subject. I’m a long time fan and therefore I’m really ashamed that it took me this long to write a few words about his new excellent album Where Did You Come From?. This is not his most instant album, but definitely a rewarding one. For example Letter From an Australian Mining Town is such a gorgeous song. Same can be said about the first single When You Go. I could marry the moment where Darren sings “you always take the madness when you go”. Where Did You Come From? is now out and available on Yep Roc in the USA and on Darren’s Flippin Yeah Industries in the rest of the world.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyi19WZ_zmw]
Ben Mason and his album She’d Need a Heart is a new favourite that just came out in early June, 2015. Ben used to play in The Smallgoods. I was somewhat familiar with them, but the first couple of solo albums had slipped through my not-that-good pop knowledge. It looks like Ben has also covered the whole Odessey & Oracle album by The Zombies. I have to listen to that one day, because it’s one of the best albums ever released. The new one was produced by a hero of mine Adam Selzer and also features a bunch of other favourite musician from groups like The Decemberists, Death Cab For Cutie and The Delines. However, this namedropping wouldn’t take me anywhere, if the songs and the record weren’t any good. No worries though. Ben Mason has written a really good album. In a way it takes me to the 60s orchestral pop or why not even baroque pop a’la The Left Banke, but somehow it still feels and sounds very modern. Perhaps that contrast is one of the things that makes it so captivating. There’s not an individual track that could perfectly capture the whole beauty of this record and I fully recommend listening to this from the first note to the last. However, to get you hooked, this is the beautiful title track from the album She’d Need a Heart.
Vasas Flora och Fauna – Släkt med Lotta Svärd
No Sideways for me. I’m spending the night at home with my cat and we are listening to Mattias Björkas and I couldn’t be happier about this. Of course, I do have a slight issue with Vasas flora och fauna. My Swedish skills have never been very good and these days those skills are just downright awful. Knowing how good lyrics Mattias can write and not being able to fully understand.. well that hurts a little. Still, you couldn’t create a language barrier that would stop that voice from entering into my heart. Me and Mattias. We have a lifelong connection. Yeah, it’s only onesided, but it’s there. The hours, days and months of listening to Cats On Fire formed that connection and nowadays his songwriting and vocal delivery are part of who I am. That might sound rather silly and naive, but that’s how I often like to think. The music that I fall in love with, kind of becomes a part of who I am.
Before this little blog entry becomes 100% man crush (ok, it probably already is), I should say that Vasas Flora & Fauna is not a one man show. Iiris Viljanen wrote the album with Mattias and also sings a major part of the lead vocals on the album. Iiris left the band after the recordings, but no worries, the new recruit Tina Kärkinen (Swaying Wires) is a perfect replacement and more than capable of handling those female lead vocals.
The album Släkt med Lotta Svärd is now out and available on the excellent Swedish label Startracks. This is the latest single Gudförälder from this lovely album.
Christopher Paul Stelling – Labor Against Waste
Christopher Paul Stelling signed a deal with ANTI- a while back and his new record Labor Against Waste will hit our hearts on 16th of June. I’ve been eagerly waiting for this one and for example today I watched this video for the song Dear Beast about ten times in a row. A great song and a very impressive delivery of a great song. Straight into the soul.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NGw6RhuGoo]
And here’s another excellent song from the forthcoming album called Scarecrow.
Binoculers – Adapted To Both Shade And Sun
Hamburg-based songwriter Nadja Rüdebusch operates under the moniker Binoculers. She has a new Binoculers album Adapted To Both Shade And Sun ready to drop into my heart on 19th of June. I have high expectations for this one, because the previous album There Is Not Enough Space In The Dark was such a beauty. There’s a couple of songs already out there from the forthcoming album. The song Contrails is available on her Bandcamp (free download). You’ll find the other two below, Bow and Arrow and the music video for the song Where the Water Is Black.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lm2PsMHS20]