Courtney Marie Andrews has been one of my biggest favourites during the past few years. Leuven Letters EP and the album Honest Life are heralded as stone cold classics in this household and therefore I’m thrilled that she has a new album out and available. The album May Your Kindness Remain came out on the 23rd of March on Loose Music (Europe) and Fat Possum Records/ Mama Bird Recording Co (USA) and it’s able to live up to my sky high expectations.

May Your Kindness Remain is more intense and soulful than its predecessor. I try to live an honest life, so I admit that personally I maybe prefer the down-to-earth sound of Honest Life. Not that I really love this any less, so don’t take that as a complaint. After all, why write the same record over and over again, if you can push yourself towards new horizons without losing any of the brilliance. And quite frankly, Courtney Marie Andrews masters these new soulful heights with perfection and sounds even more confident and convincing than ever before. Her storytelling is emotionally charged and profoundly compelling. The characters of her songs have their flaws and their share of different struggles. Some might even be deep in sorrow, but she tells their stories with empathy, kindness and warmth. That deep empathy and warmhearted kindness is what really shines through. I’m super good at letting myself get wrapped into stressful anxieties and records like this lift these shadows from my heart. This new Mark Howard produced album is powerful and beautiful and a further proof that Courtney Marie Andrews is one of the finest songwriters at the moment. Here’s a couple of personal favorites, but you really need to hear the whole thing.

Courtney Marie Andrews Website

The new Nap Eyes album I’m Bad Now is now out on Paradise Of Bachelors / Jagjaguwar / You’ve Changed Records. They are a fabulous Canadian rock band and this is their third full-length. All of them are rather superb and I highly recommend listening to the whole catalogue. Random namedropping don’t do justice to the great Nap Eyes, because it’s blissfully abnormal indie rock. However, if you want some reference points, I guess it’s somewhere in the same ball park with The Only Ones / Peter Perrett, Lou Reed, Modern Lovers and The Rollstons. Here’s a couple of personal favorites from the new album. Allow them to lure you into the intriguing and fascinating world of Nigel Chapman. It’s a rewarding journey.

Nap Eyes at Facebook

Evan Cheadle just released a new EP Chasing Shadows and it’s a rather special treasure if you have any interest towards things like psychedelic folk and baroque pop. And well who doesn’t. I’m all in and I’m thinking of re-subscribing the Shindig! Magazine while listening to this. I already really enjoyed the Make Your Way album I purchased a year or two ago, but I suppose in a way that was a rough sketch of brilliance and Chasing Shadows is the actual brilliance. On the new EP, his folk and country blues songs have taken further strides towards psych folk and baroque pop and the beautiful arrangements add a new charming layer to the music. Chasing Shadows was produced by Ryan Boldt (The Deep Dark Woods) and it’s now out and available on Big White Cloud Records.

Evan Cheadle Website