Country, Americana, Folk, Power Pop, Indie Pop
Dori Freeman released a great self-titled album last year that received a lot of love. Teddy Thompson produced it and the two decided to work together again and the end result is a new equally amazing album called Letters Never Read. She has an incredibly voice and can write beautiful songs where modern folk songwriting gently collides with old appalachian roots music. This opener If I Could Make You My Own is the particular highlight, but the whole thing is really enjoyable.
I’ll do a quick video post, because I don’t how I’ve managed to miss this one. I think I’ve said a couple times already that I’m madly addicted to Charlie Whitten’s Playwright EP. It’s my favorite EP of the year and well also one of my biggest favorites even all things considered. The only downside is that there’s just four songs and I would love to hear more. It’s sorta 70s folk singer-songwriter stuff that is beautifully written and sounds so warm and gentle even when other emotions take control in the lyrics. Virginia is the last song on the EP and I just saw this gorgeous Public Radio Sessions live version of it from 2015 where Charlie sings it with Molly Parden. Whoever is in charge with the English vocabulary haven’t yet created an adjective that is powerful enough to express how much I love this song and the way these two present it on this video.
And you’ll find the whole EP by following this link.
The year is soon closing in and I still haven’t featured the most powerful Finnish album of 2017 even though it came out fairly early in the year on Soliti Music. I’ve struggled to find the proper words that would even remotely do justice to the fragile beauty of this album. I still haven’t found the words, but I can’t hold this back any longer. From The Bed and Beyond by Astrid Swan is a work of art and demands to be heard. The album was written in the aftermath of her breast cancer diagnose and she binds together fear, grief and hope in such a convincing manner that holding back the tears turns out to be impossible. The fragility of being a human expressed with powerful clarity and deep-rooted honesty. I love this album, but I hate that there was a reason for it to be born.
Vasas Flora och Fauna released a new album Veneziansk Afton back in September and it’s a crime that it has not been mentioned here. I’ve loved the work of Mattias Björkas since the fairly early days of Cats on Fire and I don’t expect that to ever change. Listening to Vasas Flora och Fauna always make me want to work on my Swedish language skills, because I feel like I’m missing out on part of the magic, because I can only understand about half of it. Maybe a little more by reading the lyrics. This stumbling block that my rusty Swedish created thankfully isn’t strong enough to stop these beautiful melodies reaching my heart. My favourite one on the new Vasas Flora och Fauna album is the wistfully beautiful Min Förtvivlan. Bonus point that there’s a moment in the song that makes me think of Leevi & The Leavings. Minus point because it drives me crazy that I’m not able to pinpoint the exact Leevi song. Veneziansk Afton is now out on Startracks.