Field Guide - Make Peace With That (Album Review)

October 09, 2021 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, Alternative, Indie, Singer-Songwriter

Field Guide first came to our attention back in 2019 with the Full Time EP, a disarmingly delivered quartet of songs from the open heart of singer-songwriter Dylan MacDonald. We knew that if we kept our ears to the ground, it wouldn’t be long before the Canadian returned with a full-length album and, my, my, what a very lovely thing it is. Make Peace With That mixes lo-fi elements with a spotlessly detailed vocal and a warm, careful production. Tape hisses and floor creaks are all part of the charm and, with an average song length well below three minutes, it’s also got brevity on its side, which is always alright by me.

The Boy Least Likely To - The Greatest Hits (Album Review)

November 30, 2018 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, Pop, Alternative, Indie

Even if you’ve never heard of The Boy Least Likely To, you most probably have one or two of their songs already lodged in your subconscious. Since releasing their debut album back in 2005, the duo have had tracks placed in more films, TV shows and commercials than most groups could wish for and this seventeen song best-of collection makes it easy to see why the band have such universal appeal. Musically, TBLLT are the sound of childhood, innocence and optimism in a world where a thirty second news broadcast can quite easily toss even the chirpiest among us into an abyss of depression.

The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer - Apocalipstick (Album Review)

October 17, 2017 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Alternative, Americana, Blues

Inventively named Canadian act The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer recently visited the UK to play a few shows. The name instantly gets your attention “The who’d a what now” was one version of the name I heard recently. It actually all makes perfect sense as Shawn Hall aka The Harpoonist plays harmonica (actually lots of harmonicas) and Matthew Rogers plays guitar hence The Axe Murderer. The guys were in London to support their latest release ‘Apocalipstick’ and played one of the most inventive and crowd-pleasing shows I’ve seen in quite some time. The duo, with Dawn Pemberton adding some impressively soulful vocals, really is a force of nature in a live setting. Explaining what they do doesn’t seem to do them any justice but I’ll give it a try.

Aimee Mann - Mental Illness (Album Review)

May 07, 2017 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, Folk, Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Alternative, Acoustic

Mental Illness is the sort of provocative title a rapper might choose for a record but for Aimee Mann the name of her first album in five years is a tongue-in-cheek pre-emptive strike against the critics who've always labelled her output as depressing. She is, of course, guilty as charged but it's no apology - the title should be taken as a gentle warning: Mann mines the loneliness, anxieties and complicated human relationships that can so often be the cause of our mental malaise. The songs on this record aren't fairytales; they're personal, real and, more often than not, don't have a happy ending. It's this unflinching reflection of life's various disappointments that is part of Aimee Mann's appeal. Difficult, conflicting emotions aren't neatly reconciled; regrets don't disappear overnight and sometimes things just don't turn out as planned.