Beyond The 45
Singles, EPs, Downloads
The Fatea office also serves as a home for our weekly Along The Tracks show on Blues & Roots Radio and as a rule singles and Eps have generally gone in that direction whilst Fatea generally concentrates on albums and live reviews for our full length feature, but with more artists going back down the single route to keep themselves in the public eye, we thought it was time to reflect that in our offerings and as rules are made to be broken or at the very least adapted, welcome to the Singles Round Up.
Charm of Finches - Treading Water
charmoffinchesband.com
The third single recently from Australian band Charm of Finches is another dreamy folk pop delight. The Laurel Canyon feel is even more pronounced on this song than on the earlier singles. Once again from their album 'Wonderful Oblivion', which if you haven't got it yet, you need to. Ivy and Mabel Windred-Wornes are one of my best discoveries this year and should be yours too. Music for a Sunday morning that works just as well anytime.TM
Lizzy Hardingham - Pendle Hill
www.lizzyhardingham.com
Having praised her last single 'Carousel' highly a few weeks back, I was wondering what her next song would bring. Nothing to worry about, it's another folk pop gem. The harmony vocals add a different dimension to her soulful voice compared to her solo live work. The mandolin and strings give a rich but not excessive soundscape to frame the song. As with the last single she has kept the arrangement small enough to not overwhelm the song. Hardingham is rapidly becoming one of my favourite singers, and her album release date and the autumn tour to go with it are firmly penciled into my diary. Catch up before she's famous. TM
Vandoliers - Howlin'
www.vandoliers.com
Vandoliers "are a uniquely Texas band, distilling the Lone Star State's vast and diverse musical identity into a raucous, breakneck vibe that's all their own." This is a single leading into a new album called 'The Vandoliers' to be released in August. The sound sits somewhere in Steve Earle territory but with ambitions to be the sort of southern rock powerhouse that Robert Jon & The Wreck have become over the last few years but more with more country. Worth checking out if you like good old fashioned country rock. TM
Dave Helgi Johan - Fair-Weather Friend
www.davehelgijohan.comOriginally from an Icelandic community Gimli, Manitoba, Canada. Dave Helgi Johan moved to Byron Bay (the Canadian one presumably) to pursue a musical career. A mix of Indie, Folk and Alt Country this Banjo led song has a relaxed groove that is very much his own. There is nothing particularly original about this. It's just a good song, performed well and that is enough in itself. TM
The Outcast Crew - Stow Away
www.facebook.com/theoutcastcrewband
"Roaring trad punk from Ireland" describes this song just right. If you are looking for a rollicking fun song that has no pretensions to be anything other than entertaining find it here. A single promoting their album 'Myths and Yarns' which cam out at the end of 2021 this sets the scene for that very well. If you like this you will be leaping about the room to the whole album before you know it. TM
Siobhan Miller - I'm a Rover
www.siobhanmiller.com
Back with her first new music in two years, Miller is an established name in the Scottish folk world. Here her band includes Kris Drever and Rachel Lightbody. 'I'm a Rover' is the first single to be taken from Miller's new album due out later this year combining new and traditional folk songs given a unique spin by Miller and her band. The light tuneful arrangement that she has given this first single bodes well for the album. says "Singing this takes me right back to the sessions that filled me with love for folk songs and the feeling you can only get when in a room full of wonderful singers joining in at the tops of their voices. Returning to these songs felt like the perfect tonic to the last few years where this just hasn't been possible." TM
Nora Brown - Little Satchel
www.norabrownmusic.com
Brown plays traditional music in the style of Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. This piece is a single ahead of her album 'Long Time to be Gone', due out in August. Her virtuoso Banjo playing supports her fragile distant vocal. Recorded in "a cavernous church, which allowed us to really experiment with all the sounds that different locations in the sanctuary and different mic configurations could produce" this is remarkable music from another time and place. Having listened back to her earlier two records this music can become quite hypnotic. Extraordinary. TM
Chris Simmons - Home
www.iamchrissimmons.com
Chris Simmons press spends a lot of time talking about the people he ahs played with and relatively little on the music itself. This is a shame because the music is just fine. Sounding like a huskier Cat Stevens Home is a straight ahead folk song with harmonica used to accent the vocal line. There is clearly some Dylan influence and it's no surprise to find that he has been touring with fellow Brighton resident Passenger. As he is gaining some high profile support slots (Paloma Faith and Badly Drawn Boy) you will likely get the chance to hear him in your town. Don't worry about who his friends are focus on the music. TM
Amy Hopwood - Brambles
amyhopwood.co.uk/music
Another single trailing an album release in August. Amy Hopwood's third album will be called 'Into the Woods', and it's the woods of Grimm fairy tales we are walking in. A Sleeping Beauty inspired song "Brambles", where sensitive Rosa has built a wall of thorns around her own heart as a protection from rejection. The song reminds us that there is always a way through the brambles. Claiming influence from Karine Polwart, and Alela Diane this is a delicate acoustic folk song. Hopwood plays mostly around the Weymouth and Bridport area although she is venturing further afield this summer, and sounds like someone to hear live. TM
Morgan Johnston - After Me
morganjohnstonofficial.com
A neat twist on the breakup song this is a much better song than Morgan Johnston's previous single, 'The End', which we heard a couple of months ago. More bite to the production this is still very much in the mainstream country mould, but as she continues to improve with every song released this could be the song that gets her the exposure she certainly deserves on effort and talent alone TM
Chloe Matharu - Clyde Islands
www.chloematharu.co.uk
This haunting Celtic ballad from harpist Chloe Matharu is a gentle lilting song. She says of the song: "Clyde Islands is a song I wrote inspired by living close to the river and visiting the banks of the Clyde each day, especially during lockdown. For us in Inverclyde, the River Clyde is a backdrop to our lives, calm and ever present." Along with her harp, pipes and piano contribute to a traditional sounding yet still contemporary song. The video, filmed at Dunure Castle, shows why she feels so inspired by the scenery she lives in. TM
Chloe Levaillant - Ocean Of My Mind
chloelevaillant.com/home
Chloe Levaillant is a French-British singer-songwriter, vocalist, improviser and composer. This song comes from her third album, 'Bloom', a work she calls "a collection of sentimental songs, lyrically raw and honest." Live she plays with a band featuring Zither, violin and Ukulele, and some these unusual textures slip into 'Ocean Of My Mind', along with a clarinet. The unusual choice of words for her lyrics probably reflect her upbringing divided between England and France where she currently lives, as do her accented vocals which lend an air of the exotic to this intriguing song TM
Starlite Campbell Band - A Whiter Shade Of Pale (Live)
www.starlite-campbell.com
Suzi Starlite and Simon Campbell have bravely taken on this classic, recorded in 2019. The song features Procol's last organ player Josh Phillips, who pretty much replicates what he was playing with them. Part of a live album featuring three organ and keyboard players across the various songs, this rendition adds little to the original beyond reminding us what a great song it is and how good a singer Gary Brooker was. TM
Johanna Lillvik - Wolves
www.paraplyrecords.se/johanna-lillvik/johanna-lillvik
'Wolves' is the 3rd single from the upcoming album "The Love Hate Syndrome" by Swedish singer songwriter Johanna Lillvik. The sound is Central European folk music based with trumpets, drums and piano all competing for space. She says "his could be the dance tune of this summer.. if you can handle 7/8" and certainly if you can sit still to this then I suggest checking your pulse. Great fun and the sort of song that while you may not want a whole album's worth is one you could add to a playlist called "make me happy". TM
The Greeners - Take Me Home
https://www.thegreeners.org/
A trio (with add ons) who "use multiple acoustic instruments and intricate vocal harmonies to create their innovative sound. Their roots are in folk/pop/bluegrass, featuring evocative lyrics, ear-worm riffs, lush strings and soaring melodies." This single is a jazzy acoustic pop number with alto sax and trombone solos breaking out in the last half of the song. This takes a couple of plays to get under your skin, but "ear worm" covers it nicely. Try getting it of your head after it lodges there. TM
Jenny Colquitt - Soldiers of the Modern Day
jennycolquitt.co.uk
FATEA's 'Female artist of the Year' returns with a new single. 'Soldier of the Modern Day' narrates modern human life as a battlefield, something its hard to argue with. Building from an acoustic opening to a full electric band, Colquitt's voice is superb throughout. If you haven't managed to see one of her numerous festival visits this summer then check out this and her album 'Something Beautiful'. She sees herself as in the middle ground of Sandy Denny and Alanis Morissette. The first of those absolutely, with the second comparison she is selling herself a long way short. TM
Chris Fox - One More For The Road
www.chrisfoxmusic.org
Chris Fox is an independent musician and "Loop station chemist". This is a fairly straightforward folk song, simply arranged, and plainly sung. The violin raises this above the routine, and the double bass recalls Danny Thompson's work with John Martyn. Fox's voice is not the most distinctive but that means there is nothing distracting from his words which are the best thing about this song. He is building a name and an audience in East Anglia and some shows outside that area will doubtless see that audience grow. TM
Lisa Gerrard & Marcello De Francisci - Until We Meet Again
www.lisagerrard.com
Lisa Gerrard has joined forces with Los Angeles-based composer/ record producer Marcello De Francisci for an album 'Exaudia' that on the basis of this first single we can now mark as much anticipated. Gerards work with Dead Can Dance solo and on soundtracks is well known, although this comes closest to some of her concert work with Klaus Schulze. Sadly the incredibly low bit rate sample sent for review does not show the song at it's best. Previewing the song elsewhere online finds a dense stately arrangement that complements Gerard's typically haunting vocal. Just brilliant TM
Juna N Joey - More Than A Maybe
www.junanjoey.com
A brother and sister duo performing mainstream modern country. As they are still 17 and 19, the maturity of the writing is impressive. They have an equally impressive number of followers no social media and are clearly being groomed for stardom by the team of writers and producers they are working with. But in common with much modern country there is a manufactured hollow quality to the song. You have to hope they escape the machine and find fulfilment in their music. TM
Frankie Archer - Close the Coalhouse Door
frankiearchermusic.com/home
Starting with what I assume to be someone shovelling coal is a gimmick that sells this unaccompanied marvel short. Written by Alex Glasgow, who Archer shares her North Eastern heritage with, the two part harmony is quite spellbinding. Speaking to Tradfolk she said "Archer says, "My version of the song focuses on the horror and pain which is experienced due to coal mining. I want it to move people, I want it to shock people, because although the UK's mining industry has changed dramatically since the song was written in the 1960s, suffering of humans and the environment in the pursuit of fossil fuels is happening today around the world." She can mark this as objective achieved. TM
Claudia Balla - in My Head
claudiaballa.com
Swiss based singer/songwriter Claudia Balla's new single is "technically a break up song, but at the same time it explores how an everyday situation can sometimes grow into more extreme proportions, if we give it too much attention via negative thoughts" It's a fairly anonymous piece of modern pop that doesn't do much more than pass three minutes twenty seconds pleasantly enough. But I can't imagine anyone's world being changed by it TM
Fatea Showcase Sessions
The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.
Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
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