Kevin Morby

What’s Hot In My House – April

Posted on by edwardlayland

The big problem with music is that there’s too damn much of it. I mean, I was just putting a playlist together, so I was going through the gargantuan collection on my phone and I was like: “oooo haven’t heard that for ages; I miss that album; shit, I used to love that” and so on…. Anyway, I was basically left marvelling at what a wonderful thing it is to be so damn spoilt for choice, and everyday there’s more and more of the stuff!

As such, my listening is more often than not dominated by things I’ve been reviewing or researching for whatever reason, and April had been a busy month! I’ve heard a lot of seriously excellent records – the new albums from singer songwriter Kevin Morby and Canadian rockers Greys being particularly outstanding, although it’s the sublime new album from Ben Watt that’s taken up most of my journey’s home. However, as coincidence would have it, over the last couple of weeks I’ve had three EPs, all alternative rock, all female fronted, but all distinctly different, vying for my undivided attention. Check them out…

Haybaby – Blood Harvest EP
This power trio from Brooklyn are an intriguing mix of indie, grunge and sludge punk (whatever that may be) and last year’s ‘Sleepy Kids’ was one of my favourite albums of 2015. So, I was understandably excited to discover they had new music hitting the racks, and after managing to get an advance copy, was not disappointed. In fact, Leslie Hong and company have built on their loose style and added a little more bite on five scathing tunes stacked with cool bass grooves, histrionic guitar lines and massive riffs; not to mention the excellent vocals. Check out the killer ‘Kramer/Dreams’:

False Advertising – Brainless EP
Like Haybaby, False Advertising also released an album towards the end of 2015 and have followed it up with an EP less than six months later. In the case of Jen, Chris and Josh, who describe themselves as “twisted power grunge” and have a more nineties feel to their sound, it was a case of not only maintaining creative momentum but also dealing with some personal issues. As a result, their sound has also toughened up a little more, yet they still mange to include some killer hooks. What you get are five furiously energetic tunes that neatly blend punky grunge rock and angular indie with a touch of pop sensibility – frantic guitars with badass choruses. Here’s a snippet of their live show and the disturbing ‘Alopecia’.

Making Monsters – Bad Blood EP
This record won’t actually be released until the middle of next month, but the Northern Irish quartet are definitely ones to watch – whatever ‘it’ is, they’ve got it and I for one am loving it. Besides being blessed with a heavy alternative sound, bursting with top drawer guitar work and some really well constructed songs, in Emma Gallagher they have an exceptionally good vocalist of quite stunning versatility. This is a band that definitely stand out from the pack and there are plenty of moments on ‘Bad Blood’ that really nail it – watch this band rise.

Ben Watt
Like I said above, Ben’s new album, ‘Fever Dream’ is quite sublime, but I have also been revisiting the previous offering, ‘Hendra’ with some regularity of late. Both records are packed with quality songwriting, where the attention to the tiny details of everyday life manages to paint vivid pictures of loss and regret or love and relationships. The accompaniment from Bernard Butler is nothing short of superb and both albums make for a truly involving listen.

Here are a bunch of links to find out more about everything I’ve been going on about and maybe even purchase some the bands’ music at ridiculously low prices – some of the earlier releases may even be name your price!
http://haybabyband.com/
https://falseadvertising.bandcamp.com/
https://makingmonsters.bandcamp.com/
http://benwatt.com/

Kevin Morby – Singing Saw Review

Posted on by edwardlayland

kevin-morby-singing-saw-album-newIt’s well worth immersing yourself in the deeply textured reflections of ‘Singing Saw’, the third solo outing of atmospheric folk rock from ex Woods bassist (and The Babies front man) Kevin Morby. The Texan singer songwriter proves himself a prodigious talent on this highly enjoyable collection of songs packed with subtle details that punctuate the album with sublime moments of musical brilliance.

‘Cut Me Down’ gets things off to an atmospheric start, the laid back folky vibe and intimate sound accentuating the subtle guitar lines and bluesy acoustics, while ‘I Have Been To The Mountain’ follows in more upbeat style. There’s an easy funkiness to the bass line and a swirling quality to the acoustic riff that make for a hypnotic groove; throw in some percussion, layers of horns and backing vocals and we have a very cool track.

The first half of the album is probably the stronger; there’s a dark air to the stark acoustic guitar underpinning ‘Singing Saw’, which is one of the stand out tracks. It slowly builds to a mechanical drum sound and guitar licks and is an unhurried richly textured gem, the spidery solo adding to the atmospheric seven minute sound scape. ‘Drunk and On a Star’ follows with more unhurried beauty and some nice touches of orchestration.

There is a slight change in direction half way through with the up tempo rocky riffing and Jesus and Mary Chain-esque melody of ‘Dorothy’. It’s cool enough though, with plenty of nice touches of piano and horns between the lines. ‘Ferris Wheel’ is slightly laboured by comparison and is a bit of a mid album lull of piano led reflection.

Prior to the country style meanderings of album closer ‘Water’ we get a couple of mighty fine, albeit slightly quirky, songs in ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Black Flowers’. The mechanical melody of the former gains another dimension when the strings come in, the lilting violin superb, and when the horns enter it takes on a vibe of free jazz to contrast with the piano monotony. Meanwhile there is a slight Oriental feel to ‘Black Flowers’, its easy acoustic picking underscored by an almost jaunty rhythm – instrumentally speaking it’s really quite lovely, delicate drops of piano punctuating the song as it subtly increases in tempo, growing ever richer; excellent stuff.

On the whole this is a fine record from Morby; it is beautifully executed and has so many layers, yet also allows individual passages to stand out in breathtaking style. Well worth exploring deeply to get to know it intimately.

8.5/10

‘Singing Saw’ is out now.

http://deadoceans.com/artist.php?name=morbykevin