"my love is in the water"

I don't really know how to begin to tell you about Bo.

You might remember, I went to see her play over the summer, in a tiny venue in Islington, and it was just one of the most magical nights I've experienced. It sort of changed my life. That sounds very teenage girlish, very melodramatic, but it did. I still think about it every single day. Bo Bruce is not the typical contestant that emerges from reality TV contests. She writes from the heart, beautifully and honestly. This is not demonstrated more than in "The Fall", a collaboration with Johnny McDaid, which she released today. It is here.



"THE FALL" - Bo Bruce

It's gorgeous, and I was so pleased to see that the studio version of the song isn't much more than the simple piano arrangement it carried when I first heard her play it. Filmed in the woods in Wiltshire, where she grew up, everything about this song is personal, honest and so incredibly brave, and visually, this music video is stunning, the costumes, the forest and the fire are nothing over-clichéd. Her voice, the way she looks and the way she puts across her thoughts into music are beautiful in all ways.

I am so sorry for the lack of eloquence today.

Bo's album is due out early next year and wrapping up recording at the moment. She is working with heroes and friends old and new, including Danny O'Donoghue, Joel Pott, Johnny McDaid, Henry Binns and many more.

And for now, "The Fall" is avaliable for free download, for limited time, here.

"Halycon" - Ellie Goulding

"Halycon" is Ellie Goulding's second release, following her hit album "Lights", 2010. She's from Herefordshire in England, makes music that is sometimes electric, sometimes more orchestral, and nearly always stems from an acoustic guitar and her gorgeous soprano vocals. "Halycon" is darker and more adventurous than her first album, heavily inspired by a break-up.

"Don't Say A Word", the first track on the album, is the most unordered and beautiful arrangement of Goulding's vocals, which are so angelic and effervescent particularly in this one. Caresses for the ears. It follows by "My Blood", which is a little darker, drum-heavy and twinkles along the upper end of a piano during the chorus. 

"Anything Can Happen" was the first single from this album, one of those that you recognise as soon as you hear her sing that very first bar. Ellie Goulding sings of regret, and hope. This song just soars and swoops around your head, her beautiful voice around you from all four corners. It is absolute magic, a breath of life.

What I love about this album is how natural it sounds; "Only You" kicks off with raw vocals, and a rhythm sounding like clapping hands. "Baby, I'm on my knees" repeats like a chant, music brought right back to its roots. "Halycon" is, I guess, a little chattier than the others lyrically, and it is so beautiful, rising from acoustic guitar beginnings to something bigger and more electronic, a constant variation on volume and weight, until it fades away.

"Figure 8" is so very haunting, a story of love and a call of desperation. It draws in harps, synthesisers, massive pressing drum beats, and it's like nothing she has ever done before. The combination of these instruments and, of course, the gigantic vocals, remind me of Florence, and in a way Kate Bush. It drives off in places you wouldn't expect, a really beautiful song.

Next is "JOY"; a rest and a moment of peace, of quiet. Gorgeous strings lift and dive around her voice. "I'm seeing stars, watch me fall apart." It sounds like dreams, or like the winter, like the walk you take the morning after to think and take things in.

"Hanging On" is a little closer to electronica than most, the kind of song you could both dance to or lie in peace and quiet, a cover of Active Child's. Like most of this record, it lacks the structure we expect from a typical pop song, lifting between stretches of lyricless vocals, repeated single lines and non-choruses, and this is brilliant.

Another odd, courageous and choral opening starts off "Explosions", later bringing in strings and a piano. "It will never be the same." This later combines with drums, and Ellie Goulding's lovely voice sounds just as perfect like this, restrained and quiet at times.

"I Know You Care" is beautiful, so sad and gentle and nostalgic, a song about love broken and lost. "Atlantis" follows it, in which she sings the lyrics in that intentionally blurred way, similarly to Bon Iver, the way that doesn't let you concentrate on it too much. It is so gorgeous, some of the things she does with her voice in this song is just incredible. It is so large and bright, and almost sounds cinematic at times.

The last song on the album, "Dead in the Water" is barely instrumental for its first two minutes, leaving the listener along with Goulding's beautiful voice. It is sorrowful, brings the album to a close in peace and calm. Everything about this album is so ethereal and pretty, and I really believe that after the success of "Lights", she's finding her feet even more.

Ben Howard - Monday 12th November 2012 - O2 Apollo, Manchester

Ben Howard is from Devon, a singer-songwriter who, along with Mumford and Sons, Pete Roe, and such, is lumped in a genre that gets called "nu-folk". He's also compared to John Martyn increasingly often. His album "Every Kingdom" was released last year, and received a Mercury prize nomination in 2012.

Manchester Apollo filled up quick last night with an odd mix come to see him - an audience dominated by girls, but there were a lot of couples there too, and guys in their early twenties and thirties. The old, converted cinema welcomed support act Willy Mason - a country singer, I suppose, he played alone, sometimes with a second guitarist and sang of pick-ups trucks and suicide. He's really great, and I hope he's going do well, especially with Jake Bugg making this kind of thing cool again.

There was the wait, that time of achy backs and wondering if you should have bought a drink whilst the bar was still accessible.

And then the lights went out.

Ben Howard opened with the soft plucking of an electric guitar in the dark, whispers of cymbals. He opened with "Burgh Island", one of the darker, quieter ones from his new EP and it was just stunning. "Diamonds" followed, in which the stage lit up slowly, the entire audience singing along with the chorus.

His band was a beautifully disarranged affair, the drummer played bass at times, guitarist would switch to keyboard and then there was India Bourne, who contributed harmonies, played cello, drums, and bass, moving around throughout the show. It was perfect.

One of the best things about the setlist that night was that one mood would be carried through several songs. Whilst there's still a mixture, two or three lively ones that bring the crowd to dancing and screaming out the lyrics will be followed by a quieter, more solemn moment. His music is sort of a constant stream - several songs drift gracefully into the next, as they do on the album.

Highlights included "Old Pine", a really beautiful moment in which the crowd sang along throwing out full heart and soul, and the incredible energy of "The Wolves". "Esmerelda" is from his new release, "The Burgh Island EP", and brought to the stage it was haunting. With sound and vision, he cast the ocean and the rocks across the venue, and it was so very stunning. "Keep Your Head Up", also, was a moment of such unity for everyone in the room.

Ben finished with "The Fear", one of his biggest singles, and that was a really amazing moment, everyone along the front rows singing and dancing and proving that folk music can and does rock out a lot.

He and the band left the stage. The lights stayed out. The crowd cheered and cheered for an encore.

They returned, to an overwhelming raise in applause and in happiness. He played "Black Flies", one of the more sorrowful tracks from "Every Kingdom", the sort of song you find new things in each time you listen to. The main guitar riff just runs right through your chest, pulses through your veins when it's that loud and atmouspheric around you.

Ben followed this with "Promise", the last song of the night. I love this one because it's not a pop song in the sense that it lacks structure, it lacks choruses and verses, it's just a beautiful train of thoughts set to melody.

"Meet me there,

Bundles of flowers, we'll wait through the hours of cold."

In his lyrics, Ben Howard brings nature alive in a way that I haven't heard anyone else. His music is the woods, and the deepest parts of the sea. Through his show, visuals on a screen at the back painted pictures of travelling along dark roads, crashing waves at seasides, forests. But I think those images were there anyway, with Ben Howard's beautiful words bringing about these settings just through sound. And I think provoking the imagination is one of the most powerful things music can do.

"how she haunted our homes, how she haunted our homes"

"POMPEII" - Bear's Den

Bear's Den are a band signed to Communion records, making the kind of folk music that will appeal to lovers of Mumford and Sons, Ben Howard and probably early Noah and the Whale. It's natural and simplistic, shown especially in the video above, an acoustic performance for Bands In Transit.

"Pompeii" is one of the most beautiful songs I've come across in a while. It tells a story of childhood naivety, grief and acceptance. A soft and simple guitar riff, and the vocals of ex-Cherbourg singer, Andrew Davie, it just instantly touches your heart, in the most impromptu and unexpected manner, exploring and explaining grief honestly and from all four corners.

"Don't cry,
Hold your head up high,
She would want you to,
She would want you to."

On Halloween: Six Spooky Songs

I know that several of these are likely by the same artists and bands. I have these few that I relate with Halloween, with the night and the fear and the unexpected and several of their songs came up at once.
But I won't apologize, because all of them are great.
Ghouls and ghosts and knives and touchy subjects



"THE KILLING TYPE" - AMANDA PALMER & THE GRAND THEFT ORCHESTRA
A rock song. Morality, what it means to kill, and a video filled with blood and guts.




"THRILLER" - (MICHAEL JACKSON COVER) - IMOGEN HEAP
One of the most famous pop songs of all time, but softer and slower and creepier than you've ever heard. Just her voice and a piano. Kind of fascinating.




"JENNY WAS A FRIEND OF MINE" - THE KILLERS
A song about a murder, a trial and guilt, one that will shake your head and your heart. "She couldn't scream when I held her close." Heavy, pure rock music.




"MY SECRET FRIEND" - IAMX & IMOGEN HEAP
IAMX as a band are so gothic in style, and so uncensored in the way that they use instruments and write lyrics. Any of their music videos could have fitted with the Halloween I suppose - they're all a little spooky, a little dark, a little twisted - but this one especially, with Chris Corner and Imogen Heap both dressed in drag and creeping around an empty old house.




"MONSTER" - AUTOMATIC
A song that will have you headbanging, a sticky-glue guitar riff and a chorus I'm sure you'll remember everyone singing the few years ago when this was released. "What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster?!"
A thank you to my friend @CallMeKTown for submitting




"MISSED ME" - THE DRESDEN DOLLS
A duo of piano and drums, the Dresden Dolls are two percussionists and this gives so much weight and dynamic to their music. From the point of view of a psycho-girlfriend, "Missed Me" is haunting and a little bit hilarious, it grows verse by verse.

Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra - Wednesday 24th October 2012 - Manchester Cathedral

When I was eleven years old, I stumbled across the Dresden Dolls on the Internet. I was maybe too young at the time, but it did me no bad, and Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione's music opened my mind at a time it needed to be opened. A little later, I bought Amanda's solo album "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?", and this year her new release, "Theatre is Evil", with her new band the Grand Theft Orchestra. On Wednesday, I went to see her play at Manchester Cathedral for the very first time.

I arrived at the Cathedral that afternoon way too early, and walked around inside for a while to kill some time. When I got outside I knew I hadn't done something stupid by arriving at three o clock, because people were already there and they were unmistakeably Amanda Palmer fans. They were dressed up, in bright lipstick and dramatic eyeliner and a lot of black lace and tattoos, with more ukeleles than I think I've ever seen in one place.

I don't quite know how it happened but ten or twenty of us ended up assembled in the gardens outside the Urbis museum. People played ukeleles whilst everyone sang together, a girl dressed in steampunk attire recited poetry and every so often random passers-by would stop, kind of confused about whatever it was that went on.

When doors opened at seven o clock, the crowd assembled around the small stage, in the centre of the crucifix that beautiful Manchester Cathedral is shaped as. And then, unexpectedly, a brass band started to play, and the whole audience swivelled to face the back of the building where they appeared from. They were the Horndog Brass Brand, from Edinburgh, and it was a such a perfect opening to the loud and theatrical nature of Amanda Palmer's show.

After the cathedral's reverend (!) came on to ask for donations and tell everyone to have a good time, Amanda introduced Jherek Bischoff, of the Grand Theft Orchestra, the second support act. Jherek was a bass player accompanied with strings, conducting them not with his hands but his entire body as he moved about the stage, lurching from side to side. He went from bass to ukelele, very song he played was radically different from the one before.

Amanda came on to introduce the next of her opening bands, and in attempt to "loosen up" the quiet and respectful audience, instructed everyone to close their eyes, turn their head towards the ceiling, throw their arms open and on 1, 2, 3,  scream.
We all did. All at once. And being surrounded by chaos I think it was one of the most relaxing moments I've experienced.
The band she was introducing were The Simple Pleasure, an electro-punk band, their set made up of sparkly costumes and thrown around flamingo sculptures, a lot of dancing and audience interaction.

And then Amanda Fucking Palmer came on.

She appeared above the stage, singing down from a balcony, the whole place dark except for a spotlight on her. It was very Phantom of the Opera, as she sang completely acapella, surveying the cathedral, an old English folk song.

Amanda descended to the stage as "A Grand Theft Intermission" was played, big and striking and drastic, and she and her drummer threw out bunches of flowers to the audience. She made every song an anthem, the whole audience dancing and singing along with the words as if it were all that they believed, teenage kids and men, and women in lipstick and coloured wigs.

Her band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, were individually so talented and perfectly woven together as a whole, and you could just tell each of them shared everything about Amanda's ethos and attitude to music. Amanda herself was so passionate, slaying piano and at one point caressing the hair of the guy in front of me during "The Killing Type" when she stood up to sing, leaning right into the crowd and holding eye contact.





















"Smile" was amazing, every member of the audience singing along, on the tips of their toes, and "The Bed Song"  beautiful and heartbreaking, but the show was as playful as it was serious and intense. During "Missed Me", Amanda and her band would freeze like dolls, then spring to action and run across the stage to trade instruments between each verse, going from piano to bass to drums and back.

Amanda Palmer is one of the most hardworking and honest musicians I can think of, and as she went past the venue's curfew it wasn't possible for her to play an encore. She shrugged this off, of course, as no problem and told the crowd she would find somewhere "Probably legal" outdoors to finish the show. This ended up being the gatepost of the cathedral gardens, where most of the crowd gathered around outside to listen to her play "Oasis", an ironically cheerful song about abortion, "Creep", a cover of Radiohead's classic and "Ukelele Anthem" on her ukelele, singing along with every word.
"Stop pretending art is hard."

Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra are back in the UK in March next year, and touring the world between then and now. If you go to her website you can look at tour dates, or buy her new album, which is also avaliable for free download if you're broke.

And I can't really think of a better way to conclude this, than saying how I have never witnessed more of a sense of mutual love between absolute strangers, than over something such as an Amanda Palmer show. Because more than the perfection or the chaos, all that art boils down to is the ways that it brings people together.

Athlete - Sunday 14th October 2012 - The Crown Hotel Ballroom, Nantwich

Athlete are an indie-rock band from London, made up of Joel Pott, Carey Willetts, Tim Wanstall and Stephen Roberts. They had a lot of success in the mid 2000s at the same time as bands like Snow Patrol and the Kaiser Chiefs, when music like this was becoming "cool" again. You've probably heard of them for singles "Vehicles and Animals and "Superhuman Touch" - a song I first heard in 2009, then lost for a while. Literally, I lost it, I could hum the chorus but didn't know the name or who it was by. A few months ago, I rediscovered it and I'm so happy I did.

I found out they were playing here about a month ago and was surprised to say the least. Nantwich is where I live, a small, kind of dreary town in the flattest county in England. It's full of Tudor buildings and independent shops, places full of trinket type gifts and old-style sweet shops, a tourist town, and apart from a few local folk bands, I'm sure you can imagine it definitely isn't the sort of place live music is abundantly alive.

This week, the Words and Music Festival has challenged this lingering sense of absolutely nothing that the town holds, though the only show I managed to get down to was Athlete at The Crown Hotel Ballroom on Sunday night, the last night of the festival. And as I normally go to Manchester, Liverpool or London to get to shows it was really nice to just walk about fifteen minutes from my house.

The opening act was Fran Smith, a piano playing singer-songwriter who's about to support folk musician Thea Gilmore on tour. She was young and nervous and smiley, but completely relaxed as she played and sang lovely compositions in a vague Yorkshire accent, dawdling between what sounded sometimes like Gaelic folk music ("We Will Have No More Marriages" in particular) and what was closer to pop music (a song I think was called "1013 Days"). Fran finished her set with "Orion", a beautiful song about two lovers, one who sleeps through the day and at night is the stars, the other goddess of the morning.

During the break, organiser Nigel Stonier came out to talk to the crowd about turning phones off. A raffle was drawn. It felt very close to home but also I knew I was at a concert, a strange juxtaposition.

And then they came on stage.

It was only Joel and Carey tonight, a stripped back acoustic set to fit the venue, a small ballroom with a bar at the back where people were drinking and talking a little too loudly during the support act.


Their music, normally entwined with a lot of keyboard effects, was just as lovely in a stripped back setting. Joel Pott switched between acoustic and electric guitars, whilst Carey Willetts did a little of everything; he played guitar, he played keyboards, sang backing vocals and used a laptop during a few songs for drum noises.

It was, I suppose, a pretty "tough crowd" - well-dressed people in their forties dawdling around getting drinks, kind of acting like they were at a bar instead of a concert and I hadn't wanted to go with the very teenage attitude of expecting people in the town I live in to be that way, but that was just how it was. Until Athlete came on stage, during which I was really pleasantly surprised. It was during "We Got the Style" that at one point Joel stopped singing and the whole crowd echoed the chorus:
"Woah, it's getting hot in here, must be something in the atmousphere."
And it made me laugh and smile so so much.

The whole show was so relaxed and the two of them clearly so comfortable on stage after all these years of doing it. There were a couple who requested a song for their wedding anniversary, stories about how recently Carey "nearly died" after epiglottitis, jokes about Westlife and much more audience interaction that I'd have expected from these weird conservative avoid-your-eyes-in-the-street people I have grown up around.

Highlights included "El Salvador", which with just a keyboard and guitar sounded so different to the album version, "Half Light", and gorgeous "Superhuman Touch", completely acoustic and so pure-sounding.

They finished with "Wires", a song about the first night of a child's life spent in hospital, "Running down corridors through, automatic doors" and it's incredible. The whole room were singing and seeing as I was there on my own and sat next to strangers it was easy to be unashamed about the fact that tears were streaming down my face, until the woman next to me turned and looked at me a little awkwardly once the song was over, all was out. But she didn't frown or look disapproving, there was no "Kids, these days." She just sort of smiled and nodded like she understood. And for once I didn't have to take a train a long way to find music and people that could restore my faith in humanity.

After ten years, a lot of hits and an Ivor Novello award, Athlete are finally winding down now, so catch them while you can - they're playing a few shows around London at the start of next month I think, then supporting Alanis Morissette on her tour in November.