Track: Bitter Defeat – The Light That Shines
Bitter Defeat hails from Kirikiriroa/Hamilton in the North Island of New Zealand and their debut single ‘The Light That Shines’ is an effervescent slice of classic New Zealand indie pop mixed with a Buzzcocks swagger and a rousing chorus. Bitter Defeat consists of Rob Shirlow (Guitar, Vocals), Ben Manning(Guitar, Backing vocals), Kathryn Thompson (Drums), Ian …
Album Review: St. Ove – County Show
St Ove hail from Aylesbury and the surrounding villages, Wendover and Quainton in England and yet a gentle, jangling air of Athens , Georgia can be detected in their sound. ‘County Show’ is an evocative album – gentle, evenly paced and full of a yearning sense of aching joy. There is a bucolic air of wistful …
Track: EWAH and the Vision of Paradise – Vultures
EWAH and the Vision of Paradise have the dubious honour of being the last band to be reviewed live on Backseat Mafia before the global lockdown, so it’s nice to return to the band when things are slowly – ever so slowly – returning to normal. ‘Vultures’ is their new single and it is a …
Track: Thrillhouse – 2045 plus top ten favourite songs
Brighton’s brightest, Thrillhouse have released another brilliant single ‘2045’ to follow their previously reviewed singles ‘Wild Child’, ‘Ready When You Are’ and ‘Lesser’. Thrillhouse have developed quite a unique sound – danceable, almost funky grooves yet with an indie vibe and an enigmatic attitude. ‘2045’ follows the code: it has a delectable groove and suave …
Meet: We chat with Steve Kilbey from The Church about celebrating 40 years, acting ‘European’, the fruits of isolation and we review his new solo album
If there’s one thing that is patently obvious over the forty years of Steve Kilbey‘s career, he is the maestro of melody and mysticism. Whether fronting The Church, through his many collaborations and solo work, Kilbey captures the kind of melodies that catch like superglue, wrapping his inherent romanticism and wry lyrics in a glorious …
Track: The Electorate – Decades in a Day
The Electorate have individually quite a pedigree and yet little history. The band played together in their twenties without recording, and individual members have played with the legendary Peter Milton Walsh of the Apartments, and recorded recently with The Apartments as well as playing with a range of Australian bands including Big Heavy Stuff, Knievel …
Track: Doves – Cathedrals of the Mind
In my recent interview with Jez Williams from Doves and review of the forthcoming Doves’ album, ‘The Universal Want’, I described the album as immersive. There is no greater example of this than the surprise track just released off the album, the literally vaulting ‘Cathedrals of the Mind’. Shimmering layers of arpeggio, sequencers and sampling …
Meet: We chat with Jez Williams from Doves about Northern Soul, getting the band back together and the new album, plus we review ‘The Universal Want’
The new album from Doves, ‘The Universal Want’ is a blistering rebirth from the Mancunian band. It’s much more than a return to form – their previous albums were uniformly brilliant – but there is a sense of identifiable development and growth in the intervening eleven years since ‘Kingdom of Rust’ was released. Songs such …
See: Even As We Speak release poignant video for ‘Leaves’
‘Adelphi’, the new album from Sydney’s magnificent Even As We Speak has been further bolstered by an absolutely beautiful video for the track ‘Leaves’. A golden thread throughout the album is the theme of the transience of life and our own mortality. And yet this is a band that was born in the eighties and …
Track: Garsa releases the wistful track Ghosts
Garsa is essentially the solo work of Martin Garside who is the maestro of low-fi and beautifully expressed indie pop – veering between a delicate folk strum and a subtle electronic bedrock. The new single, ‘Ghosts’ emphatically continues this thread: it is a testament to strong and impassioned song-writing that floats on ethereal melodies. And, …