Browsing Tag

70s Folk

Sam DeMartino put a modern indie twist on alt-folk with their single ‘The Ring’

Sam DeMartino

Drift into alt-folk nostalgia with singer-songwriter, Sam DeMartino’s recently released EP ‘Not Soon Enough’. If Cat Stevens and Elliott Smith always hit the tender sweet spot, the standout single, ‘The Ring’ may just hit harder.

Sam DeMartino has been honing-in on their signature blend of 70s folk, 80s post-punk and 21st-century indie since high school, based on the ethereal tonal alchemy in The Ring, it’s safe to say that he’s already reached virtuosic heights. The semi-orchestral single possesses a sense of vulnerability that is potent enough to shift your romantic perceptions.

You can hear Sam DeMartino via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hunter & Girton – Father Time: Solemnly Compassionate Alt Folk

Hunter & Girton

Rural Indiana-residing alt-folk duo, Hunter & Girton, are set to release their most haunting single to date, ‘Father Time’. The sparse and desolate soundscape leaves plenty of room for your own emotions to coalesce with the sentiments delivered through the lyrics which will hold a mirror to your personal relationship with melancholy.

There may be a crestfallen air to Father Time, but it’s anything but depressive. The solemnly meditative single parallels the levels of compassion found in the most tender tracks from Pearl Jam’s latest album while delivering tear-jerking tones which lend inspiration from 60s Folk.

Father Time is due for official release on March 5th. You’ll be able to check it out for yourselves by heading over to the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

P.B Ruck – Some Love: Sonorously Sentimental Americana Folk

Under the influence of Cohen, Waits and Dylan, Southampton-hailing artist, P.B Ruck, released their sonorously powerful latest single ‘Some Love’; the sense of romanticism is just as old school as the sepia-stained tones in the meditative Americana folk soundscape.

Through spatial effect and lyrical sparsity, Some Love is just as much about your introspection and amorous nostalgia as it is about the artist’s. With a touch of modernity on the production, folk roots are firmly implanted in the mix, but it blossoms through the tender vocals which resonate with a nuanced touch of celestially choral mesmerism.

Some Love was released on December 28th, it is available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vincent Sonder lights up our day with ‘Camel Lights’

In his day job, Vincent Sonder – the alter-ego of celebrated filmmaker Joe Connor – has worked with bands as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Sam Smith, Coldplay, Paul Weller, The Maccabees, and Placebo (among others), and that shoulder-rubbing pedigree has obviously stood him in good stead when it comes to his own creative flow. Recorded in 2017 but only now available across streaming services, ‘Vincent Sonder’ the album is a gorgeous, glorious affair, and ‘Camel Lights’ is a perfect introduction.

Beautiful, exquisite piano accompanies Sonder’s mellow storytelling vocal, the lyrical flow creating a perfect mood of contemplation and reverie, dreamlike and meditative, with a narrative feel that tells the story of ‘the memory of a man that I can’t find’. It’s bewitching, evocative, and anecdotal, made all the more memorable by the interplay with the second, female vocal intertwined between Sonder’s lead and those plaintive minor piano chords; you listen, and you can practically see cigarette smoke drifting from a discarded ashtray, monochrome, in the rain. It’s beautiful.

Follow Vincent Sonder on Instagram; hear ‘Camel Lights’, and the rest of the album, on Spotify.

Review by Alex Holmes