Browsing Tag

Folk Singer Songwriter

Lucas Pasley put his audience in the saddle of injustice in the roots release, Icelandic Horses

Posted on 21 May 2023

The authentic but by no means archaic Americana luminary Lucas Pasley twanged plenty of timeless soul onto the airwaves with the release of his third album, Ponies Back Home. The serenely composed release, which carries all the Grammy-nominated allure of Bonny Light Horseman’s debut LP, starts with the standout single, Icelandic Ponies. 

With melodies that sway in the breeze of his songwriting which pays homage to his Appalachian Mountains roots and a voice so soothing it could placate a rabid raccoon, there’s no overstating the arresting allure of Icelandic Horses.

His slide guitars reach the pinnacle of sonic catharsis as the lyrics lament the inherent unjustness of the universe while showing you the beauty within it in the same breath. The fragility of life is laid out in a series of short and bitter-sweet vignettes to brim you with gratitude for the burdens you don’t bear and fill you with empathy for the ones who do.

Stream Lucas Pasley’s album, Ponies Back Home, on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Evergreen is astronomical in her latest folk single, Meteors

Posted on 2 April 2023

The Austin-hailing multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and cello teacher, Evergreen, is renowned for her narrative folk soundscapes that can rejuvenate love and lust for life. Her latest single, Meteors, is another vibrant extension of her mission to paint portraits of phenomenological beauty and prove that music is a global element of humanity. If any single could be accurately described as a high vibe folk lullaby, it’s Meteors.

With a twinge of Twain in her vocals atop the classical cellos, folky strings, and artfully baroque elements, Evergreen reached the pinnacle of sonic beguile in Meteors, which is as accessible as oxygen, with no shortage of virtuosic flare.

Evergreen is now available to stream on Spotify; her debut album, Delicious Vignettes of Recent American Kind, which will be a mash of academic and classical music, is due for release on March 31st.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Malcolm Duff brought us right back down to humble ground with his quiescent folk score, Leaving

Posted on 29 March 2023
https://soundcloud.com/user-883383372/leaving

Along with his paramour co-creator, Da Silva, the folk singer-songwriter Malcolm Duff reminded us why his sound is so unforgettable with his latest single, Leaving.

To do this feat of melancholically sweet folk justice, I’ll refrain from the tired Cohen comparisons and lean into the cinematic fluid grace of the orchestration that wouldn’t be out of place on the Wild at Heart soundtrack. The evocative movie script ending of a score entrenches you in its sentimentality, which alludes to how distance is as much of a state of mind as it is a matter of miles.

Some may say that searching for unconditional love is simply being in love with the idea of love itself, but Malcolm Duff put those romantic cynics to shame, by proving that only love can save us all. In a time when it is so easy to fixate on arbitrary notions of success, the gentle acoustic strings and breezy harmonica blows in Leaving will bring you right back down to humble ground.

Stream Leaving on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mariele Jankowski sang ‘The Long Song of Mary Green’ in her folky feat of beguile

Posted on 3 March 2023
https://soundcloud.com/mariele-jankowski/sets/the-long-song-of-mary-green-radio-edit/s-OdOKTKKMffi?si=6275f7fbaf144e95a35971da75ba80b0&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The latest single, The Long Song of Mary Green, from the London-based singer-songwriter Mariele Jankowski keeps the true storytelling roots of folk blossoming in blissfully melodic beguile.

Around the vivid imagery that spills over the acoustic guitars, which rhythmically guide you through the release beneath Mariele Jankowski’s timelessly mesmeric vocal timbre that lends itself well to distinction, is a compelling tale that is worth heeding.

As we all embark on endless quests for eternal happiness, and we fail to account for the world’s tendency to throw us curveballs as it turns, upending the promise of eternal bliss. Mariele Jankowski delivers the soulfully resonant reminder that for any real shot of happiness, we need to master the art of letting go and enjoying the journey instead of fixating on the destination.

I can honestly say I haven’t been this taken with a folk artist since discovering Amigo the Devil, and that isn’t an accolade I part with easily. Yet, the euphorically euphonic outro is one that I will delve into this extended release time and time again for.

The Long Song of Mary Green will be available to stream from March 3rd on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Aayushi has released her captivatingly cosy ukulele-led lullaby, I Ran Out Into the Snowflakes, Laughing

Posted on 5 January 2023

Daringly opting to use a ukulele as the main melody driver in a single that encompasses the nostalgia sparked by Christmas paid off in spades for the Birmingham-based folk singer-songwriter, Aayushi in her latest single, I Ran Out Into the Snowflakes, Laughing. The artist’s background in poetry and literature also owed itself to the quiescent track, as Aayushi reclaimed the term ‘snowflake’ away from those who wish to abstract from the beauty of compassion and uniqueness.

The stripped-back sonics did little to detract from the disarmingly arrestive power of the cosy lo-fi lullaby, which rekindles the warmth of childhood Christmases in the snow while reminding us that, as autonomous adults, we get to choose how we reignite that magic.

Released on December 23rd, the quaint serenade quickly amassed ample attention, including placement on several staunchly followed Spotify playlists. It is a single her fans will undoubtedly turn to year after year to stave off the threat of festive melancholy.

I Ran Out Into the Snowflakes, Laughing is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

From tragic inevitability, hauntingly filmic beauty is born in Rico Friebe’s single, This Day

Posted on 23 December 2022

Folk singer-songwriter, Rico Friebe, has unveiled the hauntingly filmic second single from his upcoming debut album, Word Value. Born from tragedy and hope, the vividly redolent single, This Day, explores the inevitability of the days we fear the most, alluding to our inability to avert discourses we are compelled to run from.

There is a profound grace in the alchemic vocal layering that spills soul across the stabbing minor piano keys that torridly flurry through the soundscape to reflect the phenomena we have to accept we can’t overcome. In concept and execution alike, This Day is a masterful piece that has left us with plenty of anticipation over the debut album.

Listen to This Day on Spotify from December 23rd. Await the alchemy in the debut album, which is primed for release in early 2023.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chloe Southern painted the portrait of a morally grey romantic in her immersive folk single, Oil & Water

Posted on 4 December 2022

The 22-year-old neo-folk singer-songwriter and producer, Chloe Southern, goes beyond making honesty her brand through the motto, “the more alone I feel in an experience, the more I know I need to write about it”.

The Boulder, CO-born, Brooklyn-residing artist is fresh from the release of her debut EP, Last Man on Earth, which contains five singles, all orchestrated to give a confidant to anyone drifting along the same wavelength. One of the standout singles, Oil & Water, is a quiescent aching lullaby. Atop gentle acoustic guitar strings that weave rich Elliott Smith-Esque melodies, Southern finds her resounding voice as she heightens the emotions to the nth degree through the climactically gentle vocal progressions.

All too often, singer-songwriters paint themselves as flawless protagonists in their own stories. Southern switched the narrative by creating a morally grey character of herself in the single that traverses how she stole someone from the arms of another. But she pulls the romanticism back around by alluding to her ability to love him like no other. We’re officially rooting for her in the romantic saga.

Oil & Water is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chloe Southern – Naked: Intimately Confessional Neo-Folk-Pop

Posted on 2 December 2022

Taken from her debut EP, Last Man on Earth, Chloe Southern’s indie neo-folk-meets-pop single, Naked, strips emotionally bare. The urgency of the distinctive vocal delivery paired with the intimacy in the confessionalism makes for a powerful listening experience. Anyone that has ever wrestled with entropy to feel viscerally again will be consumed by the conceptual score, which runs through the dim views that get dimmer in the wake of loneliness.

Narrating how she hates coffee because she only makes it for herself and the smell of snow which takes her to places where she finds a lost love’s shadow proves how easily our perceptions of elemental to inane things can change over time and with the absence of the co-creators of our stories before a chapter closes.

Through and through, it is a stunning single from the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter which deserves to complement the next heartbreakingly cinematic Blockbuster.

Naked is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Yunger – Let There Be Hope: A Compassionately Impassioned Folk Playlist Staple

Posted on 1 December 2022

Folk singer-songwriter Yunger refused to let all hope be lost in his achingly impassioned single, Let There Be Hope. The single surpassed the gravitas and sincerity in folk hits from Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers as he went all-in with compassion as he acknowledged the darkness that we can all succumb to when it feels like the silver linings are always out of sight.

After laying out unconditional understanding, he offers an olive branch out of entropy which has become increasingly more prevalent in the wake of tragedies that seem to be dragging innocent lives back to the dark ages. If more souls were as pure as Yunger’s and we all had his eloquently poetic way with words, our existence would be so much brighter. Notably, he’s Australia’s answer to Frank Turner.

If you love Let There Be Hope, be sure to check out his latest album, Of Hope and Dreams, which was released on vinyl on October 1st.

The official music video for Let There Be Hope is available on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Succumb to the cinematic nostalgia in Molly Murphy’s folk-pop single, I Miss When We Drove Shitty Cars

Posted on 30 November 2022

Taken from her phenomenal EP, Were You Digging for Some Deeper Meaning? Molly Murphy’s nostalgia-soaked folk serenade, I Miss When We Drove Shitty Cars, will drive you right back to the days when it was okay if everything wasn’t Instagram-worthy.

With all the grace and beguile of Joni Mitchell, this sepia-tinged stripped-back single allows Murphy’s celestial vocal timbre to float atop the quiescently cinematic melodies that lull you into a state of calm before the orchestral chamber strings chorally caress the non-lexical harmonies that will make you Dream Baby Dream.

The NYC indie-folk singer-songwriter is a soulful force to be reckoned with. Watch this space. Or better yet, succumb to the choral mesmerism.

I Miss When We Drove Shitty Cars is now available to stream on Spotify and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast