Browsing Tag

Melodic Rock

Mikey Wayne’s Lovin’ and Leavin’: A Bonfire Ballad for Every Heart That’s Learned the Hard Way

Posted on 21 April 2025

With a Hollywood panoramic production projecting the intimate echoes of a soul that knows the sting of a temporal romance all too well, Mikey Wayne invited listeners to do more than just dwell on the pain with Lovin’ and Leavin’ he painted a vignette with the emotions derived from the ebb and flow of love which pushes and pulls the heartstrings until they snap.

Lovin’ and Leavin’ isn’t merely a heartbreak anthem—it’s the internal monologue of anyone who’s chosen passion over peace and paid the price. The Alabama-based singer-songwriter, shaped as much by his Southern California beginnings as his Deep South roots, channels that contrast into a ballad steeped in bittersweetness and bound by conviction. His rendered-in-sentimentality vocal lines honey the nostalgic agony as it melodically pirouettes through the track, which lands in the perfect spot in the bitter-sweet equilibrium, especially when the rock solo breaks through the affecting atmosphere, illustrating the intensity of passion with the conviction of a thousand words.

It’s a classic feat of stellar songwriting, with all the hallmarks of the ’70s Americana greats—yet the scars are Wayne’s own. Raised fronting rock bands through high school and college, and now launching from Nashville after a decade of refining his voice, Mikey Wayne has proven that his stories don’t borrow—they bleed. Lovin’ and Leavin’ is a reckoning for anyone who’s felt the full force of head vs. heart, lived to regret it, and would do it all again.

Lovin’ and Leavin’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Byron Ciotter used lo-fi melodic rock as a confession booth through his latest single, Impossibilities

Posted on 3 April 2025
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xIoxuYgJ1Ws&si=Hk5o4XXhIdFne8oz

There’s something arrestingly primal in the way Byron Ciotter strips his soul bare in Impossibilities. While most artists polish pain until it sparkles, Ciotter lets it crack and creak through every chord in this lo-fi melodic rock elegy that aches with the weight of unprocessed loss, love, and the universal pull of unanswered questions.

Drawing from two decades of eclecticism that started in Southern Maryland’s metal scene in 2005, Ciotter’s path to Impossibilities was paved through the wreckage of trauma, the solace of connection, and the quiet contemplation of death, divorce, and fleeting affection. It’s a long way from distorted riffs and high-octane catharsis—now the weight is carried by pared-back progressions that resound like intimate confessions. There’s no filter between the listener and the flood of reflection. Every note feels lived in, every lyric sounds like it was torn from the back page of a notebook too private to publish.

While Ciotter may never claim a crown for innovation, he’s reached the epitome of emotive expression. His unembellished approach to songwriting serves as a raw conduit of connection, one forged in the fires of personal experience and cooled in the lo-fi tones of acoustic melancholy.

Impossibilities is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dust-Laced Reflections: Mission Spotlight Turn Memory into a Mirage in ‘Ten Years Ago’

Posted on 23 March 2025

With the pedal steel timbres sighing beneath the crunched chords and clean-cut vocals riding a wave of wistful Americana, ‘Ten Years Ago’ by Mission Spotlight is an excavation of the past. Frontman Kurt Foster chronicles the years, sifting through them, decade by decade, uncovering snapshots steeped in both grief and glory, framed by the inescapable truth that everything changes and nothing is ever as it was.

The narrative unravels like the inked pages of a diary you forgot you wrote until a lyric reminds you of something you swore you’d buried. It’s not a simple wallow in nostalgia, but a bitter-sweet vignette of personal transgressions and irreversible shifts, suspended in sweeping pedal steel, jagged rock undercurrents, and a beat so precise it lulls the rhythmic pulse into a slow hypnosis.

Recorded across two coasts and continents—starting at The Ship Studio in LA with Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle and Earlimart’s Aaron Espinoza, then later completed at Jackpot! Recording Studios in Portland with longtime producer Larry Crane—‘Ten Years Ago’ is stitched with dust and daylight. Paul Brainard’s steel work (Richmond Fontaine, The Sadies) drifts through the mix like a sunbeam through half-closed blinds, wrapping itself around the lyrical vulnerability.

Foster’s vocals are less a performance and more a gentle reckoning, made all the more human beside Lytle’s harmonies. For fans of college radio-ready rock with Americana sensibilities, Mission Spotlight offer more than reflection—they offer sanctuary. The kind built not from sentimentality, but from survival.

Tean Years Ago is now available to stream on Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jo James sparked an insurgence of soul with his vintage-toned blues rock earworm, Peace of Mind

Posted on 21 February 2025
Jo James

With heartfelt plaudits from John Legend and a wave of other admirers, it almost seems certain that whatever Jo James touches will turn to aural gold. The raw power, panache, and precision in the bluesy vintage-toned outburst of rock-licked soul in ‘Peace of Mind’ reveal the depth of his reverence for blues rock.

His ability to electrify senses you never knew existed is unmatched, as is his ability to teasingly pace his songwriting, leaving you on tenterhooks for the next cultivated blast of overdriven rock euphoria. Once you’re through the track, the track will be far from through with you, the infectious melody becomes a compulsion, urging you to revisit the single’s radioactively emotional core.

Beyond the studio, Jo James demonstrates a natural talent for songwriting and commanding a crowd, whether he’s headlining heavyweight stages or pouring heartfelt intensity into more intimate venues. Blending blues, soul, and rock ’n’ roll, he has graced line-ups alongside Dr. John, Leon Russell, and Robert Randolph & the Family Band. He has also lent his guitar chops to Capitol Records’ Fletcher and made waves on Season 17 of NBC’s The Voice.

You can get some ‘Peace of Mind’ when the single officially launches on February 21st.

Find your preferred way to listen via Jo James’ website and keep up to date with the artist’s latest releases via Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Garfield Mayor sought sanctuary in the plight of an icon with ‘Any Tips? (Jimmy James)’

Posted on 25 January 2025

With Any Tips? (Jimmy James), Garfield Mayor lays bare the bittersweet reality of artistic pursuit, offering a tender yet fiercely resonant tribute to the late icon Jimmy James. Far from a surface-level homage, this gentle melodic rock confession exposes the grit behind the glamour, questioning salvation and searching for guidance with an understated intensity.

Mayor crafted this poignant vignette and reached the epitome of euphonic cultivation. A master of marrying introspection with melody, he channelled his influences—from the narrative eloquence of Paul Simon to the sonic aesthetic of The Eagles—into an expansive arrangement that radiates raw soul. His hybridised sound doesn’t attempt to mask the struggle; instead, it makes the plight of the artist a celebration of authenticity and resilience.

Through its plaintive tones and introspective lyrics, Any Tips? reaches beyond the confines of mere music, becoming a sermon for the soul. It’s an evocative reminder that while audiences are often captivated by the limelight, they rarely recognise the toil and torment beneath. For any artist navigating the labyrinth of creativity while wrestling with their own struggles, Mayor offers not just solace but solidarity.

Any Tips? (Jimmy James) was officially released on January 24th and is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Find resolve through the rhythm and lyrical reflections in Flame’s seminal alt-indie release, ‘Heat’

Posted on 21 January 2025

The standout single ‘Heat’ from Flame’s alt-rock EP, Pride of the Lamb, which paints in colours from all across the alternative spectrum, ensues with a barrage of folkish rhythmic intensity before establishing a melody in the arcanely beguiling atmosphere.

The seraphic on the senses release transcends sound and moves into the remit of transformative meditation through the ethereal timbre of the lead vocals which refuse to bleed into the instrumentals in true shoegaze fashion as they relay mantric messages, guiding the listener towards transformation.

Flame lights fires through the trailblazing authenticity within their sonic signature, which pairs the textural motifs of grunge with the cathartic consolation of melodic rock as they build insurmountable walls of sound, brick by brick, note by note, while sharing a singular vision of leading the listener away from their ego.

Hit play and feel something primal within you wake in the presence of the Edinburgh-based alt-rock powerhouse who have exactly what it takes to stand at the vanguard of the post-shoegaze revolution in sound.

With one of the most distinct voices on the indie rock circuit, Flame is perceptibly in the minority of artists who favour their expression over commercial appeal, but there’s nothing within their debut EP that says they can’t have both; it’s pure evocative perfection.

Stream Heat as part of the 5-track EP on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

INTERCONTINEN7AL made history with the post-rock panache in their globally recorded single, Night Shift

Posted on 9 January 2025

Night Shift, the standout single from INTERCONTINEN7AL’s history-making EP World Over, isn’t just an ambitious cross-continental collaboration; it’s an emotive tour de force, commanding you to succumb to the progressive rock sublimity.

The single opens with a cinematic neo-classical prelude, complete with intricate finger-picked guitars and orchestral swells, setting a reflective and ornate tone. As the track evolves, the mood shifts seamlessly into psych-pop territory, with Beatles-reminiscent guitar riffs that carry listeners deeper into its emotional core.

When the soft melodic rock vocals enter, backed by soulfully ethereal harmonies, another seamless metamorphosis is complete, one which will allow fans of Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder to recognise the heartstring-pulling resonance as it resounds over the essence of 70s folk rock.

INTERCONTINEN7AL, based in Castle Rock, Colorado, emerged from the COVID-19 lockdowns, redefining global collaboration with their innovative use of virtual tools like BandLab. World Over is their fourth album, showcasing an eclectic range of styles, from progressive rock to bossa nova. By recording instrumentation in locales as remote as Antarctica, they created a genre-spanning collection that’s as inspiring as it is groundbreaking.

With Night Shift, the band transcends novelty and crafted a testament to the universality of emotion, delivering a track that lifts listeners far above the confines of geography or genre.

Stream the World Over EP on all major streaming platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hover pierced the post-grunge veil with the visceralism nestled within ‘In My Head’

Posted on 28 December 2024
In My Head by Hover

The Cali fourpiece powerhouse, Hover, unchained the gates to the post-grunge pantheon with their seminal single, In My Head. The grungy indie anthem opens introspective floodgates over crunchy overdriven guitar chords; when the reprise of ‘in my head’ pours over the instrumentals, you can’t help but be reminded of the visceralism of Zombie by The Cranberries, yet Hover makes the mantric confession their own through the raw emotive power of the vocal delivery.

With hints of everything from grunge to indie rock to college radio rock to pop punk, and every element riling up the last, In My Head unravels as an anthem of catharsis for anyone who knows how much hostility can be bred within the confines of the mind. In My Head proves that Hover doesn’t just have the technical chops to ensure their recorded material carries immense emotional weight, they also have the ability to take weight from the listener as the burden of rumination is lifted.

The Coachella Valley hailing outfit is easily distinguished from the rest with their attitude-spiked melodic rock. Rather than merely layering fuzz-laden riffs, Hover let raw reflection spill from every sonic seam, adding a welcome blast of authenticity to alt-rock’s current landscape.

In My Head is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Todd Michael Chapman is the lyrical cheerleader everyone will want in their corner with ‘Celebrate It’

Posted on 2 December 2024

New York-born-and-raised singer-songwriter Todd Michael Chapman reached his uplifting zenith with his latest melodic Americana rock single, Celebrate It.

Covering the all-too-relatable phenomenon of chasing dreams and overcoming adversity for the promise of an emotional payoff and never finding any serotonin at the end of the endeavour, Chapman uses the single as an opportunity to remind his fans to reflect on their wins as much as their losses.

Joined by a female vocalist who effortlessly complements his stridently euphoria-painted harmonies, Celebrate It is enough to strip the weight of ennui right off your soul and rose tint the way you perceive your impact on the world.

The country-twanged classic rock melodies paired with Chapman acting as the lyrical cheerleader everyone will want in their corner transform Celebrate It into the ultimate anthem to slam through your speakers every time you need an intravenous shot of optimism.

Stream Celebrate It on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Feeding the Frenzy: Buddy Pease Strikes with the melodic rock resonance in ‘Vampires at the Door’

Posted on 30 October 2024

Baltimore-based artist Buddy Pease dives evocatively deep with his latest single, ‘Vampires at the Door’, introducing a glimpse into a visceral intersection where classic rock riffs meet soul-stirring existential angst.

Opening with steady, euphonic guitar chords, the song ramps up with soaring Slash-reminiscent guitar work that electrifies the production, priming listeners for a soundscape laced with the gritty intensity fans of Soundgarden will instantly recognise.

Pease’s imploringly raw vocal lines add a striking edge to the track, reaching into the psyche as he exposes the shadowy figures of human existence—the ones that lurk like parasites on the fringes of everyday life.

Through each evocative twist in the melodies, ‘Vampires at the Door’ becomes more a revelation of Pease’s ability to capture the unease and silent struggles many of us contend with.

With his new album slated for release in the next few weeks, Pease signals he’s more than just a fledgling in the scene; he’s one to save space for on your radar as he sonically visualises the raw, universal undercurrents of human experience.

The official music video for Vampires at the Door premiered on October 16; stream the horror-esque video on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast