Browsing Tag

Piano Pop

Keli Woods illuminated the keys with enlightenment in his latest piano composition, Skies

Posted on 18 October 2023

Fans of Tom Odell, James Bay and Birdy won’t fail to be consumed by the latest piano composition, Skies, from the UK multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer, Keli Woods.

If his voice accompanied this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, I wouldn’t be coloured surprised, and that is only the start of the crossover appeal of this sombrely intimate yet juxtaposing strident release, which seamlessly amasses evocative momentum and flair with every intricately laid progression in the epic 6-minute progressive ballad.

Keli Woods’ experience as a monk lent itself effortlessly well to the powerfully metaphorical introspection within Skies. His ability to conjure vivid pictures in the mind with his deeply affecting lyrical prose is second to none. He may have missed out on West End stardom at the age of 11, but all paths, which included performing jazz band in a decommissioned ambulance in Swansea and living the late-night rock ‘n’ roll life, have led him to this point of proving the transformative force of music.

Listen to the live recording of Skies from Real World Studios via YouTube from October 18.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Loulita Gill shared a message of resilience and hope in her classic pop score, Silenced

Posted on 8 October 2023

The singer-songwriter Loulita Gill oozed classic pop class with her recently released single, Silenced, which goes back to the darkest and most vulnerable chapter of her life to offer consolation and solidarity to survivors of abuse.

Few people will ever know the strength needed to keep your head high after you have been subjected to abuse by the people who brought you into the world to cherish and protect you. After the unveiling of this arcanely orchestral score, a deeper sense of empathy will be ingrained in anyone who has never had the crushing experience of vulnerability being exploited first-hand.

Her celestial vocal range, which effortlessly coalesces with the minor piano keys and swells of the classical strings, opens a doorway to compassion. We certainly weren’t coloured surprised when learning the Bristol-based singer’s career has been decorated by accolades. Her music regularly features on global Christian radio stations, GODTV and BBC Radio Bristol.

Watch the official music video for Silenced, which premiered on September 22nd on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Linn Willner stood at the vanguard of emotionally intelligent pop with ‘Dancing on Roses’

Posted on 26 September 2023

For her latest single, Dancing on Roses, the indie pop enchantress, Linn Willner, melodically pulled on the parallels between blossoming naturalism and the early days of relationships, where we can’t see the thorns for the petals.

The orchestral strings in the indie chamber pop score carved a cinematically immersive atmosphere that evokes notions of romanticism while spurring the listener to remove their rose-tinted glasses and view the full kaleidoscope of betrayal-laden complexity when exploring love and human connection. Life will always find a way to strip away your naivety; it is better to pull back the layers with piano pop expositions on the highs and lows of relationships, which portray vulnerability as a strength.

The 22-year-old Swedish singer-songwriter became an icon of our enlightened times with Dancing on Roses. Beyond her beguilingly evocative vocal lines and command over minor piano keys, she’s at the vanguard of emotionally intelligent pop.

Dancing on Roses will debut on the 26th of September; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bree Gregory cut right to the emotional core with her orchestral ballad, See You Soon

Posted on 22 September 2023

The Adelaide singer-songwriter Bree Gregory captured the bitter-sweetness of impassioned goodbyes and the beauty of uninhibited vulnerability with her latest orchestrally arranged piano pop ballad, See You Soon, which strips the sonorous production right back to her vocals, piano keys and a string quartet.

Between the cutting crescendos and the steady strides in her dynamic vocal register that carries the same sense of beguile as Adele, See You Soon cuts you right to the emotional core.

Moving away from her RnB soul sound, which saw her peak at number 4 in the top 10 AMRAP charts with her single, Waiting, was a bold move, but discernibly, her talents lend themselves efficaciously well to more than one genre. We can’t wait to see where this Billboard & Grammy-worthy exposition of viscerally warm raw emotion takes her. Even greater successes are surely in the pipeline.

See You Soon will debut on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jessamine Barham melodised marionette melancholy in her compelling vignette, Puppet Girl

Posted on 21 September 2023

Every time the dark indie folk singer-songwriter Jessamine Barham turns her creativity to the composition of a new baroquely imaginative piano score, complete immersion in her archaic vignettes is non-optional.

In her seminal avant-garde single, Puppet Girl, the San Diego-hailing artist melodied marionette melancholy by inviting you into a world of powerlessness, subjugation, and betrayal.

Taking the single at face value, you will enjoy a jaunty Evelyn Evelyn-esque cabaret tune; look a little deeper at what is written between the lines, and you will lock into an exposition on the limitations life can find a way of imposing on us. No matter how free we think we are, we all come with strings attached, making Puppet Girl a resonantly dark reflection of reality.

Puppet Girl is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Turncoat Billy sang the worn-in blues in their latest indie single, Hand Me Downs

Posted on 14 August 2023

After enamouring us with their psychedelically vintage single, Kaleidoscope, the Tottenham-hailing prodigal sons of indie rock nostalgia, Turncoat Billy, are back on our radar once again with a definitively infectious sound that carries all of the feel-good grooves of a Ray Charles hit single.

The jaunty honkytonk piano keys stab their way through the theatrical flair of their brass-infused cosy new single, Hand Me Downs, which boasts swathes of 70s pop swagger and evidence that Turncoat Billy is no longer the band equivalent of the girl next door.

It is safe to say they’ve come into their stride, and wherever they go from here, we will be keen to follow, especially if their singles continue to run in the same quirkily romantic and self-deprecating vein as Hand Me Downs.

Hand Me Downs will officially release on August 14; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Wong Diane – Now Only Me: A Tenderly Triumphant Tour De Force

Posted on 13 August 2023

Wong Diane brought style to solemnity with her melodically eloquent composition, Now Only Me, taken from her 1st One Done EP.

With whispers of organ keys in the ethereal background to her minimalist piano-led score to create a luminous atmosphere for her lyrical melancholia to drift into, beguiling barely scratches the surface of this intimately raw exposition of loneliness.

Now Only Me could easily be classified as a tenderly triumphant Tour De Force from an artist who knows exactly how to lock horns with your emotional impulses with her Nils Frahm-esque piano melodies and delicate vocal lines.

As a music producer and composer, the Berklee College of Music and Hunter College graduate has contributed to a series of high-profile projects, including the Daily Podcast, Verizon Rewards and the Samsung Galaxy Watch Experience. She’s also garnered over a million Spotify streams on her most popular piece and performed at some of the most prestigious venues on the globe, but something tells us the best is yet to come from the only true emissary of soulfully diaphanous pop.

Now Only Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kailey Tenn constructed euphonic comfort with the introspective gold in her latest single, Happier

Posted on 10 August 2023

People who thoughtlessly bound around the word forever may want to think twice about their choice of verbiage after exposing themselves to the glistening-with-introspective-gold debut EP, Forever is Finite, from the Long Island singer-songwriter and producer Kailey Tenn.

The standout single, Happier, takes classic piano pop ballad stylings and reinvents them through intimately subversive poetic lyricality, which bolsters in poignancy to the tune of the rock-infused crescendos and orchestral motifs that elevate the soundscape to the celestial nth degree.

The 23-year-old artist hasn’t failed to establish herself as one to watch by being one of the rare songwriters with the capacity to create resonance through her soul-stirring melodies and narratively beguiling lyrics that construct mirrors for her audience to see themselves within.

Happier is the ultimate testament to her talents for the way it reminds you that the dream of reaching an idealised state of happiness will only set you up for failure; strive to be happier than you were yesterday instead.

Check out Kailey Tenn’s debut EP, Forever is Finite, on all major platforms via this link.

 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Classic piano pop made a comeback via Dana Powell’s single, Have I Found You

Posted on 26 July 2023

Dana Powell is reflectively resounding in her debut 4-track EP, Mirrors, featuring the standout piano pop score, Have I Found You.

The Canadian, US-residing singer, songwriter, and pianist applied an elevated classic pop touch to her arrestive single, produced by the Grammy Award-winning engineer Philip Larsen, who has also worked alongside the pop legends Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kylie Minogue. Clearly, Powell fits right into that iconic triad of pop icons; her songwriting pulls you through the progressions by your heartstrings as the minor piano keys hammer against her evocatively glassy vocal lines and a vignette of romantic malady and euphoria plays out with arresting panoramic colour.

The tentative romanticism which lingers through the lyricism is the ultimate testament to her maturity as a songwriter. Can we agree as a society to stop championing the 18-year-old artists churning out pop tropes about loving someone forever when they’re just experiencing lust and uphold artists in the same superlative pop vein as Dana Powell?

Have I Found You was officially released on July 10th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Anna Smith overcome cancer to share her joie de vivre classic pop single, Feel Like Myself

Posted on 11 April 2023

After undergoing six months of chemo and immunotherapy, songwriter Anna Smith immortalised the memory of getting the all-clear in her song, Feel Like Myself, sung by the vocalist Jolie. The rapture of the moment radiates through the single, which was written for her daughter, that everyone should drink in if only once, to get the reminder that for all the expectations we have in life, sometimes simply being alive is the greatest triumph.

We spend so much time wishing to be someone else, to have the attributes, the wealth, the status, the acclaim of someone else, but as proven by this enlivening feat of classic piano pop, there is nothing sweeter than feeling like yourself after you’ve learnt to love the skin you’re in and respect your body for all that it grants you.

Feel Like Myself officially released on March 19th. Hear it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast