Browsing Tag

Piano Pop

Noah Tuesday melodised moving on paralysis in his pop-rock single, ‘Leave a Light On’

Posted on 19 February 2023

If candour and inclination to expose their souls got artists to the top of the charts, there would be few sitting above the Michigan-born, New York-residing alternative artist, Noah Tuesday.

His seminal pop-rock single, Leave a Light On, puts his training as a concert and church pianist to melodically immersive use as he allows the lyrics to outpour of all the guilt that amasses around inaction, introversion and moving on paralysis. Everyone has been there, leaving lashes on their own backs for their need to take time; Noah Tuesday universalised those alienating sensations.

Even if Leave a Light On was an instrumental piece, the piano-led sonic piece of panache would have been as upliftingly luminary. Between the evocative magnetism in his vocal lines, his songwriting chops and his lyrics that transcend most artists’ expressive capacities, he’s one to watch.

Leave a Light On is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Erika Levy blurred the line between grief and joy in her indie Avant-Garde single, Chicken and Rice

Posted on 5 January 2023

LA singer-songwriter and classically trained pianist Erika Levy closed 2022 with the release of her elevated alt-indie single, Chicken and Rice, which captures the desolation of the world in the absence of anchoring connection. Haunting and affirming in equal measure, your soul won’t know what’s hit it once you delve into the monochromatic sorrow flowing through her filmic vocals that establish her as a 21st-century chanteuse.

“I’ll get higher once I hit the ground, just takes a little bit to find me, Hey lonely, come buy me another round” is a lesson in heart-breaking lyricism; projected with such grace and finesse, the vulnerability is flooring. In place of pity, you’ll find appreciation for the strength she amassed to lyrically blur the line between grief and joy.

Any fans of Tori Amos, Amanda Palmer, Kate Bush and Fiona Apple will be disarmed by the sheer originality of Levy with the baroque nature of her descending piano melodies that become the off-kilter centre of her 70s folk-pop sonic world.

Chicken and Rice is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Imelda Gabs sophisticated the pop genre to the nth degree with her mournfully minimalistic neo-classic pop single, RECKLESS

Posted on 20 December 2022

‘RECKLESS’ is the latest intensely compelling single from the pop innovator Imelda Gabs. From a mournfully minimalistic neo-classic prelude of minor piano keys, the contemporary ballad that comes to terms with a disposition of recklessness seamlessly builds; utilising the dynamic vocal range of Imelda Gabs to orchestrate one of the most strident crescendos to ever grace the pop genre.

The pain exhibited borders on primal as the independent singer and producer gave an intimate view of her own shortcomings to universalise the phenomenon of letting our inner saboteur lead us to a position of self-doubt, regret, and inner hostility.

The 24-year-old Belgian and Congolese artist grew up in Switzerland, where she studied piano, violin and signing before evolving as a composer and songwriter. Since 14, she has been gracing prestigious stages amongst world-renowned artists before she started to focus on her recorded music, and my God, the airwaves were crying out for her elevated balletic grace.

Watch the cinematic official music video for RECKLESS on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Theo Sawyer put perspective behind our hedonistic thrills with his intimate pop hit, Download a Ghost

Posted on 16 December 2022

With quiescently bitter-sweet piano melodies that resound with the same ethereal grace as Philip Glass, Theo Sawyer’s latest contemporary pop ballad, Download a Ghost, puts weight behind the belief that searching for love in the modern era is akin to a paranormal investigation.

Now that treating each other as a temporary dopamine hit before slipping off the radar is a common phenomenon; it was about time pop artists stepped up to the mark and helped the diehard romantics out there to navigate through the landmine-strewn landscape of dating where objects of desire can slip from perception at a moment’s notice when they’ve had their hedonistic fill.

Fans of Tom Odell, Daughter, and Bill Ryder-Jones, will want to playlist staple this subtly profound serenade that unravels as a flood of compassion, introspection and darkly intimate expression.

The New Zealand-hailing artist may have only entered the scene in 2022, but he is already stealing the show. Stay tuned for more expositions on dysfunctional dynamics and intellectual amorous psychology.

Download a Ghost officially released on December 9th; hear it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Paper White and the Lake goes for baroque in their single, My Love, ft. Teresa Ann & Nicole Limle

Posted on 24 November 2022

For their standout single, My Love, the up-and-coming Avant-Garde originator Paper White and the Lake collaborated with Teresa Ann & Nicole Limle to create a striking piano-led score that will easily arrest any Evelyn-Evelyn and the Legendary Pink Dots fans.

The theatrically baroque piano keys and Brian Viglione-style percussion fuse in absolute synergy with the beguile of the art-house chanteuse vocals, which implant aching amorous soul into the soundscape that resonates with a touch of coldness and isolation.

My Love efficaciously proves that nothing can rival the presence of love, and nothing can be as inhospitable as a world without it. To say that you will feel all of the emotion as My Love unfurls around the reprise of “you don’t want my love” is far from a mascara-ruining understatement.

Stream My Love on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

In the wake of trajedy, Alexander Joseph found the beauty in his piano score, Waiting for You

Posted on 11 November 2022

The UK-based singer-songwriter, Alexander Joseph, created an intricately ornate balance of faith, regret and grief in the piano version of his single, Waiting For You, which captured the complexity of the emotions following his grandmother’s passing.

If you know how it feels to know that someone is at peace while they endured the opposite amongst us and for those torrid emotions to be confounded by guilt for not being more supportive while we had the opportunity, Waiting for You will weigh down on you like a tonne of bricks.

Yet, there’s ample solace within the pure soul of the vocals, which anticipate reconnection while the lyrics vow to go on in a way that will minimise regret when our time comes. By blending striking minor keys with major keys in the progressions to brighten the score, Waiting for You unravels to sonically amplify the message that even in the wake of tragedy, life can never be black and white.

Alexander Joseph’s commitment to orchestrating uplifting heartfelt messages is seen throughout his body of work, plenty of which has been lauded by BBC Introducing. When he’s not enriching our musical culture, he coaches the British Wheelchair Tennis Programme. My faith in humanity is officially restored.

Waiting for You will officially release across all major platforms on November 11th. Hear it here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alex de León counts the ‘Minutes & Hours’ in her compellingly tender piano pop narrative of lost time

Posted on 10 November 2022

London-based Mexican singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Alex de León has released her captivatingly tender single, Minutes & Hours. The instrumentally minimalist single captures the ephemeral nature of time, where the sands that are always pouring can leave the best of us behind.

Anyone with a proclivity towards burnout will resonate with the lyric, “I wish I could stop and smell the flowers, but all I see are minutes and hours”. It pulls you into the depth of this intimately vulnerable single which blossoms to the tune of the gentle neo-classic piano keys and her soft Tori Amos-Esque vocal harmonies.

Alex de León’s single Minutes & Hours was officially released ahead of her upcoming debut EP of the same title. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ancestral pain emanates in Million Pebble Beach’s latest beguilingly awakening Witches

Posted on 6 November 2022

In modern culture, witches are often painted with crooked noses and broomsticks beside them; Million Pebble Beach’s latest single, Witches, paints them as what they always were, women powerful enough to evoke enough fear to drive men to burn them at the stake.

That archaic form of misogyny has shifted with the ages but remains just as pertinent in our regression-tainted cultural tapestry. The deep ancestral pain emanates through this sombre yet juxtaposing uplifting single that shimmers with tonal and lyrical beguile as their strength and power is celebrated.

The Hertfordshire-based solo artist has made quite the name for herself with her cinematic and poetic piano oeuvre since 2018, which any fans of Mitski and Phoebe Bridgers will find playlist-worthy,

Witches is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Nick Cody & The Heartache consoles Anthropocene anxiety in his single, All is Fine Until the World Goes Pop, featuring Towse

Posted on 30 September 2022

UK singer-songwriter Nick Cody is set to unleash his forthcoming album, All is Fine Until the World Goes Pop; the plaintive piano mockery of the state of our being at this crushing crux of humanity spills its fair share of antipathy while playfully protesting the black mirror reflection of our reality.

The standout single, featuring the glassy vocals from Towse, may not be able to brighten the corners of our contemporary insanity; it does something far more valuable. It euphonically cries out to everyone struggling with Anthropocene anxiety with a nuanced affirmation that they’re not alone in their all-consuming fear.

Artfully, lyrically, and conceptually, All is Fine Until the World Goes Pop is a multi-faceted triumph.

All is Fine Until the World Goes Pop will officially release on September 30th. Catch it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Richi Camarena let the candour pour in his single, Letter to Myself

Posted on 15 September 2022

Mexico-born singer-songwriter Richi Camarena let the candour poor in his debut EP, Letter to Myself. The title single starts by exploring the connotations of depression and the guilt it leaves us with when we’re unable to be happy for the people we love before vulnerably proving that nothing lasts forever, not even the emotions that seem impossible to escape.

The gentle piano pop ballad is a stunning testament to the 23-year-old artist’s motivation to open up with his emotions and allow his fans to follow suit. The simple piano melodies around the gentle percussive kicks give the artist’s voice plenty of space to resound and resonate before the faded outro.

Letter to Myself is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast