For editor Mary's coverage of SXSW 2013, go here.
For TGTF team coverage of Liverpool Sound City 2013, go here.
For TGTF team coverage of the Great Escape 2013, go here.
Don't forget to like There Goes the Fear on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! ~TGTF HQ x
The View‘s new video for new single ‘Standard’ should have been released as a special for Mother’s Day. See what we mean by watching the video below. A new compilation album called ‘Seven Year Setlist’ from the Scots will be released on Monday (17 June).
Nina Nesbitt is releasing a new EP, ‘Way in the World’, on the 22nd of July on Island, and here’s the holiday vibe-filled promo video for the title track.
Don’t miss John’s chat with the lovely Nina, filmed at the Great Escape 2013, here. John even challenges Nina to a rather unusual sweet contest…
Why are Grouplove dressed up for Halloween in their new video ‘Ways to Go’? Beats me, but it’s the first taster to new album ‘Spreading Rumors’ that will follow this autumn. Watch the promo for ‘Ways to Go’ below.
Manchester’s Embers, one of the most talked about bands of this year’s Great Escape 2013 (described here by John) have a new promo video out for forthcoming single ‘Part of the Echoes’. It’s exquisitely shot, so do yourself a favour and watch it below.
‘Part of the Echoes’ is out on the 8th of July on Killing Moon.
Laura Marling’s new album ‘Once I Was An Eagle’ is a bit of an odd duck. Before I even listened to it, I was taken aback by its length, 16 tracks and just over an hour in duration. As it turns out ‘Once I Was An Eagle’ is essentially two shorter albums compressed into one. It feels almost as if Marling had a change of heart in the middle of her writing process, perhaps the same change of heart that led her to relocate to America around the time of its release.
‘Once I Was An Eagle’ is divided into two discrete sections, conveniently separated by an instrumental ‘Interlude’. The first part of the album is difficult, even unnerving, as Marling strays from her typical folk style to experiment with amorphous song structures, alternative tonalities, and shifting rhythms. She also seems to have dabbled a bit in larger musical forms, if the album’s first four tracks are taken as one larger body of work, almost like a classical song cycle. The songs are thematically similar and so seamlessly blended that I almost had trouble telling when one track ended and the next began. Fifth track and first single ‘Master Hunter’ (video below) is a raucous closure to those first four tracks, indicating a change in mood to the dark, powerful tracks ‘Little Love Caster’ and ‘Devil’s Resting Place’.
Then comes the ‘Interlude’, which segues from darkness and dissonance to the sweeter, lighter side of the album. (I haven’t seen a vinyl version, but this would be a perfect place to manually turn the record over.) The second half feels more comfortable somehow, maybe because it is, to some degree, more predictable. The songs become less painfully personal and slightly more external in perspective. Two second-person characters are introduced, the eponymous ‘Undine’, and Rosie in the soaring ‘Little Bird’. Marling warms her sound with hints of blues and gospel, notably in the organ’s harmonic progression in ‘Once’. Final track ‘Saved These Words’ builds from a slow, sparse introduction to a full and resonant chorus: “You weren’t my curse / but thank you, naivete, for failing me again / he was my next verse.”
‘Once I Was An Eagle’ is less immediately accessible than 2011’s ‘A Creature I Don’t Know’. Marling’s voice has matured, both in terms of her lyrics and her vocal timbre. She alternates easily between the declamatory, if slightly abrasive, lower register and the sweet, soulful higher range, using her voice to its fullest effect. Likewise, the instrumentation throughout the album is ingenious and inventive, trading raw, ragged folk for a broader, bolder sound. Rather than making a strong emotional connection, the album instead makes a dynamic and deliberate statement of intent about Marling’s future artistic direction.
8/10
‘Once I Was An Eagle’ is available now via Ribbon Music. Laura Marling is currently playing a series of sold out Secret Cinema dates in London.
Brighton resident Marika Hackman wowed punters at this year’s Great Escape with her gorgeous vocals and deft guitar playing. (For more on her appearance at the Unitarian Church on the Friday night, go here.) So we’ve got a couple tasty Marika bits and bobs for you this Friday morning. First, it just wouldn’t be an MP3 of the Day post without a free download, and this one is a family affair: Marika’s current single ‘Bath is Black’ has been remixed by Hackman, aka Marika’s own brother. Second, we’ve been remiss about not posting the video for the single, so you will find that under the SoundCloud widget. Third and lastly, if you don’t have it yet, you can listen to the entirety of Marika’s mini-album ‘That Iron Taste’. Like it? It’s out now on Dirty Hit.
There Goes The Fear is where we tell you about the latest tours, gigs, and music we love and think you should too.
We love music that has its heart on its sleeve, tells a story, swims around our head all day or makes us dance like idiots.
The blog is edited by Mary Chang, who is based in Washington DC. She is joined by writers in the UK and America. It was started up by Phil Singer in Bristol, UK.
All MP3s are posted with the permission of the artists or their representatives and are for sampling only. Like the music? Buy it. If you want a track removed, email us and we'll sort it ASAP.
