Shameless Diversities

By RingMaster Review on March 6, 2024 • ( 0 )

Time again to dip into the latest bounty of new tracks sought and collated by our dear friend Shauna, who has offered plenty of treats herself as one-half of soundscapers Ummagma and as head honcho of Shameless promotion PR. This time around we found tracks that grinned at each other with diversity and dextrous unpredictability.

With his debut solo album of last year still a sure target for attention and praise, Scottish singer-songwriter JOHN DOUGLAS has highlighted why that is the case with the track I’m Not The Fella. It is a warm and engaging yet frank gateway into his individually melodic and intimate music, the song one of those caresses of the ear that never gets forgotten.

Renowned for being the guitarist and songwriter in indie pop outfit TRASHCAN SINATRAS, Douglas finally succumbed to a call and encouragement to explore a solo adventure alongside his part in his partner EDDI READER’S band. Released through REVEAL RECORDS last October, his self-titled full-length acoustically and emotively revels in its creator’s celebrated songwriting, a prowess epitomised within I’m Not The Fella which whether bred in experience or observation brings the intimacy of his songs into clear view.

I’m Not The Fella is a track written with his former band and given a fresh personal touch being cradled in the arms of his acoustic guitar and shared through his mellow aired tones. The track gently deters romance with its breath and words yet with an arm on the shoulder brings a warmth that is echoed in the resonance of his guitar strings.

It is a slice of real captivation that will surely only lead many more ears to the waiting arms of JOHN DOUGLAS’ first solo album.

Another track highlighting and drawing fresh ears to one striking album is Gear Geist. It is the latest single from NYC-based duo FRENCHY AND THE PUNK and is taken from their acclaimed full-length, Zen Ghost. This is a release that has deserved every ounce of the high praise it has received with this latest outing epitomising its tenebrific captivation.

FRENCHY AND THE PUNK is the creative pairing of vocalist, percussionist and lyricist Samantha Stephenson and guitarist-composer Scott Helland. The latter was previously a co-founder of DEEP WOUND (with Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis and Lou Barlow) and part of OUTPATIENTS and most recently has been drawing another rich vein of acclaim with his solo project GUITARMY OF ONE and in particular last year’s release, The Wave Files.

Stephenson and Helland cast a sound nurtured in post-punk, cabaret and dark folk music but as recent releases have shown, a proposition embracing a vaster landscape of flavours and styles. Gear Geist itself is an exotically gothic slice of musical intimation and atmospheric drama, a slice of highly suggestive instrumentation wrapped in Stephenson’s almost succubus-like calls.

There is no lyrical tale as such to the EA Recordings released song yet Helland’s guitar weaves a story to explore and for the imagination to conjure with as his partner’s sky lighting and intimation-loaded tones soar. With a kinship to Siouxsie and the Banshees within its bold individuality, Gear Geist is a stunning slice of aural pleasure, something we for one are getting kind of used to alongside FRENCHY AND THE PUNK

Stress Sandwich, the new album from Phoenix duo SNAILMATE is another treat from last year and is also sure to get a fresh flush of attention courtesy of the band’s latest single Trash, Baby. It is the opening song on their Indiestructable Records brought full-length and like the above, a track that keenly sparked a want for more.

Lyricist-vocalist and synthesist Kalen Lander and drummer-backup vocalist Bentley Monet make up SNAILMATE and together spring a sound on the imagination that entangles the rebellious aspects of genres such as synthpunk, grindcore, alt pop and rap. There is plenty more in the recipe too as the album proves and it all comes with a dose of impishness and the wink of the imagination.

Trash, Baby immediately sets attention rolling with a rhythmic rally that swiftly leads to a flume of sonic fuzz and vocal strolling as Lander’s rap quick foots and sidesteps propriety with mischievousness.

A kaleidoscope of punk devilry and electro rock shenanigans at times echoing a twisted fusion of Mindless Self Indulgence and Tub Ring, Trash, Baby quickly had us as animated in reaction and collusion as it is itself in enterprise and rascality, SNAILMATE once again the irresistible instigators to bad behaviour.

Finally, we bring you the way of a slice of refreshing indie pop going by the name of Power Lines. This is the latest single from Ithaca, NY-based artist ROSE ALAIMO, a song embracing nostalgia and new energy with captivating enterprise.

Alaimo is an instinctive DIY-bred solo artist who writes, sings, performs, programs, records and co-produces her own music with additional production and mastering provided by Jamie Hill (Nada Surf, Zola Jesus, House of Pain) upon A Place To Go When You Need To Hide, her third full-length and successor to the well-received Grow of 2021.

Power Lines is taken from upon that latest album, a concept release about “the high highs and low lows of life and how these can be difficult to navigate without losing ourselves in them” which was released last December, a song providing a wealth of reasons to check out its larger companion.

The track swiftly looms large in infectious tempting and vibrant enterprise with Alaimo’s voice just as magnetic within the captivation. That sense of nostalgia as quickly sweeps ears but a radiance brought with warm individuality around thought evoking words and providing something new to ponder and grow increasingly animated to.

It is hard not to think of bands such as The Darling Buds and The Cranberries listening to Power Lines yet, as we suggested earlier, ROSE ALAIMO uses such winds to colour her own singular invention and presence and as a consequence a moment of creative virulence we for one have found a moment of greed for.