The song might be about “taking a journey into the recesses of consciousness, exploring perceptions and angles that don’t add up”, but musically Walkawayis just one inescapable funk ‘n’ roll devilment of indie pop come new wave virulence. The song is the new single from We-Are-Z, a UK band which on the evidence of their new release, springs a sound on the senses as agitated and warped as it is infectiously magnetic. It incites body and imagination with tribal like rhythms amidst paranoia kissed sound, each racked with St. Vitus dance like activity within theatrical melodies and mellow washed vocals. The track is pure temptation, like Shriekback meets Late Cambrian in a Two Door Cinema Club embrace, yet different again.
The London based Anglo/French quintet formed in 2012, with its line-up already seasoned musicians bringing experiences of playing with the likes of Beyonce, The Waterboys, and James Morrison into the mix. Debut track Airbrush swiftly drew strong attention and support from media and fans alike, whilst the band since then has lured in diverse comparisons from Vampire Weekend to Devo and Franz Ferdinand to XTC. Inspirations are equally varied within We-Are-Z, the likes of David Bowie, Serge Gainsborough, Talking Heads, Blur, The Clash, and Static cited but as their new single shows, the band ultimately emerges with something yes a little familiar but perfectly peculiar to them.
Walkaway from its first touch is a rampant shuffle of jabbing beats and a dark flirty bass lure from Guillaume Charreau and Marc Arciero respectively. The guitar of Drew Wynen adds a lively temptation to the attention grabbing start also, little but gripping hooks and slithers of melodic spices a flirtatious tempting adding to the instant magnetism. Seductive and quirky keys are colouring the song further next, Clement Leguidcoq bringing a smouldering coaxing seeping around and within all the other tenacious textures at play whilst vocalist Gabriel Cazes has a drama and flirty quality to his insatiably vibrant tones and harmonies. There is no escaping the enslaving effect of the song, the puppeteer like lure of rhythms on limbs and the addictive contagion of everything else on voice and emotions, a proper feel good treat.
According to reliable sources, with an energetic and irrepressible live presence to match the adventure of their new single alone, it is easy to suggest we will all be hearing and devouring a lot more of We-Are-Z from hereon in.
Walkaway is available via Sputnik Records from May 18th
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Never be afraid to give a twelve year old an acoustic guitar because you might just be breeding magic. That is what happened with UK band Gentian, from the moment one of its members held the instrument, seeds were sown and creative blooms nurtured, with haunting and elegantly enchanting songs like NightLight their new single emerging. There is much more to the tale than that one instant in time of course but from Devon musician Jingle picking up the guitar and proceeding to devour its and her potential, the UK music scene been on course to meet one strikingly promising and mesmeric proposition in the shape of Gentian.
The creativity within Gentian is two pronged though, and has been from an early age. Once Jingle had mastered the song books at her disposal, she and sister D.D., who has already been singing along, began writing their own unique songs. The years have seen this develop with D.D. , who is also an author, writing the songs and creating the melodies whilst Jingle arranges and plays all the instruments. 2012 saw the pair emerge into the spotlight as Gentian and in little time their music was receiving support from James Santer at BBC Radio Devon on his Introducing show. Recently the duo released the In The Dark EP, a debut three track melodic tempting recorded with Andy Rugg (Coldplay, Beyonce, Jay-Z) at Resident Studios in London. The release is an embrace of evocative and tantalising beauty with new single NightLight its mesmeric pinnacle.
From the first kiss of dark strings, the song has ears and imagination enthralled, its melancholic seducing an inescapable and picturesque caress of gothic shadows and radiant charm. The alluring enterprise cast by the creative skills of Jingle is as spellbinding as it is emotionally provocative whilst the soothing but equally vibrant voice of D.D., backed by the bewitching harmonies of the pair, takes ears and thoughts on a celestial flight through the darker climate of the song. There is also a virulent infectiousness washing through the encounter, colluding with less open moments of almost sinister persuasion, a potency which by the track’s end had us thinking that if a British TV company did their own version of American Horror Story, this would be the prefect theme tune.
Though having being impressed by the EP, it was NightLight which actually blew us away, and it continues to do so as a single. Something a great and increasing many are finding too.
Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard on Reputation Radio @ http://www.reputationradio.net
Emotionally intimate and exploratory, with a just as expressive melodic climate, the new album from New York City singer songwriter/producer David Bronson is a warm and resourceful landscape of thought and sparkling enterprise. Consisting of songs which as its title, seems to stem from Questions Bronson has asked of himself and his life, the album is a striking and immersive caress on ears and imagination. It is not an encounter which always consistently lights personal appetites to the same strength as its finest moments, but one emerging as a lingering and thoroughly enjoyable proposition easy to recommend to those with a want of soulful and melody drenched creativity.
The successor to his acclaimed 2013 debut album The Long Lost Story, ‘a decade-in-the-making, 22-song autobiographical double album’ split into two separate releases, Questions sees Bronson looking at his life and the world right now, and drawing on the likes of vocalist Robin Clark (Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Al Green, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, David Bowie), guitarist Carlos Alomar (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney, John Lennon), guitarist Robbie “Seahag” Mangano, drummer Lautaro Burgos, and Gordon Grody to inventively colour these investigations. Whereas the first release expressed a more indie rock seeded sound around his seventies inspired songwriting, the new album embraces new adventurous flavours such as soul, folk, and gospel in its new proposals, a spicing helping the Godfrey Diamond (Lou Reed)/Bronson produced Questions become a captivating and intriguingly varied encounter.
From the opening Songbird, Bronson and album has ears and attention awake, its acoustic caress of guitar the canvas for some delicious harmonies and the lyrical prowess and insight of Bronson. Immediately there is a Paul Simon like air to the heart of the song but also plenty to make it radiate a fresh and original presence. Vibrant beats only add catchy texture to the gentle swing of the song but it is the gospel bred harmonies which steal the impressive show.
Both Move Like Water and Day By Day glide through personal balladry with Bronson and guitar again offering a sure and warm entrance to which melodies and sultry climates, not forgetting a great throaty bassline in the first of the two, immerse senses and thoughts evocatively. Each pleases with their individual charms but it is with Push that another surge of greed hits ears and personal appetite. The fourth track is an instant drama with keys straight away looming and laying down a single prod before taking a pause, returning a few seconds later with the same Boomtown Rats like potency as they align to the alluring strum of the guitar. It is a mesmeric track, voice and music sketching an easily accessible and emotively connecting narrative in a dance of creative and vivacious enterprise.
The following Task is another stirring and inescapable invitation for feet and emotions to fully engage in, its sway of funk fuelled revelry a swift and fascinating infectiousness with melodic resourcefulness to match. It and its predecessor provide the pinnacle of the album, the thrilling peak to which other songs aspire but with varying success cannot quite emulate. Despite that the likes of the Lennon-esque All These Things and the smouldering dark folk theatre of Life Is long provide thoroughly enjoyable and lingering temptations whilst the melodic rock fuelled My Good Friend with its compelling seventies psyche rock keys, add another strain of bright adventure and full pleasure to album and emotions respectively.
The closing pair of Connect The Dots and Passing Fiction slip into more reserved hugs of melodic and harmonic endeavour which, without finding the same persuasive spark as their immediate predecessors, ignite ears and thoughts with consummate ease. The guitar adventure of the pair is an especially thrilling and magnetic coaxing, the twinges of discord which bless the imagination of strings and fingers as enthralling as anything on the album.
Questions is a definite investigation for certainly fans of the likes of Paul Simon and John Lennon but equally those of current talent like Seth Lakeman and Thom Bowden. The album did not quite ignite enough fire in emotions across its length but really only due to personal tastes and with some quite thrilling tracks and invention involved it is easy to assume it will spark a blaze in a great many.
Questions is available from 19th January via Big Arc
One of so many highlights from the recent Dizraeli & The Small Gods gig at The Boileroom Guildford was supporting artist Grace Savage. Singer songwriter and beatboxing champion, Grace mesmerised and thrilled the audience with her skills in the craft of beatboxing but also with a wonderful and engaging vocal performance which radiated from her equally impressive songs. Knowing next to nothing about the lady before she stepped on the stage that night, we thought we would learn more by letting Grace herself reveal all in an interview which she very kindly agreed to.
Hi Grace, thank you for taking time to chat with us.
Having just seen your wonderful performance at The Boileroom in Guildford supporting Dizraeli & The Small Gods, the first question has to be where have you been hiding up until now?
I’ve been working with Producer Dee Adam in the studio over the past year, developing the sound of the album and doing very low key gigs around London…I’m just about being unleashed into the big wide world of announced gigs now!
What inspired your hunger for music and also beatbox?
Most of my performance experience is rooted in theatre; I started going to stage school at about eight years old and it was there that I had my earliest experiences of learning and performing music. It was around that same age that became interested in writing creatively and even a few songs… inspired by my biggest musical influence of the time – The Spice Girls. I even started my own girl band ‘Flash’ and auditioned people during lunch times at primary school! I’ve not really had any formal training in music; I think I have grade one in piano, grade 5 in classical singing and had a few guitar lessons but I always eventually lost interest once it came to being assessed and graded. That all changed when I discovered beatboxing! There were a few beatboxers in the little town of Crediton where I grew up in Devon and I was lucky to be mentored by one of them who happened to also be my good friend and 2009 World Beatbox Champ, Bellatrix. She taught me the basic noises when I was about 16 and I caught the beatbox bug instantly. Two years later I found myself performing my first gig on stage at the QEH, Southbank Centre in London with Shlomo and The Boxettes for 2,000 people!
…And your biggest inspirations?
As a young girl with a serious lack of role models in the media, I have always been inspired by strong women in music. Early influences include Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill, Eva Cassidy, Alanis Morrissette, India Arie and Pink. As for the beatboxing, Bellatrix and Shlomo certainly played a big part in my development but right now, my biggest inspiration is probably Reeps 1 because he is seriously changing the game and pushing the boundaries of beatboxing. My inspiration for rhythms and beats comes from listening to a lot of hip-hop, dubstep and drum and bass but equally can come from everyday noises, if I hear something: a door, a police siren or a phone buzzing, I feel compelled to imitate it…I think it’s a syndrome!
I am right in believing you were singing and playing music long before you developed your other immense talent?
I was playing guitar in an all-girl rock band at the age of 14 (with Bellatrix!) and was taking classical singing exams throughout my later school life but music was never a career choice or serious ambition for me. I went on to study theatre at Leeds University and that was what the path I had always planned on following. Things changed when I started working on projects as a beatboxer throughout my final year at university, as a result of that I decided to move to London and have a go at being a professional beatboxer. It was tough at first but I soon met producer Dee Adam and before I knew it I went from singing privately in my bedroom to singing on stages and officially pursuing a musical career! I had never actually sung in public until a couple of years ago. The thought of it terrified me. So it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster to say the least 🙂
From the gig alone we can see you are trying to combine the beatboxing and your songwriting and performance, is it an easy mix or two aspects you have to carefully craft in to a union?
It’s been a learning process for sure, especially in the studio. As far as the beatboxing is concerned, it was a challenge to find the right balance; we wanted it to sound authentic and recognisable as a human mouth but didn’t want this to compromise the overall muscle and punch of the songs. Most are a mixture of beatboxing and programmed drums and so work together to create an organic but still hard hitting sound. Having said that, some songs have no beatboxing in them at all which is just as important to me as having it in – Beatboxing is a unique aspect of the music but the strength in the records comes from the left field production, emotive lyrics and soft vocal tones; first and foremost I want to be seen as a singer. The Beatboxing will have the most impact as part of the live Grace Savage experience. Ha. Did I just say that?!
First can we talk about the beatbox side, when did you ‘crack’ it so to speak and beyond being a UK female Beatbox champion which you were last year is there a limit to its potential musically?
I can’t remember a specific time when I suddenly felt like I had cracked it. It’s just something that comes with practice, it’s a gradual process and the more you do it the better you get. Getting over nerves and stepping on the stage to perform live is half the battle because beatboxing when you are short of breath is not easy! Being relaxed and feeling the groove is one of the most important things to remember when first learning, when I started relaxing I definitely started getting better. Whenever I start to think there might be a limit to beatboxing, someone does something to prove me wrong and the new generation of beatboxer’s are a clear example of that. Technically things have advanced an incredible amount over that last few years because as music changes and becomes more technical/electronic so does beatboxing. Reeps 1 just posted a video called ‘metal jaw’ where he beatbox’s heavy metal music which I never thought was possible! Having said that, unless you are absolutely exceptional, I do think there is a limit to beatboxing as a solo act. The beatboxers that are most successful and doing the most interesting work (in my opinion) are those that experimenting in different areas, theatrical shows, developing notation for classical concertos, dance shows, incorporating technology.
One imagines it takes constant work and practise to stay at the heights you have achieved, does this impact or distract from your other musical invention at all?
You have to be very disciplined if you want to get better and no matter how good you are you can always get better. I’m nowhere near where I want to be with it. I’m competing for the title of UK Champ again this summer and will need to start putting the hours in soon to refresh my material, construct new routines and learn new covers. But I have been so focussed on my singing, loop station and guitar playing recently; I have kind of neglected beatbox practice. Naughty Savage. Inspiration comes in waves!
Does it also place stress on what is your powerful and soaring vocal beauty, or is there a mutual use of vocal factors in both aspects?
Only certain noises in beatboxing are harmful to your vocal chords, usually involving throat bass which I avoid anyway…mostly because it sounds terrible when I attempt it! The physical power of Beatboxing comes from the plosive and percussive sounds made by the lips and tongue, breath is achieved quickly and often taken in whilst making a noise ( inward snare noise for example) whereas the power from singing is made using a different breathing technique entirely, deep and from the diaphragm. So although I am using my voice and body as an instrument for both singing and beatboxing, they are very different disciplines to learn technically.
I will be honest and say I was expecting just a display of beatboxing on the night, not knowing of you before, so was wonderfully surprised by your outstanding vocal performance and stirring songs. Who has inspired that side of your invention musically and personally the most?
Within the beatboxing community creativity is respected and imitation is not, it forces you to be original and that mentality has certainly transferred into my music as well so I wouldn’t say there is anyone I am significantly inspired by in terms of musical or singing style. People love to make comparisons and I’m sure they will but I really am just trying to be myself and hoping that will be enough. I wouldn’t be able to do that if it wasn’t for Dee Adam, she is a seriously talented producer and songwriter and her sensitivity & creativity combined with my odd little mind, we have managed to find the sound of Grace Savage, which I believe is something quite unique. But we will have to wait and see!
Are you a lone songwriter or do you work with others to create songs?
I’ve been keeping a diary most of my life and started scriptwriting a few years ago so have always been in the habit of observing people and recording my thoughts. Initially it starts as a lone process, sometimes it’s an idea, a verse, a title, an image or a story I’ve heard but once I take this to the studio it very much becomes a collaborative process and I’m very lucky to have developed such a strong song-writing partnership over the past couple of years with Dee.
Where do you get your inspiration for songs predominantly?
Relationships. I know, how predictable. Since working in the studio over the past year or so I have had a few for want of a better word ‘dramatic’ experiences within my relationships, these experiences have naturally bled into the mood and lyrics of the songs that we write.
Do you place a rich personal element onto your compositions then?
It’s important to me that the lyrics are personal and that I am singing from a place of truth. A few writing sessions have turned unexpectedly into therapy sessions over that past few months! However, if every song related to a personal experience, it could become a bit emotionally exhausting. ‘By a Bullet’ is one of my favourite songs lyrically and that was written about the last woman to be hung in England, which I obviously have no personal connection with but we had to get into the head of her as a character in order to write the story. As a singer, sometimes you are bearing all and sometimes you are simply telling a story, lyrics can be a personal diary or a fabricated script and therefore sometimes you have to act. Either way, if you are good at it, the audience will never know and I think that is fine, we all project our own emotions onto songs and create our own meanings for them anyway.
I believe your debut album is on the near horizon?
Yes, nothing happens overnight though!
What can we expect from the release? Any clues or details you can reveal?
Beatboxing. Big Chorus’s. Freshness.
How did the link-up with Dizraeli and the gang come about?
I was asked by the promoter if I could perform as a solo beatboxer, I sent them my music as an alternative and they liked it. I actually know Dizraeli through Bellatrix (who plays bass for them) and also worked with him teaching workshops in primary schools a couple of years ago so it was a real nice vibe at the gig.
Tell us about your two companions on stage; are they a factor in your work beyond the live shows?
Yes, we write together too, it’s a really great team we have and I’m so lucky to be working with such talented and generous people.
Apart from the album what is next for and from you?
I’m performing at The Social on May 13th, As One In The Park festival 26th May and have just been confirmed to play at Kent Uni summer ball alongside Chase and Status, Labrinth and MistaJam in June! I have a music video for Wrecking Ball which is being released soon and I am performing at The National Theatre’s new space ‘The Shed’ throughout August as part of a verbatim musical piece called ‘Home’. It’s all go!
Once more many thanks for giving us an insight into Grace Savage.
forgetting a great throaty bassline in the first of the two, immerse senses and thoughts evocatively. Each pleases with their individual charms but it is with Push that another surge of greed hits ears and personal appetite. The fourth track is an instant drama with keys straight away looming and laying down a single prod before taking a pause, returning a few seconds later with the same Boomtown Rats like potency as they align to the alluring strum of the guitar. It is a mesmeric track, voice and music sketching an easily accessible and emotively connecting narrative in a dance of creative and vivacious enterprise.
Are you a lone songwriter or do you work with others to create songs?