FEATURE: Groovelines: John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

 

John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

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DECEMBER is a bittersweet month…

IN THIS PHOTO: Yoko Ono and John Lennon in 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Barrett/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

when we think of John Lennon. In the context of The Beatles, 3rd December, 1965 is when Rubber Soul came out. On 1st December, it will be fifty-five years since John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band released Happy Xmas (War Is Over) in the U.S. It was not until 24th November, 1972 the single was released in the U.K. John Lennon and Yoko Ono were based in the U.S., so it made sense for it to be released their first. On 8th December, it will be forty-six years since Lennon was killed. Whilst I wanted to discuss a song that turns fifty-five very soon, we cannot ignore the fact that its co-writer (alongside Ono) is no longer with us. That said, it is important that we look inside this song. It is a little divisive when it comes to the greatest Christmas songs ever. Its messages and spirit perhaps as relevant now more than ever, though its imagery and lyrics are not traditional or necessarily positive. There is this plea for peace and unity, though was it quite a naïve thought to base a Christmas song around? The fact genocide and warfare rages would have repulsed Lennon were alive today. He would have been enraged by what is happening around the world. I do want to look inside its development and legacy. I guess one thing that blackens the song is the involvement of producer Phil Spector (In 2009, he was convicted of the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to nineteen years to life in prison, where he died in 2021). However, we cannot ignore him when discussing the song. In 2011, The Guardian marked forty years of Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by publishing an account of events by Richard Williams that was first published in Uncut magazine in 1998. We are in New York 1971, just prior to this Christmas standard being recorded. It is interesting why Lennon wanted to wrote Happy Xmas (War Is Over):

“John says that he wrote it "because I was sick of White Christmas," and it could well take over as the annual Yuletide anthem. It's terrifically singable, in the tradition of All You Need Is Love or Give Peace A Chance, and it's very pretty, too. The words are simple and direct, with the chorus going "War is over/If you want it/War is over now," while John and Yoko express appropriate good wishes to all mankind”.

Unfortunately The Beatles Bible does allow you to copy any text from their site, so I will guide you to it so you can see interview archive, where John Lennon talks about Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and why he and Yoko Ono wrote it. There are articles I can source and copy, so I will bring them in. Actually, we can get some archive interview from the official John Lennon website. The addition of The Harlem Community Choir adds this extra element that is spine-tingling. It really adds weigh to the song’s messages. I do think that it sits there with the best Christmas tracks. As mentioned, its lyrics should hit especially hard today, given how divided, destructive and violent the modern world is. I don’t think it is corny or ineffectual writing a song like Happy Xmas (War Is Over). John Lennon and Yoko Ono genuinely wanted to see peace and change in the world:

“John: ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ we wrote together. Nothing more to say on that. It says it: ‘War is over if you want it.’ Because it was still that same message, the idea that somebody is either going to give us power or [has] taken our power or has made us go to war or not made you go to war or the president did this to us.
We are just as responsible as the man who presses the button. It’s that idea of God in the sky is a separate thing, you know? It’s all that separation. It’s all the same thing: nationalities, religions, authority. It’s all the same garbage. As long as we or as long as people imagine that it’s something people are doing to them, they have no control, then. They have no control.

Yoko: It was July 1971 in New York City. We were having our morning coffee in a hotel room facing the park. Then, still in the middle of our breakfast, we got this idea to write an Xmas song. We were fast workers, so the song was born by the time we fi nished our last morning coffee. That made John feel better. ‘This is going to be bigger than “White Christmas”, you’ll see.’ He wiggled his nose again, this time with satisfaction.

In November, John remembered the song and called the manager to release it as a single for Christmas. ‘John, it’s too late…printing the cover…advertising.’ ‘Well, try.’ The single was out, but the manager was right: it was too late for anything and it bombed. ‘Happy Xmas’ only became big after John’s passing in 1980.

John: What we wanted to do was have something besides ‘White Christmas’ being played every Christmas, you know, and there’s always war, right? There’s always somebody getting shot, so every year you can play it and there’s always somebody being tortured or shot somewhere, so the lyrics stand in that respect…. I’ve always wanted to write something that would be a Christmas record that would last forever, you know?

The basic idea of the poster event was Yoko’s. She used to do things like that in the avant-garde circle. Poster was a sort of media.

Jack Douglas: When we did the ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ record, Phil seemed much happier, more relaxed and more in control than he did on the Imagine sessions. Possibly because it was just a single.

It had lots of acoustic guitars in a circle around one microphone, which was one of Phil’s recipes. And lots of backing vocals and kids and sleigh bells! John & Yoko wanted to create a Christmas standard better than ‘White Christmas’ and they sure did. Every Christmas, there it is.

I was so happy to be a part of it. It was so much fun to watch John & Yoko work with the kids, who were so excited. It was funny, because they didn’t quite know who John was, which was kind of cool.

Arlene Reckson: By then, I was then the studio manager [at The Record Plant]. The night before the session, I got a request to get in a kids’ choir. Dee Lee, our African-American night-time receptionist said, ‘All those churches in Harlem have choirs.’ The very fi rst Harlem church that I called said ‘OK’. I said to Yoko and John, ‘Can I get a limousine to take me up there to talk to the vicar?’ and I went up.

The next day I hired a bus and went up to get the kids. I had to have each one of them provide a signed release form from their parents and they got on the bus with the woman who was the choir leader. I remember getting them all Happy Meals and I think that the donation John & Yoko made to the church was $500, which was a lot of money then.

Roy Cicala told John that I had organized all the kids, and he was really pleased and they got me in when they took that great group photograph. I’m standing to the right of Phil Spector”.

I will end with a feature that reviews Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and is surprised it was successful at all, given the fact it is confrontational and very much not what you’d expect from a heart-warming and inspiring Christmas song. If it were released today, how many people would actually promote it? I don’t think the holidays should be off-limits for protest and compassion, even if it is more to do with those afflicted by war and conflict, rather than people cosy in their homes around a fire. Last year, uDiscoverMusic wrote about a song whose origins can be traced back to when Lennon was with The Beatles. What was once an acoustic ditty grew and expanded into this choral thing. A song that I have always loved:

“John Lennon’s seventh single outside of The Beatles was written and demoed in October 1971 on acoustic guitar with Yoko Ono in their New York hotel. It had them entering into the spirit of Christmas in their own special way, with an anti-war sentiment and, as John was reported as saying, because he was fed up with “White Christmas.”

The song, of course, was “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”, recorded almost immediately at the Record Plant, co-produced by John and Yoko with Phil Spector, and released as a single in America for that 1971 holiday season, on December 1 that year. But that wasn’t the case in the UK, where a dispute between John and The Beatles’ publishing company, Northern Songs, delayed the release to the extent that it had to wait until November 24 the following year to come out in his home country. The elaborate artist credit on the disc recognized both the Plastic Ono Band and the Harlem Community Choir.

Session notables on the track included Beatles and Rolling Stones alumnus Nicky Hopkins on piano, chimes, and glockenspiel, and ever in-demand drummer Jim Keltner, who also added the atmospheric sleigh bells. The song’s title was familiar to John and Yoko devotees from the posters they had launched in 12 US cities for Christmas 1969, which proclaimed “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.”

It’s an oddity of the British charts that any number of the songs we regard as Christmas classics never reached No.1. The Pogues’ perennial “Fairytale Of New York,” featuring Kirsty MacColl, topped out at No.2 on its first release; Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day” peaked at No.4 peak and so, after making the UK charts on December 9, 1972, did John and Yoko’s festive message.

Even in the US, the year before, “Happy Xmas” emerged too close to the holidays to get substantial airplay, and barely made the Top 40 of the Cashbox singles chart. Billboard, for its part, listed it on its separate Christmas countdown rather than the Hot 100, limiting its profile further even though it reached No.3.

When the song finally saw UK release, its chart entry was somewhat modest, at No.23. It climbed to No.16, but sales really took off in the last chart before the holiday, and it spent the last two weeks of the year at No.4. Like so many Christmas songs, “Happy Xmas” has made many return appearances, most notably in the sad aftermath of John’s death in 1980, when it climbed to No.2.

In its many subsequent chart runs, it made the Top 40 in 2007, at No. 40, and returned to the Top 20 in both 2018 and 2020. The festive classic has inspired endless covers, including those by Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, Jimmy Buffett, the Moody Blues, and in 2018, a version by Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson featuring John and Yoko’s son, Sean Ono Lennon”.

I do want to end with this article, as it sort of challenges the idea that Happy Xmas (War Is Over) should have got to number one and was overlooked a bit. This debate as to whether all Christmas songs need to conform to a narrative and emotional spectrum. John Lennon and Yoko Ono asking people celebrating Christmas maybe to think beyond their own lives and look around them. Perhaps it was too big a thing or too heavy to demand of those who were probably seeking escape whilst The Vietnam War raged and there was all tis horror on the news:

“The single had a lightening-fast turnaround. Within 30 days, the track went from the studio to store shelves in the United States, arriving in time for a December 1st launch. However due to a dispute over publishing rights, the single wouldn’t land in the UK until the following year.

Unfortunately, the timing of the release may not have helped the single initially. The song may have launched a bit late into the Christmas season in the US, and it struggled to get much attention in 1971. It peaked at number 36 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles, and only number 3 on the Billboard Christmas Singles Chart, but like most Christmas songs, it’s popularity would grow over the years.

“Happy Xmas (War is Over)” really started to pick up steam in the UK, where it immediately garnered attention in 1972. The song peaked at number 4 on the UK singles charts, and it has also would continue to hit the charts nine more times, including after Lennon’s murder on December 8th, 1980, where it claimed the number two spot behind another Lennon cut, “Imagine.”

For the longest time I didn’t care for “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” It always felt a bit off-putting to me. It’s probably partially due to the cognitive dissonance that comes from someone as problematic as John Lennon writing about peace and harmony, but it also always felt like Lennon and Ono just wanted to write another protest piece but decided to disguise it as a Christmas song to garner extra attention.

As it turns out, that’s kinda exactly what they did, but looking at it now that’s actually an interesting reversal of the way lot of Christmas music was made. Take “What Child is This” for example; it’s a traditional folk tune (“Greensleeves”), reworked to celebrate Christmas.

The other important factor to consider is the actual message John and Yoko use the season to promote. As far as lyrical content goes, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” is as true to the Christmas spirit as any of the more secular holiday songs, if not considerably more so. Christmas is supposed to be a season of hope and peace, bringing warmth and light to a dreary time of year, and these themes appear in most Christmas songs (“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” “the Christmas Song,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” to name a few). Though Lennon and Ono propose these as a commentary on global armed conflict, those themes of social unity and peace perfectly fit the season.

One other exceptional element of the song however is the way that it challenges the listener. We’ve seen this before in Lennon’s work, most notably in “Imagine.” When you listen to that song, his words command you to quite literally imagine what he’s singing. “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try.” “Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do.” As a listener, you join him on that journey, and by the time the chorus hits, he directly calls you out. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” You’ve taken part in that journey, and you’ve become a dreamer yourself, even if just for a moment.

John and Yoko take the listener for a similar ride on “Happy Xmas.” The verses don’t focus on the present season, but reflect on the previous 11 months. They ask the listener what they have done with their time, what example they have set now that we’re at the end of the year, and they challenge the listener to try harder in the new year. “And so happy Christmas (war is over), for black and for white (if you want it). For yellow and red ones (war is over). Let’s stop all the fight (now)” The song is aggressive and confrontational in a way that, to my knowledge, no other Christmas song has ever dared”.

On 1st December, it will be fifty-five years since John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band released Happy Xmas (War Is Over) in the U.S. Look at pretty much every article that ranks the best Christmas songs, and you will not find this one there. It seems to split people. As we remember John Lennon forty-six years after his death, surely Happy Xmas (War Is Over) has some personal, deeper meaning? Or may it is not conventional Christmas-spirited, so can we place it alongside the best Christmas singles ever?! I think it should be considered more favourably. Fifty-five years after its release, the John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band classic is as potent, meaningful and urgent…

AS ever.

FEATURE: Groovelines: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

IN THIS PHOTO: The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967/PHOTO CREDIT: GAB Archive

 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe

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MANY might assume that this…

is an original from The Jimi Hendrix Experience. However, Hey Joe is a cover version. Though I feel that the version that The Jimi Hendrix Experience released in 1966 is the best. Because it was released on 16th December 1966, I did want to mark sixty years of this classic. It is hard to overstate how seismic Hey Joe is in terms of Jimi Hendrix and his legendary. A month after arriving in London, he and his band laid down an unbeatable rendition of Hey Joe. In terms of the chronology, on 5th October, 1966, having moved to and living in London, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding played together for the first time - The Jimi Hendrix Experience were formed.  It was 23rd October, 1966 when The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded Hey Joe, at De Lane Lea studios in London. 25th November, 1966 and The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their U.K. live debut at the Bag O'Nails Club, London, where they played using the clubs DJ booth. Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, The Hollies, and the Small Faces would all hang out at the club. This Day in Music provide that useful timeline. Let’s start with this article that documents the birth of an experience. This seismic recording of Hey Joe:

“The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their meteoric debut with the release of the single “Hey Joe” b/w “Stone Free” on Friday, December 16, 1966.   While Billy Roberts penned the original lyrics to “Hey Joe” in the late 1950s and performed it regularly through the early 1960s while busking on the streets of New York’s Greenwich Village and later while based in San Francisco; he never took the chance to formally record the track himself.

The Byrds were known to perform the song at the LA hotspot Ciro’s which is where The Leaves discovered the track, and eventually became the first group to record and release the song commercially.  Debuting as “Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go” in November 1965, it found limited commercial success. The Leaves eventually re-recorded the song again in 1966 and released the new version “Hey Joe” alongside the B-Side single for “Girl From The East” which found moderate commercial success as the group’s fifth single and as the title track to their eponymous debut release.

Singer Tim Rose recorded the song in 1966, taking a slower, almost bluesy ballad approach as opposed to the faster renditions made by others. Rose’s rendition was perhaps the most successful commercial release of the song up to that time becoming a regional hit on both the west and east coast while also receiving radio airplay.  It also became a mainstay of Tim Rose’s stage repertoire.

As New York City braced for the forthcoming snows in the Fall of 1966, Chas Chandler, bassist for The Animals, was looking to move into the business side of the music industry.  A consummate fan of Tim Rose’s rendition of “Hey Joe,” Chandler was looking for his own, bright up-and-coming musician to record an adaptation of the popular track.

By stroke of luck, a young Jimmy Hendrix, who was performing regularly in Greenwich Village, was also inspired by Rose’s same rendition. With the prodding of friend Linda Keith, and a break in his own touring schedule while staying in New York City, Chandler happened to catch Hendrix in action on stage at the famed Café Wha? in the heart of the East Village where he was performing.  It took only a few of seconds for Chandler to decide right then and there that this player, performing under the guise of Jimmy Hendrix (performing the lead role in Jimmy James & The Blue Flames), would be whisked away to London, quickly paired with bassist, Noel Redding and drummer, Mitch Mitchell and released to an unsuspecting public as The Jimi Hendrix Experience in September 1966.

The newly formed Experience went to France to garner some quick audience exposure and help to earn some needed funds.  As part of a four-show supporting spot on a tour with legendary French singer Johnny Hallyday, The Jimi Hendrix Experience mesmerized the sell-out crowd at L’Olympia in Paris during final tour stop on October 18, 1966. Performing “Killing Floor,” “Hey Joe” and “Wild Thing,” the band’s performance was recorded by RTE and marked the first time the band was professionally saved to tape.  [Ed. This version of “Hey Joe” was eventually released as part of The Jimi Hendrix Experience deluxe box set in 2000.]

Back in London and wanting to get Hendrix into the studio quickly to record “Hey Joe,” Chandler had scrapped together enough cash to get the first studio session booked for October 23, 1966, at De Lane Lea Music Ltd. [aka., Kingsway Studio].  These were familiar confines for Chandler as this is where The Animals had completed most of their recordings. “I knew the studio well, that’s why I took him there,” explained Chas Chandler to John McDermott in the Ultimate Hendrix book.

As Hendrix and Chandler tried to figure each other out, the two butted heads.  Jimi, weary of his vocal capabilities, looked for ways to bury his voice in the mix and keep the focus on the guitar; while Chandler, who learned during rehearsals that Hendrix’s voice was far stronger than he was giving himself credit for, wanted the vocals to be more up front. Jimi even threatened that “if I can’t play as loud as I want, I might as well go back to New York.” To which Chandler threw down Hendrix’s travel papers and said, “Well, here you go. Piss off!!” Jimi looked at Chandler, started laughing and said, “All right, you called my bluff!” and that was it; Jimi was ready, and Chandler knew they were about to take everyone by storm.

In a mere two hours, all that Chandler could afford at the studio, The Experience completed more than 30 different takes before a completed basic track met approval.

With master tape in hand, Chas Chandler moved recording to both Pye and Regent Studios in early November. “Although we had completed the backing track, we still weren’t finished because we couldn’t get the girl’s vocals right,” recounted Chandler in Ultimate Hendrix. “I ended up going from one studio to another, trying to get different girls to put the vocals on. Initially I went to De Lane Lea, but they were booked, so I had to go elsewhere. I nearly screwed it all up because my master tape was one-inch four-track, and it took sessions at three different studios to complete.”  In the end, the trio of Gloria George, Magaret Stedder, and Barbara Moore who performed under the framework, The Breakaways served as the final backing track to the single”.

IN THIS PHOTO: 25th November, 1966: The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their U.K. live debut at the Bag O'Nails Club, London, where they played using the club’s D.J. booth

Earlier this year, Classic Rock looked inside a song that demonstrates and displayed Jimi Hendrix’s otherworld abilities. Hey Joe was not the only cover version that was supremely better than the original. Tackling All Along the Watchtower in 1968, no doubt it is a more impactful and powerful version than the 1966 Bob Dylan original:

“You’ll have heard the stories of how British guitar potentates such as Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton were awe-struck by Hendrix’s otherworldly abilities when they saw this new American kid play his first, low-key shows in London. Now imagine what the public at large, most of whom couldn’t tell the front end of a Fender from the back end of a frying pan in those far-off days, felt like when they first heard the scintillating solos on Hey Joe.

Not to mention the lyrics, which concern the confession of the titular Joe as he plans to murder his ‘old lady’ after he ‘caught her messing ’round with another man’. By the song’s end, the crime has been committed, which must have been something of a shock for the average British rock listener. It was as if the sound of ancient blues had been reborn in hard-rock form; the ghost of Robert Johnson, reanimated.

Hey Joe was released in December 1966 on Track Records, the label owned by The Who’s managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. It was backed with Stone Free, a Hendrix original, and distributed by RCA. Appearances on the TV shows Ready Steady Go! and Top Of The Pops helped the single to climb to Number Six in the UK, although, sadly, no known footage of either performance exists, as UK broadcasters routinely wiped and taped over master reels, believing them to have no historical value.

"It was amazing to watch him for the first time," said Marc Bolan, who was in the room when Hendrix appeared on Ready Steady Go! "Everyone else used to use backing tracks, but he was going to play live, because they got him on the show the same day.

"I was in the control room with the producer, just sitting about, when they started Hey Joe, and this old lady really freaked out and said: 'Turn the backing track down!' Because it was really loud. All the machines were shaking. And they said: 'But there is no backing track.'"

Hey Joe is not Hendrix’s most incendiary performance, musically or politically – consider Fire and All Along The Watchtower or even his Woodstock attack on The Star Spangled Banner for that. It’s not his most psychedelic, most subversive, or his most epoch-shaping song, depending on your point of view.

But Hey Joe was the gateway to his artistry for the public of 1966, and as a vehicle for the total summation of Hendrix’s skills at this early point in his career, it’s unbeatable”.

In 2018, Financial Times explored a song that had murky origins. Though we maybe forget that when talking about it and what The Jimi Hendrix Experience created in 1966. As 16th December marks sixty years since their single came out, I do wonder if anything will be written. I think that Hey Joe is one of the best recordings of the 1960s. I can only imagine how people felt hearing it for the first time in 1966:

“Yet all of these authorship squabbles were rendered insignificant by Jimi Hendrix’s seismic reworking of the tune. Hearing Rose play the song at Café Wha? in Greenwich Village, Hendrix took it and rocketed it into the stratosphere.

Gone was the nervy, lo-fi angst of the original. Instead, Hendrix slowed down and elongated “Hey Joe”, morphed it into something darker and wilder, invested it with vast psychological trauma and tension. In his magic hands, it became crazed, twisted, delirious.

It sounded as if Hendrix didn’t just empathise with the plight of the troubled Joe: he was actively encouraging his friend’s murderous actions. “Shoot her one more time!” he urged in the middle-eight as his Fender wailed, a law and a galaxy unto itself.

Hendrix’s annexing of “Hey Joe” was so colossal, it should by rights have scared off other artists from approaching the song for decades. Instead, the opposite happened. It has been covered hundreds of times, with hugely varying degrees of success. Cher’s shrill, strident 1966 version sounded as if she was giving the killer a miffed ticking-off for his transgression. Marmalade’s puny version was psychedelia-by-numbers. Deep Purple, then still prog rockers and not heavy metal headbangers, got closer to the restless spirit of the song.

Wilson Pickett ladled Stax horns all over it and turned it into a deep R&B cut. Patti Smith’s raw, visceral reworking was almost as radical as Hendrix’s: her new, freeform-poetry lyrics referenced kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst.

Marc Almond’s teasing vocal added sexual ambiguity to Soft Cell’s version, while Nick Cave’s sombre growl on his 1986 Kicking Against the Pricks covers album wasn’t his finest moment. Black Uhuru sounded so stoned on their 1990 album Now that it seemed unlikely Joe would have had the energy to pull the trigger.

Robert Plant gave it some serious welly with his Band of Joy; less likely half-decent covers came from rapper Ice T’s rock side-project Body Count, and from Seal. After hearing Charlotte Gainsbourg’s sultry 2013 murmur through the song, you needed a cold shower.

Ultimately, though, it’s impossible to see past the transcendent glory of Hendrix’s astral ramble. Many authors have laid claim to “Hey Joe”, but it truly belongs to just one man”.

It is hard to think of a guitarist since Jimi Hendrix’s death in 1970 who had the same ability and genius. Naturally, there are phenomenal players. Jimi Hendrix had some extra. A fire and unparalleled ability that still resounds today. Hearing Hey Joe in 2026 is so thrilling. Six decades on from its release as a single, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s version of Hey Joe remains masterful and unstoppable. It is a recording that is among the greatest ever. A sheer moment…

OF mesmerising brilliance.

FEATURE: Spotlight: CATTY

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: NAT TRAXEL + Lucy Cave

 

CATTY

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I thought that I had…

already spotlighted CATTY, but it seems not. I did write about her in 2024 after it was announced she would be supporting Stevie Nicks at BST Hyde Park. I feel I need to spend some time exploring this incredible artist. Born Catrin Hopkins, CATTY is a Welsh-born, London-based artist. She has released a couple of stunning singles this year in the form of Pavlov’s Dog, and Tax Evasion. Last year, she released the E.P., Bracing for Impact. I will start with an interview around the release of the E.P. I wonder what CATTY has in store next year. In terms of a debut album or touring. This is an artist to watch closely. Wonderland. interviewed CATTY last October. Being a massive Kate Bush fan myself, the fact that she asked in the interview, “What if Kate Bush watched Chicago?” makes me admire her even more!

“When did you first discover creating music, and how did that grow into something you wanted to pursue as a career?

I actually had no interest in being a songwriter, which is insane to me now because singing and writing go so hand in hand but for the longest time I just wanted to be a singer. I accidentally wrote a song with someone I asked for guitar lessons from, we released it, got signed. Which sounds pretty easy but that was the calm before the storm. I got dropped quick, ran out of cash even quicker and honestly I was living life like someone who should be writing songs about it. A cancelled Vegas wedding? Come on! So I’m a songwriter now.

As a proud Welsh native, how do you find your nationality influences your music, and creative and personal outlook?

I think being from Wales makes you a bit creative and witchy in nature and that seeps into my work. I remember learning a lot about Welsh mythology in primary school and we always lived in really creepy houses so I’ve always just had that flair for the dramatic, witchy and scary.

Do you think England sometimes forgets about the quality and breadth of Welsh music?

Yeah, for sure. I think a huge part of being Welsh is screaming to be heard; our language, our stories, our songs. But there’s so much talent there.

What was the creative process for the EP? Did it differ from how you’ve approached making a body of work previously?

One hundred percent, I’m distributing through AWAL now so I’m not only working with coffee shop money. I have a little budget, AND coffee shop money, so I was able to make a music video and rent some clothes and start bringing the vision to life. I think that’s always something I’ve missed. I always had this world in my head, my coven, I just couldn’t bring it to life because I couldn’t afford to. Taste and choice and money are a privilege that so many artists aren’t often given.

What inspired the work musically?

I genuinely walked into the studio to write “Joyride” and said “what if Kate Bush watched Chicago?” – which is a quote I swore I was going to take to the grave and then just started spouting. But I’ve always loved that almost theatrical production, I’m a big fan of John Steinmen, the Bonnie Tyler (my Welsh queen) and Meatloaf stuff is always a reference. Which everyone rolls their eyes at but those classics are classics for a reason, fuck off!!”.

It has been a pretty packed year for CATTY. Building on the momentum of Bracing for Impact and having completed a lot of tour dates, there are more gigs ahead. There are some U.K. dates this month, including a gig at London’s Scala on 26th. That London gig is going to be amazing. Go if you can. I will come to some press around her latest singles. Reviews of both. I do feel we will get some more interviews next year. Though I want to keep things in 2025 briefly. Going back to last January, DIY asked CATTY some quick-fire questions, as she headlined one of the nights of their DIY’s Hello 2025 gig series. I have been a CATTY fan for a while now, and it is amazing seeing everything she has accomplished in the past couple of years:

“Describe your music to us in the form of a dating app bio.
CATTY likes long walks on the beach and tormenting her exes.

You hail from rural Wales - musically-speaking, what was it like growing up there? What was your first gig?
There’s a beautiful quote in Welsh - forgive me, I don’t know where it’s from: “Braint yw cael dy eni’n Gymro, nid â llwy arian yn dy geg ond â chân yn dy galon a cherdd yn dy waed”. Roughly translated, it means that it is a privilege to be born Welsh, not with a silver spoon in your mouth, but with music in your heart and poetry in your blood. And that’s exactly what it was; I was always surrounded by music and poetry (it still took me until about 25 to get good at it, but it was always there).

My first gig was Girls Aloud and I loved every second of it - extremely poetic, 10/10.

Even though you’re just getting started, you’ve already amassed a devoted cult following. Do you have a collective name for your fans? What should they expect from a CATTY live show?
They’ve started calling themselves a coven, which makes sense. I think a lot of the opportunities that have been given to me have been because they manifest it with me: they called on Earth, Wind, Water and Fire to help me get the Stevie Nicks gig. And it worked. That’s what to expect at a CATTY live show - myself and those lovely lovely people at group therapy.

“2024 was the best year of my life, so I’m just excited to keep doing my thing.”

Last summer saw you perform at BST Hyde Park - on the same bill as Stevie Nicks! Can you tell us what this meant to you? And if you could support or collaborate with any other artist, who would it be?
She has no idea who I am, obviously, but that’s mother. I listen to [Stevie] when I’m celebrating, when I’m crying, when I’m on the way to work and when I’m at home. She’s been around as much as my parents have, that’s mother!! She’s my obvious answer, but I also LOVE St Vincent - does anyone have her number?

If you could take one album, one book, and one film to a desert island, what would you pick (and why)?
Album: Donny Hathaway, ‘Someday We’ll All Be Free’. My partner introduced me to ‘Jealous Guy’ recently and the album has been playing in my kitchen ever since. Masterpiece.
Book: Love Letters, by Virginia Woolf & Vita Sackville-West. I love love.
Film: Burlesque. Whoever put Christina Aguilera and Cher together, I owe you my life. And this film basically gives me two albums… I’ve hacked the system”.

Two reviews of CATTY’s latest two singles. I will end with one of Tax Evasion. Pavlov’s Dog got a lot of praise. TuneFountain showed their appreciation of an amazing artist and single. Even though they commit the same sin as so many journalists and say CATTY has ‘returned’ – even though she has gone nowhere and released an E.P. last year! -, you can forgive them that. Artists always pressured to keep releasing material to remain relevant and visible:

“CATTY has returned with ‘Pavlov’s Dog’, a new single that arrives alongside the announcement of her debut UK headline tour. For an artist who has already built serious momentum around her theatrical, gothic-leaning pop, it feels like another big step in a year that is moving quickly.

The track grew its own early buzz on TikTok before release, but its appeal runs deeper than anticipation alone. ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ takes the language of psychology and turns it into something bruised, dramatic and personal, shaped by the emotional aftershock of a relationship that left CATTY questioning love, trust and her own sense of self. The result fits neatly into the world she has been building so far: bold, wounded and unafraid to be intense.

CATTY has described the song as a plea to be rewired, to be taught again in the simplest terms what love is and what it is not. That emotional core gives ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ a sharp edge beneath the theatricality, grounding the track’s bigger gestures in something recognisably human. It also connects with the themes that run through her wider work, where queer love, pain, resilience and self-definition are never softened for easy listening.

What makes ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ so appealing is how naturally CATTY commits to the drama of it. The song takes a messy, painful emotional state and leans all the way in, without blinking or sanding down its sharper corners. That suits her style. She has always sounded at her best when she lets things feel a little oversized, a little bruised and a little dangerous, and this seems cut from exactly that cloth.

There is also something compelling in the way the concept balances bite with vulnerability. The psychology reference could easily feel too neat, but here it sounds like a useful frame for something more emotionally chaotic underneath. ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ feels built to connect because it has both character and feeling, and it strengthens the sense that CATTY is becoming one of the more distinctive voices working in this darker end of pop”.

I will end with DIVA and their take on the glorious Tax Evasion. CATTY is building momentum. With some incredible gigs ahead, it is a pivotal moment. One where so many people show their love of this hugely accomplished songwriter. Far from being mundane or generic, her lyrics are biting, playful, and witty. There is humour and darkness to be found, but at the heart is this sense of individuality. She is getting props and recognition from some major artist, which is no surprise:

“Dreaming of a life of luxury, private cars and champagne? Aren’t we all? Welsh pop star CATTY is dreaming big in her latest single Tax Evasion, a sharp-tongued, gloriously chaotic take on fame and the bizarre world of internet celebrity.

Since releasing her second EP Bracing For Impact in 2025, CATTY has been making waves in queer pop, quickly building a devoted fanbase affectionately known as “the coven”. After hard-launching her relationship with girlfriend Amy Spalding in her music video Joyride last year, CATTY has quickly become something of a sapphic icon.

Tax Evasion sees CATTY embrace her larger-than-life persona, poking fun at fame and the fantasy of becoming a “middle class internet sad sensation”. With biting humour, theatrical vocals and an infectious pop sound, she’s clearly having a lot of fun imagining her rise to superstardom.

And it seems we’re not the only ones paying attention. SZA has already shown the track some love on Instagram, adding another pretty impressive name to the growing list of artists backing CATTY like CMAT and singer-songwriter Absolutely.

The single is packed with playful pop culture references, name-checking everyone from David Bowie to Katy Perry and Timothée Chalamet. It’s an unapologetically cheeky earworm, delivered with the kind of confidence and humour that makes CATTY so exciting to listen to. Fans have already declared it a “new banger” and the “song of the year”. Clearly, the coven has spoken.

The release follows her single Pavlov’s Dog, which explored vulnerability through moody, atmospheric production and haunting vocals.

CATTY’s not slowing down anytime soon, heading out on her debut UK headline tour this month, with almost every date already sold out”.

I will end things here. I am already a fan of CATTY, and I will go and see her live when I can. She has such an adoring and faithful fanbase. I have so much respect and affection for her music. You know that CATTY is going to have some genuinely massive moments soon. She already has supported Stevie Nicks, though I feel there are going to be some life-changing events. I am excited to see what comes next year. What CATTY has planned. She is an artist that…

EVERYONE should know.

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Follow CATTY

FEATURE: Spotlight: Shy One

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Ronan McKenzie

 

Shy One

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SHE has definitely been…

on my radar for a while, but I have not spotlighted Shy One yet. I am correcting that now. A London-based D.J. and producer, her album, Mali, was released in March. I want to come to a few interviews from this year with Shy One. In March, CLASH spoke with this amazing producer, artist and D.J. around the release of Mali. We get to know more about her upbringing and background. If you have not listened to the music of Shy One yet, then do make sure that you check it out now. Shy One has been on the scene for a long time, though with a new album out, it was a good moment to spotlight her. Mali arrives fourteen years after her debut, Bedknobs & Broomkicks:

“Growing up in a musically-inclined household in Harrow, Shy One’s trajectory is that of a seasoned selector, developing an ear for soul-nourishing grooves, but also gritty, grime-inflected deep cuts. As a child, she’d stretch her three-pound-a-week dividends at local record shops (the likes of Uptown, Dark and Cold and Black Market) before cutting her teeth in community radio aged just fourteen. At university, Shy One would form a deeper understanding of her sound and communal spaces, while chipping away at her debut project, ‘Bedknobs and Boomkicks’, released via Scratcha DVA’s record label in 2012.

Years on Shy One is ready to reintroduce herself on her self-titled album ‘Mali’, reflecting on her origin story, the relationships she’s cultivated and the crowd she communicates to. It’s a cohesive testament that has a clearcut club identity; it echoes the strength of her earlier work but builds on its premise by integrating broken beat, jazz, house and more. Shy One’s honed tastemaking and curatorial touch sees her amplify and weave in the voices of James Massiah, George Riley, Steve Spacek and Private Joy into her self-styled tapestry.

Take us back to the very beginning growing up in Harrow. In what ways did Northwest London shape your understanding of the world around you?

It was the people around me who shaped my outlook on the world. My mum and I lived in Harrow, but the HQ of our family was in Kensal Green, Wembley and Harlesden; these are the places where I spent a bit more time. Caribbean Northwest London raised me, and I learned a lot of life lessons from these people and the culture.

With both of your parents being musically inclined, did you ever see yourself going down a different route? Or was producing and DJing your only calling?

I wasn’t even supposed to go down this route. I didn’t actually think it was possible, despite one of my parents having a whole career in it. I was doing IT! No one in my family really went to university, so there was all this pressure on me to go, and to be real with you, my dad didn’t want me to pursue a career in music. It was completely unintentional and I never thought I could have it.

In 2023, you were able to dedicate yourself to music full-time. What was on your mind, ahead of taking that leap?

I only took that leap because I had to. My last job that I had working in retail, I barely worked any days anyway, so my holiday time was really minimal. It got to the start of the new financial year, and I needed to request pretty much all my holiday time off, so I just had to quit. I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to rely on music and place that pressure on it and make it a money-making thing. I’ve always been very worried about changing my relationship with music, so I reluctantly went full-time with it. But it was also a great thing because there are two sides to that coin.

For a long time, I thought so many of the DJs and producers I looked up to were already full-time, but they weren’t: they had jobs. I’d put all this pressure on myself: Why am I not getting enough gigs? Or making enough through ba? In actuality, the rest aren’t either. I think it’s good to have a bit of balance, as you have a bit more control over your direction. You won’t have to compromise and you can have a bit more artistic integrity.

Fourteen years after the release of your debut you return with another full-length ‘Mali’. What made now feel like the right time?

It’s well overdue to be honest with you. My discography, considering how long I’ve been making tunes, is really sparse. But it’s the right time because of who I’m releasing it with (Touching Bass), where they’re at, and where I’m at mentally.

At this point, what’s your favourite dancefloor that you’ve played to? What made it special?

I think it’s Nowadays in New York. That was my last gig, two weekends ago. There’s something about that place. We’re increasingly seeing people banning phones from the dance floor, which is great and has an amazing impact on a night. Nowadays is one of those spaces where you’re not going to get any dickhead bros coming in. It’s a queer safe space, and you’re given an education on the door before you step into it. There’s actual care for the people coming into the space and the people playing, which is reflected on the dance floor and the energy that you get from the crowd.

What’s one key lesson you’ve learned in the last decade? And how does it dictate your future steps?

Not to get too comfortable or complacent in this career and to be more intentional, to have a plan and take a bit more control, steer the ship a bit more. That’s something I’ve learned, and I’ve had to check myself on and readjust in my mind”.

I think I will get to one more interview and then end with a review of Mali. Her new album, as DJ Mag, say, established her as a tastemaker. Their new interview with Shy One is fantastic, so I did want to bring it in here. They write how “the Harrow-born DJ and producer reflects on identity, musical lineage, and protecting the love that drives her craft”. I might be a little late to her genius, but with Mali out and it getting a lot of love, I do feel like many others may be connecting with her for the first time:

“Named after herself, ‘Mali’ sits in direct contrast to Shy One’s debut album ‘Bedknobs & Boomkicks’, a title she now refers to, affectionately, as “slightly cheesy,” but one that reflected the sense of freedom she felt at the time. The difference between the two records also mirrors a shift in her life. ‘Bedknobs & Boomkicks’ was made largely on a laptop while studying at university outside London, long before the touring and festival circuits had become a daily reality. ‘Mali’, by contrast, comes out of an intense period of studio work, shaped by constant immersion in music culture and a growing public profile.

“I made the record surrounded by music constantly,” she says. “I used loads of hardware, spent proper time developing things, and there was definitely more pressure because more people were paying attention.” Still, there’s a looseness to her approach that feels guided by intuition. “I just try to tune into what something feels like,” she adds. “It’s just me, isn’t it?”

Beyond the music, Shy One is just as intentional about how she presents herself. Early in her career she deliberately obscured her image, moving from fragmented artwork to partially hidden portraits, rarely showing her face in full. “The first EP was a mosaic of my face, kind of like putting the puzzle together,” she says. Even now, on the cover of ‘Mali’, she turns away from the camera — a subtle boundary within increasing visibility. “It’s a slow reveal,” she explains. “A very slow blossoming... I want longevity. I want to do this for the rest of my life, so I don’t feel any need to rush into full exposure.”

She holds up a recently repaired classic iPod, remarking, “especially since not being on Spotify again... I’m pretty much just Bandcamp or my iPod. I’ve got 953 gigabytes of music on iTunes. Forty-one thousand tracks.” The device, bought on eBay three years ago, is now a daily fixture, but even in that vast digital archive, physical formats still hold different weight. “When I buy a record, I remember it,” she notes. “There’s something about physically owning music that changes your relationship to it.”

There’s a contained satisfaction when Shy One talks about collecting — and what it means to finally be able to buy records she once couldn’t afford. “I’m not saving for a house,” she shares plainly. “I don’t think I’ll ever own one. But it means a lot that if I come across a rare record now, I can actually buy it.” She is equally candid about the city’s growing hostility towards artists trying to survive in it. “Creatively, London definitely fuels me because of the sounds that were born here,” she says. “But the city itself? Increasingly, it’s been more of a hindrance.”

“There were many years I should have been honing my craft when I was just depressed and working minimum wage,” she continues. “The highlight of my day was having a spliff after work.” We touch on DIY venues like Rye Wax, a record shop, café, workspace and club rolled into one, and the kind of ecosystem it represented. “That was a proper hub,” she says, smiling. “You could spend your whole day there.” Large-scale club spaces, on the other hand, hold little appeal. “We don’t need huge 15,000-capacity spaces,” she argues. “The greatness comes from small venues”.

I will end with a review of Mali from CLASH. There are a lot of highlights and standouts from Mali. I think Shy One’s collaboration with George Riley on I Can Tell is my favourite, though it is one of those albums where certain tracks reveal different elements and strengths the more you hear it. It is great that there is going to be a London headline show in March. Amazing hearing Mali on the stage. So many people will be at Village Underground to see that set:

“‘Mali’ is a love affair, tangled in Shy One’s signature concoction of London’s very own mingling sounds of house, jazz, UK breakbeat, and club scene’s tireless enticing baselines. Titled ‘Mali’, as Shy One’s first given name, the highly anticipated album lands as her multi-layered ode to London as a city and its vibrant, manifesting nature, curating a cohesive story, celebrating the history and lineage of Black British electronic music. It blissfully follows her creative intuition after a phase of mental and physical decluttering.

As a pirate radio DJ debutant, Shy One opens ‘Mali’ with ‘Evidence Of My Love Affair,’ talking about her early passion for radio. Introductory to her lifelong devotion, it quickly progresses into the pulsating breakbeat of ‘I Can Tell’ featuring George Riley, calling out delusion, ending with the classic defeatist night-out line, “it is what it is”.

‘Loosen Up’ fuses hints of the 80s with chords of funky piano and multiple simultaneous rhythms, forming an electronic jazz simulation that smoothly melds into the second feature, Private Joy, on the soulful ‘Moonlight,’ dazing in the seductive reflections. Though it is ‘Full Circle,’ which glimmers with trickling questions on life’s purpose, as a night-out halfway point tradition.

The brilliantly vibrating beat of the focus track featuring 90s trailblazer, Steve Spacek, ‘Driving On Sand’ lures you in on sweet talk, and promises, until the filthy edge of ‘Nort Wess’ throws you into a sexy, thrusting baseline of the album’s most anthemic club moment, of no limits and no inhibitions. James Massiah’s weight on ’16 Hours’ is the album’s collaboration highlight, soundtracking the inevitable elusion of the endless after party and whatever comes after. For the closing, ‘Live Dis Ting (Belt Drives),’ Shy One reverts the tempo to soft afro house, serving as a melodic canvas for days of reminiscing about records, drifting into the abyss of the night with residual echoes.

Across ten tracks, Shy One’s ‘Mali’ successfully embodies a mandatory sonic guide to the heart and soul of London’s club scene, which she will commemorate with a headline show at Village Underground on March 14th.

8/10”.

I absolutely love Shy One. Such an incredible and versatile D.J. and artist, I think that Mali is an album that is up there with the best of this year. I have said that about a few albums lately, but it just goes to show the breadth and wealth of talent out there. As she wraps up a busy 2026 and thinks ahead, there is a lot to reflect on. A new album after fourteen years. A big headline show in the spring. Shy One can look forward to…

A wonderful year ahead.

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Follow Shy One

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: IAMDDB

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Raia Maria-Laura

 

IAMDDB

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THIS is an occasion…

IN THIS PHOTO: IAMDDB at the Royal Albert Hall in London, October 2026/PHOTO CREDIT: radhika

where I am discussing an artists where there has not been a lot of recent activity in terms of interviews and new music. Even so, many are performing and making moves. That is the case with IAMDDB. I think, even though she is established and a hugely popular artist, next year is going to be one where she makes her next move. In terms of a mixtape, album or tour. She has been performing a lot this year, and people have got to witness her brilliance. I have been a fan of hers for years now. Her album, Hoodrich Vol. 3, turns ten next year. This is an artist whose latest album, LOVE Is WAR, Volume 6, came out in 2024. Since then, IAMDDB has been pretty busy. IAMDDB is the moniker of Diana De Brito, an Angolan-Portuguese artist. She was formerly based in Manchester, but I am sure if she is based in Manchester right now or whether she is in London. I am going to drop in some older interviews. There has not been a lot of press from the past couple of years or so, but this is such an incredible artist who everyone needs to know. Even though IAMDDB has a large fanbase around the world, there are those who may not know about her. In terms of this year, there have been some events that stood out. IAMDDB was on the Ivor Awards red carpet in June. She looked absolutely captivating. This is someone who stays unapologetically true to herself. In terms of the advice and wisdom offered to artists coming up: “Be yourself, be true to who you are, don't conform, be open to listening to people that have done more than you have done... have fun, don't be a square, be colourful”. IAMDDB has been busy on the road. She has performed far and wide this year, including stops at the The Live Jazz Experience in Brussels, and London’s Royal Albert Hall in October. It has been a massive year for a true original. One of the most amazing and fascinating artists I have ever known.

Whilst I have been a fan for almost a decade now, I feel that the best days still lie ahead. In terms of IAMDDB’s best work and most amazing gigs. I feel she is going to headline major festivals soon. Such is her talent, this will be rewarded with a major booking. That said, IAMDDB has played some amazing venues and worked tirelessly. She is putting herself out there, though many of her fans wonder if she will grace us with some new music next year. What her next chapter is. Many might have heard earlier in the year how she hit back at the Israeli government for using her in an A.I.-generated propaganda video. The now-deleted clip sparked rightful fury and condemnation. Resident Advisor provide more details:

“IAMDDB has condemned the unauthorised use of her likeness in an AI-generated propaganda video shared by Israel's official social media accounts, accusing the government of using her image without permission. The clip, posted last Thursday, October 15th, and since deleted, featured an AI-generated woman closely resembling the Manchester-based artist, reciting lines defending Jewish indigeneity, including: "Colonisers? Say the name. Jews from Judea, it's in the damn name." The video was captioned: "'GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!' We did." Addressing the situation in a statement shared to Instagram yesterday, IAMDDB said: "I'm deeply concerned by the use of AI to create the appearance of an artist's involvement in something they never agreed to." She's now seeking advice on protecting her image, work and rights. "I stand for humanity" she continued. "I stand against the killing and suffering of innocent people. And I stand for every artist's right to decide what their name, face and work are associated with. FREE PALESTINE”.

I am absolutely love IAMDDB! I have been lucky enough to have been in a room where she was premiering a new music video a while back. Hearing her speak about it and interacting with the crowd, so is such a compelling human. So intelligent, funny, profound and instantly likeable, she is a very genuine artist who has been consistently putting out original and terrific music and delivering incredible performances. I have yet to see her live, though if there are dates next year, I will try and see her, as it has been a while since I have seen her.

I do want to go back a bit to the earlier years. Even if her career and life has moved since then, it is worth revisiting some early interviews. I do hope that there are some new chats coming soon, as I feel IAMDDB has a lot to say, and next year is primed to be a phenomenal one for her. I will drop in one interview from 2018 and one from 2020 before wrapping up. I wonder if IAMDDB thinks about her earliest interviews and sees how far she has come. Her life has undergone changes and her music has evolved through the years, yet we do get a sense of who she is and why she is so special from these interviews. In 2018, CRACK focused on this stunning young artist who you could tell then that she was going to endure for years. Six years later, and this must-hear queen continues to excel. I do feel like next year will be her biggest in terms of success and quality. She gets better with every release. I think I first heard her music played on BBC Radio 6 Music. Mary Anne Hobbs playing a track of hers. It was a big moment where I instantly connected with IAMDDB:

“IAMDDB has achieved a great deal in a short time. Her come-up has been, in her own words, a “crazy journey. I’m just trying to keep up with the pace.” Having studied performing arts at college, she took a series of retail jobs before focusing seriously on music just two years ago. Last year finished with a string of accolades – from the BBC Sound of 2018 longlist, to support slots for Bryson Tiller alongside headline dates across Europe. At the age of 21, IAMDDB is a force to be reckoned with.

In terms of genre, IAMDDB has described her debut EP Waeveybby Volume 1, as “urban jazz”; songs with a spiritual leaning that you can jam at home and smoke a joint with your friends to. But many of the songs on 2017’s Hoodrich Vol 3 – including breakthrough single Shade – had trappier leaning for the turn-up. “I wanted to make something that the mandem can feel it, the girls can feel it, but it has to be… not mainstream, but for the club, for the hood.” What inspired the switch in vibe? “I just reached a point in life where I had had enough, and I was like ‘if one more thing falls apart I’m gonna fall apart, then we’ve got a real problem!’ It wasn’t a nice time in life so instead of just wallowing and feeling sorry for myself I was like ‘nah, you’re gonna use this, you’re gonna talk about it, you’re gonna manipulate it into something positive’, and here we are.”

IAMDDB grew up listening to a lot of Afro-soul, Afro-jazz and kizomba – her dad is also a musician and is in a band in Angola – along with the likes of Nat King Cole and Whitney Houston. Now, she mostly listens to US rap, citing Jay Critch, Future and Rich the Kid as current playlist favourites. Her musical hero, however, is somewhat unexpected. “Bob Marley was my inspiration,” she reveals. “Lyrically, in harmonies, in rhythm, in everything he did and represented. His music to me is almost higher powers saying it’s fine to have emotions, it’s fine to be emotional, it’s fine to fall apart but you’ve gotta forget about that and come back stronger.” And although their music might be worlds apart – “Bob Marley weren’t out here shouting ‘bad bitch no underwear’,” she laughs – IAMDDB hopes her fans will have the same soul-stirring feeling she experienced when listening to her biggest influence”.

I’ll finish with The Line of Best Fit and their 2020 interview. Despite it being six years ago now, it is useful for those new to IAMDDB. I must also see if I can interview her too, as this is an artist near the top of my list. I would love to ask what her dream collaboration is and whether she will try and manifest that. You wouldn’t bet against her being able to achieve anything she wants:

“A passionate yet serene energy encompasses Debrito when we speak: it’s the day after the announcement that Boris Johnson is set to become the UK Prime Minister for the next four years. A crushing defeat for Labour, much of the UK was left in despair at the outcome, questioning the future of the country, with Brexit now a solidified fact. When I ask DD her thoughts, she answers breezily: “You know what, at the end of the day, they’re gonna do what they wanna do. Everyone should just focus on building their own ecosystem and we’ll be cool.” It’s clearly not in Debrito’s vocabulary to dwell on the negatives.

This resilience has surrounded IAMDDB’s aura ever since she emerged on the scene. In 2015, she announced herself with a hazy and pure Fly-Lo re-work on Soundcloud, followed by a string of addictive jazzy and trap fusion EPs, most recently, Swervvvvv.5 – an R&B hybrid released via Union V records. Each record featured no-one but the woman herself.

Despite her music generating over 1 million listens on Spotify a month, it becomes clear in talking to her that Debrito is not one to be clouded by cosmically generated numbers. Speaking candidly of the often skin-deep nature of the industry, which she seems to glide seamlessly through, she tells me: “Music has evolved so much from the time when we had ‘real’ artists. Music nowadays can be so microwavable, here today, gone tomorrow.” Particularly, in the genres of R&B, jazz and trap in which IAMDDB traverses, it could be argued that since it gains so much traffic and has such a high turnover, there is a temptation for artists to succumb to a certain style in order to make bank.

“A lot of people have one smash hit and think that’s it, and they’re good for life. But when you really examine this industry and this game, you realise that just because you’ve overcome one obstacle doesn’t mean there isn’t 100 to go. So staying humble, staying level-headed, and always remembering why you began this to begin with, is super important, in a level of consistency and quality, in the way you work and the way you carry yourself. Girl, it’s like a whole matrix.”

Within this vulnerability in her music, Debrito’s honesty is palpable, her songs almost always beginning with an exclamatory shout of ‘IAMDDB’ – a message that this is her, and you can take it or leave it.

Debrito’s personal style emulates this off-kilter sincerity, her lyrics transmitting a message to be yourself, and to always work for what you want. This is especially poignant given that navigating the industry as a woman can be so difficult. It would be amiss to not cite one of the most exciting points in IAMDDB’s journey last year, where her talent was recognised by the legendary Lauryn Hill – so much that she was chosen to accompany her as support on the The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill tour through Amsterdam and Scandinavia to London’s SSE Arena. She performed alongside Nas, M.I.A. and A$AP ROCKY. Reflecting on the whole experience, Debrito says, “I know! I still can’t believe I did that. It was so humbling to have such a legendary Black female recognise what I do – when I got the call I was like, ‘This is wild’. Someone I’d looked up to for so long was recognising the light within me.

“[Touring with Lauryn] was true motivation to just continue pushing towards being as true and as strong within myself as I can be. Even when I spoke to her, she gave me some advice and it was to stay true to myself, to make sure the team that I have believe and never try to make me conform.” Debrito has gone on to collaborate on tour with artists such as Bryson Tiller and Jhene Aiko. “It’s so humbling, the reception with the audience... for them to take me in with open arms. It gives me the sensation that, if I really hone in to my artistry, I can take it as far as I can.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins

Debrito’s sound has never followed a strict pattern or focus, but the importance of connectivity with her audience has always been at the forefront of her style. We reflect on one of her first gigs as IAMDDB, at the beginning of her journey, in Hoxton Square in 2016: “There were maybe 20-50 people in the audience, and it was one of my very first shows in London. And honestly, just having the opportunity to be on the stage and be able to express myself, have an audience that was so engaged, it was so humbling for me.”. The energy of Debrito’s first gig inspired her to never let the background noise of the negative cogs in the industry affect her: “It taught me you can never lose this passion and fire inside of you, that motivates you to produce, that motivates you to dig into your emotions and express to people. It’s so powerful, it’s something that people need, as a listener and a consumer. They need somebody who’s fearless and somebody who’s going to say the things people are afraid to say.”

Similarly, on her debut EP Waeveybby Vol 1, the palpable energy that comes through is that Debrito wants her audience to feel what she is feeling, to form a collective consciousness. On the first track "Ease", her lyrics echo this positivity and self-confidence: “Lost something from underneath / I can see my enemy, I’m free / Oh, I think I like what I see, yeah / The best of me”.

Debrito’s musical inspirations also echo this self-assuredness. “Some people who have inspired me here from the beginning: Lianne La Havas. She’s one of my favourites. And Gretchen Parlato. With these females, they stay so true to their own genre and their own style of doing things. I’m never one to follow the main structures, I have a very unorthodox way of being. It’s like when I buy a piece of furniture, I never read the instructions. I never read the terms and conditions with my phone! I base everything more off feeling. I really gravitate towards anyone who portrays that– who goes off feelings rather than, you know. Anyone that thinks outside of the box is an inspiration to me”.

Go and follow the brilliant IAMDDB. In spite of that horrible situation with the Israeli government and how damaging and upsetting it would have been, IAMDDB has had a really good year. I look at her Instagram feed, and I can see how much joy she is bringing to people. How happy she seems too. I hope that she has time to chill as we head to Christmas, and it will be interesting to see what next year holds. The exceptional IAMDDB is going to be in the industry for so long to come. Someone who is born to make music and touch people. In a music world where there is a lot of same-sounding artists and it can be quite hard to distinguish the amazing from the average, it is clear IAMDDB is in a league of her own. Look out into the world of music and there is…

NOBODY quite like her.

__________

Follow IAMDDB

FEATURE: Spotlight: Amelie Lens

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Amelie Lens

_________

I am spotlighting…

one of the greatest D.J.s in the world. Her album, AURA, came out in September. I am going to come up to date with some interviews from this year. I want to start with last year and an interview from office. They spent time with Amelie Lens. One of the best D.J.s in the world. I think that, when we think of the best D.J.s, many would choose men. DJ Mag’s top one-hundred every year does include women, though it is male-dominated. Things are slowly changing, yet their top twenty is still hugely male-focused. In this interview, office sat down with the “Belgian DJ to chat about Tomorrowland, her budding career in fashion... and Belgian fries”:

“How did you experience the music industry as a young woman back when you started your career?

To be honest, this is something I don’t like to talk about, since I see myself as an artist and not a female artist. I like to be treated equally and questions like this are somehow making me feel like I am not. But unfortunately, there is still a lot of prejudice towards women entering the scene. I had to deal with a lot of hateful comments with people telling me I should go back to my kitchen, that there must be a guy making my music… But these things have only motivated me to work harder and be better.

You are touring around the world non-stop. Is there a ritual or specific routine you try to maintain despite all these travels?

Not really, no. I’ve had a hectic life since I was 16 years old, combining work and school and traveling a lot. Thus, I never really had a lot of daily routines. I do try to video call my grandmother, who raised me, every two days, but that might be the only routine I have in my life to be honest.

You have been DJing since you were 18 years old. Was there ever a plan B for your future?

Music was just a passion. I never really thought I would be doing this full-time. I was always working hard and trying to take as much as possible out of life. When I was 16, I realized I could study faster by myself and use the rest of the time to work. So I dropped out of school, studied independently, worked and traveled in the meantime. After I graduated, I was already financially independent and signed up for university, but it was almost impossible for me to pay by myself combined with my job. So, I quit. I found a school that offered event management as distant study, but even this was hard to combine with my job, since I was mostly living in Paris and London, but I had exams almost every week in Belgium. I was already DJing sometimes and making music for several fashion brands.

What does true happiness mean to you, professionally and personally speaking?

I see myself as a very happy person. Even though I had a complicated past, I never stopped smiling and made the best out of it. I guess I’m an optimist—it’s partly my personality, but mostly I think it’s a state of mind. I will always find something good in any bad situation. It’s important to focus on ourselves and not on others and try to be the best person you could possibly be.

Also career-wise, with social media we always see what other artists are doing, and it’s hard not to compare ourselves. But what other people are doing should not matter; I am focusing on myself, always trying to improve myself. So I think that true happiness starts with being happy about yourself. Once you accept yourself, love yourself and you're proud of yourself, you can also accept, love and be proud of others”.

Amelie Lens is not playing sets at the moment, as she is pregnant with her second child. Though she has festival and gig dates booked for next year. She is getting ready to greet her daughter into the world. Maybe the first time I have spotlighted someone who is pregnant. However, when she is back and on the road, go and see Lens. Her new album is tremendous. I did want to get to some press from this year. In August, DJ Mag caught up with Amelie Lens to discuss EXHALE. I am slightly new to this, so it was great reading this interview. As they say in their headline, “Since its first no-frills parties in Belgium a decade ago, Amelie Lens’ EXHALE platform has grown in lockstep with her career into a global ecosystem that’s both supporting and shaping techno’s next generation. Rooted in connection and community, the brand now encompasses a label, events arm and flourishing artist roster, all guided by Lens’ hands-on approach. In conversation with DJ Mag’s Olivia Stock, Lens and label and brand manager Max Tassi reflect on EXHALE’s rise to major force in global techno, alongside a slamming mix of tracks from the label’s catalogue”:

“For all its scale now — the sold-out rooms, the festival stages, the international routing that keeps Lens in constant motion — EXHALE remains rooted in connections like these. “All I’ve ever wanted to do was bring people together through music,” Lens grins, before carefully returning the book to the shelf behind her. Fresh from back-to-back solo shows in San Diego and Austin, she apologises for her tired demeanor, though there’s little sign of it. Dressed in techno-black, her trademark blunt bob framing her face, she lights up as she talks about EXHALE — a platform she has meticulously built over the past decade, but one that often exists in the shadow of the artist behind it. “It’s been a long, crazy journey,” she smiles. “If I think back to our very first party in 2016, I didn’t ever realise what it was going to become... I just wanted to host my own events because I felt like the sound that I like was not very represented in Belgium, and I wanted to make people dance.”

“There’s so much I’m proud of but most of all it’s the community that we have created with EXHALE. I get emotional just thinking about it. A lot of fans travel alone, they meet at events, recognise each other, stay in touch, and come back again. It really is so special.” — Amelie Lens

That sound — fast, physical techno designed for big rooms — became the early blueprint for EXHALE. The first parties were held at Labyrinth club in Hasselt, Belgium, where Lens was already a resident and had the freedom to build the night exactly as she imagined it. Word spread quickly. Soon, the room was hosting some of European techno’s most respected figures, from Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock, to Ellen Allien and Enrico Sangiuliano, alongside Joyhauser, Milo Spykers, and other rising names from the Belgian scene’s next wave.

 

EXHALE’s expansion into a label in late 2020 brought the brand even closer to the dancefloor at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic had forced clubs around the world to close. Under the watchful eye of Lens and EXHALE manager Max Tassi, who joins us on the call from his base in Berlin, the imprint found its footing through a steady run of V/A compilations, packed full of cross-spectrum techno goodness, and shaped by the same open-minded curation that has become a signature of Lens’ own sets.

“The first V/A release was in 2020 during the pandemic, and we had a whole lot of events booked for that year that all got cancelled, so the project was actually a perfect way to still give something back,” Tassi explains. “On that first release, we had the artists that were originally booked for those events, plus a few others.”

These compilations are still the backbone of EXHALE, with the series now up to its eighth instalment. Beyond offering a snapshot of the label’s sound at a given moment, they’ve become the engine behind its artist development, with artists like Italy’s Flour — who first appeared on VA004 [2023] with his techno slammer ‘Invasion’ — returning to release expanded solo projects like 2025’s ‘Visitors’ EP and 2026’s ‘Fallen Angel’ EP through EXHALE. As clubs reopened, EXHALE’s packed-out events became a testing ground for the music moving through the label pipeline, helping accelerate the rise of artists like Belgium’s NOVAH and BYØRN, French artist ARDL, and Spain’s BLONDEX from relative obscurity into the spotlight of the European techno scene.

To this day, EXHALE’s label and events exist in constant dialogue. “When I listen to demos, I always ask myself, ‘Will this work at 4AM at RSO.Berlin? At DC10 in Ibiza? In the Atmosphere tent we host at Tomorrowland?’ This is the most important thing, because it’s the line between the sounds that we sign,” Lens explains. “I’ll also question if it works for my sets, because that’s a big part of promotion. I play all the new EXHALE tracks and fans look out for them. It’s so funny as people always know which tracks are gonna be coming out soon on the label, because they will recognise it’s something unreleased that I’ve been playing a lot”.

I am not sure whether Amelia Lens will see this feature, as I think she is stepping away from social media a bit at the moment during pregnancy. I did want to spotlight her, simply because she is one of the finest D.J.s in the world. She is a pioneer and has kicked open doors for other women to follow. Beatportal spotlighted Lens in September. Here, she discussed keeping EXHALE’s sense of community, the long route to her album, AURA, and motherhood:

“Externally, Amelie Lens hasn’t changed much since our Artist of the Month interview six years ago. She has the same dead straight, deep brown hair, the same kind eyes and the same warmth. She’s just as busy – she has to jet off to Malta in a few hours – and she’s just as open, but as we talk it becomes clear that inwardly, a whole lot’s changed for Amelie since that last video call in 2020.

“In general, techno really grew,” she says. “All my shows, including EXHALE, were just growing so fast to a point where we’re scaling back the EXHALE shows while my own shows and AURA keep growing.”

Already wildly popular pre-COVID, Amelie’s brand of techno exploded once lockdown lifted. Young people, pent up from two years of lockdown, unleashed their energy on warehouse dance floors, fist-pumping to a minimum BPM of 145.

In October 2024, EXHALE and Awakenings took over Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, a 12,000 capacity arena that’s hosted Adele, Beyoncé, U2 and Madonna.

On September 5 2026, EXHALE and AURA will unite in a huge, sold-out open-air hometown show at Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts. The occasion is a special one: it’s the official launch party for Amelie’s debut album, AURA – dropping Friday, September 4 via EXHALE Records.

“My vision for this album was to show all aspects of myself,” Amelie says. “The album was definitely not made to be for the charts. I don’t want one big track taking it over. I want it to stay as one package.”

The eleven-track album merges the grand with the intimate, the cinematic with the raw. She takes her listeners back in time to when she was a fresh-faced clubber in Antwerp, neck-deep in the dance floor, besotted with the culture.

“Being in the nightclubs gave me this feeling of belonging somewhere, I felt connection and freedom I had never experienced before,” she says. "That feeling changed my life completely.”

It’s something she’s recreating with this album, taking us from tiny local clubs to gargantuan festival stages. The intro is so cinematic it could soundtrack a Christopher Nolan film. It’s followed by “our frequency”, with escalating arpeggios, hair-raising builds and ecstatic drops, best served with strobe lights and pyrotechnics. It’s an air-tight summary of Amelie’s technical and pacing abilities. She pulls back, holds, then pummels like no one else.

“4am at RSO” stands out as a love letter to Berlin nightlife and endless weekends in its subterranean warrens, hypnotised by hard, fast, industrial techno.

The only collaboration on the album comes from fellow Belgian powerhouse Angèle. Meeting at the intersection of peak-time techno and contemporary pop, “run” combines Angèle's ethereal vocals with Amelie’s driving, 4:4 textures. If one of the tracks on this album were to hit the charts, this would be it.

The album ends with “whatever you do,” another vocal-infused techno slammer, showcasing Amelie’s fun, vibrant side and ending on a high note.

If there’s one artist that can influence people, it is Amelie Lens. In the six years since we last spoke she took over an issue of Vogue Netherlands, one of very few DJs to make that crossover. She spent a year with their journalists, letting them into her home for a shoot, inviting them on tour, and curating a music-focused magazine that uplifted new artists and candidly shared the realities of being a female touring techno artist.

She was one of the first major DJs to proudly play with her baby bump on show back in 2023. And she’s been open about her miscarriages and the lack of infrastructure in dance music to support women through these kinds of devastating events.

Vogue magazine dove into these experiences. “Just being a woman in a very, very male dominated scene and going through pregnancy and miscarriages twice,” Amelie says. “I felt really lonely. Just the toilets show they really don't care about women. These horrible DIXI [outdoor, portable] toilets with no hand wash, while I was at big risk of infection. So this was very, very important for me to speak about.”

In recent years, Amelie’s become notably louder, utilising her voice and influence in dance music to highlight issues close to her heart. When allegations of sexual assault emerged against several techno artists in March 2026, she released a statement.

“We are tired,” she wrote. “The dance floor is our home and the backstage is our workplace, but neither feels safe for us.”

Amelie says that becoming a mother to a baby girl in December 2023 made her realise she needs to fight for a better world for her daughter.

“[Motherhood] really, really changed me a lot as a person,” Amelie says. “It changed my whole life, all my priorities. I become so self-aware, because I'm constantly thinking, how is my daughter gonna see me? What is my daughter gonna think? This makes me more ambitious.”

Amelie, who is now pregnant with her second daughter, says she never quite felt ready to share an album. “You cannot plan creativity,” she says. Plus, she needed those years of experience to fully live the story she wanted to tell.

It’s only now, after 12 years of touring the world, building multiple business empires and kicking down doors for women in dance music and beyond, that she’s finally ready to share her journey with the world”.

Although Amelie Lens is now stepping away from touring and focusing on her expectant daughter, when DJ Mag spoke with her recently, she was still performing. Lens wants to change how the industry views women and pregnancy. Changing attitudes. She also discussed how she has found confidence to do things her way. Lens also talked about ongoing industry sexism. This is someone who is affecting change and is a role model for so many women:

“Lens has been here before. When she was pregnant with first daughter Kiki in 2023, she toured up until two months before her due date. “I think sometimes you feel like you have to pick one or the other. But I was lucky enough to not have to,” Lens tells DJ Mag a couple of days after the show in London. She’s back home in her Antwerp studio, draped in a baggy, black ‘AURA’-branded t-shirt, and reflecting on the latest chapter in her life and career with a frankness softened by genuine warmth. “With my first pregnancy, I think many people assumed, ‘Oh, she’s going to be taking a step back’. I remember even someone I used to work with being like, ‘Maybe you’re going to want to focus more on motherhood and step away from music for a while’, and I was like, ‘What? No... Why would I do that?’

“Of course, you don’t know how you’re going to feel during pregnancy and after you give birth, but for me, I just became crazy ambitious,” she continues. “I want to be an example to my daughters and show them that they can have it all, too. I didn’t give up my dreams to have them — I took them with me. Kiki was by my side on the main stage at Tomorrowland Winter, and I was eight months pregnant with her when I played to 15,000 people at the Ziggo Dome.”

“I don’t know if there are many jobs that are totally flexible around these things, but I think ours would be the very last one because there are not even children allowed. The two worlds are so far away from each other, and I think that’s OK — but what is not OK is not even thinking about us.”

The decision to keep working was the easy part, Lens says. The harder part has been navigating an industry that isn’t designed even remotely with pregnancy or parenthood in mind. With so few high-profile examples of pregnancy in the techno scene, she found herself having to “really educate a lot of people” along the way. “Which is crazy because it’s such a normal thing. We all came from someone’s belly!

“Many people still feel like pregnant women should be on the sofa, not working,” she continues. “It’s definitely a cultural thing that I’ve experienced while touring. Some places really want to protect pregnant women and expect you to be in bed. So when they see me on stage, they’re like...” She mimes being shocked and horrified. “It is difficult to get all these opinions from everybody on your pregnancy when I’m very educated on all the decisions I am making. I think I saw six different doctors just to be sure.

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniil Lavrovski

They’re basic things, but they highlight how little the scene is set up to accommodate pregnancy. “I don’t know if there are many jobs that are totally flexible around these things, but I think ours would be the very last one because there are not even children allowed,” Lens continues. “The two worlds are so far away from each other, and I think that’s OK — but what is not OK is not even thinking about us.”

From Belgium’s club circuit to the biggest stages in techno, she has spent much of her rise navigating the particular scrutiny that comes with being a woman in electronic music. “A few years ago, there weren’t that many women DJs, so we had this big almost spotlight on us...” she shares. “I was so conscious all the time about what I wore, how I acted and moved on stage, what I posted online, all of these details, and I’m pretty sure that male artists don’t really think about it, at least not to the same level.”

That scrutiny can quickly turn into something more sinister when a new artist starts to make a name for herself. “It’s great that there are so many more of us now, but I can also still see that every time someone new is coming up, she gets all the hate,” Lens continues. “I see the comments and I’m like, ‘OK, here we go again...’ You know, ‘You don’t mix yourself’, or something about her body. And then after she has ‘proven herself’,” she rolls her eyes, “it eventually eases up. And then the next one comes through, and she gets all the hate again. It’s just disgusting.

“Also the endless comparisons, I feel this is also something that is mainly being done with women. I’ve never seen a male artist come up and people saying, ‘Oh, he’s better or worse than this other artist’, or ‘Stop trying to be so and so’.

“I’m very close with many of the upcoming female artists in techno, and quite often they will call me because they know I’ve been through the same, and I always tell them, ‘It’s going to stop I promise. It’s just this period when you’re breaking through, and all the eyes are on you’.” 

“Unfortunately, I can say with 99% confidence that every woman in our scene has experienced something. It might be abuse of power, intimidation or sexual harassment, but we all have our stories."

The hostility she describes online is only one part of a much bigger problem. In recent months, a wave of allegations of sexual harassment, assault and abuse of power has emerged across the European techno scene, with women coming forward about experiences both inside and outside the workplace. Some of the allegations have prompted artists to be removed from festival and club bills, while others continue to be booked. Meanwhile, METOODJS, an independent organisation supporting victims of sexual violence in electronic music, has reportedly received hundreds of testimonies from people across the scene.

Lens has spoken publicly about the issue before. In February 2026, she shared a statement addressing the lack of safety women experience both on the dancefloor and backstage. Since then, the conversation has only grown, and so has her frustration with how little action has been taken. “Unfortunately, I can say with 99% confidence that every woman in our scene has experienced something. It might be abuse of power, intimidation or sexual harassment, but we all have our stories. And that’s really fucked up, because it’s all of us. It’s not just a small percentage. We’ve just normalised it.

“I’ve personally had several incidents with male artists backstage or in the DJ booth. And literally, I’m at work — this isn’t me partying. Even if it were, that wouldn’t be an excuse, but this is my job. I also know so many DJ colleagues who have had really horrible things happen to them — really bad things — and they spoke about it, but nobody believed them. It was a real mindfuck for me, because for all those years I thought, ‘If I ever have the courage to speak up about these artists, something is going to change’. And now I’ve realised that it doesn’t. People hide it, agents know, and now with these allegations going public everybody knows, even the fans, and nobody does anything. That’s really, really wrong”.

I am going to end things here. By the time I publish this, Lens may have given birth. I guess she is going to be spending precious time with her daughter. Though you know she will be back at festivals and dancefloors next year. A fixture of summer festivals. AURA is a terrific album. This is what DJ Mag said: “Hard techno exploded when lockdown kids were released back into the wild with a newfound thirst for maximalism. Amelie Lens soon became their poster girl, her supersized sounds the perfect antidote for lockdown ennui, and the scale of her arena shows is suitably mind-blowing. Until now, the only thing missing from her CV was a debut album — ‘AURA’ plugs the gap with the force of a supernova. While mostly hard and fast from front to back, there’s important nuance and narrative across the 11 tracks that give the album legs. Take ‘4am at RSO’, a deeper, more atmospheric ode to time the Belgian spent submerged in Berlin nightlife. ‘run (w/ Angèle)’ and ‘whatever you do’ have trance overtones and uplifting vocals that befit the infinite festivals Lens plays. ‘our frequency’ is a signature blend of everything: sultry whispers, consuming bass and explosive drops, all laced with escalating arpeggios designed to get hands in the air. She might go hard, but Lens never lacks heart”. If you have not connected with Amelie Lens and her incredible work, then you really…

NEED to so now.

__________

Follow Amelie Lens

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Britney Spears at Forty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

  

Britney Spears at Forty-Five

_________

THOUGH this biography…

from AllMusic might not be the most up to date when it comes to Britney Spears and her musical activity, I did want to source it. I am writing about her as she turns forty-five on 2nd December. One of the greatest and most influential Pop artists of her generation, we do hope that she will record another album one day. She has had a pretty tough past few years – and longer -, so it is understandable that she would not want to tour or record. In terms of her legacy, there are few who have as more impressive one than Britney          Spears:

“Britney Spears is the defining figure of the Y2K pop era, the artist who shaped the sound and look of pop music in the first decade of the 21st century. Like Madonna before her, Spears melded her music to her image so thoroughly, it became impossible to separate the two: the title of "...Baby One More Time," her 1999 breakthrough hit, evokes the industrial Max Martin-produced hook and Spears' schoolgirl dance routine in equal measure. "...Baby One More Time" arrived in early 1999, months after the launch of MTV's Total Request Live and just as the pop charts were shaking off post-alternative doldrums in preparation for millennial bacchanalia that was just around the corner. Spears provided the soundtrack for that era as she moved from fizzy bubblegum like "(You Drive Me) Crazy" to the slinkier, sexier funk of "I'm a Slave 4 U." Hits were certainly central to Spears' appeal but she didn't reach the Billboard Top Ten with the same regularity as her fellow Mickey Mouse Club veterans Justin Timberlake, who fronted the boy band *NSYNC, and Christina Aguilera. Spears' stardom transcended the confines of the charts and even film, television, and the tabloids. Her cultural omnipresence in the 2000s elevated her to iconic status, turning her into the embodiment of all of that decade's glorious excesses. Spears' presence as a pop idol endured even after her personal problems led to her being placed in a conservatorship in 2008. In the years that followed, she continued to work, appearing as a judge on The X Factor, releasing singles that brought her back to the top of the charts and settling into a series of Las Vegas residencies.

Britney Jean Spears was born December 2, 1981, in the small town of Kentwood, Louisiana, and began singing and dancing at a young age. With a nationally televised appearance on Star Search already under her belt, Spears auditioned for the Disney Channel's The New Mickey Mouse Club at age eight. The producers turned her down as she was too young, but one of them took an interest and introduced her to an agent in New York. Spears spent the next three years studying at the Professional Performing Arts School, and also appeared in several television commercials and off-Broadway plays. At 11, she returned to The New Mickey Mouse Club for a second audition, and this time made the cut. Although her fellow Mouseketeers included an impressive array of future stars -- *NSYNC's Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, Christina Aguilera, and Felicity actress Keri Russell -- the show was canceled after Spears' second season. She returned to New York at age 15 and set about auditioning for pop bands and recording demo tapes, one of which eventually landed her a deal with Jive Records.

Spears entered the studio with top writer/producers like Eric Foster White (Boyzone, Whitney Houston, Backstreet Boys) and Max Martin (Ace of Base, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC). In late 1998, Jive released her debut single, the Martin-penned "...Baby One More Time." Powered by its video, in which Spears and a troupe of dancers were dressed as Catholic school jailbait, the single shot to the top of the Billboard charts. When Spears' debut album of the same title was released in early 1999, it entered the charts at number one and stayed there for six weeks. Once the ubiquitous lead single died down, the album kept spinning off hits: the Top Ten "(You Drive Me) Crazy," the near-Top 20 ballad "Sometimes," and the Top 20 "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart." By the end of 1999, ...Baby One More Time had sold ten million copies and went on to sell a good three-plus-million more on top of that. Its success touched off a wave of young pop divas who included Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore. Spears was a superstar.

By the time ...Baby One More Time finally started to lose steam on the singles and album charts, Spears was ready to release her follow-up. Oops!...I Did It Again appeared in the spring of 2000, and the title track was an instant smash, racing into the Top Ten. The album itself entered the charts at number one and sold over a million copies in its first week of release, setting a new record for single-week sales by a female artist. Follow-up singles included "Lucky," the gold-selling "Stronger," and "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know," which was co-written by country diva Shania Twain and her producer Mutt Lange. A year after its release, Oops!...I Did It Again had sold over nine million copies. Rumors that Spears was dating *NSYNC heartthrob (and fellow ex-Mouseketeer) Justin Timberlake were eventually confirmed, which only added to the media attention lavished upon her.

For her next album, Spears looked ahead to a not-so-distant future when both she and much of her audience would be growing up. Released in late 2001, Britney tried to present the singer as a more mature young woman, and was accompanied by mild hints that her personal life wasn't always completely puritanical. It became her third straight album to debut at number one, although this time around the singles weren't as successful; "I'm a Slave 4 U," "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," and "Overprotected" all missed the Top Ten. In early 2002, Spears' feature-film debut, Crossroads, hit theaters, but its commercial performance was somewhat disappointing; moreover, her romance with Timberlake fizzled out not long after. Spears next made a cameo appearance in Mike Myers' Austin Powers: Goldmember, and contributed a remix of "Boys" to the soundtrack. Meanwhile, sales of Britney stalled at four million copies, perhaps in part because a new breed of teenage female singer/songwriters, like Michelle Branch and Avril Lavigne, was emerging as an alternative to the highly packaged teen queens. Spears took a break from recording and performing for several months, and began work on a new album in early 2003. The results, In the Zone, reflected a wish to be taken seriously as a mature (though still highly sexualized) adult. Predictably, it topped the charts and launched several singles into orbit, including the musically adventurous "Toxic," "Everytime," and "Me Against the Music."

In the Zone hit number one on the Billboard 200, and "Toxic" snagged a Grammy for Best Dance Recording, but in 2004 Britney's personal life started to hit the tabloids on a regular basis. She had a brief two-day marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander, followed by the controversial Onyx Hotel tour, which was eventually canceled despite positive financial numbers. Soon, Britney revealed her relationship with her former backup dancer Kevin Federline. Spears and Federline married in September and were tabloid regulars in the months after the ceremony; some of this relationship was documented in Chaotic, a UPN reality show consisting mostly of their own home videos.

The year 2005 was no less eventful for Spears. She released Greatest Hits: My Prerogative that January, but it was the announcement of her pregnancy that really garnered the headlines. Her son Sean was born in September, and a bidding war ensued for first rights to the baby photos. As the hubbub surrounding Sean's birth continued, Britney released a remix album just in time for the holiday season. In 2006, Spears discovered she was pregnant again; shortly after the birth of her second son, Jayden, she divorced Federline. Following another headline-grabbing incident in early 2007 (in which Spears spontaneously shaved her head at a salon in Tarzana, California, much to the delight of nearby photographers), Spears sought help at Malibu's Promises Treatment Center. After leaving the facility, she began working on her comeback album and performed a few small shows at House of Blues locations in Los Angeles, San Diego, Anaheim, and Las Vegas that May. Despite ongoing turmoil in her life that summer and fall, Blackout arrived in October 2007. It proved to be her least successful album to date, charting three Top 40 hits but failing to achieve platinum certification within its first year of release.

Spears was dealt more blows in early 2008 when she lost custody of her children, made several court appearances, and was placed on involuntary psychiatric hold twice in one month. Blackout nevertheless won several MTV-sponsored awards, including Album of the Year from the Europe Music Awards in November 2008. That same fall, "Womanizer," the lead-off single from Spears' next record, became her first number one single in nearly a decade. The full-length Circus arrived in December, featuring a mix of syrupy ballads and uptempo dance numbers that were designed to fuel Spears' comeback. In 2009, the single "3" followed "Womanizer" to the top, and appeared on her career-spanning compilation The Singles Collection. In 2011, Spears returned with the studio album Femme Fatale, featuring the single "Hold It Against Me," which became her fourth single to top the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, the Ke$ha co-written "'Til the World Ends," didn't top the charts but it was a bigger hit, going double platinum in the U.S.

Britney supported Femme Fatale with an international tour that ran until the end of 2011; at the end of the year, the home video Live: The Femme Fatale Tour was released. Spears made a splashy return to television in 2012 when she signed to be one of the celebrity judges on the second season of the U.S. version of Simon Cowell's The X Factor. The show returned in the fall of 2012. Spears did not return to the show for its third season. Also in 2012, Britney appeared on will.i.am's track "Scream and Shout." This was the beginning of a greater partnership, as will.i.am wound up as the executive producer for her eighth studio album, Britney Jean. Preceded by the single "Work Bitch" -- along with a Britney cameo on Miley Cyrus' 2013 album Bangerz and the announcement of a two-year residency in Las Vegas -- Britney Jean appeared during the first week of December 2013. Although Britney Jean debuted in the Top Five on the Billboard 200, it would be her lowest-performing album to date. In the following years, she continued her Vegas residency and contributed to a pair of new tracks: "Pretty Girls" with Iggy Azalea and a cover of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" for Giorgio Moroder.

Spears released "Make Me," a midtempo track featuring rapper G-Eazy, in July 2016, with the full-length Glory appearing a month later. Glory peaked at three in the U.S., two in the U.K., and wound up generating only one other charting single, "Slumber Party," which peaked at 86. Spears supported Glory by taking her Vegas show on the road in 2017. Her Britney: Piece of Me production wrapped in Las Vegas at the end of 2017 and there were plans for another residency called Britney: Domination for February 2019, but it was canceled after her father suffered serious health problems. Spears entered an "indefinite work hiatus" that lasted into 2021, a period punctuated by a deluxe version of Glory in 2020”.

As one of the giants of music celebrates her forty-fifth birthday on 2nd December. To mark that, I have collated a mixtape with the essential Britney Spears songs. There are some deeper cuts too. Let’s hope that the future is settled for Spears. Recently, a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of her album, Britney, was released with some bonus tracks. This is a musical salute to one of the best artists…

WHO has ever lived.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: Something Like a Song: Warm and Soothing (B-Side of December Will Be Magic Again)

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: Something Like a Song

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979

 

Warm and Soothing (B-Side of December Will Be Magic Again)

_________

THIS is a Kate Bush track…

IN THIS PHOTO: Abbey Road Studio 2/PHOTO CREDIT: tagvenue

I am highlighting for a couple of reasons. It was the B-side of Bush’s 1980 Christmas single, December Will Be Magic Again. Recorded in 1979 at Abbey Road Studios, as we are nearing Christmas, it made me think of the B-side of December Will Be Magic Again: the wonderful and undervalued Warm and Soothing. Also, Abbey Road Studios celebrated its ninety-fifth birthday on 12th November. Kate Bush recorded and worked out of the studios a lot through her career. She may well still use the studios. Warm and Soothing is significant, as it was the first song that she recorded and worked on there. It did feature on the 2019 compilation from Kate Bush, The Other Sides, though that album is not available on streaming services. Whilst she may have dismissed it as a demo-quality off-cut or something that was basically laid down to test the equipment and space, it has grown in relevance and stature since 1979. I want to come to a recent article from Spectrum Culture. I have been keeping abreast of their rundown of every Kate Bush song. They were highlighting some of the songs a bit lower down the list. Not Bush’s least essential songs, but not ones that are her very best. Warm and Soothing given a rare nod. Before that, here is what Bush said about Warm and Soothing when speaking with Peter Swales in 1985: “’Warm And Soothing’ was a demo-tape which we did basically just to see what Abbey Road sounded like. We wanted to work there, and we went into Studio Two, and really the only way we could tell if it was going to sound good was if I went and did a piano vocal. So I did, and it sounded great”. Reading the lyrics, and you get this sense of it being an old Jazz number. Sung in a smoky or seductive way. A song maybe someone like Nina Simone or Billie Holiday could have performed. I think Bush’s mention of the word ‘great’ refers to the sound and acoustics of Abbey Road Studio 2 rather than Warm and Soothing. However, there is so much to explore with this song.

Amazing to think that this song was recorded more or less right alongside December Will Be Magic Again. The songs are so different. I love the images Kate Bush paints on Warm and Soothing: “Abrupt, too moody/You making our party list/I remember sulking/On the sofa/For most of the winter/We were strangers”. How the song turns into this idea of being old and trapped in a relationship. Not that warm or soothing. Though it begins with memories of home and childhood that does the title justice: “Warm and soothing/That’s how I remember home/Walking into arms/Through the back door/Hearing voices I know well/And long for”. I was pleased that Spectrum Culture recently looked at Warm and Soothing. Declaring it 112 when ranking Bush’s songs, this is what they said:

“There’s not much to “Warm and Soothing,” a spare piano ballad and demo-dweller that Bush supposedly set to tape in order to test out the room sound of Abbey Road, where she was recording her third album, Never for Ever. Just Bush and a piano, it begins with a piercing two-note alternation on the high keys and Bush indulging in some basic nostalgia: “Warm and soothing/ That’s how I remember home.” It would seem to pair naturally with its A-side, the likewise ambiguously wholesome “December Will Be Magic Again,” with visions of an idyllic childhood refuge just a-poppin’ up in the singer’s memory. But the harmonies and melody never settle into the simple joys that Bush describes, instead slipping between keening clarity and cloudy, minor-key complications. So it’s no surprise when the lyrics alter course as well, with Bush moving from the comfort of the past to a present that’s decidedly less reassuring and unquestionably more despondent: “Cold and boozy/ Our holiday in the Alps/ Sitting in the lobby, mostly smoking/ choking in the woozy afternoon.” Bush then lurches from forlorn piano ballad to cocky drinking anthem in the chorus, declaring “I’m reeling in the music/ But I’ve only had a few” in a savory purr. While a full-album version might have leaned too hard into the cabaret element, this stripped-down, off-the-cuff presentation suits the song’s gentle whiplash perfectly—it’s a shame that the next line, “I’m afraid at the way we grow old,” feels like stock filler, as does the turn to dramatic Elton John-style phrasing. Still, for what is essentially a tossed-off test run, “Warm and Soothing” has a tense electricity that points both to Bush’s natural musical gifts and her growing command of craft. – Reed Jackson”.

I would have actually loved to have seen Warm and Soothing appear on an album. I guess it would have been out of place on 1980’s Never for Ever. Yet, it would have emboldened her sound and would have been an intriguing listen. The song that we do hear is pretty amazing. Even if it was seen as nothing more than a way to see what Abbey Road Studio 2 sounded like, I do feel that we need to shine more light on it. As Abbey Road Studios turned ninety-five, it made me think of Bush’s first moment there. Well, the first time she laid down a song there. It was a big moment for her. If Warm and Soothing is a curio that has not had much life beyond its B-side status, I do think it is an interesting comparison to her Christmas single. This is what Dreams of Orgonon wrote in 2019: “The trite-and-true model of Bush playing her piano without a backing band or further instrumentation was a solid testing ground for recording at Abbey Road. Bush sounds at ease singing a fairly standard song of hers about the warmth of her old home vanishing into past as she returns to it, poor memories returning and getting buried under unpleasant new ones. “And I’m afraid by the way we grow old, darling,” says Bush. The further away she gets from her childhood in East Wickham, the most anxious her music gets. As the world moves forward, so does she. Nostalgia is a poison, but sometimes a revelatory one”. Similar to December Will Be Magic Again, you can hear the song on YouTube, though it would be great to see it on streaming services. Warm and Soothing might be seen as disposable or average. Yet I feel that it is very important and has its place. I am not sure if it has ever been played on the radio. We definitely need to…

HEAR it more often.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Tour of Life: The Divine and Beautiful A Coral Room

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: The Tour of Life

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005 in a promotional photo for Aerial/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

 

The Divine and Beautiful A Coral Room

_________

I have written about…

this song from Aerial before. Kate Bush’s 2005 double album, I am compelled to revisit the track as I have been reading Tom Doyle’s Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. It is a perfect Christmas gift for the Kate Bush fan in your life. There is a section on A Coral Room, so it gives me an excuse to write about it once more. People do discuss Aerial, though it is one of those albums that is not as exposed and investigated as others from Kate Bush. If we think of Aerial being this epic and sweeping album with lots of layers and all these musicians coming together, there are moments that are quite sparse or more stripped. I think Hounds of Love has more in the way of consistent layers. Not too many songs that are bare. I guess And Dream of Sheep and Mother Stands for Comfort, though this is an album where most of the songs have a lot of detail and are cinematic. Aerial is cinematic too, yet there are these songs that are perhaps less busy or dense as some on Hounds of Love. Mrs. Bartolozzi is Bush at the piano. It does feel like a live recording in a way. Although Michael Wood provides a solo vocal on A Coral Room, for the most part, it is Kate Bush and the piano. I love how we have songs like this that sit alongside these fuller epics such as Aerial, Nocturn, or even How to Be Invisible. The more I think of Aerial, the more I notice how it is this album that is huge and expansive, and yet quite a few songs are impactful and huge because of the power of the vocal and piano, rather than there being a lot of instrumental elements. Such is the case with A Coral Room. Tom Doyle writes in his book how some of Bush’s greatest recordings were completed in a single take. Wuthering Heights – her 1978 debut single – among them. A Coral Room is another. Before moving on, I am turning to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia and interview archive where Kate Bush talked about A Coral Room:

“There was a little brown jug actually, yeah. The song is really about the passing of time. I like the idea of coming from this big expansive, outside world of sea and cities into, again, this very small space where, er, it’s talking about a memory of my mother and this little brown jug. I always remember hearing years ago this thing about a sort of Zen approach to life, where, you would hold something in your hand, knowing that, at some point, it would break, it would no longer be there.

Front Row, BBC4, 4 November 2005”.

As Tom Doyle notes, A Coral Room was a track Bush almost didn’t release and include on Aerial, as she felt it too personal. Those without intimate knowledge of Aerial will not necessarily understand the significance of A Coral Room. So little written about this song. Even if there are bigger ideas and non-personal themes explores, Bush’s late mother is at the heart. Hannah Bush died in 1992. Even so, over a decade after her death, Kate Bush very much had her in her heart. I think Aerial signalled a return to how Bush used to work early in her career. Rather than build tracks from beats and keyboards and sort of layering as she goes, a lot of Aerial was Bush working alone at the piano. I think Aerial is very much one of Bush’s most intimate and personal albums. I have said before how family past and present are featured through Aerial. Bush’s then-young son Bertie the focus of more than one song. You do get a sense of the past affecting some of the musical moments. In the same way Bush sung about her mother on The Red Shoes’ Moments of Pleasure, at a time when she was ill and would not live too much longer, on A Coral Room, there is this sense of immersing herself in her childhood home. I have stood outside of East Wickham Farm more than once. Where Bush lived as a child. A Coral Room seems to place itself back there, maybe in the 1960s, when Kate Bush was very young. She would have been referred to as Cathy or Catherine then. I can understand why Bush was a little hesitant about putting A Coral Room out into the world. Warm and Soothing, as Doyle writes, is another song that is set at East Wickham Farm. That is the B-side of her 1980 Christmas single, December Will Be Magic Again. Unintentionally, as Bush told Doyle when he interviewed her in 2005, featuring similar scenes in both songs was by accident. A Coral Room’s larger theme and vision is about a cataclysmic event. A submerged city. A vision of the world centuries on. It makes me think of the cover of Donald Fagen’s 2012 album, Sunken Condos. Submerged houses. Kate Bush is a fan of Steely Dan, Fagen’s band, so maybe that is why I connect the two.

Tom Doyle writes how A Coral Room is a sequel to Moments of Pleasure. That song is lush and orchestral. It is this stirring and grand song that remembers a lot of Bush’s friends and collaborators no longer with us. It is a sad and beautiful song. That idea of yearning for those gone. The spirits and images of these people are with her in spirit, yet they have passed. Bush loved the idea in A Coral Room of someone being in a boat and putting their hand into the water and being able to touch the top of a city. Maybe a nightmarish vision of the climate crisis and what could be. Not that Bush cited a particular book, though several have written about sunken civilisations and cities. H.P. Lovecraft’s 1936 book, The Shadow over Innsmouth, is a Horror novella about a decaying Massachusetts seaport connected to a hybrid fish-humanoid cult and a submerged or amphibious deep-sea mythos. Also, in Moments of Pleasure, the video (directed by Kate Bush) ends with her twirling whilst there is a blizzard. These figures she sings about twirling but barely visible. Being buried and obscured by weather. If there is the drama and heaviness of snow separating Bush from these departed loved ones in Moments of Pleasure, the stillness and drama of floods and masses of water can be found of A Coral Room. I am also fascinated in how Hannah Bush speaks or has a part in both songs. Kate Bush sings “And I can hear my mother saying/"Every old sock meets an old shoe". Bush wrote this song when her mother was still alive. She said that lyrics to her and she found it hilarious. Hannah Bush represented by Kate Bush and Michael Wood reciting the drinking ditty, Little Brown Jug. Written in 1869 by Joseph Eastburn Winner. A song about alcoholism, as Tom Doyle observes, becoming something more childlike. A song that may well have featured in the Bush household. The jug that was in her mother’s hand falls in slow-motion and shatters.

It is a heartbreaking scene and one that Bush sees ion Zen-like terms. She likened it to the Zen idea of broken glass. At some point everything breaks. It is the inevitability of life. Nothing can remain unbroken and in its original state. Even humans. We all die at some point. The little spider that crawls out of the broken jug is this spider of time. Maybe it crawled into the jug when it was in the Bush household and then left. Forward a bit and to the broken jug, the spider returns and crawls out. The years go by and the house is submerged and overrun by coral. This idea of not being able to live in the past. Even though these moments remain in the memory, their actual physical form is gone. Replaced and sunken. The spiritual side of Kate Bush. Appreciating what you have now as it will be gone one day. It would have been great to see a video for this song. An animated video that would have been beautiful. I do love the connection between this Aerial song and Moments of Pleasure. Tom Doyle wrote how this spider is like the spider of time. It connects the past and present. This spider moving through time and keeps on moving as this house and childhood memories is replaced by ocean and coral. In Moments of Pleasure, we have this thought: “Every old sock meets an old shoe/Here come the Hills of Time”. The Spider of Time and the Hills of Time. A Coral Room is about a city submerged. In Moments of Pleasure, a huge U.S. city is blanketed in snow: “The buildings of New York/Look just like mountains through the snow”. Bush in the 1990s thinking of her ailing mother and those in her life who are gone. “And these moments given/Are a gift from time/Just let us try/To give these moments back”. A Coral Room sees Bush with her new son. I have sourced this when article from The Guardian before. In 2023, Darren Hayes (Savage Garden) explained why A Coral Room is perfect and provided a roadmap for his own life: “It just speaks to me about how precious time is, and how precious the tiny moments are that we have with each other. I think so much about my own mother who I’m very close to – she lives in Brisbane and I live in Los Angeles – and I see my own life in A Coral Room’s cinematic vignettes. A Coral Room is one of many songs on Aerial where Kate really looks at motherhood – both her relationship to her own mother and her experience of having her child, Bertie, and how that changed her. It profoundly touches me”. Reading back through Tom Doyle’s wonderful Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. His take on A Coral Room and what Bush said about it when he interviewed her around the release of Aerial in 2005. That connection with a 1993 song. Both tracks feature Bush’s mother. In different situations and with different perspectives, it is right that A Coral Room is the sequel to Moments of Pleasure. A fascinating thought that shines a light on a pearl from Aerial. An evocative and cinematic vision of sunken cities and the tenderness and intimacy of a little brown jug and the Bush household. A typical work of genius from…

THE staggering Kate Bush.

FEATURE: Life in the Fast Lane: Eagles' Hotel California at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Life in the Fast Lane

 

Eagles' Hotel California at Fifty

_________

THERE are not many…

classic albums that were released in December. Artists tend not to release in December, as things are winding up and attention turns to Christmas. It is a bit of a risk of being overlooked by people not really thinking about new albums and the proliferation of Christmas music. However, there is a notable exception. On 8th December, 1976, Eagles released Hotel California. It is one of the best-selling albums ever. It has been certified 28× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the U.S. From 13th November to 23rd January, the band are playing at Sphere in Las Vegas. I do wonder if they are playing tracks from Hotel California? I wanted to mark fifty years of this world-conquering album. The title track, which opens the album, has been streamed more than two billion times. I know it may be a bit late, but it would have been great for a few new videos to be commissioned to mark fifty years of Hotel California. Whether animated or live action, Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane, and New Kid in  Town getting these great videos. There will be features about the album closer to the anniversary. I wanted to sort of get in there early, as it will be exciting to see how Hotel California’s fiftieth anniversary is marked. Because there was a fortieth anniversary reissue of Hotel California, I am not sure if anything will be done for the fiftieth. I am writing this on 7th November, and there has not been anything announced. Some people wrote features earlier in the year. Marking fifty years a bit prematurely. A new book by Sean Egan explores aspects of the recording, and the album’s legacy. How there was conflict and divisions within the band at the time. One of those classic albums that was made during a bad time. Like Fleetwood Mac and Rumours – which turns fifty next year -, you do wonder how Eagles made a masterpiece when they were not in harmony and completely happy! I guess The Beatles did it too. Not that drama and tension defines Hotel California. If anything, you get this impression of a band at ease and at a creative peak.

For such a huge and historic album, there is precious little written about it. In terms of extensive features that analyses the recording and legacy, there is really not as much as there should be. Perhaps will get something like that soon. Such a phenomenal and huge-selling album should get more words written about it. I did want to come to Ultimate Classic Rock and a feature they published in 2016 to mark forty years of Hotel California:

“Hotel California, the Eagles' layered and frank meditation on the price of fame, is a reflection of where they were in life in the mid-'70s. The band was beset by the trappings of celebrity, wrestling with personal issues, moving toward a harder-edged sound, slowly falling apart – and all of that can be found deep in the grooves of their best album.

They got there by looking with steely focus into “the darker side of paradise – sort of what we were experiencing in Los Angeles at that time," the late Glenn Frey once said. There were powerful forces at play, including – but not limited to – stardom, cocaine, egos, love lives and a small fortune.

All of it went into Hotel California, which produced two consecutive No. 1 singles in the Frey-sung "New Kid in Town" and the title track. "Life in the Fast Lane," which drew the most direct line from their current excesses to their newly formed art, also reached the Top 20.

“We were getting an extensive education – in life, in love, in business," Don Henley said in 2004's To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles. "Beverly Hills was still a mythical place to us. In that sense it became something of a symbol, and the ‘Hotel’ the locus of all that L.A. had come to mean for us. In a sentence, I’d sum it up as the end of the innocence, round one.”

Meanwhile, their sound was in a state of flux. Joe Walsh's recent arrival forever shifted the Eagles away from the rootsier influences of their early years with multi-instrumentalist Bernie Leadon – and that started here.

"One reason Leadon didn’t last in the band was that he was so contrary," Henley later remembered. "Success freaked him out a little; he was always worried about our success, about coming from a ‘pure’ bluegrass background and making it in rock ’n’ roll. He thought we were selling out from the very beginning. To me, the point was to reach as many people as possible."

Things were no more settled at home. Henley, for one, was involved in an emotionally draining relationship that emerged as a topic in both Hotel California's title track and "Wasted Time." But they were such a gifted group, with each member working at a creative peak, that the pieces somehow fell into place anyway.

"What we did in that band, it was a very unusual circumstance to have five guys and each one brought such an abundance of talent," guitarist Don Felder said in 2012. "Everybody in that band would write, sing and play. Anyone in the Eagles could, and did, front their own band. So, it was unusual to have so much talent in one band. We took everyone’s strongest suit, in order to make the best records we could."

That concept is best understood through the prism of "Hotel California," which began as a Felder demo before being completed by Henley and Frey – and then improved upon through a striking group performance that concludes with extended guitar interplay between Felder and Walsh.

Released on Dec. 8, 1976, Hotel California quickly shot to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and was reportedly selling 500,000 copies a week at one point. More than 14 million copies later, it's one of the Top 10 best-selling albums of all time – a testament to how timelessly relatable it remains.

"People tend to think the album is about California,” Henley later noted. “But I think it was about the dark underbelly of American culture at large.” Particularly, there seems to be just as much reporting on Hotel California – real truth-telling about the band members' personal foibles – as there was narrative myth-making, and that gives the album continuing resonance”.

“You can’t argue with success. And when it comes to popular American albums, Hotel California –with two #1 Billboard hit singles and 32 million (and counting) in worldwide sales — certainly qualifies. So it’s no surprise that this is the first Eagles album to receive the deluxe reissue treatment, just in time for Christmas shopping, circa 2017, more or less its 40th anniversary (it was first released October, 1976).

Hotel California arrived, seventeen months after One of These Nights, with a substantial personnel change: the substitution of Bernie Leaden who, as a former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, had lent the Eagles authenticity and a connection to the country world. Filling that slot was hard rocker Joe Walsh (on guitar and keyboards), initially an unusual choice, but one that history has shown to be wise, especially for the tougher, more arena rock oriented sound the band was aiming for.

Little more needs to be written about the music, although it’s worth noting that for all of its lyrical exploration of excess in the Golden State, neither of the Eagles’ primary songwriters Don Henley or Glenn Frey, was born or raised in California. Regardless, with songs such as the thrill ride slide guitar rocking of “Life in the Fast Lane,” the bittersweet, string enhanced, cinematic ballads “Wasted Time” and double entendre titled closer “The Last Resort,” along with the incisive, reggae/Spanish-styled title track, the songwriting team along with help from others in their orbit such as J.D. Souther, nailed the dark underbelly of fleeting success with memorable melodies and committed performances. Even Randy Meisner’s yearning “Try and Love Again” and Walsh’s poignant “Pretty Maids All In a Row,” both composed without either Frey or Henley, slot nicely into the general concept. Producer Bill Szymczyk’s input isn’t often credited, but he effectively captured the organic nature of the music while providing the scope and heft that shifted the Eagles from a popular roots rock act to a worldwide household name.

Assuming everyone who wants the original set already owns it since its release four decades ago, this reissue needs to up the ante. It boasts remastered sound both in stereo and 5.1 (the surround mix is apparently unchanged from its initial 2001 appearance), ten live tunes culled from three October 1976 dates oddly before the record was released (only including two of its selections), and some extraneous swag with rare pictures, poster and a replica tour book. That’s in hopes of justifying the wallet wincing $99.98 list price (slimmer single and double packages are also available for the budget conscious). The most frustrating aspect of the expanded edition is the abbreviated 50 minute live set since there is audio of the same tour floating around with at least an hour of additional music. Fans hoping to hear demos or early versions of the songs, a natural inclusion for a pricy edition of this type, will also come away empty handed”.

I will end with a review of Hotel California. There is this interview from 1976, where Don Henley and Glen Frey talked about Joe Walsh joining Eagles. They also discussed their soon-to-be-released masterpiece, Hotel California. It is well worth a read. I did want to come to this feature, that takes us inside the timeless songs from Hotel California. I have chosen the three biggest/most popular tracks, but I would advise people to have a read of the whole thing:

“By late 1976, the American Dream was beginning to fray at the seams, and the Eagles were on hand to document the dishevelment. Having established themselves with four albums of breezy country-rock, Don Henley, Glenn Frey and co. exchanged Laurel Canyon vibes for a sound that was darker, sleeker, and infinitely more cynical.

The result was Hotel California, a lavishly produced monument to 1970s decadence, paranoia, and the ugly side of fame. With new recruit Joe Walsh's guitar giving the band a sharper edge, it remains a masterpiece of stadium-sized storytelling. Here's our track-by-track breakdown.

Take evocative lines stuffed full of images (‘mirrors on the ceiling’, ‘the Mercedes bends’); a ‘Mexican reggae’ rhythm, the immortal Bm-F#-A-E-D-G-Em-F# chord sequence, the guitar duel to end all guitar duels, and a glimpse inside a place where you are trapped eternally, and you have history in the making.

Asked what it’s actually about, Henley mused: “[These are] the same themes that run through all of our work: loss of innocence, the cost of naiveté, the perils of fame, of excess; exploration of the dark underbelly of the American dream, idealism realised and idealism thwarted, illusion versus reality, the difficulties of balancing loving relationships and work, trying to square the conflicting relationship between business and art; the corruption in politics, the fading away of the sixties dream of ‘peace, love and understanding’.”

Pretty much what you thought, right?

New Kid In Town

After the epic dimensions of Hotel California and its six-plus minutes of decayed magnificence, some downtime is required, and New Kid In Town is that. As mellow as Peaceful Easy Feeling and as warm as Tequila Sunrise, it takes your pulse down to manageable levels.

A JD Souther co-write, this track was released as this album’s first single and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The public had been yearning for one of their heroes’ mellower hits for some time, and with New Kid In Town they got one, no matter what its theme was. It’s still a precision-engineered song of great beauty.

Life In The Fast Lane

Supposedly based on something Frey said to his drug dealer while powering along the freeway in a highly tuned car, Life In The Fast Lane represents the other side of the Eagles – the take-no-prisoners buccaneers of rock’n’roll who lived life at a frenetic pace. The finger-twisting guitar riff that Walsh busts out at the beginning says it all.

As Henley remembered: “I said: ‘What in the hell is that? We’ve got to figure out some way to make a song out of that!’ But we really couldn’t sing over that riff, so Glenn came up with the idea of what is a traditional blues or R&B staple – the ‘one chord’ song.”

That makes the song sound simple, but it’s actually far from simple. The Henley/Meisner rhythm section delivered a slinky performance here. As Henley noted succinctly: “It was a real bitch for me to learn how to do that syncopated bass-drum part and sing the melody at the same time”.

In July, Classic Rock published this feature. Don Henley and producer Bill Szymczyk revisit the making of the Eagles' most successful album. It is an illuminating feature. I know that there will be a lot of younger music fans who may not know Eagles and Hotel California. What an important album it is. I heard it when I was a child, but I am still amazed every time I listen. A truly timeless album that will never fade in terms of its brilliance and importance. I am not sourcing the whole article. I am picking it up here:

“Meanwhile, in the world outside the studio, the United States was basking in its bicentennial. On the surface, the country’s 200th birthday was all stars and stripes, but that was tainted by a Watergate hangover and relentless dark stories in the news.

“The ‘peace and love’ idealism of the sixties had faded by the beginning of the decade,” Henley says. “The so-called counterculture, due in part to its own excesses, had disintegrated. The US was trying hard to focus on the bicentennial, but the Cold War continued, and the Boomer generation had slowly realised that the same corporate forces that had always been in charge were still, in fact, in charge, and there was an air of capitulation. There were now the realities of jobs and families to consider. Gone was the dream of a new kind of America; gone was the appetite for rebellion. ‘We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.’”

One of Hotel California’s standout tracks was about appetite with a capital ‘A’. Both a celebration and a critique of LA’s decadence and the band’s own excesses, Life In The Fast Lane could have been subtitled ‘Nervous, Edgy Feeling’.

“There are a great many of our songs that could be retitled ‘Note To Self’,” Henley says. “Excess – too much of a bad or good thing – was a subject we examined, both from a personal perspective and an American cultural standpoint.”

The song’s classic riff began as what Walsh called his “co-ordination drill”. “I had this lick that I played that I would warm up for a show with,” he told Paul Shaffer on Plus One. “It’s an exercise between your right and left hand, faster and faster. I was playing, warming up for the show, and Glenn comes busting in my dressing room and says: ‘What the hell’s that?’ ‘I don’t know, it’s just this lick I warm up with.’ He said: ‘No, that’s an Eagles song, dude!’”

On In the Studio With Redbeard, Frey said the title came one day after a crazy car ride with a drug dealer nicknamed The Count. Driving at 90mph, Frey asked the dealer to slow down, and the answer came: “It’s life in the fast lane”! With that title, he and Henley wrote the lyrics and melody together.

“We knew it was going to be the most rock’n’roll thing the Eagles had attempted so far,” Walsh said. “They turned me loose on that one.”

And what guitar was he using?

“That’s a Strat,” Walsh told Total Guitar. “And the amplifier was probably this little orange Roland Cube I was using a lot back then. I found it to be a pretty darn good little amp for recording with a Strat, by turning it up pretty good to make it work.”

The killer riff doubled with guitar and bass, cliff-hanging power chords, and trademark four-part vocal harmonies on the chorus. This was a classic Eagles record, yet one that sounded like nothing they’d ever done before. And as sonic icing, Szymczyk employed a Jimi Hendrix trick – the “Electric Ladyland two-track flange technique” – to add a whooshing sound to the song’s offramp exit.

“When I suggested phasing at the end of the song, Henley and Frey were sceptical,” he says. They thought it might sound too much like the Small Faces’ Itchycoo Park – which Szymczyk says was the inspiration. “I just wanted listeners to feel the rush of the wind in their hair!”

An ocean breeze was in Don Felder’s hair on the afternoon he got the idea that would become the title song of Hotel California. In his Malibu beach house, noodling on a 12-string Martin acoustic guitar, he hit on a Spanish-sounding chord progression. He put it down on a reel-to-reel four-track, then layered on syncopated electric guitars and a samba beat from a drum machine. He sent it to Henley and Frey on a cassette with another dozen snippets. They liked what they called “the matador in Mexico” vibe of it, and experimented with lyrical and melody ideas.

Henley took the cassette in the car, which was his favourite place to write. “I think it has something to do with movement and a constantly changing view,” he says. “Just sitting in a room and trying to find inspiration can be stifling. It’s a static situation. Driving, if you’re not in heavy traffic, creates a feeling of flow that can free the imagination and call up memories and images while the music’s playing.”

After a week or two, the song took shape.

“The hotel concept came first, and then the melody,” Henley says. “Some time in May of ’76, Glenn and I had gone to see Neil Simon’s play California Suite in Los Angeles. But that was after we had come up with the hotel concept. Seeing the play was a ‘field research’ trip, just to see if it would help us to flesh out our initial idea. But it wasn’t very helpful; [it wasn’t] dark and spooky enough for what we were after.”

Or maybe the title influenced them, because their spooky inn became the Hotel California, and in turn a metaphor for everything from the mythmaking of the American Dream to an artist’s search for the muse and spiritual meaning.

The recording of the song required some searching, too.

“We cut the track several times, first at Criteria Studios, shortly after Felder had given me the demo,” Henley recalls. “The Miami recording was a rough arrangement with the working title ‘Mexican Reggae’. The second time we cut it was at the Record Plant in LA, after Glenn and I had come up with some ideas for lyrics and melody, but that recording turned out to be in the wrong key, at least for singing.

"There was often a schism between what key was best for the guitars and what key was best for the lead vocal. At the end of the day, though, the vocal has to take precedence. There are workarounds on the guitar – tunings, capos, etc – but you can’t capo a voice. Or at least you couldn’t then. So we ended up cutting the final track in Miami in the key of B minor with the choruses going to G major.”

Szymczyk recalls that the final version of the track consisted of “thirty-three separate tape edits from five different takes”.

Apart from being the album’s thematic centrepiece and the Eagles’ best song, it also rode out on one of rock’s most iconic guitar duels, with Felder and Walsh trading sizzle and sting, one-upping each other, then finally merging in triumphant two-part harmony.

“We worked really well together,” Walsh told Guitar World in 2012. “It was competitive. We brought out the best in each other. We liked to kick each other in the butt! He would play something, and I’d get an attitude, like: ‘Oh yeah? Listen to this.’ And he’d go: ‘Wow. Listen to this!’”

“For two days, we wood-shopped the hell out of that,” Szymczyk says. “We had amps out in the studio, but Felder and Walsh were in the control room with me, one to the right, one to the left, like gunfighters! Felder was the ultimate technician, always a tad on top of the beat. Walsh was the ultimate ‘feel’ guy, always a tad behind it. Together they were phenomenal. Those two days were one of the high points of my career.”

“There are at least half a dozen guitar tracks on the original recording,” Henley says. “In live concert settings, this required Felder to play a double-neck guitar, with the twelve-string neck being capo’d on the seventh fret for the intro and the breakdown, and the six-string with no capo for the single-line phrases and the tag solos. One of the unique things about the song is that it ends with extended dual guitar solos. Skynyrd had done something like that a couple of years earlier.”

Another thing it shared with Skynyrd’s Free Bird was a length – six and a half minutes – that wasn’t exactly radio friendly. “The label wanted us to do a single edit, and we all said no way,” Szymczyk says. “Obviously we were right to.”

After seven months of off-and-on recording, the album finally completed in October.

The cover artwork, designed by John Kosh (who also handled Who’s Next and The Beatles’ Abbey Road), featured a photo of the Beverly Hills Hotel at dusk, taken from a cherry picker 60 feet above Sunset Boulevard. Built in 1912 in a Mediterranean Revival style, the pink stucco hotel had hosted famous A-list guests such as Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra. A month after the album came out, when the hotel learned that the Eagles had used the image without permission, they threatened a lawsuit. They dropped it when they realised that the hotel’s bookings had tripled because of the record’s success.

The Hotel California album was released on December 8, 1976, and was certified platinum in its first week. It went to No.1 on the Billboard 200, where it stayed for eight weeks. Reviews were glowing. Creem said there were “no weak tracks; the music flows majestically every step of the way”. Phonograph praised its “peerless harmonies” and said it was “pretty and punchy, as the best albums of fellow troubled hedonists Steely Dan and the Beach Boys are”. NME said: “There’s no laurels-resting, and a lot has gone into its meticulous crafting.”

While Szymczyk calls the record a “quantum leap forward”, Henley’s opinion is more modest. “I don’t know if I’d call it a ‘quantum leap’; One Of These Nights had three big hits on it,” he says. “But in terms of growth and consistency and range, I’d agree that Hotel California was an improvement.”

The 10-month, 72-date world tour that followed was gruelling. So much so that the band’s road crew nicknamed it The Prison California. Everyone travelled with their own little entourage. Walsh and Felder had their faction, briefly entertaining the idea of forming their own band. In History Of The Eagles, Henley said: “Glenn and I saw ourselves as the leaders, but other people saw us as dictators. You just cannot have five leaders in a band. It doesn’t work.”

But according to To The Limit: The Untold Story Of The Eagles, even the two leaders had stopped talking and would only communicate through others. There were also cocaine-induced physical ailments. Stomach ulcers all around. Henley suffered back pain. Frey’s nasal lining was shot (he would have two surgeries before getting his nose repaired with Teflon). By the end of the tour, Meisner had become persona non grata after drunkenly refusing to sing Take It To The Limit at one show. He left the band shortly after”.

I will end with Stereophile and their review of the 40th Anniversary release of Hotel California. There are going to be new takes and dissections of this album closer to 8th December. I wanted to bring together some features on this gigantic and juggernaut album. For anyone who has never heard the album, you really do need to listen to it. A truly masterful offering from Eagles:

“Not so long ago, you could not wander the halls of any High End Audio show and not hear The Eagles' Hotel California. To say it was an audiophile favorite is to grossly understate the obvious.

Produced by Bill Szymczyk and tracked between March and October 1976 at Criteria Studios in Miami and the California branch of the Record Plant, it was the group's fifth and ultimately one of the album-sales blockbusters of all time. Its current sales number is somewhere near 35 million copies sold. Late last year Rhino Records released a Hotel California 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition CD boxed set edition of this rock landmark that comes complete with a hardbound book of photos, a tour posters and other assorted paper goods.

Given some of my previous utterances on The Eagles and the vociferous responses that they've elicited I need to clear the air once and for all. For the record (and hopefully the last time), even though I am a Gram Parsons fan (if not a full-fledged member of the Gram cult), the Eagles occupy a cherished place in both my teenage hood and my overall musical education. Besides the endless cruising in cars and fruitless scheming about girls that went on whilst the One of These Nights album was playing on an 8-track car stereo, I also bought all the records and saw the band a number of times, both pre and post Joe Walsh joining the band. While I prefer the self-titled debut, On The Border (their first album to be released in a quadraphonic version), and One of These Nights, I pretty much loved them all including The Long Run. With the mustachioed and rakishly handsome Glenn Frey as the front man and Don Henley, one of the few drummers outside Levon Helm who was a genuinely great lead vocalist—both of whom could also write memorable, hooky songs—they were a powerhouse. I have always marveled that Frey, a guy from Detroit, the land of the MC5, Iggy Pop and CREEM magazine, became an icon of soft, sweet SoCal country rock.

The band's supporting cast was equally strong. In fact, I like the band best when the voices of Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner and the slide and double-necked guitar heroics of Don Felder were all still aboard. Leadon, who'd played with Gram Parsons in the Flying Burrito Brothers prior to the Eagles, wrote "My Man" for the On The Border album to pay tribute after Parsons OD'd in 1973. Losing Randy Meisner's high voice was a definite blow and noticeable sonic alteration change to the band's sound. As far as later additions are concerned, there's no doubt, however, that Joe Walsh's guitar, which upped the band's overall musicianship, and then his songwriting both became welcome infusion of new energy into the band's live shows and the last two studio albums prior to their 1980 breakup.

For me, a show during the On The Border tour (or was it during the One of the These Nights tour . . . the memory wobbles) and one show during the triumphant 1977 Hotel California tour will always rank among my favorite live music experiences of all time.

Now for the inevitable provisos. As a live act, before and after Walsh entered, they did tend to scrupulously stick to the script, essentially playing their studio albums note for note including replicating guitar solos. If you dislike bands that make changes from the studio albums when they play live, then The Eagles were your kind of act. I would have preferred a little stretching, a different vocal arrangement here and there, and a new guitar solo now and then. Seeing them live, I always wanted to see what they actually had musicianshipwise—see them kick out the jams and blow away the old saw about how they were essentially a studio-only band.

And then there's the oversaturation issue. Today, when I listen to the band's albums I tend to lift the needle over the hits and play the inner cuts—the deep tracks that the radio forgot. Because the band owed much of its massive success to 1970s commercial radio who, along with Steve Miller and Fleetwood Mac, played their singles and album cuts—OVER AND OVER AGAIN—I do not go back to Hotel California much. That and it's constant presence at High End Audio shows, where those famous opening chords to the title track that usually sent me drifting back into a hallway, have combined to give me a little ear and brain fatigue.

With that as my overlong prologue, I approached the 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition 2-CD/1-Blu-ray reissue box ($99.98), primarily curious about three things: the original album remastered, the hi-rez and 5.1 mixes and finally the ten previously unreleased live recordings from 1976.

According to Rhino, the surround mix by Elliott Scheiner and the 24-bit/192kHz stereo mix were originally released on a DVD-A in 2001. Neither have ever really impressed me much. While the Eagles camp were early 5.1 adopters, surround was still a new toy then. These mixes could perhaps be improved upon today. While what you hear is the band all around you, at sort of the halfway point between the ceiling and the floor in whatever room you are listening in, I still prefer the standard two-channel mix—you standing in the audience and the band in front of you. Again via Rhino, this new remastering, which was done a few years back when the album was remastered for HD digital download, is here on CD for the first time. The results are not dramatic, but the overall sound is a mite clearer and like virtually all-new remasterings, a touch brighter.

As for the live tracks, they are taken from the band's three=night stand in 1976 in The Forum in LA, a gig that also supplied five tracks for the band's official live recording, Eagles Live. That album, the last Eagles album, was cobbled together to fulfill their contract with the Elektra/Asylum record label. The fact that is has an 86 on the front cover, and record labels that feature a bird's nest filled with eggs and hand grenades were seen at the time as hint that the band was over. The album was mixed and released after the famous backstage near- fisticuffs between Don Felder and Glenn Frey that occurred in Long Beach in July 1980. Frey refused to participate in postproduction. He stayed in Los Angeles while the band went to Miami to work on the album. This led to producer Szymczyk's famous quote: "We were fixing three-part harmonies courtesy of Federal Express."

All that fixing led to a live album that was overdubbed to the point of being a studio album. The sound is suspiciously clean and groomed. It's no secret that many '70s live albums were in fact sweetened in the studio before release—clams were fixed, harmonies were added, guitar solos re-recorded and dropped in. On Eagles Live and the live tracks here on the 40th Anniversary boxed set, any and all warts, both in sound and performance are scrubbed and what's left are impossibly perfect performances with vocal harmonies that are mostly dead-on. What's best about the live tracks here is the selection of tunes, which cherry picks the best tracks from On The Border, One of These Nights and Hotel California.

One mystery here is why extra material from the original sessions—alternate takes or unreleased tunes—was not included. The band's near obsession with recorded perfection, with not exposing loose ends or anything but fully assembled takes, may be the reason. While picture books are nice, more extensive notes would have been a better choice for collectors. And while there have been numerous LP reissues previously, heavy, quiet, premium-quality LPs would have been a welcome addition. Overall, though a must have for Eagles fans and the first of what I suspect will be more tributes to come to one of the most iconic albums in all of pop music recording history”.

On 8th December, it will be fifty years since Hotel California was released. Given the name, you’d think Eagles would release it in the summer, rather than the more oppressive winter! Though that may have been planned. Given the fact the title is not all about sunshine and warmth. Few classic albums were released in December, so it is a treat we get to talk about Hotel California. One of the greatest albums in music history. Some may contest this, but I would say Hotel California is…

A perfect album.

FEATURE: In the Flesh: Blondie's Eponymous Debut Album at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

In the Flesh

  

Blondie's Eponymous Debut Album at Fifty

_________

EVEN if people…

think Blondie hit their peak with 1978’s Parallel Lines, there is no denying how important their 1976 debut is. Blondie was released in December 1976. It is one of these anniversary features that is marred by the fact nobody seems to know exactly when an album was released. It is not like we’re talking about something that is hundreds of years old. However, there does not seem to be an available release date for Blondie, other than the fact it came out in December 1976. I did want to celebrate fifty years of an album that introduced this legendary bands. They are still releasing music and High Noon, their twelfth studio album, comes out on 26th February, 2027. Let’s go back fifty years to this incredible debut. Featuring the singles, X Offender, In the Flesh, and Rip Her to Shreds, it was a masterful and stunning debut. The band line-up consisted of Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Gary Valentine, Jimmy Destri and the late Clem Burke. Even if Blondie did not hit their stride until a couple of albums later, there is no denying that their eponymous debut of December 1976 was underrated at the time. Some critics calling it dumb and uninspired. It has gained more love later on, considering its legacy and how influential it is. Earlier in the year, Classic Rock provided a buyer’s guide to Blondie’s albums. This is what they said about their eponymous debut: “A scene had formed around NYC’s CBGB, comprising Blondie, Television, Ramones, Talking Heads and the Heartbreakers. Blondie played a show every week while they lived on the breadline in a nearby loft space with bullet holes in the windows and homeless bums dying outside in the snow. But they practised daily, and their passionate debut came out of that destitution, connecting their love of retro pop with the emergent punk scene. Bassist Gary Valentine wrote their debut US single/album opener X-Offender with Harry, while she and Stein wrote the Velvet Underground-influenced Rip Her To Shreds”.

In 2021, to mark forty-five years of Blondie, Pop Matters reflected on a powerful debut. One that brought together genres as wide-ranging as Disco, Punk and Surf Pop. A lot of people do not discuss Blondie’s debut when they think of their greatest work. I think that Blondie is one of the most significant debuts of the 1970s. Maybe not as exciting and fresh as it would have sounded in 1976, I do feel that it gets less admiration than it deserves:

“In the early ’70s, Blondie went through various incarnations and name changes before settling on the five-piece lineup of Debbie Harry (vocals), Chris Stein (guitar), Gary Valentine (bass), Jimmy Destri (keyboards), and Clem Burke (drums). Destri was the last to join in the fall of 1975. After playing regular gigs at CBGB for the better part of a year, the group started work on their debut album in August 1976. They had signed with a production company called Instant Records, co-owned by Richard Gottehrer (who would produce the LP and its 1977 follow-up, Plastic Letters).

Blondie was recorded at Plaza Sound, a capacious studio built in the 1930s in the same building as Radio City Music Hall. With Gottehrer at the helm, the band recorded the songs they’d been honing for two years onstage. One day, legendary Brill Building veteran Ellie Greenwich visited the session. Greenwich wrote “Out in the Streets”, a song popularized by the Shangi-Las in 1965 and later recorded by Blondie as a demo. She’d also penned such hits as “Be My Baby” and “River Deep – Mountain High”, so the group were thrilled when her trio sang backup on “In the Flesh”. With the women’s tight harmonies and the ringing chimes in the bridge, the composition emulates the girl group sound so well that it could have been a Shingdig Pick of the Week (if it weren’t for the sexual double entendre).

“In the Flesh” would also prove to be the band’s first number-one single—in Australia anyway—after it was played on Molly Meldrum’s Countdown, a popular music TV show. As for Blondie’s original demo of “Out in the Streets”, it was eventually released on the 2001 Blondie CD re-issue.

In Face It, Harry writes about the subversiveness of Blondie’s music: “We felt that we were Bohemians and performance artists, avant-garde. And when you add to the mix this very New York DIY street-rock attitude that we had, you got punk.” Blondie hardly sounds like a punk record, though. The album is full of catchy, mid-tempo melodies and hooks, but the band’s pop sensibilities are undercut by their lyrics. The wry innuendos of “X Offender”, “In the Flesh”, and “Look Good in Blue” were no doubt partly fueled by adolescent prurience, but they can also be read as an attempt to subvert gender norms.

Harry’s stage presence and persona are part of the stratagem. Fully aware that sex sells, she nevertheless tried to challenge double standards by “being a cartoon fantasy onstage”, as she puts it. “The Blondie character I created was sort of androgynous. Even when I was singing songs that were written from a man’s point of view… I had to be kind of gender-neutral, so it seemed that I wanted (the girl)”. On songs like “Kung Fu Girls”, that neutrality is convincing, as Harry sings: “Kung Fu, Cindy Sue / Oh, I want to get close to you / You’re my Kung Fu girl.”

Unfortunately, much of Harry’s cultural commentary is lost on the listener. “Rip Her to Shreds”, for example, is supposed to be about gossip columnists and their callous criticisms of women in the public eye. Harry’s not singing “rip her to shreds”; she’s saying that’s what the media does. But the nuance is obliterated by the jubilant, sing-along chorus that only seems to encourage mob mentality misogyny. Still, it’s one of the LP’s stand-outs, with a driving beat, raunchy organ, and Harry’s campy delivery.

Speaking of camp, before 1976 disco was still mostly played in underground clubs frequented by gays and minorities. In only a few years, though, it began to infiltrate the establishment, with traditional rock bands incorporating disco elements into their music. In fact, “Silly Love Songs” is an early example (just listen to McCartney’s bass line). Yet, a backlash came quickly, and by 1979, anti-disco sentiment reached a fever pitch with the infamous Comiskey Park “Disco Demolition Night” spectacle.

The conventional narrative, then, is that punk came along and saved music from the wretched pablum of disco. But, that interpretation is rooted in misogyny and homophobia. Punk’s raw energy was seen as earnest and masculine, while disco was perceived as frivolous, pre-fab music enjoyed mostly by women and queer people. The gap between disco and punk wasn’t as wide as it would appear, however, and Blondie managed to embrace both. Each form, in its earliest iteration anyway, bucked convention and promoted inclusion.

Before coming to a review of Blondie, there is another feature I want to highlight. It is amazing how quickly things started for Blondie. In terms of signing a deal with the New York label, Private Stock, and recording their debut album with producer Richard Gottehrer. I would love to see a Blondie biopic that starts when they were playing Punk clubs like CBGB, that takes us up to the release of their debut album. In 2021, Albumism discussed Blondie on its forty-fifth anniversary:

“The album kicks off with the bouncy, rhythmic, organ-fueled “X Offender,” a perfect example of a new wave pop-punk song, filled with catchy melodies, rapid beat, Debbie Harry’s undeniable vocals, and idiosyncratic chord progression that characterizes Blondie’s trademark sound.

A leading classic rock electric guitar line, distinctive bass section, upbeat tempo accompany the lyrics of “Little Girl Lies.” In the song, Debbie Harry delivers the words with clever humor and sarcasm, warning an unnamed boy not to disregard his girlfriend, because “She'll be talking and laughing with six other guys / Flirtatious and cute, she'll take you the route.”

The retro-flavored “In the Flesh” is the album’s first mid-tempo doo-wop ballad, adorned with enticing harmonies, prominent drumbeat, syncopated staccato piano chords, and lush vocals expressing the melancholia of an unpropitious love story.

The ingeniously crafted speed-up tango “Look Good in Blue” is perhaps one of the catchiest pieces on the album, presenting a dynamic rhythm and thumping piano, jazzed up by electro-synthesizer and electric guitar solo.

Like “X Offender,” “In the Sun” is an up-tempo, cheerful track with peppy prominent drum and legato electric guitars layering the leading harmonies, switching for keyboards during the chorus.

“A Shark in Jets Clothing” is a nod to West Side Story’s rival gangs: The Jets and The Sharks. The song is a blend of a poppy beat, electric guitar solos, fresh synthesizer, and keyboard flourishes, showcasing Debbie Harry’s impressive range stretching from lower to higher notes on the vocal register.

Next, “Man Overboard” is the most spirited, danceable tune on the album. The track, filled with a speed-lightning psychedelic keyboard section, hypnotic reggae-kissed basslines, and sizzling percussions, which accompany the lead singer’s—speaking from experience—reprimanding tone as she tells the story of a man who wore his heart on his sleeve and got it broken eventually “sinking in a sea of love.”

Harry and guitarist Stein collaborated on “Rip Her to Shreds,” bringing together new lyrics for the song’s pop-rock melodies. Across the track, Harry—with her typical ironic sense of humor—addresses the issue of misogyny, posing as a gossip columnist making sexist remarks about a woman and inciting the public to “rip her to shreds.”

The spaghetti western-nuanced guitar riff and keyboard chord progressions of “Rifle Range” make up the central harmonies of the song. The slick drumbeats and Harry’s charming delivery—perhaps hinting at her love story with a woman—complete the piece.

The infectious opening of “Kung Fu Girls,” with full-blown electric guitar lines, perfectly soundtracks the singer’s sweeping vocals.

On “The Attack of the Giant Ants” the band explores Latin-influenced rhythms, merging them with a goofy sci-fi horror story, rife with mock-apocalyptic cinematographic sound-effects in the middle section of the piece, and Debbie Harry singing the same riff repeatedly”.

I will wrap things up with Treble Zine and their thoughts on Blondie. It is a brilliant album that captures the New York City band right at the start. I do wonder if the band will post anything to their Instagram on the anniversary. We do not know the exact date the album was released, though we know it was some time in December:

“Punk” is surely one of the most widely abused words in the English language—though I will grant that a lot of that is due to discussions between misanthropic teenagers, barley old enough to draw a line between Good Charlotte and The Clash. But back in the mid-70s, before The Ramones overshadowed the much-maligned word, it became the amorphous title to an entire burgeoning scene. And while it seemed like every band in the five boroughs had its own take on the evolution of rock, the members of Blondie decided to walk the well-tread path of pop.

While the etymology of that last word has left it on par with “punk,” it shouldn’t induce any cringing. There’s nothing wrong with good pop, and Blondie aspired to the best of it. Though their sound would later evolve and crystallize into the well-known, radio-friendly gems on Parallel Lines, their self-titled debut tends to get overlooked as a masterpiece in its own right. The former album guaranteed the band’s commercial success by hopping on the musical bandwagon, adding a slicker bent toward New Wave, and even delving into disco with “Heart of Glass.”

Blondie, however, planted its roots in the all-American rock of yesteryear. Debbie Harry’s mellifluous lament on the intro to “X Offender” harkens back to the days when melodramatic teen dialogue opened songs like “Leader of the Pack.” Just listen to the twangy, surf-guitar solo, or Harry’s lilting sighs—this is what American Bandstand would have played if synthesizers were more popular in the mid-60s and Dick Clark had taste.

Chances are, America’s most elderly teenager would have had an early stroke watching the vampy, pouty-lipped Harry calling herself a “sex offender” or offering “some head and shoulders to lie on,” as she does on the feisty “Look Good in Blue.” A former Playboy bunny, Harry could have been another lovely face waiting to become a marketing tool if not for her actual talent. The difference lies in her personality: She can play the cute poster girl, crooning out doo-wop ballads like “In the Flesh,” the sultry seductress eyeing her prey on “Man Overboard,” or a vicious bitch on “Rip Her to Shreds.”

“Rip Her” ravages the rabid fashion-sense of hipsters in a feast of crunchy guitar and pounding synth notes, but it’s the lyrics that really sting. “Her nose job is real atomic,” Harry spits, “all she needs is an old knife scar.” Even when she’s taking jabs at the shallow, there’s an underlying humor that propels every song, lending a general sense of fun to the whole album.

Two songs probably capture that playfulness perfectly: “In the Sun” and Blondie‘s closer, “The Attack of the Killer Ants.” The first is possibly the greatest song ever written for summer, surf and sand. After opening with a cascade of drum rolls, Chris Stein’s guitar does its best Ventures impersonation, twisting and rushing over James Destri’s synthesizer warblings while Harry calls for her “paka lola luau love.” I’m not exactly sure who or what that is, but I do know this song makes me want to do the Watusi at the beach with Gidget.

“Killer Ants” has a similarly infectious rhythm section, and you’ll find yourself wearing the largest grin an apocalyptic tale about giant insects can inspire (which is pretty damn wide, if you’re like me). “Giant ants from space / waste the human race / then they eat your face / never leave a trace!” Cheerful, no? There’s even an interlude that includes sirens, bombings, and some rather unsettling roaring that could only be issued from the maws of fire-breathing space ants.

The fact is, Blondie does sound a little dated now—and, outside of a few grating keyboard solos, it’s supposed to. It’s a send-up and tribute to everything old-school pop offered us, but modern enough to cut whatever schmaltz was packaged in the genre. It may not be the hardcore thrashings or artsy experimentalism we’ve come to expect from “legitimate” punk, but creating an amalgamation of modern stylings and pop didn’t dilute Blondie’s originality, either. And if that’s not punk, I’m not sure what is”.

I do hope that there are new features written about Blondie as it turns fifty next month. The first salvo from the legendary group, you can feel that many bands who have come since have been influenced by that album. Debbie Harry’s vocals particularly are so memorable and make the album what it is. Sure, they may have recorded better albums, yet Blondie is where it started. It is a brilliant album in its own right. A 1976 missile from…

THE brilliant Blondie.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

  

Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

_________

BECAUSE this classic song…

IN THIS PHOTO: Buffalo Springfield photographed at Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco in 1967/PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Marshall

has a big anniversary coming up, I wanted to spotlight it. There is a generation (or two) who have never heard Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth. It was recorded on 5th December, 1966, so we mark sixty years of this classic. Written by Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), the track is tied to the Vietnam War. Although it was a single in 1966, it was not until March 1967, when it was included on the second pressing of the debut album from Buffalo Springfield. It is one of these songs where the title does not feature in the lyrics. Buffalo Springfield were a band that released three incredible albums but only operated for a short period of time. Though they left a huge legacy. Formed by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, For What It’s Worth is one of the greatest and most important songs ever. It is hard to mark the exact release date of For What It’s Worth as it was rush-released as a single. So I will mark its recording. I have been researching the story behind For What It’s Worth. In 2016, Rolling Stone took us inside the story of a song that was motivated by anti-curfew protest on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. A song that captured a Sixties malaise, it still resonates sixty years later:

“Fifty years ago this Saturday, Stephen Stills, then in Buffalo Springfield, was on his way into Hollywood to hear live music on the Sunset Strip. But in one of those defining rock & roll moments, what he encountered was a rally: hundreds, if not thousands, of kids protesting a new curfew and the imminent closing of one club, Pandora’s Box, by way of a fake “funeral” for it.

“The commercial merchants on Sunset Boulevard in a certain area decided that the element of young people on the street every night was not conducive to commercial enterprise,” Stills said in a 1971 interview. “A bunch of kids got together on a street corner and said we aren’t moving. About three busloads of Los Angeles police showed up, who looked very much like storm troopers. … And I looked at it and said, ‘Jesus, America is in great danger.'”

Within weeks, Stills had written – and Buffalo Springfield had recorded – a song inspired by that night, “For What It’s Worth.” With its emphasis on Stills’ spooked voice, drummer Dewey Martin’s ominous snare drum and Neil Young‘s warning-bell two-note guitar part in the verse, the track became the band’s only hit, peaking at Number Seven in the spring of 1967. Yet equally striking was its sound: The eerily quiet song captured the uneasy mood of the moment that extended beyond Los Angeles to Vietnam, and lyrics about “a man with a gun over there” and “young people speaking their minds/Getting so much resistance from behind” were the sound of the rock counterculture cementing its socially conscious voice.

“For What It’s Worth” has transcended its origin story to become one of pop’s most-covered protest songs – a sort of “We Shall Overcome” of its time, its references to police, guns and paranoia remaining continually relevant. The Staple Singers were among the first to cover it, in 1967, but since then, it’s been recorded by a mind-bendingly diverse number of acts: Ozzy Osbourne turned it into a grim stomper, Lucinda Williams into a ghostly ballad, Kid Rock into a classic-rock homage, Rush into a swirling soundscape, Led Zeppelin (in live bootlegs) into languid blues. (Robert Plant also cut a version with his pre-Zep band, Band of Joy.) Public Enemy even sampled it on 1996’s “He Got Game.”

According to BMI, the song’s publishing house, “For What It’s Worth” been played 8 million times on TV and radio since its release. In 2014, it came in at number three on Rolling Stone‘s readers poll of the best protest songs. “The way it’s written, it’s so open to interpretation,” says Heart’s Ann Wilson, who released a cover last year on her first EP with side project the Ann Wilson Thing. “It’s so open that it’s brand new today. The main hook, ‘Everybody look what’s going down’ – you can apply that, to say, the current election. The song is going, ‘What the hell is this?’ You can apply the song to any situation in any decade.”

By 1966, the situation in Los Angeles was tense. An increasing number of clubgoers was descending on the Strip, irritating area residents and upscale boutiques, and the LAPD instigated a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18. On the night of November 12th, a local radio station announced there would be a protest at Pandora’s Box. According to reports, a fight broke out for reasons having nothing to do with the curfew; a car carrying a group of Marines was bumped by another vehicle. Egged on by that fight, the protesters (some of whom carried placards that read “We’re Your Children! Don’t Destroy Us”) trashed a city bus and threw bottles and rocks at storefronts.

“It was really four different things intertwined, including the war and the absurdity of what was happening on the Strip,” Stills later told The Los Angeles Times. “But I knew I had to skedaddle and headed back to Topanga, where I wrote my song in about 15 minutes.” The folk-blues feel of the song harked back to Stills’ days in the Greenwich Village folk scene.

As anyone who’s heard it knows, the phrase “for what it’s worth” appears nowhere in the song. According to one legend, Stills played it for one of the group’s managers, prefacing it with, “Let me play you a song, for what it’s worth.” Springfield singer-guitarist Richie Furay recalls he, Stills, and Young playing new material for Atlantic’s Ahmet Ertegun, a major supporter of the Springfield. “Ahmet had come to Los Angeles and we were at Stephen’s house,” Furay recalls. “At the end of the day, Stephen said, ‘I have another one, for what it’s worth.'”

On December 5th, only a few weeks after the Strip mayhem, the Springfield went into an L.A. studio to lay down the song in a one-day session. Young credited engineer Stan Ross with the song’s spare, almost sinister arrangement. “Stan came in and said, ‘You gotta do this one thing to the drum, the snare,'” Young said in Jimmy McDonough’s Shakey. “Took a broom, a guitar pick and mixed that in so it’s got that sound – of a guitar pick going through a broom, on the straw. That was it.” Added Stills later, “Neil came up with the wonderful harmonics part with the vibrato. The combination of the two guitar parts, with my scared little voice, made the record.”

Furay admits he didn’t hear anything special in the song at first: “I was more into the electric work, like ‘Bluebird’ and ‘Rock & Roll Woman,’ that phase of where we were,” he says. “I didn’t hear it, but Stephen felt the pulse of it and there you go.”

Everyone else knew the song was special, and the single was rush-released with an amended title, “(Stop, Hey What’s That Sound) For What It’s Worth,” at Ertegun’s suggestion. The song was also added into new pressings of the band’s first album, replacing another Stills original, “Baby Don’t Scold Me”.

There is not a lot written about this song. It is a shame. Aside from the odd feature, you would think that more would approach the track. If it was relevant to riots in the U.S. in 1966, cast forward sixty years and we can see the corruption and dissent. Even if President Trump is seeing people turn and America voted in the Midterms vastly in favour of the Democrats, we can still see how For What It’s Worth applies to the U.S. It has resounded through the decades. There was a resurgence in the summer of 2020 where there were protests in the U.S. These protests rose from police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. Rather than it being co-opted or used out of context, the lyrics perhaps had more relevance and potency then compared to 1966. Some of the lines struck with a punch that definitely connected with those in 2020 protesting police violence and corruption: “A thousand people in the street/Singing songs and a-carrying signs”. Since 2020, For What It’s Worth continues to feature in public consciousness. In 2025, Dawes (a Los Angeles Rock group) performed the song alongside Stephen Stills and Mike Campbell. It was performed for FireAid, in order to help with relief efforts for the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. In June, CBS News included For What It’s Worth in their list of the 250 essential American songs of the past 250 years. There are protest songs from the 1960s that remain there and have not been adopted, adapted and given new lease. For What It’s Worth is not one of them. On 5th December, it will be sixty years since this track was recorded. Little did Buffalo Springfield know that it would be performed and discussed six decades later. It’s sense of calm and composure makes it so powerful. Rather than it being this fast and angry protest song, it has this air of restraint. The lyrics allowed to seep into the mind. It is epic in its concision and brevity. One of the most stirring songs ever written. Sixty years later, and the stunning and moving For What It’s Worth…

HAS lost none of its meaning.

FEATURE: Wishing I Was There: Revisiting Natalie Imbruglia’s Left of the Middle

FEATURE:

 

 

Wishing I Was There

 

Revisiting Natalie Imbruglia’s Left of the Middle

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THIS is not tied to an anniversary…

PHOTO CREDIT: RANKIN

but one of my favourite albums of the 1990s turns thirty next year. There are artists who started their careers in the 1990s who are either not recording anymore or trading on their past work. Very few who are still going strong and entering this new phase of their career. I do wonder whether there will be a thirtieth anniversary release of Natalie Imbruglia’s Left of the Middle. This is an album that received positive reviews at the time, but I do feel that it has gained more respect and traction in years since. Many will associate the album with Torn. A huge single that turns thirty on 27th October next year. I am not sure if Imbruglia is looking ahead to that anniversary. Not that I have been in nostalgia mode, but I am thinking about albums I was a fan of when I was growing up. There was something different about Natalie Imbruglia. I do remember when Torn was released. This was not the case of a one-hit wonder coming along. Her take on this song is incredible, though there is a lot more to Left of the Middle than that single. Big Mistake, Smoke, and Wishing I Was There are amazing. I also like deeper cuts such as One More Addiction, and Impressed. Many associating Natalie Imbruglia as being a Pop artist, though there are a few more Rock-orientated songs. She naturally inhabited that space. In terms of comparisons, I would put her up there with Alanis Morrisette. In terms of their voice and sound. If anything, Imbruglia had a bit more range when it came to her voice. I think that Left in the Middle is a fabulous album that doesn’t quite get enough credit. As a bit of a sidenote, I would encourage people to watch this Davina McCall interview Natalie Imbruglia, where she talks about (among other things) her early career and her experiences at the time. I am sure there will be celebration next year. It would be great to see a thirtieth anniversary reissue. Whether there are outtakes or demos that could feature on a reissue. Natalie Imbruglia’s most recent album, Algorithm, gained widespread praise. Arguably her best album to date, it shows what talent and longevity she has.

This is an artist who has been releasing incredible music for three decades. I would urge people to listen to Algorithm, as it is one of the best albums of the year. I know that it will feature in many lists of the best albums of this year. It is hard to overlook the major success of Left of the Middle. It reached the top ten in the U.K. and U.S. It reached number one in her native Australia. It has been certified 4× Platinum in Australia, 3× Platinum in the U.K., and 2× Platinum in the U.S. There were those in 1997 who were not too kind. A case of an album being a major commercial success, but one some critics piled onto. I do think that it requires retrospection. Even if one or two tracks are not up there with the best on Left of the Middle, it is a terrific album that I hope people listen to ahead of its thirtieth anniversary. Natalie Imbruglia no doubt has fond memories of recording the album, though she was subjected to sexism and criticism. Like so many of her female peers, it would also have been a pretty tough time. What I love is how she released the brilliant Algorithm. It is a fresh and brilliant album where she is at her peak. Not trading on past glories or repeating what came before, obviously there is still a lot of interest around her 1997 debut. I wanted to highlight Left of the Middle now, as I feel it is one of those albums that warrants reappraisal. Imbruglia being compared to other artists. I know I paired her with Alanis Morrisette. Not a case of Imbruglia mimicking anyone, she had the same power and quality as the Canadian icon. AllMusic did provide a positive take on Left of the Middle:

“Expectations for Natalie Imbruglia's debut album, Left of the Middle, were high because of the runaway success of the pre-album single "Torn" during 1997-1998. Fans of the single will be pleased to hear that the album is quite similar in approach and sound to the breakthrough single: laid-back alt-pop with sweetly melodic vocals. Admittedly, some of the material will be seen as pop fluff by certain listeners, but fans of popular latter-day female artists like Paula Cole, Sheryl Crow, and Meredith Brooks will find Imbruglia's debut most enjoyable. What separates Imbruglia from the aforementioned artists is her willingness to experiment with electronic sounds, no doubt courtesy of mixer Nigel Godrich (of Radiohead fame), which can be heard on such tracks as "Smoke." "Torn" proves to be the best song on the album, with its bouncy acoustic feel, but the pop/rocker "Big Mistake" is almost as good”.

Left of the Middle did get a twenty-fifth anniversary release in 2022. It came out on blue vinyl. I am not sure whether there will be new celebration next year for Left of the Middle. There was a twenty-fifth anniversary tour in 2022. It is clear that Imbruglia has a strong connection to her debut. If some were unkind in 1997, there are plenty of people who adore the album. I think that it is one of the strongest debuts of the 1990s. Just before wrapping up, eonmusic highlighted celebration of a tremendous album:

“Two and a half decades after the release of her iconic debut 'Left of the Middle', Natalie Imbruglia is celebrating the milestone with 'London - Live', recorded on the anniversary trek at Shepherds Bush Empire on 12th October, 2022, as part of her ‘Left of the Middle 25th Anniversary Tour’. A fantastic snapshot of a deserved victory lap, it's available on CD, streaming, and vinyl formats.

"Can you believe that it's been twenty-five years since 'Left of the Middle?! Yeah, we're that old", says a scarcely-believing Natalie Imbruglia, letting out gasp of laughter, as 'London - Live' kicks off.

She's right; it is hard to believe that it's been that long since she began her  music career. Released in 1997, the former Neighbours star did a Kylie, and turned her focus away from acting, towards music, with the resulting platter - her debut album - proving a huge success, racking up over a million sales in the UK, and charting in the top ten in the US, Italy, Sweden, and Australia - where it reached No.1.
'Left of the Middle' was a major triumph, repositioning Imbruglia as a credible artist, on an album that produced four top-twenty singles, and in 'Torn', a major global smash hit. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022, Natalie took to the road for a string of dates to mark the milestone, and recorded during that tour at Shepherd's Bush Empire, 'London - Live' takes in the full eighteen-track show.

As part of the tour, the album was performed almost in its entirety, with only the angsty electro dirge 'Don't You Think' missing. That's a whopping eleven songs from her best-loved album, but there's more to Natalie than that admittedly towering release, and the set kicks off with 'What if Feels Like', the first of five from 2021 comeback 'Firebird'.

With that out of the way, 'Wishing I Was There' is the must succinct indication of what the songstress is all about. This is late '90s edgy pop at its finest; angsty, tuneful, electro-infused sounds that perfectly recall the later part of the decade.  ​

Talking about the "bookends" of her debut and latest albums which frame this release, the British-Aussie star confesses; "I feel like a lot of you have grown up with me", with the likes of earworm 'Wrong Impression' (2001) and the melancholic 'Shiver' (2005) charting the territory in between.

It's 'Left of the Middle' though, that is the centrepiece, and where single 'Smoke' remains achingly beautiful - perhaps her finest moment - 'One More Addiction' is a '90s rock gem, 'Leave Me Alone' is Portishead's 'Glory Box' in all but name, and 'Big Mistake' - with its starts, stops and samples - is the Garbage song they never wrote.

Of course the song that blew the barn doors wide open, 'Torn' garners the biggest reaction, and like the rest of the album it's recreated with precision, with the band on point, reproducing every minite nuance. Natalie's voice meanwhile, hasn't aged a day, and all the while, the singer seems to be having as much fun as the audience, relishing in looking back on the album that changed the trajectory of her career. 

Produced by the singer, Imbruglia says of the release; “The experience I had on the ‘Left of the Middle 25th Anniversary Tour’ is one I will treasure forever. The whole tour was really special, and much of that came down to the audience each night. They were singing their hearts out at every show. I was watching people have their own connection with different songs throughout the set. It was very nostalgic for all of us. Throughout the process of working on this album I got to relive that all over again”.

On 24th November, Left of the Middle turns twenty-nine. This time next year, we will be looking ahead to its thirtieth anniversary. I did want to shine a light on an album that captured so many hearts. The fact it was a major chart success and has sold massive amounts. I wonder whether Natalie Imbruglia has any plans for it next year, or whether the 2022 tour was her way of closing a chapter. Algorithm is one of this year’s best albums. I can see her releasing loads more albums. I have not seen her live before, but I will need to correct that, as I have been a fan of hers since the start. When it comes to artists, Natalie Imbruglia is up there…

WITH the absolute best.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Arabella Lucia

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Arabella Lucia

_________

I did want to spend time…

with an artist who has had a terrific year. Releasing singles such as Unpretty and Steal My Shimmer, I do think that there is going to be this momentum carried into next year. I will bring in some interviews with Arabella Lucia so that we can discover more about her. I will end with an interview where Arabella Lucia discusses her new E.P. I am writing this on 7th November. The E.P. comes out on 13th November. She also tackled TLC’s Unpretty and talks about that. Before coming to that interview, METAL discussed an artist who is among the most promising coming through. Steal My Shimmer is her latest single. One that tackles sexism and people who try to shrink you:

“After meeting a male musician who apparently struggled to accept her guitar-playing skills, Lucia found herself dealing with comments questioning whether her Gibson SG actually belonged to her father, alongside attempts to undermine her talent. “Not everyone will celebrate your wins, recognise your skills or acknowledge your merit,” she explains. Instead of letting the experience discourage her, she decided to write about it.

The result fits naturally into what Lucia calls her Rockstar Princess universe, where feminine aesthetics coexist with a punk attitude. It's an approach that reflects both her musical identity and her determination to challenge expectations within a traditionally male-dominated scene. She's also been taking that energy to the stage, performing at events including The Alternative Escape, Bludfest and Gibson Garage London's Acoustic Sessions.

The single follows her recent reinterpretation of TLC's Unpretty and Hostage You Call Baby, two releases that have already introduced different sides of her songwriting. Both will feature on her upcoming five-track EP, a project that promises to explore personal experiences and the complicated process of finding your own voice.

For now, Steal My Shimmer makes her position quite clear. “It's an anthem of defiance dedicated to anyone who's ever been told to shrink their spirit to accommodate the insecurities and limiting projections of others,” she says”.

Original Rock spent time with Arabella Lucia earlier in the year. She also talked about TLC’s Unpretty and her take on it, but she spoke about recording her E.P. In addition to that E.P. coming out on 17th November, she is also working on a debut album. This is an artist that you need to know about:

“What’s it been like finding your feet in London, releasing your first music and starting to make your mark on the city? How are you finding the music scene around you?

It’s been incredible so far! Moving from Montreal, Canada, to London was a dream come true, and starting to release the music I’ve been working on has been so rewarding, thanks to the incredible and overwhelming response. I love how vibrant the grassroots music scene is in London, and it’s quickly become home to experiences, lifelong friends, and opportunities that are at the center of a city I now call home.

You’ve described your music as a ‘Rockstar Princess’ world with a punk attitude. What inspired that aesthetic, and what does pairing femininity with a rebellious edge mean to you?

Just before moving to London, I was working as a kids’ party princess. It was quite a contrast to simultaneously making guitar-driven music. This created “Rockstar Princess”, which quickly caught on with fans and became such a big part of my artistic identity. It represents the duality and multifacetedness that’s always resonated with me. Ever since I was a 7-year-old singing Led Zeppelin at open mic nights and seeing the pure shock on people’s faces, I’ve been inspired to embrace standing out rather than conforming to expectations. Challenging what punk looks like is part of what punk means to me. By making room for femininity in rock, we invite more women into a male-dominated space that often dismisses and rejects traditionally feminine traits. Rockstar Princess proves you don’t need to fit into a box; create your own.

You’ve described your music as a ‘Rockstar Princess’ world with a punk attitude. What inspired that aesthetic, and what does pairing femininity with a rebellious edge mean to you?

Just before moving to London, I was working as a kids’ party princess. It was quite a contrast to simultaneously making guitar-driven music. This created “Rockstar Princess”, which quickly caught on with fans and became such a big part of my artistic identity. It represents the duality and multifacetedness that’s always resonated with me. Ever since I was a 7-year-old singing Led Zeppelin at open mic nights and seeing the pure shock on people’s faces, I’ve been inspired to embrace standing out rather than conforming to expectations. Challenging what punk looks like is part of what punk means to me. By making room for femininity in rock, we invite more women into a male-dominated space that often dismisses and rejects traditionally feminine traits. Rockstar Princess proves you don’t need to fit into a box; create your own.

Following the release of your upcoming debut EP on November 13th, You’re currently recording your debut album at Eastcote Studios. Can you give us a glimpse into the creative process and what you’re learning along the way?

It’s been such an incredible and fun process. We wrote these songs in intimate sessions with the same team, so it’s easy to start with a good chat and write about something that feels vulnerable and real. Having a safe space to do that is really special. From there, it’s a mix of playing around with chords or riff ideas (usually on an acoustic guitar), jotting down lyrical phrases in a Google Doc, and keeping the voice-memo app on hand to capture any improvised melody worth remembering. With a 10 am start, we usually have a full song written with a one-take vocal demo by 6 pm. That said, the refining, rewriting, live instrument tracking, vocal takes, harmonies, etc. that go into the rest of the process shouldn’t be overlooked. I’ve learned so much through these experiences, but most of all, I’ve learned the power of collaborative songwriting. These were my first times writing in an environment beyond my bedroom, and I’ve grown significantly as a songwriter in turn”.

I am going to finish off with Fierce & Fabulous. I am new to Arabella Lucia. I am not sure if there are tour dates booked for next year already. I can see her having a pretty busy year. With a new E.P. out – by the time you read this -, there is going to be a lot of focus on her. In terms of her sound, I don’t think there is anyone quite like Arabella Lucia. She is an extraordinary artist:

“Hey Arabella, thank you so much for this interview. Can you start by introducing yourself to readers who might be unfamiliar with your music?

Arabella: Hey Fierce & Fabulous! Thank you so much for featuring me!

I’m Arabella Lucia, the Rockstar Princess. I’m an Armenian-Canadian pop/rock musician based in London. I’m all about guitar-driven, catchy tunes that tell a story, and energetic performances that captivate audiences and get them singing with me!

When did you first discover your passion for music and realise it was something you wanted to pursue?

Arabella: I feel so lucky that I was exposed to music and the arts at a very young age. I was communicating through melody ever since I could speak, and I actually learned to read through my family’s old karaoke machine at home. Going to Armenian school, at age 4 I began singing traditional choir songs and was exposed to important cultural artforms like poetry and dance. My love for the stage grew and led me to starting violin, ballet, and finally discovering at age 6 that voice lessons and guitar were what I wanted to pursue and work at for the rest of my life. Music being so embedded in how I learned to express myself very quickly led me into songwriting, and my participation in The Voice Kids Canada solidified the passion within me that still keeps me going fearlessly down this path today.

You recently shared your take on TLC’s “Unpretty”; how did the idea for this come together?

Arabella: I’ve always loved covering iconic hits and switching the vibe and genre up to make it my own. Unpretty is such an incredible song with a truly timeless message that rings so true in today’s world of social media. From the moment the idea to cover this song was brought up, I knew this would be a special cover and there was no looking back.

How did you decide what tempo and emotional context to develop your version in compared to the original?

Arabella: I definitely had to hone in on myself and have a really clear idea of what makes a song undeniably Arabella Lucia in sound and in essence. Live performance with my band was a large consideration in the development of my version of Unpretty and thinking about the energy and tempo that would feel the most seamless amongst a setlist of my original music. In addition, giving myself the space to relate to the song and understand what it means to me helped me capture a version emphasizing empowerment and rebellion alongside the vulnerability that lays the foundation for the emotional context.

What does this EP personally mean to you?

Arabella: To me, this EP really marks the start of a big chapter. It’s the culmination of work from my first years in London and the first glimpse into hours of dedication, hard work, life experience, growth and honesty. Each song is an important story of agency and survival that I really look forward to sharing with people”.

I am going to finish off here. It is an exciting time for the remarkable Arabella Lucia. You can feel that she is going to have a very long and exciting career. A tremendous young artist whose singles so far mark her out as a distinct and unique talent. After her E.P., the debut album will come out (though no release date has been confirmed). It is exciting to see…

WHAT comes next.

_________

Arabella Lucia

INTERVIEW: Chris Tavener

INTERVIEW:

PHOTO CREDIT: Explore With Brendan

 

Chris Tavener

_________

THIS is someone who…

I have been following for a while and it is great to interview him. Chris Tavener has been discussing his debut studio album, Music Is a Serious Business. I would encourage everyone to listen to it. The songs are all favourites from hundreds of recent shows across the U.K. and Europe. This crowdfunded record is one that I would also encourage people to buy. An incredible and acclaimed live performer, Tavener has a run of U.K. dates ahead that takes him almost up to Christmas. A chance for people to see this unique and amazing performer in the flesh. I ask Tavener about his musical influences, the themes addressed on Music Is a Serious Business, what it was like recording out of Green Velvet Studios in Stockport, and what his plans are for next year. You can follow Chris Tavener on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. If you can too, pre-order Music Is a Serious Business on vinyl. Though you may have to wait a little for your copy to arrive, it is a pre-Christmas treat that will appeal to all music fans. It has been a treat speaking with Chris Tavener. Make sure that his music is…

ON your playlist.

___________

Hi Chris. How are you doing? What has your week been like? How well are you coping with autumn settling in?

I'm well, thank you! Enjoying autumn so far. It's been a busy few weeks touring around the country, but this week I am having a week off travelling…by travelling to Scotland. I wouldn't have it any other way though. I love getting to see new places.

Before talking about your debut studio album, can you talk to me about some of your influences? In terms of music that was in your life from a young age, which artists spoke to you?

I was a huge Bob Dylan and Beatles fan growing up. From a young age, I was also listening to artists like Arctic Monkeys, Billy Joel, Blur, Tenacious D, Arlo Guthrie, and so many others.

I became interested in writing songs when I heard Randy Newman's album work and something clicked. “Oh, songs can be stories and they can be from anyone's perspective!” I was suddenly really interested in satire from there and became influenced by other rock artists that I felt had clever lyrics. Artists like Elvis Costello, Loudon Wainwright III, Talking Heads and Courtney Barnett and Father John Misty

Your music has this satirical and witty edge. In terms of the artists that you admire, is it their humour and serious-but-witty look on life that speaks to you?

It's definitely a big part of what hooks me in as a listener. I think humour and satire is such a great vehicle for making a point about something you feel strongly about. In my view, it can have more of an impact than expressing your views literally. The artists I mentioned use subtle lyrical devices to bring you round to their point of view. I love that.

I was told by a member of the audience in Chester last week that they appreciated how I dealt with heavy subjects without really talking about them directly. I was really pleased to get that feedback. It's what my favourite artists do and it's what I'm always trying to achieve. Whether I get it right or not!

“But humour is a great weapon against injustice”

I have said how we need artists tackling big and serious themes in a witty or less heavy-handed way. Like Steely Dan (I am a massive fan of theirs, and was inspired and have plotted an album with song titles, and a cover, but I am hampered by not being able to read or write music, and only able to write lyrics and not compose or play!). Talking about these big topics, but doing so with a little humour and wit, without distilling the impact. Backing it with rich musicianship. If artists do tackle these themes, it is usually quite heavy and dark or angry. I think a song can talk about a weighty issue and be light or accessible. Would you agree?

I absolutely agree with that. These days, the news is very bleak, and the times we are living in breeds some dark and angry music, understandably. But humour is a great weapon against injustice. The world needs more light-hearted songs. I'd love to hear yours one day when you find a composer and a lyricist.

In general, in an age where so many pressing topics do need to be addressed in music, there is still reluctance or pacifism from many. Do you feel artists should use their platform to address these subjects and areas of discussion, or do you think some artists feel they might get things ‘wrong’ or alienate some of their listenership?

Well firstly, I think it's great that artists do speak out. Their voices are important for change because, music celebrities especially, have so much influence. But I don't think artists need to have an opinion on every subject; it's unrealistic to expect everyone to be outspoken about all the issues of our time.

But, in my opinion, it's important for artists to know who they are and what their belief system is, for those times when neutrality isn't an option (as Ed Sheeran recently found out). You can't just sit on the fence when neutrality looks like picking a side. If you're not a politically motivated thinker or writer, then at least know what issues are important to you.

I prefer to let my music do the talking. I think it's quite obvious from my songs that I'm pretty left-leaning and I have a lot to say about politics. But none of it is overt, and I don't talk about these things all the time on my social media. Just when I think it's important or the right time to put my view out there. For what it's worth…

Your work pokes fun at modern society. You talk about A.I. and male insecurities, but through the lens of humour. Do you find it hard to do that at a time in history that is so bleak and has few pockets of relief and tangible light?

I think there's a lot to laugh about with A.I. It's inefficient, fallible and downright hilarious in its mistakes. I think, while it's important to talk about the very real dangers of A.I., you can bring people into the discussion by pointing out why it's so bad in a funny way. No-one wants to be lectured, so I find putting my opinion across in songs, openly mocking A.I. is a better way for me to voice my opinion.

It's the same with male insecurities. Men and their egos are responsible for so much of the suffering in the world, but mocking that in a playful way is more likely to bring about change than becoming angry and switching people away from your message. At least that's my approach.

PHOTO CREDIT: Explore With Brendan

Music Is a Serious Business is your first album. A lot of these songs had been played at previous shows. What compelled you to lay these down in the studio, and are all the songs on the album from the live shows (favourites of yours), or are there some newly-written ones too?

Almost all of them have been ‘road-tested’ first, mainly because I wanted to make sure the humour was landing. But I started writing the first one at the end of 2022 and finished when I wrote the last one at the start of this year. Many songs fell by the wayside in-between…

I wanted to get them on a record, partly for those who requested them at live shows, but also because I felt you could do so much with them in a musical ensemble. There were so many jokes and musical ideas I had in my head, that I couldn't wait to put down.

What was it like recording out of Green Velvet Studios in Stockport? What was the reason for choosing that particular space?

Well, it began as a convenience that I knew the producer there, Jonny Woodhead. He was an old friend from the open mic scene in Manchester. We recorded a single there a few years ago, just as he was building the studio, and I knew then it was going to be a special place.

When it came time for the album, Green Velvet ticked so many boxes for me. All the vintage recording techniques and equipment felt perfect to record something that was so influenced by classic and new wave rock. It was a great experience.

“On the one hand, it's a brilliant thing to have full control of how your music is made and distributed; no-one telling you what you should write about or how you should promote it”

Do you have a standout track from the album that is a favourite, or one that was perhaps the most rewarding/challenging to write?

This is a tough question. I love every song for different reasons and they all now remind me of experiences and memories in my life the past few years. If I have to name one, I think I am particularly proud of ‘Printer’, because it took multiple tries to get it right, with different piano, guitar, vocal and cello arrangements. Even the mastering took the longest on that one. But ultimately, it's now so simple and pure in its delivery that it always really makes me smile

Your music has been featured on stations such as BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 2. What is it like getting praise and backing from these stations and high-profile broadcasters?

It's great having that support, especially from people in the industry that I really respect like Steve Lamacq and Mark Radcliffe. They hear loads of new music all the time, so to hear that they found something original in my songs means a lot.

I used to listen to them before I had my songs played, so it can still feel quite surreal to hear your name on the radio!

Music Is a Serious Business was crowdfunded. How crucial was it to get that support and backing from fans of your music? Do you think the realities of recording and pressing albums is a financial barrier that is creating barriers for artist, and what are the benefits of the crowdfunding approach?

I think the industry has become more D.I.Y., with more people turning to crowdfunding these days. It was crucial for me, as it is for many artists at the moment.

On the one hand, it's a brilliant thing to have full control of how your music is made and distributed; no-one telling you what you should write about or how you should promote it.

But it's also symptomatic of how hard it's become financially. There are a lot of artists struggling to get their work heard, and that feels disheartening to see.

I'm incredibly grateful that I had the backing to make the C.D.s and vinyl for this record.

I do love artists that bring in other musicians, whether that is strings or horns etc. What was it like collaborating with other musicians for Music Is a Serious Business? How easily did you click and connect with them?

Oh, I love that too! The session musicians on my album were old university friends-turned-professional performers that regularly work at Green Velvet Studios. I wanted the record to have that feeling of a band playing in a room, as opposed to lots of remote recordings.

I think you can really hear that live band atmosphere on the album. Players who just click together, having fun! My hope is that fun is projected onto the record itself.

The tour for this album sees you playing a lot of dates in the North. You are from Cheshire, and Manchester is like a home to you. A lot of the industry is shifting from London to the North (the Mercury Prize is now held in Newcastle). How do you feel about there is more focus on the North and less reliance and spotlight on London and the South?

Being a Northerner myself, I'm all in favour of the spotlight moving northward. I think it's long overdue. I love playing to audiences in the South. I've had some great shows in Winchester and Brighton fairly recently. But something about the crowds up North makes me feel right at home!

“I'm on tour right now, but I'd like to get out to new festivals, hopefully Glastonbury again, and some new rock and folk festivals that I've never done before”

You have played so many shows through the years and have this reputation as a terrific live performer. How meaningful and powerful is that connection with audiences, and do you think crowd reaction to various songs is important when it came to deciding which made it onto your album?

Oh absolutely, and that's a good observation, thank you. My first album in 2018 was a live album and I had to think about which songs would get the best reaction before I recorded it. When it came to recording this one, even though it was my first studio record, I felt the same logic should apply.

The best songs that made the audience laugh or struck a chord with them emotionally made it onto the album, which is another reason I feel it's my best work to date. Maybe one day, I'll do an extended version with the ones that didn't make it first time!

I think there were also some themes and a structure that I wanted to explore, so that had an affect on the final line-up and tracklist.

Looking ahead to 2027, what are your plans? Do you have any dream venues or ambitions that you want to fulfil?

Yes, I would say next year is about taking the album on the road. I'm on tour right now, but I'd like to get out to new festivals, hopefully Glastonbury again, and some new rock and folk festivals that I've never done before. Festivals like Green Man, Beardy Folk, Blue Dot, Shrewsbury Folk, and lots of others.

In case there are any bookers reading!

I'd also like to get the record in record shops. I'm starting small with that this year, but I'll be reaching out to more shops next year. Perhaps do some in-store shows.

Finally, and for being a good sport, you can name a song (one that is not your own) and I will end the interview with it. What shall we go with?

Let's go with ‘Radio Radio’ by Elvis Costello. I recently went to see him in Manchester on a tour called ‘Radio Soul’. This song was among the songs by Elvis that definitely inspired the sound on these recordings. I also used them as a reference for the session players.

An absolute classic, and if you've never seen his clip on SNL with this song, it's well worth a watch.

It's so punk and rock ‘n’ roll.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Mulaa Joans

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

  

Mulaa Joans

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HERE is an artist…

who has been making waves this year, though I feel next year will be her biggest yet. You can feel this momentum from the sensational Mulaa Joans. We are going to see her in a lot of Ones to Watch 2027 lists. One of the U.K.’s finest young artists, she has already received accolades and plaudits. For Sian Eleri’s Future Artist of the Month on BBC Radio 1, Joans was October’s selection: “20-year-old songwriter Mulaa Joans hails from Bath, UK. Her emotive songwriting has already found fans in Jack Saunders, Sian Eleri and Matt + Mollie, and she turned heads with a much-talked-about debut at Reading Festival in summer 2026”. Through the U.K., the U.S. and beyond, there is a wave of incredible artists that are trying to make their mark. Competing and standing out in a busy and competitive industry. You can tell those who will enjoy brief success but will probably not have the longevity they deserve. When it comes to Mulaa Joans, you know that she is going to be in the industry for many years to come. I can see her releasing so many acclaimed and different albums. Someone who definitely will be headlining festivals. I do want to come to some features and interviews, so that we can get to know this phenomenal artist. Her E.P., That Ain’t You, was released in August. It is one that I would recommend everyone listen to. I want to start out with New Wave Magazine and their spotlight feature from earlier in the year. They were speaking with her around the release of her then-new single, Phone Sex. A prolific and hugely adored artist, her debut E.P./mini-album came out in 2024. That was £70 for Peace of Mind. A couple of years later, and Mulaa Joans has taken huge steps and caught the ear and eye of radio stations, music publications and venues around the country:

“The roots of Mulaa’s journey began on social media, where she started posting covers on Tik-Tok. She began posting in her early teens and a particular clip of hers covering Etta James, really started gaining traction. This started a snowball effect, where Mulaa had thousands of people tuning in to her Tik-Tok to hear her take on popular songs. This transpired into Mulaa making the leap into moving from her hometown in Bath to London, to pursue her dream of becoming an artist in her own right.

Looking back on her early years, and discussing if there was a point where she realised she had a voice, Mulaa recalls that she has been singing for as long as she remembers. She credits her parents and the people around as driving forces behind her confidence as they were always so encouraging and never dimmed her light. In terms of her vocal style, she explains that she was never given any formal vocal training as it just wasn’t affordable, but she now sees that as one of her strengths. In the beginning of her journey, Mulaa acknowledges that she was mimicking a lot of other artists as she was still finding her voice, but she thinks the lack of formal vocal training in the beginning has helped her find her individuality as an artist. Granted, she now does have vocal training as she needs it to maintain her voice for recording and live shows, but she wouldn’t go back and change that about her journey.

Growing up at home, Mulaa was exposed to a lot of drum and bass music from her parents, which would come as a shock to many of her fans, as the music she has released is quite far removed in terms of genre. However, her songs are very direct and contains an unapologetic energy that drum and bass and electronic music is renowned for. Her dad was also a big fan of some of the classics like Michael Jackson and Prince, which checks out.

Speaking about developing her own taste that wasn’t directly influenced by her parents, Mulaa cites All the Little Lights by Passenger, The Boss by James Brown, Anti by Rihanna as well as Don’t Smile at Me by Billie Eilish as key reference points artistically. All these artists and albums had a lasting effect on her music output currently. The Don’t Smile at Me EP, changed her perspective on song writing as she realised there were no rules and you could be as left-field as you want, and it could still reach an audience, even if the meaning behind the songs were not obvious.

This is an artist who is going from strength to strength. She recently appeared on Later… with Jools Holland. I think that she is going to be a fixture of the summer festival circuit next year. There are a couple of other interviews I am getting to before wrapping up. In a very brief chat from earlier in the year, LE MILE Magazine caught some time with Mulaa Joans. This incredible singer “has already caused quite a buzz on social media. She has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok, and her song “Love Letter” alone has been streamed millions of times, with over 50,000 posts created using her sound. To get to know her a little better, she answered a few questions for us”. If Joans is not on your radar already, then you really do need to catch her. A staggering talent who is going to have a very long career:

“What does a typical songwriting session look like for you, and what tends to inspire your songs the most?

I often write songs or melody ideas and concepts in my bedroom, or while sitting by my window, to YouTube beats. It was something I always used to do when I was little because I can’t play any instruments, but I really like that I still implement that in my songwriting today. I then usually take those ideas into sessions with the people I work with, and we make the song better. I’m inspired by literally everything. I think as I’m growing up, I’m learning how to speak about things that may have happened to me in the past, things that maybe I wasn’t ready to speak about when I was younger. But I’m also very inspired by film. I often write songs based on films or TV storylines.

Your music has been all over our feeds, with videos and edits with millions of views using your song “Love Letter.” Why do you think the track connects so strongly, and what is it about it that resonates with so many people?

I honestly think it’s because the lyrics are so blunt and honest, and often people are scared to say exactly how they feel. I’ve always been a very confrontational and blunt person, so I think it comes across in my songwriting. People relate to it because it’s something they feel they want to say to someone in their life, but don’t feel like they can. The song gives them an outlet for that.

Looking back so far, what has been the most memorable moment of your career?

I think the most memorable moment of my career has been my show in Amsterdam. I can’t even express to you how crazy it is that people in another country are singing the lyrics to my songs that aren’t even out yet. That is just actually mad. The fans were so nice, and I really loved getting to stay and chat with them.

I do want to end by going back to April. HUNGER spoke with a treasure and signualr voixe who was about to have a very busy summer. Looking back at what she has achieved this year, Mulaa Joans should be very proud! She has put the work in, so it is not like this has been handed to her. Testament to her phenomenal talent and passion, this is someone who we will be talking about decades from now:

“The lyric she is most proud of is the one that tells you the most about letting go: “Your words hit like a feather.” Not a wound. Not a slap. A feather. “I was trying to figure out a way to say that without it being so obvious,” she explains. By the time she sat down to write, the person the song addressed had already lost whatever hold on Joans they once had.

When it came to recording, Joans guided the instrumental parts with the same instinct that informed her lyrics, describing the feeling she was looking for and working with the instrumentalists in the room to find it. The result is a record that sounds both immediate and settled. Though the track has been out for less than two months, it already exudes a sense of timelessness; the kind of art that won’t date because it was never trying to be current in the first place. BBC Introducing was the first to recognise that, and the rest followed naturally.

Ask Joans about her headline shows and she becomes even more animated than when on the topic of recording. Her performances are built around a piano, a voice, and an audience she addresses not as a crowd but as a room full of individuals she has made time for. “I’m a big chatter,” she says. Her shows have developed a distinct character over time: she talks on stage, genuinely and at length, shares the stories behind the songs, and allows the performance to breathe into something more reminiscent of an extended conversation than a conventional set.

 

One moment in particular from a show has stayed with her: performing ‘Love Letter’ live the first time before the song had been released. “I got everyone to scream, ‘Get the fuck out my life’, and they didn’t even know it yet,” she says. “People came up to me after and said, ‘We love that bit.’ That was really cool.”

What has gathered around those shows is, unsurprisingly, an audience that predates the viral moments and the radio plays. Often, they are people who arrived to Joans’s music early and have remained close; they’re the ones who position themselves right by the stage and make sure those standing beside them understand what they are witnessing. “The fans who have been there from the start are still at the front,” Joans says, “and they’re encouraging other people to scream it. It’s become like a collective.”

This spring also sees Joans join Sekou across his European and UK tour. For an artist who has spent the past year establishing her project closer to home, it represents a considered next step: the opportunity to walk into rooms full of people entirely unfamiliar with her work and, night after night, introduce herself. “As a support, the people haven’t paid to see you and they don’t necessarily care who you are yet,” she says. “Even if I can make one or two people think, ‘I’m really glad I came and saw her, that would be a success.’” Her approach on tour will not differ from what it has always been: present and considered. She wants her songs to resonate, and she wants the connection between herself and the people listening to feel real”.

I will end here. I think a range of magazines and websites will highlight Mulaa Joans as an artist to watch next year. Maybe NME. She has been in the industry for a little while, but I do think 2027 is going to be her biggest year. I predict big festival bookings, some U.S. shows, an album and some incredible collaborations. Some of her best work ahead. That Ain’t You is one of the best E.P.s of the year. Someone that you simply cannot afford to miss out on, here we have…

A modern icon.

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Follow Mulaa Joans

INTERVIEW: Lara St. John and Patrick Hamm (Dear Lara)

INTERVIEW:

 

POSTER DESIGNER: Mark McGillivray 

Lara St. John and Patrick Hamm (Dear Lara)

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THIS is one of the…

PHOTO CREDIT: Annie Jeeves

most important and urgent interviews I have ever conducted. For decades, there has been an often-overlooked crisis of sexual abuse in the classical music space. There have been multiple instances of conservatory students, many of whom were minors at the time, experiencing abuse at the hands of instructors, only for faculty to be more concerned with protecting their school's image than holding perpetrators accountable. Dear Lara is an award-winning documentary directed by acclaimed violinist Lara St. John. The documentary came to be after St. John publicly disclosed the abuse she experienced while attending the Curtis Institute of Music. Among the multiple alleged perpetrators covered by this film are Jan Repko of Chetham's School of Music and Duncan McTier of the Royal Northern College of Music. I have been speaking with its director Lara St. John and producer Patrick Hamm ahead of the film's U.K. debut at the Women and the World International Film Festival on 11th November. Dear Lara has been screened at multiple festivals throughout North America and Europe, an and has received the following accolades: Best International Documentary from the Brittany International Film Festival, Best First Time Filmmaker from the LA Independent Women Film Awards, and the Courage Award from Cinema d'iDEA in Rome. More screenings will take place in the coming months, with a commercial release planned for 2027. For those in the U.K., you can book tickets and see the documentary on 11th November. I have been finding out more about a phenomenal, powerful and hugely affecting documentary that…

EVERYONE needs to see.

_________

I have been a music journalist for fifteen years now and have written about sexual abuse rife throughout the music industry. Do you think there has been change and progress at all? In reality, what would progress look like? It does seem like a #MeToo awakening or reckoning is overdue…

Patrick: Classical music had a #MeToo moment, but never a #MeToo reckoning. There have been revelations, and some perpetrators have faced consequences. But classical music has been painfully slow to confront the structures that allowed abuse to continue for decades. Allegations are still treated as isolated scandals rather than signs of a broader problem. Teachers and conductors are often elevated to almost godlike status. Young musicians depend on them for recommendations, opportunities, and careers. Institutions, meanwhile, have repeatedly put their reputations first. Real progress would mean investigating past abuses, holding perpetrators and the institutions that enabled them accountable, and changing the law so survivors have a fair chance to seek justice. Students also need to be able to report misconduct without risking their careers. I would judge progress by something quite simple: can a student report abuse without paying a professional price for it? And can a perpetrator, or an institution that protects one, still get away with it?

Lara: The change has been glacial at best. I don’t think that most of the schools in the U.K. care, until they get found out. In 2020, I wrote to the Royal College in London, for example, asking to speak to their Head of Strings, Mark Messenger, about sexual abuse (I was meaning to give him the translated complaint about Jan Repko from Amsterdam). I was informed that he had no time for promotional activities (!!) Shortly afterwards he was removed from his post for “gross misconduct”. It made me quite sure that these men protect each other.

Dear Lara is a documentary that everyone needs to see. The crisis of sexual abuse in the Classical music space has been largely under-highlighted. Why do you think that might be compared to, say, other areas of music?

Patrick: Part of the answer lies in the image classical music has cultivated of itself. It is associated with refinement, intellectual achievement, and cultural prestige. People don't particularly want to hear about its dark underbelly. We are also remarkably willing to excuse the behavior of celebrated artists, with some teachers and conductors becoming almost unassailable. There is a remarkably cavalier attitude toward allegations of abuse in parts of the industry. Classical music is a small world, where careers depend on recommendations and access to powerful people. Speaking out can jeopardize everything a young musician has worked for, while institutions have their own reasons for looking the other way, especially when the person accused is someone prominent. What struck us while making Dear Lara was the gap between public perception and what people in the industry already knew. Outsiders are often shocked by these stories. Professional musicians tend to recognize the names and the patterns immediately. The problem isn't that nobody knew. It's that far too many people knew, and far too few were willing to do anything about it.

Lara: Other areas of music, while they certainly have their own problems, do not have men being given preposterous, practically messianic, amounts of power over small children. That is our classical music problem, and we have parallel situations in the Catholic Church, for example. Because we have been so totally silenced and have not been allowed to say anything at the price of our careers (I sacrificed my own to make this movie) Dear Lara is the first ever film which really examines the huge problem for children and women and some young men in the industry.

 “However, I decided I was finally in a position to become public and force a reckoning, and every step of the way and slap in the face and punch in the gut has been worth it”

Lara, you went public about your experience in 2019 in The Philadelphia Inquirer. How difficult was it to do that, and what did it feel like to be flooded with letters from fellow survivors telling their stories?

Lara: As you might expect, it’s very hard to make public the worst moment of one’s life, and in my case, how I lost my virginity as a child in a truly disgusting manner. However, I decided I was finally in a position to become public and force a reckoning, and every step of the way and slap in the face and punch in the gut has been worth it. As every single survivor who becomes public says: I just don’t want this to happen to another child/woman/man. And, I think I am making real-life change to prevent this horror from happening to yet another generation.

It is horrifying how the sexual assault of children in Classical music is almost normalised. The abusers are often protected by statutes of limitations and institutes shielding them. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for survivors to bravely tell their stories. It must have been quite humbling but also so moving….

Patrick: When I joined the project, I was struck by how many people had experiences similar to Lara's, often decades and thousands of miles apart. Many had spent much of their lives believing they were alone. Speaking publicly about abuse takes tremendous courage in a small, interconnected field where the professional consequences can last a lifetime. Several people we spoke with had already lost their careers, or their love of music, because of what happened to them. Lara was able to establish a kind of trust with survivors that an outside filmmaker would have struggled to earn.

She understood what they had been through, and as a team, we felt a serious responsibility to honor that trust.

Lara: I was in a very unusual position, because I wasn’t reaching out to folks like a reporter or journalist might - they all reached out to me. And they already knew my story and my history, so it was almost comfortable for the survivors to speak to me because they knew I understood, in every sense. We hung out, talked before the cameras went on, became friends, ate dinners, drank wine, and I am in touch with everyone to this day.

Many people will be interested in the documentary but feel uneasy or like it will be pretty ‘intense’ or ‘heavy’ – which, I guess, is sort of the point. What would you say to people who are hesitant in terms of why they absolutely do need to see Dear Lara?

Patrick: Dear Lara is certainly not a comedy. We deal with difficult stories, and we don't shy away from describing abuse and what it can do to people's lives. But audiences are often surprised by the humor, strength, and defiance they find in the film. At its heart, the film follows people who refused to stay quiet, challenged powerful institutions, and kept fighting even when the odds were stacked against them. There is anger in it, but also a great deal of determination. You don't have to be a classical music lover to connect with these stories. Power, complicity, loyalty to institutions, and the cost of speaking out are hardly problems confined to music. We also worked hard to make a film, not simply an exposé. After screenings, people often stay to talk, sometimes for a long time. They are upset by what they've seen, and they want to know what can be done.

Lara: Well, documentaries are almost always intense and/or heavy. It’s not a film type one goes to for comedic relief from real life, because they are real life. I would certainly encourage parents and musicians to see it because they need insight into why and how this has happened for so long, and how they can avoid it and hold the people and institutions accountable. We don’t have magic answers, but this is a first step towards shining light on dark places. Also, for certain folks hesitant to see it, I would ask: “What’s in your closet?”

“We knew the film needed to connect those experiences and ask why the same failures kept recurring”

There are bright and positive moments. Dear Lara examines efforts at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam to make a clean break with the past, to denounce past misdeeds and build a culture of transparency and intolerance for abusers. Survivors sharing their experiences will definitely lead to bigger, consistent conversations. What have been some of the more rewarding or positive elements of making Dear Lara?

Patrick: Bringing the survivors' stories together was enormously rewarding. Many had felt isolated for years or believed that what happened to them was somehow unique. Hearing these experiences side by side makes the recurring patterns impossible to ignore. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam provided another important part of the story. It shows what can happen when an institution is willing to acknowledge past failures and confront them openly. The way music schools have traditionally handled abuse isn't inevitable. Administrators can choose to do things differently. We have also seen the film produce results. After our sold-out Toronto screening, a petition calling for accountability at the Royal Conservatory of Music gathered thousands of signatures. The institution subsequently announced an independent investigation into historical allegations of abuse. We could hardly have hoped for a more consequential response.

Lara: The Amsterdam Conservatory is a shining beacon of hope. They have repeatedly shown that they care a lot about the well-being of the students, and in so doing have created the most transparent (literally) building ever, with no locks on any doors, they have brought in team teaching, and they disallow any teaching at the homes of teachers. Conversely, the Royal Conservatory (Toronto) made us survivors and our allies work way too hard every step of the way towards getting an external investigation. They dug in their heels, and only when public opinion started to sour considerably, thanks to the film and various petitions, they finally acquiesced to getting an external investigation. It seems as though that investigation, now ongoing, will not be made public. Therefore we all question why on earth they would have re-traumatized victims for nothing. Our work there is not yet done, and as I’ve said, half-jokingly, I’ll be borrowing some signs from my American friends which say: “RELEASE THE FILES!”.

I am interested in how it came together in terms of who you featured and the direction the documentary took. How long did it take to bring everything together, as it were? Did you face any challenges along the way?

Patrick: Lara began filming in 2019, shortly after going public with her own story. For the first three years, she worked largely on her own, interviewing survivors and following leads without knowing where the project would ultimately take her. I joined as producer in 2022, and we gradually assembled a team, including our wonderful editor Christie Herring and associate producer Sanjana Bhambhani. We finally completed the film in 2026, seven years after Lara recorded her first interview. The story took shape as Lara spoke with more survivors. Across different countries, institutions, and generations, she kept hearing similar accounts of abuse, cover-ups, and retaliation. We knew the film needed to connect those experiences and ask why the same failures kept recurring. We had a hard time getting the film made. We received no documentary production grants and very little support from the established funding system. Private supporters and a deeply committed team kept us going. Once the film was finished, the first round of festival responses wasn't particularly encouraging either. Making a film about people challenging powerful institutions turned out to require a fair amount of stubbornness on our part as well.

Lara: There have been giant challenges, and it’s been a very rocky journey. Countless times along the way, I came within a hair’s breadth of giving up, and it has literally taken blood, sweat and tears of mine to make. Things got somewhat easier when I met Patrick and he assembled the team, of course, in 2022 - but before that it was me, alone, against the world of these predators and their enabling institutions. I once broke down in Schipol airport after one of the Dutch interviews, a particularly heavy one. The kind folks there nearly carted me away, but I managed to explain something in time. I was treated very badly in England during some of my forays there. I remember yelling into a phone “Why the hell am I the one caring about England’s girls and women if they themselves don’t give a rat’s ass?” (fair enough).

Also, I have sacrificed a lot. I had to halt my music career to be available for my film. I used to own an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and now I have a documentary. So be it, it’ll be worth it if even one child avoids my fate.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sanjana Bhambhani

I know that Dear Lara is available to universities, conservatories, and other educational and cultural institutions throughout North America. Why was it particularly important to show the documentary in these spaces? Are there plans to show it in universities and conservatories in other parts of the world?

Patrick: For us, screenings at music schools and conservatories are a priority. This is where young musicians learn what behavior is acceptable, whom they can trust, and whether their institutions will protect them. Our early test screenings confirmed something we suspected: people outside classical music reacted with disbelief, while people inside the field often recognized the behavior immediately. Their response was outrage and a demand for change. We have seen how productive it can be to put students, teachers, and administrators in a room together. We have also recently begun outreach to educational institutions in Europe.

Research data from this year highlighted how there are challenges inherent in addressing the issue of sexual abuse and harassment. Whilst studies have been published in other countries, they also “highlight a broader gap in systematic research within the American orchestral field”. With hurdles still in place – students fearing career repercussions naming their abusers -, how do you think we can overcome this and avoid issues such as pressure placed on musicians, especially women, to remain silent?

Patrick: Two things need to happen: accountability for past abuse and prevention of future abuse. First, institutions need to investigate historical allegations rather than simply waiting for the problem to disappear. Survivors also need stronger legal rights, including reforms to statutes of limitations that currently prevent many from pursuing justice. We need to make it possible to hold not only individual perpetrators accountable, but also the institutions that protected or enabled them. There must be serious consequences for both perpetrators and institutions that shield them. If covering up abuse carries little legal or financial risk, the temptation to protect the institution's reputation remains strong. Criminal prosecution and civil liability can change that calculation. Prevention matters just as much. Music schools and orchestras need independent reporting channels, protection against retaliation, credible investigations, and less dependence on the unchecked authority of any one teacher or conductor. Students are right to worry about retaliation. In this field, one influential person can derail a career. We cannot solve that by asking young musicians to be braver. The professional risks of reporting have to change. The research highlighted by Unbound Symphony is important. We need better data, especially in the United States. But there is already ample evidence of the problem. More research cannot become a reason to postpone action.

Lara: (seems like Patrick answered this one pretty thoroughly). I would just add: schools and conservatories are just a few places which need to be seeing this film. I would love for lawmakers, especially in the U.S.A., to have some screenings (and I think we’re on the way). The Statute of Limitations, which gets discussed in the film, protects perpetrators and their enabling institutions in many states, including Pennsylvania. This emboldens child abusers and the institutions who protect them because they are perfectly aware that their victim is so disempowered it’ll be years before they can speak out. At the risk of sounding blunt, I’ll just say that I managed to get raped as a child in the wrong state. I have never had any possibility of justice. Only when there is a lookback window or when the statute falls, will I ever see any.

And to echo Patrick a bit, every musician who sees it says to me “AT LAST!” with varying amounts of emotion. Non-musicians are shocked. The silence has been so entrenched, they had no idea.

Dear Lara has won, among other honours, Best International Documentary from the Brittany International Film Festival, and the Courage Award from Cinema d'iDEA in Rome. How does it feel to receive that kind of acclaim and recognition?

Patrick: The awards mean a great deal. We spent seven years making this film, often with very limited resources and no certainty that it would find an audience. It's gratifying to have the work recognized, especially after such a difficult path to completion. The messages from audiences have affected me even more. Survivors have told us they felt seen by the film. Others have shared experiences they had never spoken about publicly. We also hear from people who say the film started conversations in their own institutions. Toronto stands out. Thousands signed a petition demanding accountability at the Royal Conservatory of Music after our screening. The conservatory subsequently announced an independent investigation. That response means more to me than any award.

Lara: Actually, we just won another one! The Impact Award at Naples (Florida) Film Festival. Yes, it’s of course really nice to get these prizes and awards, but the whole point is to get it out to as many eyes as possible. If these awards can help that, great.

We have intentionally disqualified the film from, say, the Oscars, because various countries have bought broadcast rights and some have aired it. One producer at a film festival told me that it takes about a million dollars for an Oscar campaign, and I thought, well, if I had that kind of dough (I do not) I’d much rather spend it to get it in front of loads of folks than in front of the thousand or so that vote in the academy. It was an easy decision.

“What stays with me most are the conversations after screenings. People linger to speak with Lara, tell us about their own experiences, or ask questions about the film”

Dear Lara is getting a wider release next year. It no doubt will speak to those who have survived abuse. It also shines a light on Classical music and abuse that has been rife for years. What do you both want to happen in the coming years in terms of the toxic culture and distributing statistics? What can and should the industry do to ensure that there is greater accountability, repercussions for abusers, and a safer environment for Classical students?

Patrick: I hope that in five or ten years we'll look back at some of the practices that are still accepted in classical music and find them astonishing. For too long, artistic talent has been used to excuse terrible behavior. People who speak out can lose their careers while those responsible carry on. Accountability has to extend beyond individual perpetrators. Schools and orchestras need to stop quietly passing problematic teachers from one institution to another. They need proper scrutiny when allegations arise, and they need to make it safe for people to report what they know. The deeper problem is cultural. Classical music has long romanticized the authoritarian teacher, the brilliant but difficult maestro, and the idea that suffering is somehow part of becoming a great artist. We need to challenge those assumptions. Artistic excellence doesn't require cruelty. I'd be delighted if Dear Lara eventually felt like a record of a bygone culture, rather than a description of the one we're still living in.

Lara: There are still well-known abusers allowed to perpetrate their predilections in many corners of the world. The only way we’re going to make significant change in such a backwards-looking profession is if we talk about these things, report the abuse (by making it possible for people to do so without losing everything) and name the institutions who allowed this to go on for so very long, and in many cases, still do. I’ve started to see many schools start to clean house of their own accord, though. That, to me, is a hopeful sign! Also, about 50 schools have already asked to screen Dear Lara, also hopeful.

Obviously, it has been an intense and busy period for you both getting Dear Lara made and seen. That is still ongoing. However, with a little breathing room, what are your abiding emotions and memories, either in terms of feedback from survivors or how it has been received in general?

Patrick: What stays with me most are the conversations after screenings. People linger to speak with Lara, tell us about their own experiences, or ask questions about the film. Sometimes they've been carrying these stories for decades. When someone tells you something that personal, you feel the responsibility of having helped put the film into the world. I'm also struck by the number of musicians who say some version of "We all knew." That is deeply troubling. But we're meeting students and teachers who no longer seem willing to accept that silence. I'm proud of Lara and our small team for getting the film finished and in front of audiences. Lara started on her own, with a camera and a determination to make people listen. It's remarkable to sit beside her at a screening now and hear what people have to say afterward.

Lara: I won’t have breathing room, per se, for some time, since I am determined to go and be the face of my film as many places as I can! And I won’t deny that it’s heavy and tough to speak to people after such a movie, but it’s what I signed up for by first speaking out, then making the film and now travelling with it. No regrets here. We have now been selected at over 20 festivals on four continents and won six awards. We’ve been playing at schools, conservatories, libraries, musicians’ union theatres and we have or will be broadcast in three countries. That is all since the World Premiere in February.

Classical Music World, we’re a-comin’ atcha. Look out.

FEATURE: This Is Your Big Debut… Why the 2027 Fiftieth Anniversary of Steely Dan’s Aja Once More Is Sparking Ambitions in Me

FEATURE:

 

 

This Is Your Big Debut…

 

Why the 2027 Fiftieth Anniversary of Steely Dan’s Aja Once More Is Sparking Ambitions in Me

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A few classic albums…

PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Pou/Pexels

turns fifty next year. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours among them. One of my favourite albums ever is Steely Dan’s Aja. That was released on 23rd September, 1977. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker would record one more album together, 1980’s Aja, before there was a hiatus or time away. They then recorded two albums in the 2000s and toured. Becker died in 2017. On 3rd September next year we mark ten years since we lost Walter Becker. Gaucho was mostly made with Donald Fagen in charge, as Becker had some personal issues. A roster of professional musicians came through the sessions. It was a marathon recording and the perfectionism of Donald Fagen was on full display. Though Aja was not exactly stress-free, you feel it was a more harmonious experience. Becker and Fagen together for most of it. Gaucho is a wonderful album. It turns forty-six on 21st November. It is worth listening to the album if you have not done so in a while. I have been thinking about Aja. There was a 2023 reissue. I wonder if there are unheard takes, demos and extras that could go onto a fiftieth anniversary reissue. Donald Fagen has not released a solo album since 2012’s Sunken Condos. I hope that he does record more material. Steely Dan have a big fanbase, though I am not sure how many younger music fans know them. Played on radio stations that have a slightly older demographic, unless their music is used in film or there are new albums, a lot of legacy artists do not get that attention from younger generations. What would be cool ahead of the fiftieth anniversary of Aja if there were some new videos commissioned.

The Beach Boys had a few of their hits accompanied by new videos a whole back. I Get Around and Surfin’ U.S.A. among them. The Beatles have had that too. When they have had albums reissues and deluxe editions, there have been videos made. I’m Only Sleeping one of the songs where we get a cool video. Steely Dan didn’t film music videos, so it is long overdue that we would get some visualisations. There are three Aja songs I feel could have very different and amazing videos. Josie, Deacon Blues and Peg. Maybe Josie as a live action with an actress playing the eponymous character. Deacon Blues could have an animated video. I think Peg had possibilities with live action. There are other songs that could benefit from a video, such as Aja and Black Cow, though I feel the holy trinity of Peg, Josie, and Deacon Blues would be amazing to see. I have written before how, since Steely Dan’s reign, there has not been a group like them. More and more, I look around music and see this gap. I have pitched an album idea before. Called American Grammar, it would have tracks called American Grammar, Can’t Buy a Thrill, Long Shot, Negative Space, I’ll Get to New York City One Day Soon, Katy’s Switch, Hipsterlooza, and Eastside. Big topics being tackled alongside themes of romantic struggle and growing older. A fantastic and striking album cover. Similar to Steely Dan and Aja, recording with a host of incredible musicians across a few studios. I know it would be an expensive process, but I do genuinely feel that there is this gulf. How you hope that someone would emerge, post-Steely Dan. Even though I would not be playing on an album, it would be great to be part of a debut album. Writing lyrics and art direction. Different singers tackling the songs. Musicians playing in a couple of U.S. studios. I can’t think of any album quite like Aja. Even if it does not tackle topics that you’d address today – L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ rights, political corruption in the U.S., gender inequality and women facing sexual abuse -, the rich and layered musicianship mixed with lyrics that are intelligent and compelling. Not ordinary songs that pass you by.

Thinking ahead to an important fiftieth anniversary, Aja will be introduced to new listeners. Though I kind of think it would be beneficial having music videos made. Beyond that, its legacy remains with Steely Dan. You can feel some artists since who inhabit some aspects of them and the album, though nothing particularly major or enduring. Others might disagree. Steely Dan are one of these acts that were so amazing and released these genius albums, though there is little in the way of contemporaries. Not that an Aja fiftieth anniversary celebration would change that too much. It does re-instil a desire to mix the brilliance of Steely Dan’s musicianship and wit and combine that with tackling modern themes. Keeping the essence of Steely Dan there. Maybe you can’t improve on the originals. Listening to albums like Aja and Gaucho. To do something similar but weaker. Not to suggest someone copy it and do something exactly like it. Just take that blueprint and foundation and building something that is not a replica. It does make me a bit sad that there is little direct influence of Steely Dan running through modern music. Perhaps on the fringes or some lesser-known artists. In addition to thinking about my own album based around Steely Dan’s sound and legacy, I also think too about commemorative/anniversary videos for Aja songs. Feeling Josie come to life with a popular actress as the song unfolds. Although the albums and music of Steely Dan will remain forever and always be heard, you wonder about passing the torch and who takes over. Splicing Steely Dan’s 1970s and 1980s brilliance and bringing it…

INTO the modern day.

FEATURE: Such Great Heights: Inside the Incredible and Enduring Soundtrack of Zach Braff’s 2004 Film, Garden State

FEATURE:

 

 

Such Great Heights

 

Inside the Incredible and Enduring Soundtrack of Zach Braff’s 2004 Film, Garden State

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NOT related to any…

IN THIS PHOTO: Garden State’s writer/director/star Zach Braff onstage for a twentieth anniversary concert in 2025/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

news, anniversary or anything significant relating to it, I did want to look inside the soundtrack of the 2004 film, Garden State. I guess its director/writer/star Zach Braff is back in a lot of people’s homes and minds because of the new series of Scrubs. Finding peak form and seemingly entering a new phase of life, we hope that there are many more episodes to come. Braff is a successful director and writer, and it must be strange looking back to 2004 when Garden State was released. That was his debut as a director and writer. I do love the film, yet it is the soundtrack that really stayed with me. I have written about various film scores and soundtracks. How important they are. Debating which are the best. Certain directors whose film soundtracks are almost as good as the films themselves. Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino among them. Maybe it is the selection of songs on Garden State that makes it such an incredible album. These are songs that meant a lot to Zach Braff, but they also have this wider resonance. In terms of the standout songs, there is Caring Is Creepy from The Shins, Don’t Panic by Coldplay, and Zero 7’s In the Waiting Line. My favourite is Simon & Garfunkel’s The Only Living Boy in New York. I do like this idea of a soundtrack being like a mixtape. One that means a lot to the director/writer and is not just a collection of songs lazily slung together. Someone trying to get all these needle drops without really having much purpose for placing that particular song in the scene. Zach Braff is a big music fan, and all of the songs mean/meant something to him. I think it is that combination of well-known artists standing with some people may not have heard of. Nick Drake and Bonnie Sommerville standing bedside one another, as it were.

Iron & Wire’s Such Great Heights sharing sonic room with Remy Zero’s Fair. It is a fascinating soundtrack that has come back in my mind. In the same way some people are frustrated actors or directors, I am a frustrated songwriter. That dream will never be realised for me, so I guess music journalism is a way of being adjacent to that. Not a compromise, it is a connection to the music industry. Studio albums are brilliant, but there is something about a soundtrack that stands out. I would urge people to go and watch Garden State. You can stream it here. Quite hard to track down, I would recommend people rent and watch it when they can. Though it sounds hard and bleak when it comes to the synopsis – “Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) shuffled through life in a lithium-induced coma until his mother’s death inspired a vacation from the pills to see what might happen. A moderately successful TV actor living in Los Angeles, “Large” hasn't been home to the "Garden State" in nine years. But even with 3,000 miles between them, he's been unable to escape his domineering father Gideon (Sir Ian Holm) and the silencing effect he’s had on his son from afar” -, it is actually pretty uplifting an funny. The brilliant Natalie Portman in one of her best roles. An incredible performance. The chemistry between her and Braff is an important factor when it comes to the film’s success. I want to come to some writing about the soundtrack. This feature from The Ringer was published in 2024. Marking twenty years of an essential and phenomenal soundtrack, Zach Braff, James Mercer of The Shins, Imogen Heap (Frou Frou), and more explain how it all came together. I have followed Braff’s career since and listened to soundtracks from his films. Nothing quite matches Garden State. One of the all-time great soundtracks:

“The movie hails from a steady wave of hip, successful soundtracks. The 2000s were full of them. Almost Famous, Love & Basketball, Marie Antoinette, Juno, (500) Days of Summer, and Twilight picked up where Singles, Waiting to Exhale, Romeo + Juliet, Trainspotting, and Cruel Intentions had left off in the ’90s. If you were a teenager or college kid (especially a white teenager or college kid) when Garden State came out, you probably had a copy of the album in your CD storage tower or at least knew someone who did. Maybe you loaded it onto your shiny, new iPod. You might have also read the blog Braff started as part of Garden State’s promotional campaign, where he dropped additional music suggestions, such as Ben Harper’s “Waiting on an Angel” and the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.” (It was revealed just this week that another blog, in 2005, from future vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, described the soundtrack as “so relevant to my life right now, and the story of a guy returning home, realizing that home isn’t what it used to be, etc., made me want to tear up.”) No matter how anyone feels about the film or its moody needle drops today, it was an irrefutable touchstone. An aura of cool hovered around the whole thing.

“What I think worked about the soundtrack was that you could put the tracks in order, so you could sort of experience the film through the music,” Braff tells The Ringer 20 years later. “This was back in an era where people actually listened to a full album, as opposed to just picking tracks like we do on streaming these days.”

For a Sundance breakout made by a sitcom star at a modest $2.5 million, Garden State surpassed every expectation. Miramax and Fox Searchlight paid a joint $5 million to acquire the film, which eventually grossed an impressive $35.8 million in just a limited release. The soundtrack—also featuring the likes of Coldplay, Simon & Garfunkel, Iron & Wine, and Thievery Corporation—went platinum without releasing any stand-alone singles. This is the story of how the album came together.

Part 1: “A Bunch of Friends Making a Mixtape”

Before Garden State, Braff was known as the goofy guy from Scrubs. He wrote the movie’s first draft in 2000, at which point he’d appeared in the films Manhattan Murder Mystery and The Broken Hearts Club. The NBC hospital comedy premiered the following year. What Braff calls a quarter-life crisis inspired the story of a depressed TV actor named Andrew Largeman who returns home to small-town New Jersey for his mother’s funeral. In the course of a few days, Andrew reconnects with old friends, meets a quirky love interest named Sam (Natalie Portman), confronts his emotionally distant father (Ian Holm), and more or less figures himself out. (The film was initially titled Large’s Ark, and the script included other story lines that Braff later cut. “It was the first screenplay I’d ever written. I didn’t know anything, really,” he says.) Garden State was part of a fertile subgenre fixated on suburban ennui, fitting in with contemporary releases like The Ice Storm, Happiness, American Beauty, The Virgin Suicides, and Ghost World.

Zach Braff (director, writer, and actor): It was sort of a fantasy—not only fantasy for the romantic relationship, but fantasy that I would have these breakthroughs that were keeping me from being myself. It was a very vulnerable thing to do. When I put it out there, I had no idea that it would resonate so much. No one did.

Dan Halsted (producer): I was an independent producer at the time, and I was consulting with Gary Gilbert, who was a new financier in Hollywood looking to put some money into scripts. He had met Natalie Portman at a charity function somewhere, and he said, “I would love to do anything with Natalie.” So I called up Natalie’s agent at CAA, and he said, “I’ve got this script by a guy on Scrubs; Jersey Films, Danny DeVito’s company, is involved, and they’re looking for financing.” I sent it right to Gary. Gary calls me the next day and goes, “I want to do this.” Zach was kind of a genius in that he sent a CD with the script. In the script, he had music cues saying, “Play this song here.” It was pretty much the final soundtrack.

Braff: The hardest thing in the world to convey with a screenplay is tone. One thing about putting songs in and giving people a mix CD back in the day was that I hoped I could convey the vibe.

Cary Brothers (“Blue Eyes”): Zach and I met in college at Northwestern. I was playing at the Hotel Cafe in the singer-songwriter scene in Los Angeles, and Zach got the funding for Garden State. He came to me and said, “Hey, can I put ‘Blue Eyes’ in Garden State?” At the time, it was a very independent film that was really under the radar.

Braff: Musicals were what got me into the business. My father loved musicals. If I had any leg up at all, it’s that since I was a tiny kid seeing so many musicals, I was aware that the right song in the right place could give people goose bumps.

Chad Fischer (composer, Garden State score): I played drums for Colin Hay, the singer from Men at Work, in the early ’90s, and we cowrote some songs together. Zach and all his buddies would come and see Colin play at Largo [in Los Angeles]. This is the late ’90s, early aughts. That’s how Zach fell in love with Colin’s solo acoustic music, and that’s how “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You” made it on the soundtrack.

Colin Hay (“I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You,” speaking to Stereogum in 2022): I had that song, I think probably ’96 or something like that, on an album called Transcendental Highway. And it wasn’t until 10 years later, when Zach put it in the film and then Sony released it as part of the soundtrack, that people started to really notice the song. It gave me faith in myself in a way. Because I thought to myself, “Well, I was right. It was a good song, and people did like it if they were exposed to it.” And that’s what Scrubs and the Garden State film did. It just helped youngsters discover that they liked some of these tunes I was doing.


Brothers: I played that Coldplay record [“Don’t Panic”] for Zach for the first time because my roommate worked at Capitol Records, [Coldplay’s U.S. label]. I was just such a music nerd. There were a few of us who were friends who would go up to Zach’s house with stacks of CDs. He would describe a scene, and we would throw out a bunch of ideas. It had the energy of a bunch of friends making a mixtape. Nobody was telling us what to do.

Halsted: Zach wrote to all the artists and gave them a whole point of view and said, “Look, I only have this amount of money.”

Robert Kraft (former president, Fox Music): I recommended explaining that he couldn’t afford the prices he was being quoted but desperately wanted their songs. This was a Baz Luhrmann hack that I borrowed.

Braff: When I had my initial Sundance cut of the movie, you can pay a fee for the music just to use it at a festival. I remember being told, “Don’t get too attached to all this music. You’re not going to get Coldplay. You’re not going to get Simon & Garfunkel. You’re not going to get Nick Drake. We just don’t have the money for that.” With the help of [music supervisor] Amanda Demme, who did the business side of all of these deals, little by little we started getting them.

Halsted: We paid maybe $2,500 to $5,000 a song. Back then, a soundtrack song was probably a minimum of $25,000 to $50,000.”.

Though Garden State is an amazing film, and kudos to Zach Braff for all it achieved! It is hard enough to write and direct a film, but turning in such a commanding, complex and compelling performance whilst directing yourself and others is a feat! Rare that a soundtrack has this whole other life. Becomes bigger than the film. Last year, there was this special anniversary celebration of the soundtrack. Artists included on the soundtrack performed. On stage were Imogen Heap, and The Shins (among others). Zach Braff there. Natalie Portman also there. Showing how important the film and its music is to her. An incredible celebration in Los Angeles, The Guardian were in attendance. Twenty-two years after the film came out, there is a generation that may not be aware. Now, Zach Braff is this celebrated actor, producer, writer and director. His latest film (as an actor), Clean Hands, looks amazing. A far cry in terms of the role he plays in Garden State. I wonder if he thinks back to 2004 and when that film was released to the world. Whether he knew the soundtrack would connect with so many people and be discussed all these years later:

“It’s been two decades since the release of Garden State, Zach Braff’s film about an alienated young actor’s struggle to find meaning in life. But while the movie itself became a cult classic, perhaps its biggest legacy is its soundtrack, which went platinum, won a Grammy and became a cultural touchstone among a certain subset of the American population.

So it was no surprise that, when Braff announced a 20th-anniversary concert celebrating the album, at which each of its dozen or so artists would perform, tickets were going for hundreds of dollars. This was Woodstock for elder millennials – at least a certain swath of us who, when the soundtrack came out in 2004, found an outlet for our big teenage feelings in bands like the Shins, Frou Frou and Iron and Wine. All three were among the performers at Los Angeles’s Greek Theater on Saturday evening (technically nearly 21 years after the album’s release). The concert raised money for the Midnight Mission, a century-old LA charity fighting homelessness.

One of the film’s most memorable scenes features Natalie Portman handing Braff a pair of headphones, telling him the music he’s about to hear “will change your life, I swear”. At the show on Saturday, it was clear her words hadn’t just applied to Braff’s character. The Greek was packed with fans, including a strong contingent of cool-dad types; there were beanies, graying sideburns and jeans whose width would make gen Z shudder. Several people were wearing trash bags in honor of another of the film’s best-known scenes.

Braff, who curated the soundtrack and organized the concert, began the night by lamenting Portman’s absence – she couldn’t make it from her home in Paris, he said, as she joined him on stage. She was one of a host of surprise guests, who also included Danny DeVito, Sarah Paulson, and Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke of Scrubs, where Braff got his start. Taylor Swift was not there, but she contributed a signed guitar to be auctioned for the cause.

The first performance was the last track on the album: Winding Road, an acoustic pop song by Bonnie Somerville. Then came Sophie Barker with In the Waiting Line, Zero 7’s mellow contribution, and Cary Brothers with a robust rendition of his song Blue Eyes. Clips from the film and behind-the-scenes footage played as the stage was rearranged between artists.

The Birmingham, Alabama, alternative band Remy Zero reunited for the first time in 15 years to play Fair, from the film’s soundtrack, as well as Save Me, which didn’t appear in the film. “The only person in this world that could get us together is Zach Braff,” said the band’s singer, August Cinjun Tate. Thievery Corporation followed with an infectious performance of the sitar-led Lebanese Blond.

The evening wasn’t without its technical difficulties; there were a few false starts to songs, occasional random audio feedback, and at one point the videos stopped working, so Braff came on stage and did a little dance to fill time. But the minor slip-ups only enhanced the relaxed, casual atmosphere; despite the 6,000-seat outdoor venue, it felt a bit like we were all in Braff’s living room as his favorite artists performed, not out of a sense of duty but for the joy of it. That joy extended to the crowd, who gave standing ovations to virtually every musician. I’d known that people loved the soundtrack in 2004, but I hadn’t been prepared for how that enthusiasm had endured.

IN THIS PHOTO: Natalie Portman and Zach Braff/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Winkelmeyer

Among the evening’s highlights was Colin Hay’s performance of the heartbreaking I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You on a booming 12-string guitar. At 71, he performs with a particular gravitas, and his voice is as powerful as ever. Simon and Garfunkel were shockingly unavailable to play The Only Living Boy in New York, so the Milk Carton Kids covered it, with Braff noting that its chorus, about being gone without knowing where, felt appropriate: “I suppose that’s what I was really trying to write about in my early 20s, this abyss that I felt in my chest.” He added: “I couldn’t see it at the time, but 20 years later I think I can. Writing this story was definitely a callout to the universe … I was looking for like-minded souls who know that sometimes it helps if you can manage to laugh through some of those tears.” He applauded the community that had formed around the film, the tattoos and wedding proposals he’d witnessed, “the babies that were made – you know that you had sex to this soundtrack. ”Next came Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam with his cover of the Postal Service’s Such Great Heights, followed by another of the night’s high points: a duet with Madison Cunningham on Nick Drake’s One of These Things First, with a tease of the Sesame Street theme song that fit oddly well. Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth, AKA Frou Frou, reunited for Let Go, as well as an improvised piece based on a melody provided by the audience. But perhaps the most striking performance of the night was another cover: the jazz musician Laufey’s version of Coldplay’s Don’t Panic, with just piano and vocals. Building from a delicate introduction to a powerful chorus, she transformed the two-minute song into a sweeping, dynamic piece that deserves its own release.

Of course, the Shins were saved for last, performing New Slang – as heard in Portman’s headphones – and Caring Is Creepy. The soundtrack helped launch the band’s career; as the singer, James Mercer, said: “It changed my life, I’ll tell you that.”

Reflecting on that line, I found myself unexpectedly moved. Garden State came out at a moment when music was transitioning from physical to digital – it was a brief period in which songs were increasingly accessible, but there was still work involved in tracking them down, and a sense of pride in thinking you’d found an artist your friends might not know about. There was value in obscurity, or the perception of it.

Or maybe that’s just how everyone feels at age 19. Either way, the soundtrack offered many listeners that crate-digging experience – an introduction to artists like the Shins, or even Nick Drake, whose posthumous star was rising – and an invitation to seek out more music that would change their lives.

It’s hard to imagine a film character saying that line today; it’s too fluffy, too idealistic, too 2004. But I’d almost forgotten the feeling existed at all. On Saturday night, for a few hours, it came back”.

I remember lots of people dumping on Garden State and Zach Braff. It was fashionable for some to take shots at it. Almost like some had to defend the film. The film is remarkable and should be shown more love (critical reception was largely positive)! Its soundtrack is the stuff of legends. Few directors who can put together such a brilliant and impactful soundtrack. Zach Braff instantly ranked alongside the legends of film. In 2004, Treble Zine reviewed Garden State’s soundtrack:

“There are maybe a handful of people in the television and film industry who can put together a soundtrack effectively. John Hughes and his people were the masters of the 80’s high school soundtrack for sure, but who has met the challenges in our time? One of my votes would go to Joss Whedon. He can hit or miss when it comes to background music, that inconsequential song playing in the background of a club or bar, but when it comes to the `big moments’ (to steal from his writing), he can do very little wrong with his song selections. And besides, he had Aimee Mann, The Breeders, and Cibo Matto guest star on his show. Quentin Tarantino is another one, especially after the two Kill Bill soundtracks, who excels at creating a meaningful and powerful soundtrack.

There is, however, a new king, an executive soundtrack producer to which all others will and should be measured. That person is Zach Braff, the talented writer and director of Garden State. I have to believe that Braff soundtracked the film as he was writing it, picking particular songs that he felt fit the mood of what he was trying to write and picture, or possibly even writing scenes whilst listening to particular songs, thereby entwining them forever. Most of the songs are from a few years ago, some of them a lot longer ago, but most from the time that he was probably writing the film. The soundtrack and film open with the jangly slow guitars of Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic.” The tone and lyrics of the song perfectly fit the mood of the film in its opening minutes, showing Braff as the numb and medicated loner, Andrew Largeman. The Shins’ “Caring is Creepy,” from their first album, Oh, Inverted World, is set to highlight the first feelings of freedom that Largeman feels after taking his grandfather’s motorcycle out for a spin.

Zero 7’s “In the Waiting Line” plays during a party Largeman’s friend Mark throws. As the soothing music plays, contradictory to the activity of the party but in sync with the passivity of Largeman, the party rushes around the stoic main character, showing his detachment from the world, and how, as the medicine leaves his body, he begins to thaw to the world around him. The Shins make another appearance in a moment that some might view as a forced way to get another song in, but that I see as one of the most real moments in the film. In a doctor’s waiting room, Large meets Sam, played by Natalie Portman. She is wearing headphones and so Large asks her what she happens to be playing. As has happened many times in my life, rather than explain it, she simply places the headphones on Large’s ears explaining that he’s “gotta hear this song, it will change your life, I promise you.” The song is the astounding “New Slang.” As I was watching the film in a Seattle theater, as soon as the opening strains of the song played, a voice behind me said, “Of course.” Yeah, my thoughts exactly. The song is brilliant and beautiful and there could be no other Shins song that would have been as effective.

Colin Hay, formerly of Men at Work, contributes a surprisingly powerful ballad called “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You,” another case of putting the right song in the right place. I won’t tell you all of them so as to not spoil the movie if you haven’t seen it. Underappreciated band Remy Zero has the distinction of being one of two bands that have the most memorable associates to the film’s scenes. The chorus to “Fair,” from the great album Villa Elaine, plays as Sam offers to tap dance for Large in front of a huge fireplace. It’s a touching and poignant event in the film and comes right after a moment that could easily bring one to tears. The lyrics, “So what if you catch me / Where would we land?” are central to the entire story.

The king of whispery singer / songwriters, Nick Drake, shows up with the great “One of These Things First,” originally from his album, Bryter Later. It seems as though contributions from this tragically deceased artist are mandatory in soundtracks, but again, here it’s placed wisely, taken care of, and loved. Thievery Corporation’s “Lebanese Blonde” is the closest thing to a Quentin Tarantino homage that the movie and soundtrack could come up with. In a nod to Reservoir Dogs, (somewhat, and somewhat Goodfellas, p.s. I know that’s not Tarantino), this song plays as Large, Mark, and Sam saunter in slow motion through a hotel’s hallways on a mission. (By the way, Goodfellas is not one of those soundtracks that is done particularly well, in my estimation. Most of the songs are cliché, obvious, and clumsy, especially movie closer “Layla.” The coda to the song sounds like it was designed for closing credits. Come on, let’s get a little more creative, shall we?) Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York” plays as the trio return from their mission and has another set of lyrics that weigh heavy on the film: “Half of the time we’re gone but we don’t know where.”

Sam Beam, a.k.a. Iron & Wine, brings his b-side treasure to the world with his rendition of the Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” I had a slight problem with this song’s inclusion and placement in the film, but I will admit that it’s probably only I that has this problem. The song hit me so emotionally the first time I heard it that I was forever changed by it, just like Sam mentions about “New Slang.” I felt that the scene that the song accompanied should have had the same emotional weight the song had for me. This is a purely personal observation and takes nothing away from either the song or the movie. In fact, now that I think about it, it makes the earlier “New Slang” scene even more real. I did this same thing, placed headphones on a friend to force her to listen to this song that hit me so hard. After hearing it, she approached me somewhat teary-eyed, sarcastically said, “Thanks a lot,” and was also changed by it.

Frou Frou is the one other band, besides Remy Zero, that has the most memorable associations. First of all, it helps that the song is used in the commercials for the film. Secondly, you combine the beautiful voice of Imogen Heap with the production of Guy Sigsworth, who helped Bjork with a few singles, and you’re bound to get a good song. Combine that good song with the most emotionally charged scene of the film and you have a near perfect moment. What vaults it to perfection is the fact that, yet again, the lyrics match the event to a tee. The soundtrack ends with “Winding Road” by Bonnie Somerville, normally a song that I would dismiss as just a song for the rolling credits, a la “Layla,” it also has apt lyrics in “Someday we’ll find our way home.” For those of you who have seen the movie, you know what she means, in more ways than one.

Zach Braff, you talented S.O.B., I am in awe of your talents. Please make more films, and don’t let anyone mess with the soundtracks”.

As Scrubs is on its new run and gathering spectacular praise, I was thinking about its star Zach Braff’s filmography. Remembering when I watched Garden State back in 2004. How its soundtrack obviously complimented the film wonderfully, though it is also this standalone wonder. One of the very best soundtracks ever. It is hard it track a copy to vinyl in the U.K. This is the kind of soundtrack I’d love to see reissued to vinyl, C.D., and even cassette. Introduce it to a whole new generation. As so many younger listeners are abandoning algorithm-driven streaming and want the physicality and warmth of physical formats, film soundtracks like Garden State’s need to be readily available. Let’s  hope it does get reissued at some point, as it proudly stands alongside…

THE greatest film soundtracks ever.

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: The Big Moon

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Melanie Lehmann

 

The Big Moon

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THIS is one of my…

favourite groups, and one I have been following since their 2017 debut album, Love in the 4th Dimension. I am going to finish with a review of The Big Moon’s latest album, Forever. I have done this for one or two artists lately, but I think that Forever could well be nominated for the Mercury Prize next year. It may be their finest album yet. Before I get to that review, it is worth spotlighting some interviews with the London band. One that I have so much affection for. Their career and lives has changed since 2022’s Here Is Everything. I did want to lead off with The Line of Best Fit and their interview with Jules Jackson. Their lead vocalist and songwriter “tells Alex Dewing about finding freedom in the future’s eternal uncertainty”. I do think that Forever is a remarkable album. The Big Moon are on tour at the moment. You can check the dates here. They play London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 27th November:

“Jackson didn't set out to make an album about this uncertainty. The title only began to take shape towards the end of the writing process, when she recognised a thread connecting the songs. “I don't know if it's something I decided to write about. I think it's just something that came out,” she explains. “I realised as I was sort of coming to the end of writing it that I was constantly singing about, like, eternity and foreverness, and what's next. Then it all kind of made sense.”

The album's search for a happy ending began somewhere more immediate. The past couple of years had brought a significant readjustment for Jackson, who was diagnosed with a cholesteatoma in 2024. The benign but destructive cyst required surgery to remove and left her with almost no hearing in one ear. During this difficult period, she found herself writing songs that reflected how she felt, but weren't helping her feel any better. “I found myself writing really sad songs, and I was just like, ‘Who's this for? Like, I'm not enjoying it. It's not making me feel any better.’”

Instead, she decided to imagine what 'feeling better' might sound like. “I just did a full turnaround and was like, ‘Let's just write some songs for when I feel better.’” A type of manifestation, the future she pictured wasn't one of grand achievements, but simply being back on stage with the band and well enough to enjoy it. In that sense, Forever became a way of writing towards a life she hadn't quite returned to yet.

The songs themselves can take similarly unexpected turns. “Gravity” began life as a power ballad, complete with multiple tempos and key changes, before Fern Ford suggested turning it into a disco track. Drawing on the drums of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ford found a way to give the song more bite. “The drum beat in Gravity changed the whole song,” Jackson recalls. “After you came up with that, we were like, okay, let's go down that road.”

It's a reminder that, despite the personal ideas underpinning Forever, The Big Moon's music remains a collective effort. Jackson leaves room for the others to reshape her demos, with the band developing songs together before taking them into the studio. Ford's own production work has also opened up new possibilities. On “Sounds”, she used tape loops recorded on a four-track machine, capturing the other members singing into separate channels and embracing the imperfections. “It was out of time, which is what made that moment work,” she explains. “I'm just absolutely chuffed the tape loop's gone onto the new record.”

Jackson, meanwhile, has grown more confident writing with people outside the band, learning to make up melodies and lyrics in front of strangers. It's not always comfortable. “You have to really embarrass yourself to do that,” she laughs. “There's no, like, magic way to do it. You just do it in this really dumb way. Even Taylor Swift.” It’s a willingness to keep learning that comes in handy in an industry that has changed considerably since the band's early days, when touring meant sleeping on sofas and playing small venues wherever they could. They now have more freedom to choose which tours to take on, although Jackson, a parent of two, jokes that life on the road can feel like a break from cleaning porridge off the floor”.

The penultimate interview I am including is from DORK. I hope that what I am including in this feature adds something. In terms of illuminating The Big Moon and providing context and background to Forever. I am keen to interview them one day, as their story is fascinating. Almost a decade from their debut and they are as bonded and brilliant as ever. I can see them recording together for many more years:

“Manifesting is a term which inspires a grimace from both Jules and Soph – and, admittedly, us too – but it is, in a way, what happened.

"It's more like inventing," Jules states, "I was inventing this happy ending that I imagined would be in a year or two years, and I'd be like, 'Yay, I'm alright now, so I want to sing about these things instead'."

Soph adds, "That's an amazing way of handling it rather than being stuck in it. Then you get to that point, and it's like, you got yourself there by getting yourself there."

Jules smiles and says, profoundly, "You have to find your hope from somewhere, don't you?"

As much as the world that the band create across 'Forever' is a fictional, fantasy world, it nonetheless takes its cues from the more everyday but no less special moments from Jules' everyday life. She is now a mother of two young kids, a transformational experience for anyone, and is ticking off other milestones that grown-ups have to face; when we chat to the band, she is in the unenviable position of trying to pack up and move house.

"Once I decided to write something that was kind of a fantasy or for this future happy ending, I just started really enjoying writing, and it became really fun.

"When you're tricking yourself into the headspace of a different character, everything's so much easier because then you don't feel like you're giving yourself away and you don't have to be incredibly real and deep to your truth."

She continues, "You can sort of skim over it a bit, but then even through writing and pretending you're someone else or somewhere else, everything you come out with is still you. You're only tricking yourself that it's not real. Everything that comes out is still totally real, and the songs are all about real things in my life. I just enjoyed writing them a lot more."

Soph chimes in: "Music can often be escapism, and I think it's cool that you're able to do that for yourself. I feel like a thing that people seem to like about The Big Moon is coming to shows and having some sense of escapism and a lot of fun together; it's always this celebration. There is nostalgia and sadness in there, but mostly it's celebratory."

Looking forward, past the mechanical stuff that they conversely clearly do not love – namely, fighting the algorithm to make sure their fans hear their music – their hopes and dreams for the band don't extend all that far: they don't want anything as much as the band.

"I want it to continue and this thing to keep building," Soph says. "We've been getting lots of messages from people about being back and being able to have that connection with people, and you're like, it's all there and exists."

Jules smirks: "Yeah, we just want to do the band."

As the chat comes to a close, it ends with a quote from Soph that is as fittingly cosmic as it is wholesome: "The Big Moon, forever. That's the tagline”.

The final interview is from Rolling Stone UK. They spoke with The Big Moon’s Juliette Jackson about her health challenges and trying to find joy in the midst of pain and struggle. The Big Moon have been operating for twelve years now. It is brilliant they are still so connected and inspired. They are one of our greatest groups. One that I was eager to shine a light on here:

“Tell me about how the surgery impacted your relationship with music.

It means I’m hearing things in mono, kind of. It has affected my enjoyment of music, actually. I still enjoy going to shows and seeing music live, because it’s really fucking loud, but I don’t listen to music on headphones anymore. When you’re listening to music, you can turn it up really loud and you can feel if it’s right… I’ve lost that ability. In the studio, I’m always talking to my bandmates – like, “OK, we recorded all the bits, but does it feel good?” So I’m trusting them now. Luckily, they know what they’re doing!

There’s also a lot of happiness and hope in the album – how did you reach that point?

When I was really ill and couldn’t hear anything, I was in pain and isolated because I couldn’t communicate with people very well. I was writing all these sad songs because I couldn’t really hear or sing in tune. Usually, writing songs is a cathartic thing, but writing sad songs about a sad thing, it felt too real. I was like, ‘You know what? At some point, I’m gonna get better. I don’t know what form that’s gonna take, but I’m gonna be playing with my band again, and I’m gonna want to be playing a song that is really fun and upbeat.’ I painted this picture of a happy ending in a year or two’s time, when we’d be playing at a festival and it’d be really sunny, and I was like, ‘Those are the songs I want.’ I feel like I tricked myself into being hopeful, and it worked. 

On the song ‘Fun’, you sing: “Fun is as complex as misery” – what informed that lyric?

When I was writing this album, I wanted to write very short pop songs. I got really bored of verses; I got impatient. Maybe that’s something to do with my hearing as well, but I was like, ‘Give me the big juicy bit of the sandwich – I don’t care about having a starter!’ ‘Fun’ is a song about how you’re supposed to suffer for your art, and that’s how you make “real art”, but it’s just not true. Having fun is an integral part of life… it’s not a stupid way to spend your time. I feel like pop music gets put down for not being dark or mysterious, but it’s just as real and it’s just as juicy and important”.

I am finishing with a review of Forever. The Guardian wrote a four-star review. In their header, they note how “the hell of hearing loss inspires a defiantly hopeful pop-disco marvel”. If you are new to The Big Moon, I would compel you to go back to their debut and work forward. However, make sure you do not miss Forever, as it could be their most important album yet. It will be interesting hearing what comes next and what the coming years offer:

“From the outside, it looks as if things have gone swimmingly for the Big Moon. Fronted by Juliette Jackson, a former waitress who dreamed big, they have been active for 12 years, a success in itself in these days, notching up four albums including this latest. They have enjoyed a Mercury nomination (for 2017 debut Love in the 4th Dimension), decent chart positions, good-sized gigs and streaming figures in the hundreds of thousands, or millions in the case of 2019 single Your Light.

Delve beneath the surface, however, and things haven’t always been so sunny. After their debut’s ramshackle wide-eyed pop, second album Walking Like We Do detailed the travails of contemporary womanhood, and Your Light found Jackson bemoaning her generation’s lot with a weary resignation: “We were promised the world, but so was everyone else”. 2022’s Here Is Everything was conceived during Covid and processed Jackson’s life-changing experience of becoming a mother, including the disorienting experience of lack of sleep. Tricky stuff, if nothing that made Jackson’s concerns much different from vast swathes of the population.

Forever, though, has a much more troubling backdrop. In 2024, the singer was diagnosed with a cholesteatoma – a destructive cyst inside the middle ear that requires surgical removal. It caused her to lose most of her hearing on one side, which would be an alarming and unbalancing experience for anyone, never mind someone whose life and livelihood centres so much on sound. As she admits: “It was pretty much existential, because writing songs is my job and my identity.” When she was even able to think about writing songs, she understandably found herself writing material so throughly miserable she didn’t like it. At which point she did a complete volte face, and began writing songs not just to cheer herself up but actively imagining “a happy ending that didn’t exist yet”.

There are historical precedents for such a sudden pivot from agony to ecstasy. One thinks of New Order throwing off the bleakness of Ian Curtis’s death, and their grand but morose debut Movement, to blissfully reconfigure for Temptation and Power, Corruption and Lies; the Cure’s mid-80s pop rush after years of magnificently anguished albums, or Bon Iver’s move from the melancholy For Emma, Forever Ago, recorded in an isolated log cabin, to the lush, more celebratory Bon Iver, Bon Iver. Here, Jackson’s personal shift results in a collection of joyous, uplifting, ethereally classy pop-disco tunes that have an extra frisson because they have come about through sadness. Shimmery opener Gravity clings to the simple joy of picking up your child from nursery, an unlikely but effective launchpad for a rapturous pop song with shades of Dreaming-era Blondie.

Three Things celebrates youth and pop (“My whole life imminent / I remember living inside the songs on the radio”), the wistful undercurrent carefully smothered in bouncy, MGMT-style keyboard riffs and juddering sequencers straight out of new wave and disco. The universally relatable Fun imagines a life beyond constraints – “I’ll slip away and take my brain on holiday” – the dreamily summery sounds recalling Haim and, appropriately, Madonna circa Holiday.

If Jackson’s lyrics have a recurring theme, it’s of relishing – rather than fearing – life’s transience. Delicate harmonies, Fleetwood Mac production gloss and Soph Nathan’s big guitar twangs power recent single F.O.R.E.V.E.R, a rather poetic song about grabbing moments and milestones while we can, because “some day the ocean will include the drinks that we spill / And rain that used to be red wine will fall on this hill”. The yearning, classic 60s pop-tinged Can I Get a Reading Please picks up the theme: “Life’s not long, regret is though / Can you tell me something I don’t know?” The slightly country Sounds gets even darker – “I’m going to lose something very dear to me, if not now eventually” – but such shadows are more than banished by the overall musical sunniness and loveliness.

The Bananarama-ish I See You, Honey seems to celebrate the comfort of being loved (“There’s no need to say ‘I love you’, it’s everywhere to me”). Other songs celebrate the power of determination as Jackson is “pushing through” obstacles in Speed Bump or insisting “I can give a good life / As long as I’m still on my feet” during Sounds. The album’s sense of finding joy in sometimes difficult circumstances crystallises on the wonderfully titled You Remind Me That I’m Dying (And That It’s Good to Be Alive), those words providing what may well be this year’s most bittersweet euphoric chorus. “Happy endings that don’t exist yet” or not, the song is an absolute banger, which suggests Jackson and her band really do have a lot to smile about”.

The mighty and beautiful The Big Moon are a group I feel will have a busy summer next year. Lots of festival appearances. Forever has received a lot of positive reviews. Learning about the background and especially Jules Jackson’s struggle makes it an even more impactful listen. It is a remarkable album from a group who are so strong and united. This comes through in their albums and live performances. I have not seen them live, but I will try and correct that at some point. The admiration and love they are receiving right now. It is great to see, and long may…

IT continue.

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