Written collaboratively from start to finish in Seattle, ‘The Window’ is the fourth album from Chicago’s Ratboys – and it finds the four-piece ruminating on love and grief. ‘Making Noise for the Ones You Love’ opens the album with a burst of intense feedback and pulsating drums that recall Deerhunter or The Walkmen. Julia Steiner’s…
There have been a lot of changes in The Xcerts’ camp over the past few years… A change of label, management and other personal and global challenges have made the release of their fifth album ‘Learning How to Live and Let Go’ a triumph in itself. Seeing it as a cathartic unshackling, the band promise…
Photo credit: Shervin Lainez The Hold Steady celebrate their 20th anniversary with new album ‘The Price of Progress’ – a collection of songs that finds Craig Finn once again telling the gut-punching stories of ordinary and often flawed people trying to navigate their way through life in today’s unsettled times…. ‘Grand Junction’ opens the song…
Photo credit: Niamh Berry Ailbhe Reddy follows up her 2020 debut album ‘Personal History’ with ‘Endless Affair’ – a collection of songs that find the Irish singer-songwriter tackling the pain and relief of growing up, the power of living and the raw emotion of mortality… ‘Shitshow’ opens the album with hushed tones that evolve into…
Manchester Orchestra follow up 2021’s ‘The Million Masks of God’ with ‘The Valley of Vision’ a 6-song piece that finds Andy Hull and co exploring all-new sounds (this is not a guitar-heavy record) while touching on the powerful and sometimes futile concepts of faith, adulthood and self-redemption… ‘Capital Karma’ opens the album with gentle stabs…
Photo credit: Oliver Sangster Dutch Uncles return after six years with ‘True Entertainment’, their sixth (!) album since 2009. Inspired by acts including Kate Bush, The Blue Nile and Ennio Morricone, the album features guest appearances from Metronomy’s Anna Prior and Everything Everything’s Jonathan Higgs while the sound continues to blend eminently danceable hooks with…
Growing up in Aldershot at the turn of the century, there wasn’t an awful lot to be proud of – we had a football club that rose from the ashes, were the home of the British Army and that was about it. As soon as I left school and started college (bear in mind I…
The Waeve – a duo made up of Blur’s Graham Coxon and former Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall – are all set to release their debut album. Co-produced by James Ford, the record finds the talented songwriters exploring various subjects and soundscapes with infectious enthusiasm. ‘Can I Call You’ opens the album in style with its…
‘Angel Numbers’, Hamish Hawk’s follow-up to 2021’s acclaimed ‘Heavy Elevator’, was once again produced by Idlewild’s Rod Jones at his Post Electric studio in Leith, Edinburgh and finds the singer-songwriter offering up his witty and wry observations on all the foibles of modern life… Opener ‘Once Upon an Acid Glance’ quickly sets the scene with…
Photo credit: Alex Martinez Based in Seattle, Elliott Green’s Bandcamp page simply states ‘I write sad songs’ and she lives up to this statement on new album ‘Everything I Lack’ – out on Count Your Lucky Stars Records on 27 January. Haunting piano tones and atmospheric feedback swathe around the opener ‘Friendly Advice’ – a…
Spectral Nights - alternative music, indie music, music reviews, new music, music blog 