With a New Year comes a new batch of albums to work your way through and 2014 is already looking exciting. Below, we look at some of the bands whose albums we believe will be soundtracking our 12 months ahead… Spring Offensive A long time coming, but with their previous releases, Spring Offensive have already…
In our second batch of ‘Top 5s of 2013’, we take a look at the long players that have soundtracked the past twelve months. Again, they’re featured in no particular order. Dutch Uncles – Out of Touch in the Wild It was third album lucky for Dutch Uncles as this release finally got them the…
Today I’ve been listening to ‘Hospice’ by The Antlers and also watched the mid-season finale of the fourth season of The Walking Dead. What better way to keep up this run of miserabilia than by listening to an album by a band who insisted the audience ‘join them in Hell’ at this year’s 2000 Trees…
When the opening line of an album is ‘Misery soaked you’, you know you’re in for a heartfelt, passionate and sombre listen and so it goes on the debut album ‘Comfort Songs’ from New York-via-Boston-via-LA resident Cloud (known to his parents as Tyler Taormina). Gravelly vocals and sparse instrumentation feature on the first track ‘Cars…
We were always big fans of Jumping Ships here at Spectral Nights, so after that band called it a day, it was with some excitement when it was announced three of the band were to carry on making music in the new four-piece Quiet Lions. Playing only their second ever show in the venue where…
Having first come across Rachel Sermanni on the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading Festival over a year ago, we were blown away by her stunning voice, tender melodies and heartfelt lyrics. Even playing to a baked festival crowd and contending with so much background noise, as well as the overflow from the surrounding stages, it…
Having scattered themselves around the country following the release of their debut album, the five-piece (originally from Leeds) Killing Fields of Ontario have made a welcome return with sophomore effort ‘How the World Ends’. Having played with acclaimed folk-pop bands like Sparrow and the Workshop and Broken Records, the record promises a more sprawling sound…
A four-piece instrumental band from Liverpool, Kusanagi have shared the stage with an impressive roster including Maybeshewill, Tera Melos and Gallops and released their self-titled debut EP back in April. The four tracks featured on the record hint at a band with huge-sounding ideas, and they’re never afraid to experiment or try out new things…
We’ve been listening to lots of good music lately and been to some great gigs. Sky Larkin showed why their third album deserves to be massive, Anamanaguchi provided us with pure sugar-rush fun at Southsea Fest and Tall Ships aired a new song which sounds like it could well be the breakthrough hit from their…
Following on from a phenomenal amount of hype and an appearance in the BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll, Anna Calvi’s self-titled debut album did not disappoint. With its dark atmospherics, her alluring voice and well-received singles in ‘Desire’, ‘Suzanne and I’ and the astounding ‘Blackout’, she ‘became a favourite with the whole ‘alternative’ music spectrum…
Spectral Nights - alternative music, indie music, music reviews, new music, music blog 