Paul Mosley & the red meat orchestra have produced the most ambitious album of 2020 with ‘Music For Puppets’. Drawing from scores Paul produced for puppet shows he crafted them into a vast array of song styles. The album ranges from the acid-folk-psychedelia of ‘Magic the Made Me’, synth-pop ‘Invisible Me’ to moving waltz duet ‘Tightrope’ but retains a unifying quality: paulmosley.bandcamp.com/album
Bristol music collective Bearcraft release their utterly infectious single ‘Outside in the Morning Snow’. Speaking about the track, Bearcraft’s Dicky Moore highlights how it resonates with the current social climate: “When life, as Stephen Pinker puts it, is a battle against entropic forces, peril is always close. Morning Snow is about that, and about the solace that can be found in accepting this foreboding reality.” Their album ‘Fabrefactions’ is released next month: bearcraftmusic.com
Francesca Louise‘s songwriting and soaring emotive voice recalls the great female songwriters of the early 70s. Her ‘Melancholic Antidote’ EP is a gorgeous entry into the music industry: francescalouisemusic.com
Maps & His Mothball Fleet‘s album ‘GULF’, is described by bandmember Matt Wanamaker as describing “the feeling of physical separation I had while away and the distance that I was trying to deal with upon coming home.” Written along the Gulf of Mexico and the Persian Gulf, it covers physical and emotional separation. This theme recurs enveloping this strong LP: mapsandhismothballfleet.bandcamp.com
Australian born-London based singer/songwriter Nick Kingswell‘s impassioned new single ‘Homesick’ conveys his move to these shores: “I love living in the UK and I feel equally as lucky to get to go home to a place like Phillip Island. It’s the best of both worlds. But the feeling of being homesick comes and goes. It’s like that whole idle hands idea. As long as I’m busy and happy and in touch with my family regularly, I can make it work.” nickkingswell.com
Mark Lofgren‘s second solo LP ‘Black Moon Book’ follows a range of musical projects from him over the last decade. This solo release continues his rich songwriting vein, bookending his excellent 2014 debut ‘The Past Perfect’. ‘Black Moon Book’ leaves the listener with a positive message of healing and hope. What more can you ask for in 2020: markalanlofgren.com
Global Charming‘s debut single ‘Soft Fruit’ precedes their album ‘Mediocre, brutal’. With it the Amsterdam quartet have set their sights on updating an early 80s indie template. It will be intriguing to hear what they produce on their LP due in October: globalcharming.bandcamp.com
Bear’s Den + Paul Frith‘s track ‘Napoleon’ is from their forthcoming record, ‘Fragments’. This stirring version of a Bear’s Den original has been re-worked by British composer Paul Frith with added cascading strings and piano. The accompanying video features scenes from their show at EartH, London in September 2018, plus behind the scenes footage of the recording process: bearsden.lnk.to/NapoleonFragments
Canadian singer-songwriter Michael Bernard Fitzgerald‘s new single, ‘I Love That Sound’ tells a story of intimacy. “This story and dream could be anyone’s”, says Fitzgerald. Michael’s brilliantly fitting live video is a taster of forthcoming fifth album ‘Love Valley’: michaelbernardfitzgerald.com
‘Astronaut’ is the new album by Haneke Twins, a band formed by two Greek scientists based at CERN Switzerland. The title track is a evocative indie-rock. A recommended listen for fans on the gothier end of the scene: haneketwins.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrSLe1i9oAY
Manolis Aggelakis‘ ‘The Stone We Had in Our Mouth’ goes darker. His first instrumental solo project, consists of six moody atmospheric drone melodies. Available in a limited run of 100 12″ vinyl plus digital: orcd.co/thestone
Crash Cadet is the moniker of Josh Rathbun, who recorded and produced a dreamy-psych album Crash Cadet II in his basement studio. Combining 60s/70s and modern day psychedelia, tracks like Tree Climber highlight the the project’s reach: crashcadet.com
