French folk-rockers Breaky Boxes, hit the world with a bang with their debut long-player, Resting Wall (March 2020), and Elder Ones (seen/heard here), is the lead-off track of this magnificent collection. Throughout the 12 tracks on this long player, the harmonies are rock solid, the melodies are front and center, and the vocals are never buried beneath the mix. Breaky Boxes remind me of The Posies or Bad Religion, not because they have the same style of music, but because they have the same intensity and ability to plow forward,…
Read MoreLately, my inbox has been filling up with production companies making suggestions for coverage of certain artists. I welcome these, though only a small portion of them actually make it into the blog. Waiting For Smith’s new single, Long Life, is one of those that make the cut for me. I want to be as honest as I possibly can about this track: Musically, it breaks no new ground, But Harry Lloyd (the man behind the moniker Waiting For Smith) sings this song in a playful, yet earnest fashion,…
Read MoreWhen music comes from the heart and from personal experience, it really matters, and that isn’t meant to be a play on words. Arielle Silver has crafted a masterpiece in What Really Matters (seen/heard here). It’s a triumphant song about just that – what really matters. It is a song that comes from the gun smoke of a bar shooting and the ashes of the California hills, but it is not a song about giving in or giving up, but about really knowing what is important in…
Read MoreThere is something jarringly optimistic about the salvation in the message that Sandtimer’s Dormant (seen/heard here) brings to what seems at the onset as a very down take on personal depression. It’s a song about going through the motions, about not making waves and the feelings of loneliness that just existing can bring. But it is hope, not depression, that wins in the end. This song, only three stanzas in length, is lightly layered in a manner that is hauntingly revelatory. The message is right there on top, but the…
Read MoreIndie-folk can sometimes be a yawner or it can be the edge of something masterful. Enter RedFox and Stay (seen/heard here) from the band’s latest EP, Recovery (May 2019), which fits squarely in the latter category. RedFox, a five-piece out of Montreal, combines elements of rock, bluegrass, and folk, to formulate a sound that is truly unique and wonderful. Vocalist/violinist Daphnée Vandal, uses her instrument to add a leading texture to these four tracks, with the band adding great banjo (Tim Loten), guitar (Jono Townsend), bass (Sam Robinson), and drums (Samuel…
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