Single Review - TOTM - Emilia Quinn

 

Emilia has dropped a surprise single today.  TOTM has an unusual subject and an unusual style of recording to go along with the unusual release!

Recorded (of course) during lockdown, it includes the live reaction of the few people who heard it performed captured via the internet, giving the feeling of listening along with everyone else in a bar room somewhere!  The subject matter is very female oriented and tackled in a comedic way – hence all the genuine laughter on the track.

By putting a humorous spin on the subject, Emilia harks back to the days of tongue in cheek recordings, but despite this being a comedy track, it is by no means a novelty song!

Played entirely on acoustic guitar with a certain twang to her voice, the track is very much in the country tradition - and the comedy story telling is not unknow in country!

The story is relatable, the rhythm invites you to clap along and the words will have you laughing along too.

Our advice is to pop on your sweatpants, throw some candy bars Emilia’s way and get this welcome surprise in your life!

TOTM, the surprise new single from Emilia Quinn is available to download and stream from today

Find and follow Emilia on Facebook, Instagram, her website and on Spotify

 

Single Review - Delete It - Eleri Angharad

Lockdown has had a range of effects on people.  For many it will have led to more time staring at screens, social media and chat apps.  Sometimes it can be difficult to get the right meaning into a text message, sometimes you are staring at those three dots wondering what is being typed.

And sometimes you are just not sure of you should send the message at all.

Deciding whether to hit send or not is the underlying theme of the new song Delete It from Eleri Angharad – and the title give you a clue as to what her decision was.

Musically the song is dominated by the piano that you can almost sense Eleri sitting at as she pours out her heart, accompanied by a sold drum beat and a guitar that soars in and out.  Vocally, Eleri has quite a unique sound to her voice, changing between the airy, folky sound of the chorus and strong singing of the verse.

The repetition of “I love you I delete it” in the latter part of the song serves well to give the image of someone constantly typing and deleting on their phone, over and over.  The message “I love you” is causing our storyteller quite some concern.  She loves him, but does he love her?  Should she say it?  Should she say it by text?

Or just delete it.

Ending on “I delete it” it is up to you as the listener to decide what happens next.  Does she delete it for good, or type it again, and again, and again?  It’s a new take on declarations of love and perhaps reflects the modern world that is full of ways to communicate with each other but lacking in actual communication.

Delete It has a slight 90s pop country vibe to it, but Eleri certainly makes her own mark on the style.  

As well as her own music, you can catch up with Eleri as she launches the third season of her livestreams, collaborating with other artistes in her Eleri’s Sunday Sessions.  As this song is the result if a collaboration (with Write Like a Girl founder Beth Keeping) perhaps we can expect more new music from Eleri as a result.

Delete It, the new single from Eleri Angharad is available to stream and download from Friday 19 March.

You can find and follow Eleri on Facebook, Instagram, her website and on Spotify

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review - Do You Wanna Go Out - Emily Lockett

 

The Country Music world is filled with female singer songwriters, sometimes it can be hard to tell them apart.  Emily Lockett is different.  She has no gimmick, no "image" (unless you count a wardrobe apparently full of Superdry) but a compelling stage presence and a fabulous voice.

Normally on stage with just her guitar, her youthfulness doesn’t affect her ability to hold a crowd’s attention – whether it was on the smaller bar stage at the British Country Music festival as one of the first acts or on the outdoor stage at the same event where she managed to captivate and hold the passing public heading back from the beach.

With her new single Do You Wanna Go Out, Emily has changed one aspect of her performance – she has added a full band.  Part of her recently released EP Paint It Red (mailed out as physical CDs by her hardworking pa/dad)

Starting with the sound of a crowd (remember them?) and a giggle, the electric guitar and drums with interspersed keys give a fuller, rockier sound to the music and perhaps adds a little rock edge to Emily’s recognisable vocal.

Its an up-tempo track, with a summery pop feel helping to make us dream about the better weather to come.  The theme of the song is a one night, no strings hook up – meet in a bar and just go out for fun. The lyrics also show a maturing of Emily’s already accomplished song writing:

“I couldn’t care less what tomorrow brings, it was never meant to end with a diamond ring”

Promising us a summer, promising us the days when we can go out, meet strangers and “turn the music up loud”, it is a feelgood song, bucking against the constraints of a wintry lockdown.  In the great tradition of album titles, the title for the EP comes from a line within the song

“If you go out, with me right now, we could paint the town red”

For this EP Emily has been working with Matt Bishop of Honey Ryder and Tim Prottey-Jones, she has also been booked to open for such acts as Robert Vincent and Jessica Lynn, curtailed of course by the dreaded lockdown.

As with other artists, Emily has made use of the enforced down time to work on her music with this ep being honed and refined.

It was time well spent.

Do You Wanna Go Out, the new single from Emily Lockett is available to download and stream now on all major platforms

You can find and follow Emily on Facebook, Instagram, her website and stream all of her music on Spotify

Single Review - Better Like That - Danny McMahon

 

Danny’s new song Better Like That already has fan approval – it was chosen via a VIP zoom party with 50 participants given the task of selecting one song from four.

The pandemic has certainly given us a new normal – zoom calls, lowered dress code for work (from home) and as for getting dressed up to go out – go where?  We are all now more accepting of the sitting around on the couch “in my t shirt, yesterday’s make up on and a messy bun” – which is also a comforting image when looking back at the more “ordinary moments” of a relationship

The song tells the story of a young man desperate to get back a woman he truly loves, whilst reminiscing in a pool of visual nostalgia, those comfortable and intimate memories (although it is just Danny looking dapper in the artwork!)

Although the girl has moved on in her life, as depicted in her social media postings (the modern barometer of someone’s life).  She has crafted herself a new image, but don’t forget he has seen you relaxing and less polished. 

 

“And girl I like you better like that”

 

Has she really moved on?  There are still clues in what she posts, a shared favourite song, memories of a place and time…

He wants her back, but he wants the old her back.

The musical style has changed slightly too – still very much modern country but with a little more studio magic, 80s drum production and smooth guitar.  Just like the girl in the story, Danny doesn’t move far from his roots, with a very “Danny” break in the final third as he repeats the chorus with a strong beat – you can see Danny with his hands in the air getting the whole audience clapping along! There is a hint of Thomas Rhett’s “Get Me Some Of That” in some of the imagery and theme behind the story!

If you are playing fantasy festival line ups during lockdown, Danny, with his trademark high energy sound and his way with a crowd of any size must be near the top of your list. Having introduced on stage at two different festivals -  Danny, we like you better like that!

Better Like That, the new single from Danny McMahon is available to download and stream from Friday 12 March

You can find and follow Danny on Facebook, Instagram, his website and on Spotify

 

Single Review - When We Move - Tennessee Twin ft Sarah Jory

When a song comes to us billed as featuring Sarah Jory on pedal steel, there is an element of excitement and curiosity.  Excitement because Sarah is without question the finest Country instrumentalist in the UK (and has won our own best musician award two years in a row), her performances are electric - curiosity about how she will blend into the song.

With When We Move, no need for the curiosity, just the excitement.  When you combine Sarah’s pedal steel with Victoria’s voice the result is sublime. The gentleness of the steel matches and complements the gentle vocal from Victoria – almost as though the two are performing a duet.  Sarah will never demand centre stage, but shares it beautifully with Victoria.

The song itself deals with the difficult time in a relationship when someone must back down and make the first move to reconcile a disagreement.  Those times call for a soft approach and if it all works out the two of you are back in tandem – moving together.  The feel of the song conjures an image of how that must go – gentle, flowing.  The vocal, the pedal steel and Geoff on acoustic guitar all blend to provide that sense of oneness.

Musically it really does all come together, with no one element feeling more or less important than the others – much as a relationship should ideally be!  The steel and guitar feel country, the vocal certainly has a folk feel to it.

This is not a song designed to have you up dancing, but it shows off the quality of all three performers, all adding their part to create a soft, soothing listen.  You can add your own story over the top of Sarah and Geoff’s instrumentals and have a good cry – its good for you!

 

Wouldn’t you love to hear these three combine again?

 

When We Move, the new single from Tennessee Twin featuring Sarah Jory is available to download and stream from Friday.

 

You can find and follow Tennessee Twin on Facebook, Instagram, their website and on Spotify

Sarah can be found on Facebook, online  and on Spotify

Single Review - Girl Talk - Emilia Quinn and friends

 

To those of a certain age, Girl Talk was a game from the 90s with a pink telephone, but when girls talk, it is something quite different!

The track opens with the sound of a telephone being dialled – again, possibly only recognisable to those of a certain age!  A telephone voice then gives way to heavy guitar as we get down to what Girl talk is really about.  The combination of voices supports the idea that Girl Talk is a network of girls passing around intel about the behaviour of guys – cross them at your peril.

Its like a grapevine of Chinese whispers

The song is bouncy and very country, but the underlying message is a serious one about the ways that women are treated –casual sexism, being ghosted, and the expectation to fit a certain aesthetic.  The voices are from many different singers, but coming together as one to deliver the message

Its  a fun song about the way Girls will talk to each other, and at the same time it is women coming together to make a statement about their treatment in social settings as well as professional ones. 

It is an issue close to the heart of Emilia Quinn who put the whole thing together

“The concept of Girl Talk came about while discussing experiences in and out of the industry with some of my friends. I wrote the song to poke fun at common issues womxn face, not to detract from the gravity of those situations but to give womxn a track that figuratively flips the bird at the perpetrators,”

explained Emilia. 

Released to coincide with International Women’s Day 2021 all proceeds from streaming and downloads will be donated to award-winning charity Girls Rock London

The track features a range of female artists, some you might recognise, some you might not.  Those voices are:

Linda Stix, Tania George, Dawn Saarepuu, Georgia Nevada, Lauren Taylor, Emily Eglinton, Charlie Rachael Kay, Jade Helliwell, Sally Rea Morris, Kira Mac, Katy Hurt, Emma Moore, Louise Parker, Joey Clarkson, Poppy Fardell, SJ Mortimer, Vickie Vaughn, Jess T, Shannon Hynes, Finola Rachel Sellick, Becky Lawrence

Girl Talk, the new single from Emilia Quinn is available to download and stream now from all major platforms

 Find and follow Emilia on Facebook, Instagram, her website and on Spotify

Single Review - Husbands or Kids - Emma Moore

 

Dating is a minefield at the best of times, but when the people you meet aren’t perhaps all that you thought they were, the game gets a little more difficult.  Husbands or Kids is not just the title of the new single from Emma Moore, but seems to be the only two types of guy she meets!  Either looking for a bit of extra fun or being so young that “He can’t even take me for a drink” Emma is adamant that

I’m no tick off a list, or somebody’s side piece

The song is in a similar style in some ways to Brandy Clark, telling stories about real life and how she copes with it – in this case taking the almost mythical “option 3”

Emma describes it this way:

Sometimes as writers we can be drawn much more to the melancholy and reflective songs or ideas, where we think and feel deeply and poetically. I have to admit that’s where I feel the most comfortable when writing, but sometimes, even in moments of despair, you just have to laugh - and that’s where this track sits.

The bass driven verse perhaps reflects the exasperation with the dating scene, the chorus and the guitar break add a certain up-lifting side to the track, showing that while the options may be limited, our storyteller will still press on and not settle for option 1 or option 2 – she’s not given up just yet!

Husbands or Kids, the new single from Emma Moore is available now to download and stream

Find and follow Emma on Facebook, Instagram, her website and on Spotify

Single Review - Psycho - Vicki Manser

 

It can be a little disconcerting, almost worrying, to open your inbox and find an email titled “Psycho – review”.  We strive for honesty in all of our reviews and we at the very least hope that we don’t offend anyone!

It was a relief to realise that this wasn’t an email destined for our complaints department but actually the latest single from Vicki Manser.  But even so, Psycho as a title doesn’t scream “Country”, nor does it immediately conjure up any of the traditional Country music themes of religion, drinking, gambling or love.  When you stop to think about it though, maybe the word psycho has fallen into that last category a time or two (and maybe even some of the others!)

Who hasn’t fallen for a bad-boy?!  Acted against your better judgement and the warning of others and giving yourself false hope:   He can’t be all that bad, and anyway, you can always change him or get him to settle down.

Can’t you ?

Not this time.

From that day she “locked her eyes on you” she had heard all the stories, but she wants to try to see it for herself, see what changes she can make.  Psycho is about that realisation that all the stories were true.    She has given it a good go, made up her own mind but she realises he needs to change, he is too possessive, she’s going to “pull the trigger on you”

Co-written with Jake Morrell and produced by Tim Prottey-Jones, Psycho is Vicki’s third single release.  The instrumentation is dark country, the drum beat almost menacing and Vicki’s vocals are smoky.  She’s been hurt but she’s still in control.  The beat gives you something to tap your foot to, and the threat in the chorus, along with that beat will be sung with feeling by many of the ladies, perhaps directed at some bad boys

“Keep on doing what you’re doing and I will pull the trigger on you”

It is fair to say that Vicki Manser is possibly not one of the most instantly recognised names on the UK country scene – yet.  With the quiet year for live performances, we haven’t had the chance to hear her music played as it probably should be – loud on stage, brought to life by that West End performing experience.  You know that Vicki can belt out these songs with complete control of her vocals and she is sure to make an impact on the scene as soon as we are all let loose again.

Psycho, the new single from Vicki Manser is available to download and stream from Friday 3 March

You can find and follow Vicki on Facebook, Instagram, her website and on Spotify