Single Review - River - Emilia Quinn

 

If you are as old as me, you’ll remember Guy Fawkes night with a box of Standard fireworks, lighting the blue touch paper and standing back.  Sometimes that fuse seemed to burn very slowly…not yet…not yet…not yet…and then the powder ignites and WHOOSH, it’s the best one of the night.

Sometimes a musical career can seem that way.  Emilia Quinn has lit the blue touch paper, and we can see the flame edging ever closer, ever closer.  If you’ve seen Emilia live then you know that WOOSH is coming, and it may well be coming soon.  Being part of the ZimaginedD and W21Records stables means that the flame is well and truly lit.

Running stages for festivals means that we get to see the upcoming artists live and almost raw – and we’ve had that privilege twice with Emilia on the paddock stage at Buckle and Boots.  We’ve seen her go from nervous to outstanding, as she blew the roof off the tent last year!  Emilia has incredible energy in her live shows and in her recordings, with a real outlaw edge to her music, but that’s not all that she’s got!

Having studied music to masters degree level, it is clear that even away from the “academic” side Emilia really understands what makes a great song and a great show, and with her new single River she clearly demonstrates this. 

Opening with just her pure voice singing a Southern Spiritual introduction the backing instrumentation sits perfectly under the vocal, supporting and highlighting the quality of the performance and the emotion in the lyrics.  Backed by just electric guitar/bass/drums and the perfect backing vocals of John W Doyle, River is perhaps more bluesy than we are used to, but it is so silky smooth with a slight whiskey hewn edge that it will reach deep inside and grab you.

Of the song itself Emilia says

I want to remind you not to lose your authentic self in other people’s expectations, let go of life’s pressures and embrace who you are.

 In the song, she says

Cry my sweet heart out

Over things I can’t control

Build me a kingdom

So I can live forever inside my soul

 

With her obvious song writing ability and memorable performance style, it is surely almost the moment that Emilia Quinn’s music career goes WHOOSH!

River, the new single from Emilia Quinn is released this Friday on W21 Records

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Single Review - Happier - First Time Flyers

First Time Flyers must be the most talked about new group in UK Country Music since… well, since ever!  In all honesty, it isn’t a great surprise – they have proactive professional management, an excellent teaser campaign and all the members are well versed in social media promotion as each of them are well known in their own rights.

 

There is of course the small matter of each of the four being well thought of and established, successful artists before coming together to create what has been termed “a supergroup”.

 

Simply putting four very good artists on the same stage though is not necessarily going to be an instant success.  The proof will come from hearing them perform, either on stage or on a recording – and as luck would have it, the first single Happier is out this Friday, 20 January.

 

As well has being in on the secret for some months, we also had one of the first listens to the single.

 

(c) Ryan Lavender

If you’re not sure who First Time Flyers are, the band is made up of Vicki Manser, Poppy Fardell, TimProttey-Jones and Jake Morrell.  Having had the pleasure of hosting Vicki, Poppy and Tim on stage at Buckle and Boots Festival, we can certainly testify to their stage presence and sheer energy – all three have a stage background which really comes across in all they do.  Jake has had a different but stellar start to his career and is therefore perfect to combine with the other three – as well as being a close friend!

 

All of this makes Happier a fabulous first single – the performance styles, the effortless mix of voices topped off with great instrumentation.  The opening bars grab you and promise what is to come – a mix of energy and melancholy achieved by the instruments reaching a mini crescendo before the vocals kick in.  The song has been described to us as upbeat yet angst filled and that it weaves harmony and heartbreak – which is just what we want from a (pop) country song.

You could try and work out which voice is which as they sing about doing the right thing for someone else and breaking your own heart in the process but in reality it is unnecessary, these four combine with fantastic harmonies and no one voice competing to be on top – and you just know that that will be the ethos behind this band.  The male/female sounds are reminiscent of Lady A at their best, but with a definite UK feel.

 

Leaving aside – for a moment – the pedigree of the four, Happier is without a doubt one of the best UK Country singles of the last 12 months, and sets the tone for what is to come from this new group.

 

Happier, the first single from new group First Time Flyers is available to download and stream from Friday 20 January

 

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