This week’s Artist Of The Week is Dublin born dreamy folk-rocker A. Smyth. He just released his haunting debut album, Last Animals – a rumination on nature and the meaning of life.
Listen to Last Animals here:
After attracting much praise for his work as Vann Music, Smyth delivers a highly impressive Last animals. It’s a mellow and intelligent debut of warm Indie Folk / Americana, with gentle melodies and soft vocals. With electronic embellishments and new-thinking production elements, A. Smyth’s new album is a uniquely put together piece of art.
Hear When It Calls live here:
There is no wallowing in folk miserabilism or copying of tried-and-tested singer songwriter templates, just a quality album with enough variation to bring you back for a second listen. As debut albums come, this is as promising as it gets.
We’re excited to have soul & UK jazz artist Samantha Lindo as our Artist Of the Week. After the feature of Lindo’s first single in the BBC Sounds ‘Hot List’ curated by BBC Introducing and BBC 6 Music, this amazing Bristol based artist of mixed Jamaican heritage’s new track ‘Lights Go Out’, written on ‘black out Tuesday’, promises to pack just as much of a punch.
Listen to ‘Lights Go Out’ here:
Speaking as someone who is mixed race but passes for white, her perspective straddles experiences and identities and Samantha has been talking about issues of racial justice for a decade. Nitelife magazine describes how she ‘weaves poetry, spoken word and beautiful lyricism’ through her songs, ‘presenting some very real and raw issues of love, life and the human condition’ and the new track ‘Lights Go Out’, which brings together her music and activism, is no exception. The song is upbeat, fun and hopeful but it also speaks truth.
Her previous single ‘Underside’, with a more slow, shoulder moving groove was launched at her last live show before lockdown at Rough Trade and was performed live on BBC Radio Bristol, receiving rave press reviews of her ‘spine tingling vocal performance’.
Watch ‘Underside’ Live here:
Lights Go Out is inspired by Janelle Monae’s Turntables, the gospel roots of Micheal Kiwanuka and BBC 6 Music’s 2020 album of the year winners, Sault and you can hear flavours of the Afro-beat, soul and RnB sprinkled in that influence her sound. Her authentic style and musicality draws from a wide range of influences, from vocal greats like Etta James to spoken word prophetess Kae Tempest, as she harnesses the intrinsic power of the female vocal to speak beauty & truth.
She’ll be performing it live for the first time at internationally renowned St George’s Bristol, on Thursday the 10th of June alongside Brit award nominee Beth Rowley, Eliza Shaddad and Bristol’s Murmuration Choir as well as hosting an online performance and Q&A especially for her Patreon members on Thursday the 11th of March.
Nitelife Online said ‘I can well imagine Samantha shooting up to the top with an alarming speed – eyes peeled for this girl!’ And we most certainly second that statement with confidence.
Our Artist Of The Week is PB Tha Chief! Uganda born, raised in Kenya, now living in the UK, this man is an exiting Hip Hip artist to watch!
His track Breathe really stood out to us. With catchy beats, clever lyricism and well crafted songs he explores the traditional and musical styles of other cultures and experiment with it in both his bars and melodies.
PB Tha Chief continues to grow and develop as an independent artist alongside lifelong friends Prototype & Lazarus the Kid forming the collective Lazarus Records.
Rachel Jack is a talented singer and songwriter hailing from Aberdeen, Scotland and is our Artist Of The Week!
This exciting singer quit her job, sold everything she didn’t need, moved in to her parents place and went traveling. Having this space to think, freed her up to learn what it takes to be an independent musician. After a first listen, we believe her life choice truly payed off. Her debut EP (The Calgary Tapes), created while completing a Songwriting Scholarship from award winning Scottish singer Paolo Nutini, brings us stunning and heartfelt tracks in true singer/songwriter vibe.
Her second EP, currently being released, one single at the time, is taking a more experimental pop route. Her lates single, Stop, showcases a slightly “darker” instrumentation, also reflected in her vocal performance. The sound is fitting, as Rachel Jack has taken upon her self the brave act of writing a pop hit about bullying and harassment.
We’ve heard on the grape vine that she has written and recorded a lot of new music, so get excited for plenty more to come in the near future.
Brother Sea is celtic-folk band that brings together four talented musicians from different walks of life, forming what can only be described as raw and organic campfire stories exploring heritage and folklore as they gently flicker through captivating soundscapes.
Their track Circadian really stood out, taking you on a journey between sincere and beautiful innocence and bold, sweeping fun. The songwriting has parallels to that of the seasoned folk duo and Richer Unsigned friends, Bear’s Den, with added sea salt from the wind swept, rugged coast of Cornwall. The band has released an EP and a few single this far, so expect more exciting music in the future.
