New music

Amelia’s Magazine | Album Review: The Magic Lantern – A World In A Grain Of Sand

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Much of The Magic Lantern’s A World In A Grain Of Sand reminded me of the folk music coming out of London three of four years ago, sildenafil before the Mumfords came along and popularised the genre and made it synonymous with banjos, dosage harmonies and big anthemic choruses. I know this music still exists, here but it seems everyone has sort of forgotten about it. Brilliant artists like Johnny Flynn, Emmy The Great, and Lightspeed Champion – they are more about stripped back, folksy ditties, accompanied by traditional, acoustic instruments and usually, crucially, only one voice. It’s reminiscent of what we get here with The Magic Lantern’s latest offering and it’s really lovely to hear again.

The Magic Lantern by Steve Campion

Any fan of the bands I’ve already mentioned will love the albums two opening tracks Somebody Told Me and Cut From Stone, which are sweetly sung, largely guitar-led tracks. The rest of the album, however, is perhaps not quite so easy to listen to because this is quite an involved album, and it might even take a couple of listens before you understand how it fits together as whole. I almost wanted to turn all the lights off, sit down and simply listen.

The Magic Lantern by Claire Kearns

As the title of the album suggests there is something rather other worldly about The Magic Lantern and in particular Jamie Doe’s songwriting. These are ballads, in the very traditional sense of the word in that they are stories set to music and they require a bit more than just half your attention. The use of a whole myriad of instruments and some unusual and exotic sounding rhythms help add to the other worldly feel too, of course.

The Magic Lantern by Vanessa Lovegrove

Clearly this is a band with many many influences, like Doe sings in Shine A Light On, which is clearly, unbelievably, reggae-influenced, “don’t just believe me, write your own song”. Songs like Guilty Hearts, are moody, dark even – “It’s the quiet ones who tell the biggest lies”, Doe sings.

The Magic Lantern by Kiran Patel

But there are some moments when you wonder whether The Magic Lantern couldn’t have benefited from being a bit more concise with some of the tracks. Some of the solos that feature on this album are a little on the indulgent side, the two minute outro on The Ship That Washed Away, for example.

The Magic Lantern by Natalie Hughes

From the sounds of it The Magic Lantern are certainly a group of formidable musicians, which made me feel aware throughout the album that I would be much better off seeing them live.

The Magic Lantern by Emma Carlisle

Written by Emma Barlow on Friday July 29th, 2011 11:08 am

Categories ,A World In A Grain Of Sand, ,acoustic, ,album, ,album review, ,Chameber music, ,Emmy the Great, ,folk, ,Folk Scene, ,guitars, ,Indie, ,Jamie Doe, ,Johnny Flynn, ,Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, ,Lightspeed Champion, ,live music, ,london, ,Mumford and Sons, ,New music, ,Nu Folk, ,review, ,Songwriting, ,The Magic Lantern

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Amelia’s Magazine | Album Review: Butcher the Bar – For Each A Future Tethered

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For Each A Future Tethered is easy-listening embodied in 11 songs and Nicholson’s is a voice that simply seems to melt into your ears. There are a few artists that Nicholson in his Butcher The Bar incarnation brings to mind and many come from across the pond. His sweetly sung, more about breathy songs definitely evoke Elliot Smith but perhaps without the darker edge – from the amount of sunshine that comes bursting through the songs on this album it’s certainly difficult to believe that Nicholson is of a similar disposition to the late Smith.

Butcher The Bar by Natalie Hughes

Butcher The Bar by Cheryl Windahl

Shoegazey ditties like Alpha Street West conjure Josh Radin or Jason Schwartzman’s band Coconut Records and there’s definitely something Eels-esque in the rousing Lullaby. As for a homegrown influence then you wouldn’t be far wrong if you imagined the best of Badly Drawn Boy’s back catalogue.

Butcher The Bar by Jaymie O’Callaghan

Butcher The Bar’s sound is quite a full one – layers of clarinets, keyboards, glockenspiels, trumpets, and guitars all pile up to make for some pretty hefty choruses. It would definitely be interesting to check them out at a gig to see if they can translate this big sound into their lives shows.

Butcher The Bar by Emma Carlilse

Inspiration for most of the lyrics seem to be taken from the every day with many tracks recounting little stories – including walks with loved ones, imagined romances and teenaged mums – giving the album a really lovely, personal feel.

Butcher The Bar by Cheryl Windahl

Stand out tracks include Sign Your Name (“sign your name upon my heart for me”) and Silk Tilts, which will give anyone in need of a instant banjo hit a great deal of pleasure – just try not to continually misread and mishear the title, as I keep doing!

Butcher The Bar Man by Natalie Hughes

Giant with it’s refrain of “you’re my favourite, favourite one” is a good example of the material on offer here – it’s not complicated stuff, but it’s so sweet and backed-up by some pretty impressive musicianship. In fact most of the songs don’t surpass 3 and-a-half minutes so there is no hint that Nicholson is trying to do anything particularly wacky or experimental. For Each A Future Tethered is simply a collection of delightful indie-pop songs, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Butcher The Bar by Cheryl Windahl

Written by Emma Barlow on Tuesday July 26th, 2011 8:15 am

Categories ,acoustic, ,album, ,Butcher The Bar, ,Clarinet, ,Eliot Smith, ,folk, ,guitar, ,Indie, ,Indie Folk, ,Joel Nicholson, ,Joshua Radin, ,New music

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