FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: EPHEMERALITY RULES?

Ephemeral has always been a favourite word of mine, along perhaps with the phrase, pathetic fallacy; the kind of words that make your sixth form English Lit. essays sound impressive. If you are not careful, it is easy to view contemporary music as transient – it will never last, your parents used to say. Yet the Stones are still rolling and major names sell their back catalogue rights for millions. However, if your stock in trade is writing about new music there is always the temptation to move on to the next thing so from time to time I like to revisit an old playlist and see if it sounds as fresh as it did the first time. Are the bands even still together?

The usual new, independent music format will return next Friday but this week let’s randomly wind the clock back 8 years or so and give that old playlist I came across a spin. So, I present ten songs from 2016 you may have missed first time around. You would not have found many of these tunes on those end of year lists beloved by music publications. Indeed, they might be new to you which somewhat defeats any argument that ephemerality rules in music. [End of essay? – Ed]

A version of these reviews appears on www.bestnewbands.com as do some of the connected writings.

Dreamers – “Wolves (You Got Me)”

LA-based trio Dreamers epitomise how serial touring can give a band the kind of confidence and togetherness that then translates successfully onto record. Its cunningly-titled 2016 debut album, This Album Does Not Exist, has precisely the opposite characteristics. It’s packed with physical presence and memorable hooks from start to finish, including this killer track, “Wolves”.  You can still read the album review here.

A Giant Dog – “Sex & Drugs”

“Sex & Drugs” is off Pile, the third album from the wondrously named A Giant Dog out of Austin, Texas. The album cover might put you off your dinner but there’s a refreshing honesty about the band’s serving of garage punk, laced with the shimmer of glam rock and laden with pop hooks. The song is less an invitation to lock up your daughters, and indeed sons, but more a mantra for the passing of youth: “I’m too old to die young.” Blink and it’s over before you know it.

Lucius – “Dusty Trails”

In April 2016 Brooklyn’s Lucius performed at London’s Koko and produced what was probably the best live show I saw all year; quite how you can read about here. Instrumentally inventive while skating consummately across genres, the band’s USP is the telepathic connection between singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig. This live version of “Dusty Trails” from the album Good Grief highlights their seamless transitions from unison to lush harmonies.

Arc Iris – “Kaleidoscope”

Arc Iris continued its marvellous musical explorations in 2016 with a second album, Moon Saloon. The Providence, Rhode Island trio led by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jocie Adams works from a musical palette as broad as they come. “Kaleidoscope” employs diverse traditional and orchestral instrumentation to create a unique, experimental and challenging sound. It’s like prog rock without pretentions and always brought back to earth by Adams’ chameleon-like vocal.

Pavo Pavo – “2020, We’ll Have Nothing Going On”

Brooklyn band Pavo Pavo brightened up a typically grey November over here with its 2016 debut album, Young Narrator in the Breakers, reviewed here and well worth checking out in full. It is a particularly engaging listen that culminates in the expansive final track, “2020, We’ll Have Nothing Going On”. This is a song to escape the city rat race to, with a glorious rock opera structure that recalls the mini-epics of 70s British band 10cc and its spin-off, Godley & Crème. Sadly, Pavo Pavo split in 2019.

Revere – “Last Bridge Standing”

November 2016 also saw the final show by inimitable London collective, Revere, fittingly held at the acoustics-blessed Union Chapel. For those of us who had been following the band since its early days it was an especially moving occasion. “Last Bridge Standing” is taken from Revere’s Man Of Atom EP and showcases the band’s astounding musicianship while giving a voice to the many disenfranchised and ignored in society in these dark days of retreat into nationalism. Thankfully you can still find Revere's music on the likes of YouTube and Spotify.

Reverieme – “Plankton”

“Plankton” first saw light on an EP last year but then formed one of the many highlights on Straw Woman, Louise Connell’s 2016 album under the aegis of Reverieme. The song is beautifully embellished by ringing, circular guitar figures. Lyrically “Plankton” is as enigmatic as a song can be; it’s as if the singer is sharing impossible feelings from a detached state. The aborted pain she attempts to channel is truly intimate and makes the song ever the more fascinating. This was visually heightened by allowing cockroaches to crawl over her defenceless yet disturbingly tranquil face in the original video, sadly no longer available so here is the audio track only.

Flock Of Dimes – “The Joke”

Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner delivered an absolute gem of a synth-pop album littered with glitzy tunes and sparkling vocals in 2016 under her solo moniker Flock of Dimes (review here). “The Joke” charts the great cosmic caper of existence with life’s circularity and underlying absurdity set to a blissfully romantic melody and featuring some top notch synth and guitar noodling to boot. Simply magical.

Kevin Morby – “Dorothy”

“Dorothy” is the most immediate and uptempo piece on Kevin Morby’s stellar 2016 album, Singing Saw. Rather than an out-of-time lost love, the lady in question is his cherished red Fender Jaguar guitar, named after his grandmother. The guitar clearly signifies a great deal to the singer and this ode to it catalogues experiences and memories he has shared with the instrument. The result is a great, uplifting rock song, differentiated by the short instrumental interludes that recall various encounters on the road with Dorothy.

Hattie Briggs – “Castle On The Sand”

My favourite song from Young Runaway the sophomore album from young English singer-songwriter Hattie Briggs and quite possibly my favourite song of 2016. “Castle On The Sand” has a sweeping, timeless quality and is beautifully emotive, putting Hattie Briggs up there with some of the finest songwriters of her genre, past and present. You can read a review of Young Runaway here.