FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: SOME HOLIDAY LISTENING

After four weeks of Glastonbury Festival features, it is time to return to the bread and butter of Fifty3Fridays and highlight some of the songs that caught my ear this month. It also coincides with the Fresh On The Net summer break and my own holiday so, after today’s missive, things will be a bit quieter for a couple of weeks here. So today, we’ve cut back on the commentary to let the music do more of the talking and fit a few more tunes in.

We begin with a double helping from Rome native and London-based ICMP alumna, Francesca Everly, whose blossoming career I have closely followed since first encountering her music in early 2022. Her latest single, “Love Is Overrated”, has its YouTube premiere tonight with Francesca’s powerhouse vocal showing a different dimension of her developing songcraft. A girl power pop-rock anthem, it is ‘perfect for screaming into your hairbrush by the mirror on a Friday night’ as Francesca puts it. Her spirited lyrics simply demand to be sung back by an excited crowd.

Francesca’s songs are always immediately accessible and range from the soft and introspective to the fiercely anthemic. A proud LGBTQ+ artiste, Francesca Everly can employ an equally finely-judged and melodic topline as evidenced by her previous release, “Maybe It’s Just A Bad Day”. Indeed, perhaps it was just a bad day when I missed this one when it came out in May. I’m happy to put that right now.

Paper Anthem, the London-based project of Fayetteville, Arkansas native Joseph Hitchcock, is another regularly championed here. 2024 is turning into a prolific year for the cosmopolitan four-piece band fronted by Joseph. It began with the release of a vibrant 6-track EP, A Victimless Crime, and has continued with regular single releases. The latest of these, “Speed Trap”, harks back to Joseph’s past life in Arkansas. The title refers to under-employed cops back home lying in wait to catch speeding drivers while the songwriter ponders an ex-love and what might have been. The skittish musical twists and turns suit the subject matter admirably while, as always, Paper Anthem can also be relied on to turn in an absorbing video to accompany a new song.

After a series of collaborations with the likes of Slovenly Boy and a charitable release in their own right to support The Specialized Project, those marvellous Midlanders The Happy Somethings are back with new music.

The 6-track Caught In The Web EP takes its inspirations from the internet and social media along with ‘ridiculous number of spiders and flies that like living at Happy HQ.’ Inspiration though may not be exactly the right word as lyrically the Happys turn their wry observational skills on the downsides of the aforementioned behemoths and the odd spider and fly).

From the intensely splendid opener “Is This Thing Broken”, which acts as a kind of overture for the individual songs that follow, to the short, pithy closer, “A Quick Waylay”, I seriously recommend you spend a bit more time on the internet and listen to the whole works!

Making a quick return to this column is the impressive Leeds-based five-piece About-Faces, whose uplifting single “Learn To Surf” I spotlighted in June. The follow-up release, “Heaven Sent”, continues the band’s ability to graft reflective sentiments to stirring melodies. The song celebrates the value of true friends when needing help and support in times of grief. Frontman Sennen Ludman leads with an emotive, bared tone while keyboardist Danielle Capstick adds some fine harmonies which soften the sorrow so that hope and appreciation of the good around you are the take-aways. Billed to play Truck Festival this weekend, with the right breaks About-Faces could be a live contender on next summer’s festival stages.

Liverpool-based electronica artiste, Minimums, who operates incognito performing live in a mask to help maintain the mystique, describes his work as an electronic, soundtrack & ambient project. The music certainly has a widescreen feel, evidenced by the release of the lead single, “Memory”, from a soon to be released EP titled Bound. The inviting vocal is from Minimums’ regular collaborator, the London-based musician Pippa Sarratt whose impeccable diction is layered with warmth and mystery as she conjures imagery of memory, fantasy and desire. The orchestral elements add a sweeping grace to the fluid electronic undercurrents. The single is partnered by two contrasting remixes, courtesy of Nottingham’s Pulses and Channel Islands-based electronic artiste Michael Donoghue. You can find all on Bandcamp.

We’ll close this, I hope, song-rich but word-count concise edition with three songs that I heard via Fresh On The Net this month; the first two from artistes completely new and a third fairly new to me. I feel sure in each case that more detailed write-ups will follow given the distinctive quality of each song and the promise exuding from its singer. Firstly, Hartlepool native Celia Grace impressed me with the short yet so endearing “Spider Song” which has a touch of Lucy Dacus about it, adding to its irresistibility.  

London-based indie folk band Bryony Dunn & The Forest struck me with its captivating blend of 70s throwback pop harmony, folk rock and overtones of Americana. “My Love” is a tune that quickly embeds itself with the familiarity of easy on the ear verses and a classic chorus. An old school band name too!

Finally, I had the pleasure of hearing singer-songwriter Leah Haworth sing “The Space He Left” live at a showcase of upcoming female talent at The Half Moon, Putney in April. It is a moving reflection on grief and loss, a song she dedicates to her Grandad and one which will resonate with anyone who has lost close family or friends.