Based out of Peoria, Illinois, Sarah Schonert is an indie singer-songwriter crafting tunes with an experimental touch. Quirky and off-kilter, her approach feels similar to the likes of Kate Bush, Imogen Heap and Enya; all innovators past and present who’ve paved a daring new road for those falling under the ‘singer-songwriter’ umbrella.

Sarah Schonert’s latest album is My Unwinding State. The mammoth 16-track album showcases her eclectic sound in multiple lights. A bedrock of classical-sounding piano adorned with arrays of synthesizers, vocoders, ambient washes and layers of textural vocals. Opening track ‘6 O Clock’ is an absorbing introduction to Schonert’s quirky voice, which seems to almost consciously avoid the road-well-taken singer-songwriter route of being ‘pretty’ above all else. Instead, the emphasis here is placed on being interesting, and it lends Schonert a sound that is refreshingly hard to pin down. Full of interwoven textures, ‘6 O Clock’ manages to remain eerily mellow throughout in spite of its sophisticated backdrop. 

Track two ‘Break Me Down’ follows suit, though leads the album in a more upbeat direction. ‘Trade My Smile’ and ‘We Were Something’ are some of Schonert’s more stripped back songs, drawing your attention to the stories at hand with little more than Schonert’s lyrics, her piano and the occasional hint of expanding ambience. Later in the album, ‘WaterWings’ features one of the record’s strongest hooks with its submerged-sounding keyboard line, which soon bursts into a glorious grand piano.

At 16 tracks, My Unwinding State is a little on the long side, however, the album offers a rich pallet of ideas and sounds inspired by innovators of the indie singer-songwriter genre past and present while managing to take on a unique personality of its own.

My Unwinding State is available from Amazon and iTunes.

Comprised of a father, son and record producer, Tumbler is the three-piece Epsom band marrying folk with modern rock. Where their widely acclaimed debut album You Said kept to a relatively unchanging formula of plucky acoustic guitars and safely homespun tunes, the band’s latest work ventures into new territories.

Come to the Edge is Tumbler’s 12-track sophomore album. The record enlists two lead vocalists, at times fronted by father Richard Grace’s aged-like-fine-wine vocals and at other times led by his son Harry’s contemporary energy. Come to the Edge shifts between instances of folk, alt-rock and a combination of the two: track one ‘Black Sheep’ embodies the latter. Opening with a bluesy groove and violins, the song soon edges into an overdriven, Black Keys-esque number that’s full of grit and gutsiness. It’s a strong album opener, and immediately sets the blueprint attitude for much of the record to follow. 

Where Richard Grace’s voice draws resemblance to Ray Davies in the present day, his son, Harry, sings with the same sense of restlessness as Davies’ younger self. ‘Falling’ is perhaps the album’s furthest step away from folk, with its ambitious, string-adorned chorus and high-rising lead guitar lines throughout: “All these individual moments are just components that all lead back to you”. More humble tracks like ‘Winter Cold Heart’ and ‘Joanne’ take the album in a far different direction, one that brings Simon & Garfunkel to mind. 

Come to the Edge is an eclectic record, but its strong sense of identity keeps each varied track feeling relevant within the space of a single record.

Come to the Edge is available from Amazon & iTunes.

For anyone who hasn't been fortunate enough to catch this Edinburgh high-energy garage three piece live, let me introduce you to Johnny (drums, backing vocals), Will (bass, backing vocals) and Andy (guitar, lead vocals). 

The album opens with the sound of a tolling bell, just to get you in the mood! (it is true though that singer Andy's voice was once likened to a corpse being dragged across gravel).

'10 More Hours' opens, and there's some nice phasing over the top of the track, which gives it an extra layer; coupled with a strong repetitive riff, it makes for much hip shake-ability, as does up-beat 'Stupid Is As Stupid Does', and the excellent 'Swingtown'.

Tracks like 'Egg & Butter Junk', (stompy, swampy and twisted), and 'That Hole In Your Face Blues' are laden with heavy riffs a la MC5 / The Stooges. As is 'We Don’t Need You', which has an added heavy psychedelic rock feel, reminiscent of The Heads.

Overall, the band tend to concentrate more on the riff rather than showcasing twiddly guitar solos, which is very refreshing, and this makes for a good solid, no nonsense, rock 'n' roll record. You can hear echos of Dr Feelgood / The Pirates / The Cramps / Eddie & The Hot Rods / The Monsters throughout, but make no mistake, this is Geek Maggot Bingo.

The album was recorded and mixed by Angus McPake (of The Thanes, Les BOF!) at his Ravencraig Studio in Edinburgh, with vintage recording gear.

The album is available from Elvis Shakespeare and Hogs Head Music in Edinburgh, and instore and online at New Hellfire Club Glasgow. Or you can buy it through their bandcamp page here.

Brodka is a Polish alt-pop singer-songwriter who began her career as the winner of Polish Pop Idol in 2004. Her music, however, couldn’t be further from the usual mainstream pop that these winners tend to churn out. Every song on the appropriately named Clashes enters in to a different genre making each one unique in style and tone.

The opening track, 'Mirror Mirror', feels very experimental. The haunting, choral like vocals are still atmosphere created by what sounds like a glockenspiel has a very enchanting effect; the simplicity of it is almost startling. As the next song, 'Horses', begins you are transported to a whole different plane. The guitar has a distinct country feel and although the instrumentation is once again simple the song still feels fully rounded. The intricate and really quite beautiful steel guitar lead outro is a trait that is shared by all of the tracks in one way or another.

Some of the instrumentation is almost orchestral in that if there were no lyrics, the music alone could tell the story itself. 'Can’t Wait for War' is a perfect example of this. The trumpets, regimental drums and dull sound of children cheering in the background conjures up the image of a proud military procession marching forth to war; their pride creating an almost morbid sense of glory. 'Funeral' is similar in its atmosphere creating ability. The organ, tuned to sound like background music from an old horror movie, coupled with the slow drum beat and subtle thermion like noises brings to mind a funeral march. You imagine rain on cobbled streets, a black carriage with black horses, Victorian style mourners walking slowly behind. Brodka’s ability to feed this in to your imagination through her use of instrumentation is astounding.

It is, in fact, matched only by her ability to conquer any genre without disturbing the flow of the album. She rolls effortlessly through pop, country and even, punk rock near the end of the album. Her most interesting songs however are void of the typical factors through which genre is perceived. 'Holy Holes' and 'Haiti' both use tribal style vocals along with strange yet simple guitar riffs and a whole lot of organ. The latter puts the glockenspiel centre stage creating the atmosphere of a forest as she sings “Drink his fears so he can’t fear it/ eat his ears so he can’t hear it.” As many slightly disturbing images are brought to mind the outro pushes the creepy up a level as different voices sing “Just another Hungry Girl” as every instrument drops out, leaving the glockenspiel to finish what it started.

As the album draws to a close with 'Dreamstreamextreme', Brodka’s ethereal voice tells us to “Dream everything that’s dreamable” as fluttery piano and light trumpets create a minimalist lullaby; a brilliant and beautiful end to this incredible musical journey.

Clashes is available via Amazon & iTunes.