Old Sea Brigade is the indie-folk project masterminded by Atlanta-based Ben Cramer. Gentle and ambient, Cramer’s sound is reminiscent of bands like Bon Iver and The National, at times sprinkled the lightest touch of experimentation.

His latest single ‘Love Brought Weight’ is a soothing, acoustic guitar-led number. Cramer doesn’t stretch to show off with his vocals; instead he sits in a comfortable mellow range and lets his raw tone speak for itself. In fact, his voice is somewhat reminiscent of Beck’s softer moments (think ‘Heart Is A Drum’), as well as indie-folk contemporaries Iron & Wine and Joseph Arthur. “Where is love, did I miss it/Am I home or still adrift?” Cramer sings atop a nimbly plucked acoustic guitar. The song gently ebbs and flows and subtly pulls you into its ambient setting, a landscape Cramer adorns with plinking piano, a delicate glockenspiel and lush harmonies. As it progresses, the track introduces some ever-so-slight moments of experimentation, gathering momentum before slipping into a lulling outro. 

‘Love Brought Weight’ is a lesson in the art of subtlety; a simple tune that gets under your skin and stays there. Cramer has carefully crafted an atmosphere that – for lack of a better description - sounds as though it’s floating, and it’s an atmosphere that washes over you from start to finish. The ability to put a listener at such ease through a song is no easy feat, but thanks to brilliant, understated song writing, Old Sea Brigade has it in spades.

Love Brought Weight is available via Amazon & iTunes. 

New York City composer, producer and guitarist Gideon King has set his sights on a new project that takes jazz rock fusion by the horns. King has cherry-picked some of the finest players in the game to form Gideon King & City Blog, a team of musicians who have worked with the likes of Steely Dan, Daft Punk and Herbie Hancock. There’s no doubting this collective is masterful, but does the goldmine of finesse translate cohesively in their music?

The band’s new single, 'City Blog' is lifted from their upcoming debut album of the same name. Armed with a shimmering piano, drums that never leave the pocket and a bass that resonates down to your very core, King & co. have orchestrated an additively smooth track. But ‘City Blog’ is a deceptive tune: it manages to sexily slink and glide and appear at surface level as a laid-back jam, when in reality, there’s an abundance of virtuosic skill weaved into its musical tapestry; the irony is that it takes a great deal of expertise to create a setting that grooves with such effortlessness that the level of technical prowess at hand almost goes straight over your head. 

Gideon King & City Blog have produced a track that exudes an infectious passion for their craft, something that’s not easily translated through a studio recording. And in a context like jazz where accessibility is often foregone in favour of flair, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear both achieved at once.


Always Never is the second EP from Dublin's The Sour Seeds following last year's Find You First. Darragh Cullen, Seany Lay, Brian Reynolds and Mikey Deasy met as session musicians in 2013. They have quickly established themselves in the Dublin music scene and have already become a mainstay on the festival circuit. Sour Seeds look set to spread further with this release.

The set up is pretty straightforward with two distinctive guitars over the rhythm section with occasional flourishes of organ and saxophone. The result is a collection of pop songs that are experimental without being arch, and progressive without forgetting to be entertaining. It taps the same vein as bands like Everything Everything and Alt-J, who have managed to straddle the mainstream and alternative scenes achieving commercial success without dumbing down.

There is a tremendous amount of space in the lead single 'Can't Bring Me Down'. Hearing such dynamic, expansive music is a rarity. Always Never is the soundtrack to the Christmas Day football match in No Man's Land in the midst of the 'Loudness War'.

The clean rhythm guitar chimes on 'Painful Dance' bring to mind The Cars, Frank Zappa, surf rock, and old style rock 'n' roll without ever sounding retro. The lead guitar shines without attempting to steal the spotlight. Rather it reflects its sheen back onto the song illuminating the rest of the band.

Always Never would certainly benefit from the addition of some vocal harmonies but this is real high quality music that matches intelligent instrumental play with a pop sensibility in an instinctive, effortless fashion. Imagine Joe Jackson covering the Pixies and you wouldn't be too far away.

The Stoles are based in Dublin and have been knocking about a few years now, gigging like mad around the capital and various festivals. This is their third release and is indicative of the evolution of their sound. While Madonna is called the 'Queen of Reinvention' for changing her hair colour once a decade, The Stoles reinvent their sound with every single.

They make an impressively complex noise for a three piece, funneling a broad range of influences into an alternative rock template. Singer Antonio Derosas doubles up on lead guitar and his vocal style comes straight from the early days of post-punk and new wave. The Stoles cite The Clash as a major influence and manage to capture the diversity of that band without openly aping them.

Following on from The Stoles EP and last year's 'Man In The Cave', 'I Don't Get Along With You' changes tack with spiky riffs and searing guitar leads. The song has a real Queens Of The Stone Age vibe, like a heavier version of an up-tempo Black Keys track, with Derosas channeling Mick Jones over the top.

'I Don't Get Along With You' is only three and a half minutes long but seems to last much longer. It has an epic feel to it, thanks to an extended instrumental breakdown. It's a punk pop reimagining of 'Whole Lotta Love' as the rhythm section pound pneumatically and the guitar ratchets up the tension until the closing chorus emerges in a climactic fashion. It shows great vision from the band and it's easy to imagine this song going on for much longer when played live.

Given their track record it would be foolish to expect The Stoles to stick with this type of sound for their next record. That will probably sound totally different again, but with 'I Don't Get Along With You' they have hit on a rich, un-mined seam of invigorating rock that stands out from their peers. This will be a highlight of their set for some time.

I Don't Get Along With You is available from iTunes.