For some, the transition from bedroom recording to the dreams of something bigger, never quite make the transition. Kane Strang has done more than most to ensure that we now sit here listening to his latest offering. Not only has he moved from the bedroom he also recorded his debut album in a disused German bomb shelter. Four years later and his new album Two Hearts And No Brain is a more polished offering. 

Originally hailing from New Zealand his upbringing and musical education includes reflects a swirling triumph of psychedelic lo-fi guitar sounds. Opening track ‘Lagoons’ is a statement of intent with its melodic lo-fi sound accompanied by Kane’s seemingly one dimensional, almost monotone vocals. Yet this is no bad thing, merely a mood setting. ‘Silence Overgrown’ grows his sound further with laid back catchy guitar hooks.

After a successful appearance at this year’s The Great Escape where he performed a brilliant set, this album confirms his rise and ability to create a relevant commentary on life’s daily grind. With tracks such as ‘Not Quite’ and ‘Oh So You’re Off I See’ we gain a more enriched sound, which is blended with Strang’s lyrical honesty whilst still keeping that downbeat, lo-fi sound.

A slower pace is selected for the middle part of the album with ‘See Thru’ and the excellent ‘Summertime In Your Lounge’ as the album continues to explore the frustration of disenchanted relationships. The album's lead single, ‘My Smile Is Extinct’ has a braver and more upbeat sound with more pop sensibilities. With more focus on an acoustic lead, this is another tale of love lost and the following spiral downwards, yet wrapped in very catchy lyrics:

"Yes she’s the best I’ve ever had, I’ll say it to her face and I’ll say it to her dad".

This is an obvious lead single and should create further attention for this talented singer-songwriter. The album's title track is further evidence of his ability to create melancholic strangled love songs that speak of the reality of dating in the instantaneous nature of the modern world. It is perfectly pitched with a realism which is a welcome change. He almost begins to answer his own spiraling decent into madding frustration with ‘It’s Not That Bad’ as if to create some light relief and to maintain his continued belief that all will be well at some point, he’s just not sure when. 

This is clearly an album that will grow on you the more listens it’s given. It’s also a very honest, open-hearted album that will have you going back again and again as we continue our struggle to understand the complexities of what the hell are we all doing. More of the same please Mr Strang.

Two Hearts And No Brain is available via Amazon and iTunes.

Although they've been on the go since 2008 you, like me, have probably never heard of Canadian outfit Lab Coast. With the release of this eponymously titled 16 track compilation, however, the good folks at Faux Discx are hoping to set us all straight as to what we've been missing out on all this time.

The band's output ticks pretty much all the DIY, jangle, lo-fi etc. boxes so if the likes of Pavement, The Pastels, Daniel Johnson and such are your cup of tea then you'll find much to like here.

A swift look at bandcamp reveals there to be at least five albums for you to delve into after Lab Coast has had the desired effect upon you. The quintet's sound certainly feels like the audio equivalent of slipping on a favourite piece of clothing you've not worn for a while - recognisable but you can't quite remember when you last wore it.

I'm maybe too long in the tooth to be coming over all "new favourite band" about anyone these days but Lab Coast certainly have that sort of appeal to them and it's an age since I've had the chance to binge out on a band's back catalogue upon first being introduced to their work. Hearing the songs in their original contexts is pretty much a must though.

It's hard these days to keep up with the multitude of releases and bands out there seeing as anyone can self-release practically whatever & whenever they like but if Faux Discx and other labels are keeping their ears to the ground for us gems such as Lab Coast should in time get the wider exposure they so obviously deserve. 

Lab Coast is available from bandcamp & amazon.

Live Dates:-

12/05/17 • WREXHAM, UK • Focus Wales Festival
13/05/17 • SHEFFIELD, UK • The Audacious Art Experiment w/ The Hipshakes
14/05/17 • LEEDS, UK • Brudenell Social Club
15/05/17 • MANCHESTER, UK • Fuel
16/05/17 • YORK, UK • The Basement
18/05/17 • EXETER, UK • The Phoenix
19/05/17 • BRIGHTON, UK • Family Store w/ Garden Centre
20/05/17 • BRIGHTON, UK • Escape From The Great Escape, The Westhill Hall
22/05/17 • LONDON, UK • The Shacklewell Arms w/ The Molochs
24/05/17 • KORTRIJK, BE • De Kreun w/ Preoccupations
25/05/17 • GRONINGEN, NL • Vera w/ Preoccupations
26/05/17 • BERLIN, DE • Venue TBC
27/05/17 • PRAGUE, CZ • Futurum w/ Preoccupations
29/05/17 • LIEGE, BE • La Zone w/ Priests
01/06/17 • BRIGHTON, UK • The Hope & Ruin w/ The Sticks

Rocking sweaty rooms around the UK for several years now, Glaswegian quartet Alburn have finally released their (self-titled) debut, and it's a logical progression from the emotive rock music on which they've built their reputation. 

Starting in the same way as preceding EP Mouthful of Glass, the guitars start with the distortion from the outset, and there's little respite from them or the impassioned vocal deliveries throughout the record's duration. Whilst the band's brand of rock isn't groundbreaking, it does touch an exciting strike of vitality with its raw edges and unrestrained delivery. 

'Make You Mine' through 'Green Saloon' set that bar of high octane music, with some subdued passages for dynamic contrast, the band's fierce sound is one that you can't help but feel is essential to experience live. One which will whip crowds into a dirty but thoroughly enjoyable mess. The contrasting one-two of 'Cathexis' and 'Catharis' highlights this dynamic turn, with the sincerity of the former bleeding into the rage of the latter. 

Flagship single and anthem 'Lost; Faraway' opens the closing straight with gusto, and you can't help but admire the energy that the band have poured into this record and their craft in general. Penultimate track 'Through Salt & Water' showcases the band's formula at its touching best, where indie meets metalcore somewhere on the same plane as the likes of Manchester Orchestra's COPE. 

'Witches' is a restrained and subtly haunting closer to this collection of tracks, and in some ways a fitting end to Alburn's first full length declaration of their existence. Its departure from the rest of the record simultaneously teases a different shade whilst appropriately winding due the rock machine to provide a suitable conclusion. Whilst the quartet may not making waves with this album, they are bound to be making old and new fans smile, and where's the harm in that? 

a l b u r n is available from iTunes and Bandcamp. 

Serious Sam Barrett and Pine Hill Haints, frontman for James the Fang, have been touring and playing together for quite some time now, forging a partnership based on a mutual love of skateboarding, folk tales, barroom nights and roots music. Their first joint release, The North Country Steed, saw mostly their own compositions before the album was rounded off with the traditional Irish song ‘The Nightingale’ – firmly cementing their abilities to both create timeless sounding folk songs and stamp their own personalities onto versions of old classics. This one sees that layout flipped, with the two playing mostly traditional music with a couple of original songs each in the mix. Each song reflecting: “Miles and miles of traveling, treading the boards and hearing the wheels hum, sleeping on the floor, in the woods, following stars and shadows”, this according to the text that scrawls its way along the back of the record sleeve. Thus the traditional numbers are tales of travelling and nomadic living, ‘Cowboy Songs and other Frontier Ballads’ as Alan Lomax put it. In fact, more than one of the album’s tracks were first captured on reel by Lomax.

With the music recorded over the course of one day in Alabama, February 2016, the four-track mix is evocative of the spirit of these orally passed down musical tales. Rawly simplistic mixing can only compliment the sparse instrumentation consisting of just guitar, fiddle and voices and, from the get go, you feel yourself drawn into the enthusiasm that the two clearly have for their musical heritage. ‘When First Unto This Country’ opens the album with Sam’s hypnotic twelve string guitar playing, with nearly a minute passing before Jamie’s fiddle adds a rawer, primal element to the traditional number. ‘Diamond Joe’, meanwhile, is definitely more on the Haints end of the musical scale – due as much to the driving beat which fiddle and guitar create as to Jamie’s vocals. ‘Santa Fe Trail’ is a stately-paced ballad with a shanty-esque chorus, in which we can see the breadth of the musical diaspora. From Celtic origins to American frontier songs, the hills of Ireland to the Appalachians or the Southern Delta, these melodies have covered myriad miles and, arriving battered and weary, found themselves still sharing many of the same traits and motifs.

Their own songs on the record slot in perfectly with these, with lo-fi recording techniques infusing the tunes ‘Tennessee Train’, ‘Roses on the Dashboard’, ‘Diamond Horseshoe’ and ‘Beyond the Walls of Time’ with the same DIY spirit and simple enjoyment of music which led to the oral tradition of music being passed from generation to generation in the first place. Backgrounds in punk rock and skateboarding add a gritty element which gives both originals and covers more in common with early folk recordings than with many of their contemporaries, or for that matter most of those who have chosen to play these songs in the last 50 odd years. This is folk music stripped down and honest, from the rollicking ‘Sail Away Ladies’ to the haunting ‘Hang Me’; and from Sam’s almost title track ‘Diamond Horseshoe’ with its foot-stomping beat and straightforward storytelling style which he bends to his music so well, to the breathier vocals on the slower-paced but just as arresting ‘Beyond the Walls of Time’.

To be honest, the only complaint I have about this album is that it doesn’t last longer. It will have you turning the record back over, skipping back to the beginning and cracking open another cold beer, so get hold of a copy from Yadig? Records and keep an eye out for UK tour dates.

The Dime Horseshoe is available via Amazon