Today Sarah Sharp delights our ears with her new EP, “Dream,” that is gorgeous from start to finish. The release chronicles a moment in her life that turned into upheaval after the passing of her much-loved artistic ally, Slim Richey. Taking to the new tracks with the help of Phoebe Hunt, the two collaborate to bring a collection of songs that are beautifully haunting, and skillfully crafted. Throughout the EP Sharp offers up her heart and soul, as it is evident her whole being went into creating her music.
The title track “Dream,” is heaven-sent as Sharp unveils her true self in the song. Standout piece and personal favorite, “Right Through Me,” floats through the record like a cloud, as Sharp’s prominent lyricism takes center stage.
On “Dream,” we hear Sharp grow up as not only a songwriter but a performer as well. Sarah Sharp is an artist on our radar for 2018, as we are head over heels for the buzzworthy songstress.
Black Sedan is a collective of musicians rallied by the journalist/author/publisher, Mark Hodkinson.
Mark began the project two years ago. He explains the name. ‘‘When I was growing up, there was a record shop in town [Rochdale, to where his family had moved from nearby Manchester] called Black Sedan. I often got close to the door, smelling the patchouli oil and hearing all these great sounds, but was too intimidated to actually go in. By the time I’d plucked up the courage, it had closed down.’’
The album, Adventure Lit Their Star, is furiously varied with no less than five vocalists and upwards of 30 contributing musicians. In its down tempo, cut-up moments it has been said to evoke Boards of Canada, The Avalanches, UNKLE, The Sound Defects, Tommy Guerrero or Christopher Goze but when it’s upfront and at-you, it’s as simple and direct as power pop maestros Nada Surf, Material Issue, Army Navy, Oh Sees or The Shout Out Louds. And, of course, there’s always Hawkwind – Black Sedan cover Robert Calvert’s The Right Stuff, and This Is Your Captain Speaking: Your Captain Is Alive is, near enough, a tribute to space rock’s finest.
FLOW has been a musical act on our radar for the better half of the past few months. Their rock infused jazz sound brings to the table a group that is wise beyond their years. With prominent musical backgrounds they pave the way for a new generation of eclectic musicians. Currently sharing their new video for “Tenth Life,” they come alive on the new piece. We caught up with the band recently for our latest edition of Video Voyeur which you will find below.
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
I wrote the song after my cat died. It was like writing a prayer – a cat prayer. Jeff Oster came up with the name Tenth Life, which was perfect. I really loved that cat, had him for ages, I found him starving out in a field and totally wild, he was abandoned and around 2 years old. Pudda had been run over at some stage also. I’m pretty sure he had a fair bit of Maine Coon in him and he was a tabby with an exceptional and chilled out nature. He came to me little by little as I fed him until eventually he came in the house. It took a year to teach him some manners and eventually he was even great with the kids. Everyone loved Pudda, I would do house concerts and he had his own chair and would sit in the audience up the front. When I was recording Signature Synchronicity he kept coming in while I was playing Grace (that was his favourite song) to try and jump on my lap (slightly annoying while you are trying to record for an album). Sometimes he would walk up and down the piano keyboard as if he just loved the sound of it.
I came into the studio to record Tenth Life with FLOW, who then took my basic piano part and each group member added their parts turning it into something new, original and unique and taking a direction that only works with true collaboration.
The space imagery is perfect for the meaning of the song.
What was the inspiration behind this video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?
There is something very ‘searching’ about space, it instills such a sense of wonderment and a feeling of going beyond the ‘known’. We all really loved the idea for the story line of the song, the music and for the direction of FLOW . In our videos we wanted capture nature and present unique scenery.
The video was edited using Hubble footage and CGI by NASA Senior Flight Engineer (Retired) and good friend Troyce Walls.
What was the process of making this video?
We sent the music to Troyce and he came back with the idea to use a mixture of space footage and CGI. There is a lot of similar space footage in the public domain supplied by NASA so Troyce (being Ex NASA) knew how to find less used footage. He was aware of the CGI footage and so he combined the two. Its other worldly and ethereal, perfect for a prayer.
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Simon Lunche has quickly become one of our favorite artists this year with his eclectic brand of sultry rock. His charming solo endeavor has unveiled the song “In My Arms,” which is a breakout piece for the artist. We had the pleasure of catching up with Simon as he dives deeper into the piece.
1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?
Around the time I started writing it, I was having a lot of trouble letting go of a love that I’d had in my life for a while. Pretty much all I could think about was; I’d do anything to have this feeling back. Of course that’s what finally became the first line of the song, “Oh I would do anything for you”. What I didn’t anticipate was that the song would eventually be about a completely different situation. It wasn’t until over a year after I had the original idea that it finally blossomed in the way I wanted it to.
I was at the start of what was becoming a pretty long distance relationship, and the emotions surrounding it were starting to worry me a bit. Getting attached to somebody who I couldn’t see or be with very much was an unexpected thing, and I was scared at the prospect of those feelings growing. One day when I was making the long drive home from a visit, and feeling particularly sad about having to leave, I just started singing to myself in the car. About 5 minutes later I had all of the chorus lyrics in the voice memos of my phone. When I made it home that night I discovered how well the chorus I had written fit together with my original idea of “I would do anything for you” from a year earlier. As soon as I put those two pieces together the song really came to life and by the end of that night I had it finished. It was really a therapeutic thing. I had a lot to say that night and I was lucky enough to be able to get it all out so I could sleep. Always a pretty magical experience when a song comes together that way.
I chose to make a video of “In My Arms” mostly for timing reasons. It was the second single to be released and I knew I didn’t want to make my fans wait too long to see a music video. The real intimate nature of this song also made it an easy choice. It was the kind of thing where I felt like we could capture a very authentic version of me on camera.
2. What was the inspiration behind the video (visuals, storyline, etc)?
The song felt so intimate to me that I wanted whatever video we made to capture that same feeling. When I really started to think on it, this kind of performance video was the only thing that made sense. Having any other characters in the frame, or too much going on visually would have detracted from the intimacy. When I started to identify shot ideas with Jeremy (director), there were two videos we used as reference points. The first was Labrinth’s “Jealous”, and the second was John Mayer’s “Daughters”.
3. What was the process of making the video?
The whole thing went pretty easily once we decided on a concept. Jeremy Stuart (Director, Camera 1), Sam Rawlins (Camera 2), and I, all piled into my little home studio one morning and knocked out all the filming in about four hours. Since this video was so simple, we tried a lot of different little ideas to milk as much emotion out of the performance as possible. Some of them worked out great, which is what you see in the final product. Others, we found in editing, didn’t work out so well. The goal throughout was really to make something that felt like an authentic representation of me, so any shots that felt too forced or that didn’t come across as genuine Simon got tossed. Jeremy and I went back and forth on four different versions of the video before dialing it into the way you see it.
With smooth grooves and killer flows, this album has flavours of A Tribe Called Quest making it feel like a lost classic from Hip Hop’s golden era. With over 29 musicians, vocalists and producers involved in the album (including Blue Note’s Ashley Henry and the Cinematic Orchestra’s Sam Vicary), this is their most ambitious project to date. The lead single from the album (I Wonder – feat. IAMDDB & Fox) has already clocked up over 900,000 views on Youtube. Production has been overseen by the band founders Chini and Defty with help from synth wizard Metrodome (LEVELZ). Contributions have also come from the band’s drummer Deese and Pitch 92 (High Focus). This album retains the trademark head nodding beats of the band’s previous releases, but on Jagged Tooth Crook, The Mouse Outfit’s Jazz and Soul influences are even more evident.
Koala are a four piece Indie band from southern England who draw influence from bands like Two Door Cinema Club and Foals to create a fusion that has yet to be heard. The strong, piercing vocals and catchy summery vibes won’t disappoint you. The band consists of:
Billy Gregory – lead singer//rhythm Guitar
Harry knowles – lead Guitar//backing vox
Sam Brent – drums
Fred parrott – bass guitar//backing vox
They all met in their first year of university, Billy coming from Portsmouth and the other three growing up together in Hertfordshire.
The band would jam songs together in a flat they shared but never took it seriously until their final year of uni. They then started writing their own material and got in the studio and released their first single ‘Backbiting’ in January.
The follow up is the utterly brilliant ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ with its catchy chorus and excellent musicianship it’s sure to springboard the band onto the next stage of their young career.
Modern Mystery 
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