Tag Archives: new music

Kelly Oliver’s Bedlam

I recently heard some great new music from Angry Baby and I wanted to share it with you – thanks Flo!

Being a fearless storyteller is a great starting point for any contemporary folk singer. Add to that the creativity to build stand-out instrumentation topped by a voice that is uniquely sweet and complex and you have all the ingredients you need for a breakthrough folk album.

That’s what I found in Kelly Oliver’s Bedlam, released on boutique indie label Folkstock Records on 6 March 2016. It’s no surprise that she is already a favourite with the UK’s Folk Radio station and legendary music presenter Whispering Bob Harris.

Before you read on, Kelly Oliver is giving a FREE download of her song Lay Our Heavy Heads from Bedlam to Angry Baby readers – just click here to hop over to Angry Baby and get your free track.

Raised in Hertfordshire, Kelly Oliver’s Celtic heritage shines through. Lay our Heavy Heads is a timeless love story that gives the album a flavour of ‘Once the Musical’ – appealing to anyone’s inner musical theatre geek, especially mine!

I guess that Kelly comes from a tradition of strong women. Miles To Tralee, which Kelly wrote for her grandmother, tells a first generation immigrant story of struggle, against a backdrop of love and tragedy, and it’s clear that the young woman who is the subject of the story is a force to be reckoned with. Go Granny!

Kelly’s own life story proves that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Proud of her working class roots, though clearly not constrained by them, Kelly was travelling the world when, one day in Rio, she resolved to make her living from her music. It’s a gutsy decision, especially for someone who pours herself into her lyrics and doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects. But with courage in her genes, we shouldn’t expect Kelly Oliver to do any less than challenge us with her stories, while giving us music that entertains and enchants.

The title track Bedlam doesn’t pull any punches. Just to prove that folk music is built on the tough stuff of human existence, Kelly Oliver brings us the hellish scenes of Victorian mental asylums and the cruelty meted out to women suffering from post-natal depression. Cheery it ain’t, but social justice isn’t won with pretty poems.

Bedlam delivers contrast too. Within the Celtic vibe and theme of feisty women, Jericho could (in my head anyway) have been written for a Disney princess – specifically Merida, from Brave, all grown up and ready to claim her man. ‘I’ll fight off any girl in town, for him I’ll break the walls of Jericho down‘.

In the City tells a contemporary story of urban love and violence through mediaeval imagery of hunting and dancing, while The Other Woman explores a love triangle, proving that some themes are timeless.

Die this Way, brings us full circle to themes of social justice through a migrant’s eyes ‘Daddy, I don’t wanna stay here… why is there screaming and shouting and shooting…lets move away…they won’t let us in, why would they keep us out here …like a dog in the rain?‘. The final song Rio ends the album on a high note, something a little more cheerful, upbeat and optimistic to finish on,which you can expect to hear many more times as we near the start of the 2016 Olympics.

With such a creative, inspiring and thought-provoking selection of songs, Bedlam is definitely an album that no self-respecting music collection should be without. I have a feeling Granny is proud.

I asked Kelly what advice she would give to someone just starting out with their music. As you might expect, her advice reveals the steel in her spine:

‘Hopefully anyone starting out in music is passionate about the music they create and perform, which is the best place to start!

An important lesson I’ve learned is to make the most of your social media – engage with and respond to your fans and get your music online so that it can be listened to and shared. Invest in good promo photos and album cover photos – these get shared more widely than you might initially think!

I’d say try not to compare yourself too much to other musicians on the scene. Every musician is following their own personal path, and it’s more productive to focus on your own musical journey and concentrate on what you personally want to achieve as a musician.

Expect rejection and learn to brush it off instantly – it’s what I’ve done from the very beginning and it’s been the most valuable piece of advice that I’ve ever received. Saying that, it’s also important to keep an eye out for opportunities and take them wherever you can. I personally celebrate every small victory and, for me, that makes every day of being a musician fulfilling.’

This first appeared on www.angrybaby.co.uk.

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From the Uproar – Vanessa Forero

Here on thoughtsofjustafan I like to bring you good music and, when I can, good new music.  I recently heard a new singer songwriter, Vanessa Forero and really enjoyed her debut EP, From the Uproar.  When listening to new singers, the temptation is to compare with someone you already know and a common comparison for female singer songwriters with a penchant for stripped back songs is Suzanne Vega.  However, having listened a few times, I decided that that is just a lazy comparison to make; Vanessa Forero’s music doesn’t really remind me of anyone at all.  From the five songs on the EP, I would say she has a pretty unique sound right now, mainly from the strong Latin sounds created with authentic Colombian instruments.

Although From the Uproar is Forero’s debut EP, she is far from a music newbie, having been a prolific film and TV composer as well as playing keyboards in a band (Starling).  So how does a self styled ‘music monkey’ came up with such a distinctive sound as heard on this EP?  I recently interviewed Forero and asked how the idea came about and the turning point came when she entered a Beth Orton competition aimed at female composers.  She was accepted and only then discovered that the competition was for female singer songwriters and that, horror of horrors for an out and out composer, that performing her own songs in front of others was part of the package.  Luckily, Forero quickly found that singing her own songs was right for her and as the saying goes, never looked back.  That was just last year and Forero has been using the time since then to make this EP, using the hundreds of songs she had written at the end of each film  / TV project and adding the Colombian sound.  Describing the process of creating her own sound after years of creating music to very tight briefs for other people, Forero says “doing imitations of different genres – brilliant training ground though it was – created a need for me to find my own personal musical voice.  The whole process has been so beneficial, I feel that I found out who I really am.”  Hearing that from a lot of people might sound cheesy but I was struck by Forero’s sincerity; she’s clearly having the time of her life making her own music and it’s obviously not an option not to carry on.  Forero’s response to whether or not there will be an album was “if I don’t, I feel I might die!”

All the songs were written before the idea of an EP was even thought of, with the exception of the fifth and final track, Anhela and they all sound as if the singer is breaking free of constraint, in this case, from the constraints of writing music for others.  The strongest song for me is Same Boat in which Forero explores the idea of things happening at the right time and how sometimes, things almost happen but don’t and maybe that’s a good thing.

For me, the sign of a good song is when you find yourself singing along (or attempting to!) the first time you hear it and this was the song that did just that for me on the EP. The strong Latin sound was created using authentic instruments played by Forero herself and a couple of musicians from Leeds which forms the perfect backdrop to Forero’s heritage, seeing as she is a Yorkshire lass and her mother originally hails from Colombia (that’s a whole other story and can be found on vanessaforero.com).

The longer the interview went on, I increasingly felt inspired by Forero’s attitude to her music.  She is a long standing musician and composer but at the same time is also at the very beginnings of a brand new direction in her career. Having spent so much time writing music with a very defnite and defined purpose in mind,  writing almost “without a purpose” made her look at everything in a new light: She says “we put ourselves in boxes but as humans we can do anything we want. Break your own box down and shock people.”  See what I mean? Inspiring.

From the Uproar by Vanessa Forero was released on 28 March on Magpie Records and is available here:

vanessa forero uproar

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Headstrong Music from Robb Murphy

As you know, here on thoughtsofjustafan I like to bring you new music from time to time and this is one of those times!  This week, I featured an interview with former Jean Valjean Dan Koek as part of the Club 24601 series and as he’s a lovely bloke he kindly gave me a free track to share with my lovely readers (that’s you, in case you’re wondering!) so click here to get it before the offer goes away.

In order to bring you this free track I partnered with Angry Baby who alongside Dan, featured an up and coming artist on her blog this week.  I listened to his music and I liked it a lot so here is Angry Baby’s review of Robb Murphy:

A couple of weeks ago I found a message in my Angry Baby twitter account from Robb Murphy, inviting me to listen to his music. I clicked the link without any great expectations for what I would hear, but within a few seconds I was captivated by his sound. My little sister, who is not known for being particularly engaged with music, even began to fairy dance around the room, so I knew that this was an artist that I needed to hear more from and share with you.

I reached out to Robb, who told me a bit about his music and his influences.

Although Robb’s music has a traditional feel and rhythm to it that must come from his Irish heritage, he told me that he takes inspiration from “normal day to day life, the ups the downs we all go though, and always try to have a positive element in them”.

He went on to explain that he is influenced by nature and his surroundings, both his home in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. He was lucky enough to write much of his current album in a small town in Tuscany, which provides an opportunity to explore the contrast to those influences from album to album. Since Robb is an artist whose music is worth spending time with, I am looking forward to spotting where Ireland meets Italy in his music.

Here is a video of Robb’s new single Headstrong for you to listen to. Robb explained that Headstrong is taken from his current album, Sleep Tonight and describes the video:

“The video is a glimpse into my crazy head; people dressed in animal costumes who stage a break out from a zoo and are chased around by the zoo keeper getting up to mischief along the way.” Now that has to be worth taking a look at!

The song Headstrong is about keeping your focus, not getting distracted and sticking to your goals, so take a listen, and maybe try out your own fairy dance!

Robb’s musical influences are varied. He explained that “lyrics draw me in mostly, even more so if with an emotive melody. And I love a good upbeat pop song too. Bands like U2, REM, Del Ametri, Bon Iver, Counting Crows, and singer songwriters like Paddy Casey, Damien Rice, Ben Howard and Ryan Adams. I also love 60s and Motown and I am a vinyl collector!”

The reference to a preference for vinyl makes even more sense when you realise that Robb has a background as a producer and engineer, which may also explain the beautiful, melodic arrangements and attention to detail that shine through in his recordings.

Robb is currently touring in the Netherlands and returns to Northern Ireland for two scheduled performances early in November. I’ll certainly be keeping a look out for any more dates across the UK as he is an artist that I would love to hear ‘live’. I’ll keep you posted if I hear from him!

Finally, here is Robb’s advice for anyone who is just starting out with music:

“Love what you do, create what you are proud of, don’t get too influenced by other current music, and write / play as much as you can. If your music happens to catch a few ears along the way that is great, but for me it is secondary. Music is a good way to express creativity and to meet like minded people so just keep at it and rewards will come!”

If you like Robb’s music, Angry Baby has a FREE track available so don’t forget to click here to go through and claim your free track.  It’s fab!

Thank you to Flo at Angry Baby for allowing me to re-blog and share Robb’s music.

The Voice’s Mike Ward – First Single Out!

Remember The Voice UK’s country singer Mike Ward?  He reached the final under the guidance of his coach, Tom Jones and won a legion of fans with his country style songs.  Here is his blind audition from youtube:

If you loved Mike on The Voice, then your luck is in – he’s just released his first single, Welcome Home, on iTunes.

mike ward

As Mike wrote the track himself, it’s been a while coming – but it’s a cracker and definitely worth the wait.  A classic country song that perfectly suits his velvety voice, I can’t wait to hear more.  Tom Jones agrees too, as his tweeted his support recently:

Luckily, an EP is due for release in October.  Check out Mike’s website for more details.

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Dare to Hear the Voice of Hollie Aires

Hollie Aires is known in and around her home town of Rugby as the the “Rugby Songbird” –  I was first alerted to her pure voice by Flo Bannigan’s Angry Baby blog (click here for the link).   Hollie has just released her second EP, Ghosts in the Garden and at the grand old age of 17 is already a seasoned musical actress.  As Swallow in the West End’s Whistle Down the Wind, she received considerable critical acclaim; her next challenge is as Mimi in Rent.  Industry support has also not been slow in coming with Hollie having written with Hit composer Jayne Taylor and further support from Martin Sutton at the PRS in London, KISS FM DJ Charlie Hedges and Radio 1’s Annie Nightingale. And so to that newly released EP, Ghosts in the Garden.  Listening to it, I’m struck by Hollie’s wide vocal range, shown off perfectly in the second track, If I Should Break.  There is also a striking resemblance to the music of Suzanne Vega and Joni Mitchell, amongst others,  in this song.  The haunting melody showcases her range and the accompanying lyrics point towards a mature song writing future. One line gives the review it’s title whilst another gives pause for thought: “I can’t lose you like I’ve lost myself”.  If you like strong female vocalists with a penchant for hauntingly beautiful melodies and thought provoking lyrics, Ghosts in the Garden would be a great addition to your music collection.

If you want to catch Hollie live, she is shortly on tour (first venue this week sold out!) but check out her facebook page for further dates: https://www.facebook.com/HollieAiresOfficial

Ghosts in the Garden is out now and is available on iTunes:

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