As a fifth single from the upcoming album i/o (I wrote about the i/o tour a few days ago in this detailed report), Peter Gabriel released the track Four Kind of Horses in the usual two versions, Bright Side Mix by Mark Spike Stent on full moon day, May 5, and Dark Side Mix by Tchad Blake on new moon day, May 19.
“Four Kinds of Horses actually began on Richard Russell’s project ‘Everything Is Recorded’. He’s a friend (and founder of XL Records) and he asked me to pop in to his studio. I came up with some chords, melodies and words on top of a groove he was working on. We tried a few things that didn’t altogether work and so it laid dormant for quite a while. Then I started playing around with it again and changed the mood and the groove and something else began to emerge with a better chorus”
The sound palette of Four Kind of Horses is enriched by the contribution of Brian Eno on synths and the piece culminates in an instrumental coda dominated by string pizzicato, particularly evident in the Bright Side Mix (after seeing Gabriel‘s live, I assure you that the strings make the difference). To complete the work, Gabriel picked a sound-specific piece of art: in this case, Four Kind of Horses is accompanied by the work entitled Snap, due to the English artist Cornelia Parker.
Written by Matilda Mann together with Jonah Summerfield and Anthony Rossomando, In Plain Sight anticipates the new acoustic EP by the young Londoner artist, called You Look Like You Can’t Swim and set to be published at the end of June. In Plain Sight is a short glimpse of folk-pop beauty, embellished by the gorgeous vocality of Matilda Mann: it’s a simple yet beautifully written song were the soul vibes listened in previous Mann’s works (I think of songs like Strange (for now), for instance) meet the physicality of acoustic guitars, creating a mix of uncommon delicacy and taste. The song revolves around how difficult it is to not overthink everything, especially for what concerns the relations between people: Some would say it’s obsessive, but I think it’s damn impressive that I found you hidden in plain sight, Mann sings in the first verse. Matilda Mann has already proved herself, over the years, to be an astonishingly interesting prospect, both for her work as a songwriter and lyricists and for the undeniable charm of her voice (and, of course, of her music): In Plain Sight definitely confirms her as an artist to keep an eye on, and it is a great preview of the EP to come.
If there is a guy out there who can make an harpejji funk, that guy is Jack Stratton. Having announced the second album under his moniker Vulfmon, titled Vulfnik, which follows last year masterpiece Here We Go Jack (read my Italian review, in case you missed it), Jack is weekly unveiling new songs from the tracklist. On May, 18 he released the short yet addictive low-volume funk track Harpejji, played… well, on an harpejji board only, as you may imagine. The song is simple as much as impressive, mainly for its remarkable percussive tone: a jewel of blitz-funk, featuring an irresistible groove which has nothing to envy to what can be obtained with more complex lineups. So, if I should pick a short definition for Vulfnik after hearing Harpejji, that would definitely sound like “Jack did it again!”.
Directly inspired by Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name, Klara and the Sun is the second single taken from Mezcla upcoming EP (out in June for Ubuntu Music editions). The jazz-fusion Scottish band led by bass player and composer David Bowden draws here a beautiful, nuanced landscape which blends meditative, thoughtful sax solos and middle-eastern, Arabian atmospheres: in a sort of soft and romantic “night in Tunisia”-mood, the collective creates nocturnal spaces for a long, beautiful trumpet solo which leads into a more percussive, obscure concluding section. Klara and the Sun is an exquisitely well written piece of mellow jazz-fusion, made with absolute good taste and a mastery of the jazz vocabulary that makes the band led by Bowden one of the most interesting prospect in the more than vital contemporary jazz scene.
It’s been a while since we last talk of Cory Wong on these pages, and it’s needless to say (as my dearest readers should know very well) that Wong is probably by far my favorite musician on the contemporary funk-R’n’B scene. The Minneapolis guitarist has come back in May through an explosive collab with American songwriter Allen Stone: Look at Me, accompanied by a gorgeous, tarot-inspired artwork, is an irresistible piece of modern funk, enhanced by a bassline dripping with groove and a mesmerizing work by the horn section (Hornheads at their best). Look at Me teases the new album by Wong, The Lucky One, scheduled within the end of this year: the upbeat-funk tone of this first single makes us want to hear new sneak peeks soon, and creates huge (and very justified) anticipation for the album as a whole. As for me, of one thing I am absolutely sure: I will never be disappointed by an artist like Cory Wong, one of the few around here who has an authentic Vision.
“While making the album I endured an experience so horrendous, torturous, and inexplicable that words fail me and explanation seems impossible. Within this period, I felt a close connection to Betty and Barney Hill and their story. I even started to believe that perhaps I had been abducted by some kind intergalactic being as they claimed occurred to them fifty-four years ago. When we experience something that doesn’t make logical sense, the mind looks to conjure any explanation no matter how outlandish it appears. We appear to crave understanding. Perhaps it makes us feel safe. The looming presence of the unknown is daunting and sometimes frightening. However, there is much we do not yet understand, some of which we will never comprehend.”
On May, 24 Angelo De Augustine has released the second single from his new album Toil and Trouble, out on June 30 for Asthmatic Kitty Records. Inspired by the famous Betty and Barney Hill incident, a UFO sighting and alien encounter involving a couple in New Hampshire in 1961, The Ballad of Betty and Barney Hill, featuring an exquisite stop motion video by artist and filmmaker Clara Murray, digs into the atmospheres of the new LP and it’s a tender, haunting piece of art in the form a ballad, crossed by subtle and persistent tension and restlessness. The indie-folk fabric of the song is punctuated by almost-alien sounds, and the charming vocal melody does the rest, resulting in a fascinating episode of disquiet beauty.
On May, 26 Alice Auer has finally released her EP Baby, Cry, composed of four songs (we talked in the past RoundUps about the beautiful Unknown and the titletrack Baby Cry). Baby, Cry EP has been published for Young Poet Records (who reads these pages will know very well some of the artists from this London-based label, and particularly the adorable Hohnen Ford), and the EP release has been accompanied by the last song, I Feel Sad, written by Auer together with Seth Tackaberry. I Feel Sad is a slow and romantic piano ballad, which closes the EP on a nostalgic, mellow tone: in the second chorus, the amazing Auer’s voice is punctuated by Tackaberry’s profound basses that lift the song to new emotional heights. In the following, you can listen to both I Feel Sad and the whole EP.