Monthly Archives: March 2015

Presenting…Courtney Barnett

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Courtney Barnett

One of the most anticipated debut albums of this year is Courtney Barnett’s wonderfully titled Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. Two very different tracks have been previewed from the Australian’s album, which you can watch below.

‘Pedestrian At Best’ has a weird and wonderful video, and the song grabs you and thrills in a way I recall when I first heard The Breeders’ ‘Cannonball’ all those years ago…

Meanwhile, ‘Depreston’ is an altogether different (but just as good) kettle of fish:

The tracklisting for the album is as follows:

1. Elevator Operator
2. Pedestrian at Best
3. An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in NY)
4. Small Poppies
5. Depreston
6. Aqua Profunda!
7. Dead Fox
8. Nobody Really Cares if You Don’t Go to the Party
9. Debbie Downer
10. Kim’s Caravan
11. Boxing Day Blues

I may have been late to the party, but if you are too, then check out her earlier track ‘Avant Gardener’ with what I believe may well be the world’s first kooky tennis music video.

The return of My Morning Jacket

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My Morning Jacket

May 4 will see the release of My Morning Jacket’s first album in four years, The Waterfall.

The first track to be previewed from the album is the utterly gorgeous (and musically more-ish) ‘Big Decisions.’ The song can be streamed via YouTube below:

The tracklisting for The Waterfall, their seventh studio album, is as follows:

1. Believe (Nobody Knows)
2. Compound Fracture
3. Like A River
4. In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)
5. Get The Point
6. Spring (Among the Living)
7. Thin Line
8. Big Decisions
9. Tropics (Erase Traces)
10. Only Memories Remain

Album Review – Bob Dylan

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Dylan

Bob Dylan -‘Shadows In The Night’ (Columbia/Sony)

Shadows In The Night is Bob Dylan’s 36th studio album. Whilst it might seem strange that the man often regarded as the songwriter’s songwriter would release an album completely consisting of cover versions, it’s not the first time that his albums have been either mostly comprised (Bob Dylan, Self-Portrait) or even completely comprised (Good As I Been To You, World Gone Wrong, Christmas In The Heart), of cover versions, or if you want to be specific, traditional songs.

This time round, the theme is songs popularised by Frank Sinatra in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Reportedly 23 songs were recorded – so we can either expect another studio album to reveal more, or another of his fantastic Bootleg series. And as a whole album, it hangs together really, really well. The sleeve suggests the classic smoky late night atmosphere of Sinatra’s studio albums or jazz albums of the period. These are songs that require a croon – which he does well. Whilst it falters a little on ‘Stay With Me’ the vocal style is midway between Sinatra and Dylan at his more gruff.

Indeed some of these covers are genuinely moving – the South Pacific song ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ and though brief, ‘Autumn Leaves’ is this scribe’s favourite. It’s a gorgeous album overall, with a fantastic melancholy that makes it something to treasure. Covers albums can be hit or miss, but overall this is a fine example of one that works, and shows us that six decades in, Dylan is still capable of surprises.

****

Shadows In The Night is out now on Columbia/Sony