Last week we brought you the review for Drew Davies’ new single titled ‘Mrs Taylor’ and told you how special the meaning behind the music is. This time around we concentrate on the video, which just dropped.
The video perfectly encapsulates said meaning with a symbolic journey via car and foot through what I think is one of the more beautiful countrysides in this world. The scenes are cut to the beat which punctuates the track and enhances the driving tone of the song as a whole. Topped by interesting guitar and chord changes that give soul and take score, ‘Mrs Taylor’ is one of those beat-centric anthems for the #indie scene.
ABOUT ‘MRS TAYLOR’
London-based rock soloist Drew Davies has announced his single ‘Mrs. Taylor’ set for release on 1 November. The track is lifted from his upcoming debut EP via AD1. The EP was mixed by Steve Honest (Oasis, Eurythmics) and mastered by John Webber (David Bowie, Super Furry Animals). Davies has been featured by the likes of Clash Magazine, Atwood Magazine and Music News amongst others. He has seen radio play from BBC Radio York’s Introducing with Jericho Keys, BBC Wales, Radio X, and as a previous member of The Mercy House, the band saw support from Kerrang, Classic Rock Magazine, Metal Hammer, MTV and BBC Radio 6 and Radio X. He has toured extensively in the UK and Europe, had music featured on the Rock Band video game, played Download Festival, London’s Scala and the iconic Troubadour.
ABOUT DREW DAVIES
Hailing from South Yorkshire, Davies comes from a long line of singers and musicians. He has spent the better part of the last decade treading the boards of venues and festivals across the UK and Europe with various bands, working in musical collaborations, writing for other artists and singing in session gigs to get by. Through successes, setbacks and everything in between, he has poured himself into his musical labors and has now produced his most personal work to date.
Pulling from a wide array of influences, Drew Davies is inspired by everything from 50’s rock n’ roll to electronica, citing acts such as The National, Scott Walker, Vangelis and Tom Petty. From this palette of familiar reference points, he has created a genre-bending and timeless sound that bears semblance to the likes of Sam Fender, Future Islands, and The War On Drugs.
On ‘Mrs Taylor’ Davies displays impressive vocal polish, bringing the lyrics colorfully to life against a full musical arrangement. Propelled by energetic instrumentals, the songwriting and hooks are brilliantly written and expertly executed. Thematically, the track traverses melancholic subject matter, but Davies tackles it with gusto and positivity choosing to highlight memory of life, rather than a reminder of our inevitable mortality.
Davies gives some background to the track:
Mrs Taylor is a song about childhood. Growing up in the South Yorkshire countryside it wasn’t always easy to get around. My oldest friend’s mother Mrs Taylor used to ferry us around a lot and take care of us if we ever got into scrapes. When I learned of her passing I immediately started writing lyrics and music; ‘Mrs Taylor’ was written then and there as an ode to childhood and to those who took care of me in those formative years.
LINKS:
https://www.drewdaviesmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/drewdaviesmusic
https://www.twitter.com/drewdaviesmusic
https://www.instagram.com/drewdaviesmusic
https://drewdaviesmusic.bandcamp.com
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Ways – Death Row
French alternative metal quintet Ways have premiered their brand new single and music video for “Death Row”. The single comes from the group’s upcoming record titled, AFTERMATH set to release March 15th.
“We are very excited for everyone to finally see the music video for our first single of our new EP, “Aftermath”, says guitarist, Nicolas Reignier.
With the new album, the band brings their beliefs to the table in the new album which speaks of the many problems we see today including global warming, animal cruelty and much more.
Reignier continues, “The single titled, “Death Row” and was written by us when we were going through a time where we felt the emergency of the situation of an animals life. We wanted to write something that spoke exactly how we felt. This song is about fur and, by consequences, about animals mistreatment. We don’t understand why a lot of animals are killed for their fur… Most people of the world don’t need fur for protection to the cold, we have a lot of alternative clothes for that. This just for fashion and is cruel.”
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/thisisways
https://www.instagram.com/waysofficiel
https://twitter.com/Ways_officiel -
Sweet Gum Tree – The Gift
Sweet Gum Tree’s first and heavily supported album by the likes of Mojo, Uncut and The Line Of Best Fit, came to fruition with the help of many prestigious collaborators such as Isobel Campbell-Belle & Sebastian, Earl Harvin -Tindersticks and Marty Willson-Piper -The Church. This time, Arno Sojo has reshuffled his cards and chosen to record this new album almost entirely on his own, except for the help of Irish producer David Odlum (long-time partner-in-crime of Gemma Hayes and Glen Hansard).
Both a beautiful, romantic adventure and an unnerving trip through a mind crowded with troubled creatures, Sojo’s earnest vocals confirm that he is amongst those who still believe that music and words can touch the soul, by way of sincerity, constant reinvention and fine craftsmanship. Minimal drum machines and echo-laden guitars throughout create a state of grace evoking the ethereal new-wave productions of British label 4AD as well as hymns from great pop architects like Talk Talk, Prefab Sprout or Divine Comedy. The album’s electronic rigidity contrasts perfectly with the elegant strings and soaring melodies, while Sojo’s graveled vocals ensure it remains an outstandingly humane and sensitive collection of tracks.
The album’s title nods to Wes Anderson’s acclaimed, ‘‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’’, which itself was based upon Stefan Zweig’s writings on the rise of Nazism in the mid-30’s. Drawing a parallel with the current fiery state of the world and Anderson’s tale of creating love despite all circumstances, Sojo reflects on the challenge of how one can fulfill the need to dream whilst in such a desperate context.
The soul in Sojo’s voice is what really drives ‘Sustain The Illusion’, particularly on tracks such as ‘Someday’, ‘Guilt Trip’ and the closing lullaby, ‘Keeper’, that lulls you into a complete sense of security. On the other hand, ‘Burn Your Icons’ is both a thought-provoking, sharp and ironic look at the relevant question of how we view our fallen idols that gives a truly unique perspective on our society’s traditions.
LINKS:
http://twitter.com/SweetGumTree
http://facebook.com/sweetgumtree
http://sweetgumtree.tv -
We Are Parasols – Dim
A throbbing beat. Machines on a march. Guitars can be a drill or sing like an angel. A voice like a computer caught in a human throat. A whisper. A howl. Synthesizers are sometimes smooth and glassy, sometimes jagged and bloody. A walk on the shore can easily turn into an apocalyptic landscape, depending on your perception.
Influenced by Curve, Wire, Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, Gazelle Twin, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails and Bloody Knives, their new offerings on ‘Inertia’ features tracks ranging from the analogue postpunk near-industrial enigma of projects like Clan of Xymox and The Tear Garden to electronic dark reverie similar to Delerium and Gazelle Twin classics to the stripped back melancholy served up by This Mortal Coil.
Dubbing their own music as ‘industrialgaze’ and ‘darkwave’, We Are Parasols is comprised of D (vocals and bass), Jerman (guitars, piano, synthesizers, programming, and samples), and Alec Eye (drums, programming, and synthesizers).
“I have a stronger desire — or, really, a need — to continue to make and perform music. So that deep need often overrides the fears I have about creating and sharing our art, and performing live,” says D.
We Are Parasols began as a shoegaze-electronic hybrid band. Their debut full-length ‘Infrastructure’ was followed by their ‘bite_your_tongue’ EP, a more minimal ambient release. The song ‘No Movement’ off the band’s debut album, which was about an android sex worker, ultimately spawned the musical world of their new album ‘Inertia’.
‘Inertia’ combines industrial, shoegaze, dream pop and darkwave with sci-fi in order to tell a dystopian, possibly humanist, probably anti-human, story about violence, technology, politics, control, and an android feminist anti-hero known only as a synthetic sexual tasked android body.
There are 13 tracks on the cassette version of the EP, which comes with a full-color 4-panel J-Card featuring all the lyrics, as well as a digital download (a poster is also available). While these same 13 tracks are available through online stores and streaming platforms everywhere, the Bandcamp edition includes a special bonus track – ‘hush (Piano Version)’ – especially for lovers of early 4AD output.
LINKS:
http://nomovementrecords.com/weareparasols
http://www.facebook.com/weareparasols
http://twitter.com/WeAreParasols
http://soundcloud.com/weareparasols
http://www.youtube.com/user/PredatorFriendly/videos
http://www.instagram.com/weareparasols
http://weareparasols.bandcamp.com
http://open.spotify.com/artist/7dmvcoPsZ4Vy4Fy4WALQMP
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/we-are-parasols/id1044013285