London based singer/songwriter Ollie Trevers studied at Leeds College of Music and ICMP. He started writing and performing music at fourteen years old, harboring artistic aspirations from the very beginning. A veteran of the band circuit, Ollie released his first solo EP Saucy Naughty Rubbish in 2018.
Stylistically, the record saw Ollie exploring a powerful and energetic blend of post-punk and classic rock. His musical direction has since evolved into the five songs you hear on his new EP Cordelia. It is a kaleidoscopic meeting of styles, channeling punk, alt-rock, prog, blues, folk, and psychedelia. Ollie takes inspiration from artists such as Led Zeppelin, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf, Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley, Pink Floyd, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, and David Bowie.
Having only performed with his new band since March 2019, Ollie toured in the South of France a few months later. He plans to tour Britain, Europe, and Nashville throughout 2020.
LINKS:
https://www.ollietreversmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/ollietreversmusic
https://soundcloud.com/ollie-trevers
https://www.instagram.com/olivertrevers
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Cathal Coughlan – Owl In The Parlour
Cathal Coughlan has released the video for his new track titled ‘Owl in the Parlour’. Given a dark tone only highlighted by the video, the track has an almost dark alt jazz feeling to it. Almost a cross between Leonard Cohen and Joe Jackson. The chord progressions are brilliant and the originality factor is above ten.
As of February 5, ‘Owl In The Parlour’ is available digitally across online platforms, such as Apple Music and Spotify. Lead track ‘Song of Co-Aklan’ can already be found on these same platforms. The full album, set for release on March 26, can be pre-ordered HERE.
ABOUT CATHAL COUGHLAN
Irish indie music legend Cathal Coughlan presents ‘Owl In The Parlour’, the second single from his forthcoming album ‘Song of Co-Aklan’, his first new music in ten years, to be released via London label Dimple Discs. The accompanying video was created by Andy Golding (The Wolfhounds, Dragon Welding), presenting Co-Aklan in an infomercial of the most hallucinatory and lurid kind, which is nonetheless friendly and persuasive in tone.
“This song is, in part, a survey of the options in personal couture, animal husbandry, and ‘inexpensive’ domestic staffing which are now available to the spry middle-aged man in this era of global communication. In this gilded age, we are simultaneously interlinked and mutually repelled as never before, whether we live in remote settlements in war-torn parts of the world, or in the mosaic of postage-stamp-sized semi-detached fortresses and gargantuan fulfillment hubs that is the English Hinterland in 2021,” says Cathal Coughlan.
Earlier, Coughlan released the title track ‘Song of Co-Aklan’, along with a video that is a hermetic visual feast, created by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker George Seminara.
Best known as co-founder and vocalist for seminal 80s/90s bands Microdisney and The Fatima Mansions, who toured internationally with U2, the Cork native has been described as “the most underrated lyricist in pop today” by The Guardian newspaper. DJ John Peel was also such a fan that he stated he could “listen to Cathal Coughlan sing the phone book”.
Recorded in London, this song features Coughlan’s long-time collaborators from the Grand Necropolitan Quartet. Namely Nick Allum (The Fatima Mansions, The Apartments) is on drums, James Woodrow is on guitar, with cello by Audrey Riley (notable collaborator of Lush, The Sundays, The Smiths, Nick Cave, The Cure, The Go-Betweens, Smashing Pumpkins, Catherine Wheel, Moloko and Coldplay). Anchoring the song is Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti) on bass.
This album also features contributions from Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Black Box Recorder) on bass and baritone guitar. The eye-catching cover art for the ‘Song of Co-Aklan’ LP is by outsider artist Cristabel Christo and originated by Bruce Brand, award winning designer for The Darkness and Whites Stripes.
Cathal Coughlan is widely considered to be one of Ireland’s most revered singer-songwriters, beloved by fans of caustic literate lyricism and erudite songcraft. Since Fatima Mansions’ demise in the mid-90s, he has released five acclaimed solo albums, taken part in an array of collaborations, and made numerous guest appearances. Along with Microdisney bandmates, he was the first recipient in 2019 of Ireland’s National Concert Hall Trailblazer Award, which celebrates culturally important albums by iconic Irish musicians, songwriters, and composers (for 1985’s ‘The Clock Comes Down The Stairs’).
Feautred image by by Gregory Dunn.
LINKS:
http://www.cathalcoughlan.com
https://www.facebook.com/cathalcoughlan
https://twitter.com/realcathalc
https://www.instagram.com/cathalcoughlan
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCazYm7FpGdnSORnFUGqHHtQ/featured -
Amusement Parks On Fire – All The New Ends
Amusement Parks On Fire came to prominence in 2004 with the release of the eponymous debut album, conceived and consummated by the then-adolescent founder Michael Feerick and phonically actualized on a shoestring with Nottingham cohabitant Daniel Knowles. Issued on Geoff Barrow (of Portishead)’s Invada label, it was described by the New Musical Express as ‘hedonistic teenage genius’.
A live line-up was essentially performed and extensively performed with the likes of Dinosaur Jr, M83, and dEUS among innumerable other acts of the era. The unit then retreated to Sigur Rós’ private swimming-pool sanctuary Sundlaugin in Álafoss, Iceland to complete the venturesome sophomore release ‘Out Of The Angeles’, during which time they experimented with sleep, food and sunlight deprivation at the insistence of V2 Records. After several years of international incidence, the band crash-landed in Los Angeles in 2009 to make ‘Road Eyes’ with producers Michael Patterson (Beck, NIN) and Nicolas Jodoin (Arcade Fire, BRMC). Again inspired by the locale, the collection was intended as ‘a skewed Californian contemporary-classical’, with Alternative Press defining it as ‘sun-drenched, challenging and gratifying… a near-perfect album’.
Last year, Amusement Parks On Fire returned with their first release in ‘8.8 years’. The single ‘Our Goal To Realise’ saw the British art-rockers reappear with signature songwriting sophistication and sonic scope. All The New Ends seeks to further cement their insignia whilst eschewing genre-tropes and preconceptions of form. Like the expansive concept singles surrounding their second album ‘Out Of The Angeles’, the medium-length format once-again provides the perfect platform to push perceptions and extend expectations.
LINKS:
http://apof.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/amusementparksonfire
https://twitter.com/APOF -
Evi Vine – Sabbath
Ethereal alt-rock outfit Evi Vine presents ‘Sabbath’, a sweet and heavy preview of their long-awaited long-play ‘Black Light White Dark’, due out in early 2019 on vinyl and CD, as well as digitally. This powerhouse track features Evi Vine’s gossamer vocals and precise orchestration, cleverly woven together with bass guitar by Simon Gallup of The Cure and guitar by Peter Yates of Fields of the Nephilim.
Produced by Dave Izumi (Nordic Giants, Ed Harcourt, Magic Numbers) and mixed by Phill Brown (Talk Talk, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, John Martyn, Robert Palmer), this album also features contributions from several other celebrated artists. Apart from Simon Gallup (The Cure), this album also involves Martyn Barker (Shriekback, Billy Bragg, Marianne Faithfull, Goldfrapp), Peter Yates (Fields of the Nephilim), and Geraldine Swayne (Faust).
As a group, Evi Vine is joined by Steven Hill, Matt Tye, and David ‘GB’ Smith. Their music explores the dark elemental nature of the human heart, as well as environmental and post-apocalyptic themes. Evi Vine’s sound is both sublime and haunting. Creating a unique and uncompromising atmosphere, the effect is reverential, physical music, evoking a rare experience that is beautiful, sparse and deeply intimate.
“I know a lot of people are being shaped by experiences in our lives, ghosts of childhood, self-destructive pain and sorrow, all our personal struggles, doubt, and change. I can feel the earth dying and it makes me so sad. We write reflective songs about the circular patterns of man, and reflecting beauty and violence in the world,” says Evi Vine.
“We recorded live for the first time, which meant we were perhaps able to express the energy in the room together, vibing off one another and experimenting with new sounds, in a new space. Writing in the room was a new experience for us. Its the first time we’ve gone in with no finished songs. We had a few ideas and riffs but took the time to let them breathe and worked on them until we felt we had captured a special moment. After producing two albums essentially at home, this feels like a re-birth for the band.”
Evi Vine’s debut self-released debut album ‘…And So The Morning Comes’ was heralded as “the underground gem of 2011” by Drowned in Sound and championed by Simon Raymonde (Bella Union, Cocteau Twins) as his album of the year. Directed by Oscar-winning Nick Brooks (Fight Club, The Matrix, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Evi joined with internationally acclaimed photographer Patrick Fraser to make the stunning video ‘For the Dreamers’.
Their second album ‘Give Your Heart to The Hawks’ (2015) was co-produced by Richard Formby (Mogwai, Spacemen 3, Wild Beasts) and mixed by the legendary Phill Brown (Beth Gibbons, John Martyn, Talk Talk, Led Zeppelin, Robert Palmer). The album also featured Martyn Barker, Peter Yates, Tatia Starkey (My Vitriol/Lola Colt), and Billy Cote (Madder Rose).
Evi’s career has been filled with color. She formed this band while living in LA, quickly getting a support show opening for Slash at the Whiskey-agogo. She has collaborated with Graham Revell (SPK, The Crow Soundtrack), The Eden House, Tony Pettit (Fields of the Nephilim), and Peter Yates (Fields of the Nephilim). In 2016, Evi sang on Phillip Clemo’s ‘DreamMaps’ album, together with Talk Talk’s Simon Edwards and Martin Ditcham, subsequently making appearances on BBC6, BBC3 Late Junction and Jazz FM.
Most recently, Evi Vine contributed backing vocals on The Mission’s 2016 album ‘Another Fall From Grace’, which hit the UK top-40 album chart, and collaborated with Michael Ciravolo on the debut album from LA-based Beauty in Chaos, involving members of The Cure, Ministry, The Mission, Cheap Trick, The Offspring, King’s X and Ice T, among others.
In recent years, Evi Vine has toured with The Mission, Chameleons Vox, Wayne Hussey, And Also The Trees, Phillip Boa and The Voodoo Club, and Her Name is Calla. After hearing Evi Vine’s debut album and including it among his top five albums, Wayne Hussey invited them to tour with him in 2016 and subsequently with The Mission in 2017. Invited on stage to sing three songs by The Mission, the seed was sown and Vine joined The Mission as the featured vocalist for their 30th Anniversary Tour.
“The new album is intense – dark, layered, wonderfully atmospheric, fragile, and at times stripped bare – an album to get lost in….and then surface with Evi’s haunting and delicate vocals and the endless space,” explains Phill Brown.
The Cure’s Simon Gallup elaborated on his involvement in this project: “Hammersmith …me drunk …meet Evi for the first time I mumble that I’d love to play on a couple of tracks …don’t hear anything for ages than an email out of the blue …Three songs …feel nervous but really enjoy the songs …a day trip to the coast and a lovely welcome with dogs ..have beer and made to feel even more welcome ..worry that what I’m playing isn’t right or not going to fit in but enjoy myself and the warmth of everything ..have to dash as there is a prom on …a very bad hill start and a dash back down the motorway ..a quick day that had started 20 months before.”
LINKS:
http://www.evivine.com
https://www.facebook.com/evi.vine.music
https://twitter.com/evivine
https://evivine.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/evivine
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcPbQaScYhloAHQFURajuZg?view_as=subscriber
https://itunes.apple.com/mn/artist/evi-vine/433578453
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4pZRfgJDhjBjNuYQV09lLt