The songs on Silver Dagger oscillate between quiet, reserved folk and sultry, swaggering country. Shields shares the vocals with Bri Salmena, and together they spin classic tales of love and loss. ‘Gold & Rose’ is a great example of such storytelling, a story of surprising depth which charts the lives of two lovers, full of richly detailed lines like: “got the rose from her mother taught her never to depend on others beauty queen years ago never stopped putting on a show and got the gold from her father, gave his wedding room to his daughter, left the girls on a Thursday night, found dead in the Friday light.”

‘Lucky Day’ is a beautifully delivered folk song, with delicate acoustic guitars and emotive vocals, while ‘Fox’ is all cocksure country confidence, “I wanna fight I wanna show my teeth / I wanna shake my head I wanna stomp my feet”. Opener ‘Wagon’ is patient and starkly alluring, with a thumping dream beat and weaving guitars. To me it sounds rather like a female-fronted version of fellow Canadians The Wooden Sky (particularly their 2012 album Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun). This is also noticeable on ‘Tavern’, a slow-burning rock song about a bar-room which builds into a frenetic climax with raspy, wailing vocals about the titular silver dagger.

This is a musical equivalent of the best Southern gothic. Big, filmic scenes flooded with human characters and vivid emotions, an album of attitude and pride and gentle kindness with an undercurrent of violence.

You can buy Silver Dagger now via the Dear Sister Bandcamp page.

The post Dear Sister – Silver Dagger appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The Parmesans – Wolf Eggs

(RIYL: neofolk, light hearted lyrics, spicy cigarettes)

Princess Reason – Princess Reason // Always Pretty EP

(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, Guided By Voices)

Push & Run (Label) – Tings in Boots Vol. 2

(RIYL: electronic, garage, dubstep, James Blake)

Raven Shields – Above My Head/Forest Fire

(RIYL: acoustic, Dear Sister, Laura Gibson)

Rice Cultivation Society – sky burial

(RIYL: indie rock, folk, Grizzly Bear)

The River Has Many Voices – Division

(RIYL: folk, country, singer songwriter, Gregory Alan Isakov)

Rod Hamilton – Atitlán

(RIYL: ambient, new age, marimba)

Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels

(RIYL: hip hop, rap, El-P, Killer Mike)

Salvia Palth – melanchole

(RIYL: bedroom pop, emo, drone)

Shells – In A Cloud

(RIYL: instrumental guitars, fuzz, meteorological imagery)

Slow Warm Death – Slow Warm Death

(RIYL: garage rock, punk, Snowing)

Soda Bomb – The Future Is Going To Suck

(RIYL: pop punk, slacker rock, lo-fi)

Soda Eaves – Like Drapes Either Side

(RIYL: lo-fi rock, reverb, poetry)

Some Ember – Asleep In The Ice Palace

(RIYL: 80s synth pop, Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears)

The Son Of The Sea – Old House EP

(RIYL: folk, home recordings, J. Tillman)

Sparkling Wide Pressure – Gripping the Shore // Touch the Ground to Bear Witness

(RIYL: experimental, ambient, psychedelic).

Spazzkid – Desire 願う

(RIYL: electronic, glitch pop, post-dubstep, Bibio)

Squanto – Every Night Draws the Same Crowd

(RIYL: experimental folk, slowcore, The Microphones)

Streets of Laredo – Volume I & II

(RIYL: indie pop, folk, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes)

Sun Glitters – Take Me To The Ocean // Forward and Reverse

(RIYL: electronic, dream pop, Soosh, Balam Acab)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2013 (P-S) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

One of the most frustrating things about writing about music is that there just isn’t enough time to cover everything we would like to. In an ideal world I would have the energy to write full album reviews for every LP I enjoy but it just isn’t possible. In an attempt to give more artists a place on the site, and inspired by our (Will’s) Head In The Clouds series, we have decided to add another monthly (hopefully) round-up post to our blogging agenda. These posts, along with various mixes, should allow us to share a lot more of the musicians we like, which is the whole point of this site, after all.

While Will focuses on electronic, experimental and ambient music, Feet on the Ground will be mainly folk/rock music, the earthy organic flipside. With Liam and I doing these alongside Head in the Clouds, hopefully you’ll be getting a minimum of 10-20 new artists each month to sink your teeth into, regardless of how many ‘real’ reviews we manage to get written.

So, without further ado, welcome to Feet on the Ground Volume 1.

Matthew Fowler

Matthew Fowler is a name I have seen on various sites (namely Folk Radio UK and the ever reliable Slowcoustic) but, until now, haven’t given a proper listen. When I finally did, I found an incredibly well put together album that is reminiscent of Damien Rice, Gregory Alan Isakov and Ray Lamontagne. ‘Blankets’ is probably my favourite song from a strong, lyrical bunch. Beginnings is available on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Scriber

Scriber is Joshua Price who is based in Cardiff (which is sort of where I am based too). He (quite) recently released his debut EP, entitled Every Particle. It really is very good. Looking at reviews and articles online, I have come across a multitude of comparisons or influences; Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Thom Yorke and David Lynch just to name a few, and I think that all of these hit the mark to some degree. Listen to the first single, ‘Bethlehem’ below:

Raven Shields

Next up is Raven Shields, of Dear Sister, who released her first solo EP, Matches, earlier this year. She has a great voice (as fans of Dear Sister will testify), sometimes a soulful croon, others delicate and tender. The record’s last song ‘Old Pine’ is my clear favourite, a stark and bare folk song, evoking solitude and seclusion. I think this one will be a mainstay come winter.

Hog Bucket – ‘Escape’

Described by Phillipe Bronchtein of Hip Hatchet as the ‘track of the summer’, ‘Escape’ by Hog Bucket is a laid back strum-along for warm evenings spent outdoors, the sun going down in a chromatic display that promises everything. A little bit Cave Singers, a little bit Small Houses, this song deserves your attention before the cold returns.

Squanto – ‘Every Night Draws The Same Crowd’

Squanto, who we featured on last year’s list of the best free music, are back with another album, Every Night Draws The Same Crowd (also available on a pay-what-you-can basis). Ben Lovell, than man behind Squanto, said the record was ‘inspired and informed by long aimless walks through familiar neighbourhoods in the dark, trying to pretend that eventually there would be something different behind the houses,’ and I think the title track is a testament to that. Canada seems a hotbed for experimental folk music at the moment, and Squanto is one of the best.

Tyson Motsenbocker

Tyson Motsenbocker makes folky rocky pop music. His new EP, Rivers & Roads, is available to buy here. You can listen to his previous release on Bandcamp and watch some lovely videos here.

P.S. Apologies that the Bandcamp players don’t look quite right, it’s a problem between Bandcamp and Tumblr that can be fixed but only by altering certain blog settings, alterations that make writing posts really annoying. We’ll have to grin and bear it.

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