Aside from building up an audience and sense of community around his work, the process also lays the foundations for full-length albums, with 2017 seeing the release of Motorhome via Barcelona-based label, Son Canciones. The record is a cherry-picked array of the tracks that came into being through the weekly single series, though feels anything but a hodge-podge of unrelated material. Which is unsurprising, because the songs were drawn from the same well of inspiration, namely Conover’s travels around America in a camper van with his wife and dog. From rock-tinged driving song ‘Fire on I295’ to the upbeat rhythms of ‘On The Street After The Show’ and the cathartic energy of ‘Gone’, the record is an ode to life on the road, the push and pull between beauty and longing, freedom balanced by an uncertainty that can never quite be relieved.

The summation of this idea, ‘Another Travelling Salesman’ finds Conover at his most evocative and emotional. The track’s simple, wistful atmosphere conjures a vast American landscape, positioning the narrator as a tiny speck upon its great dusty plains, every sunset and moonbeam charging a burning nostalgia, a yearning for someplace to call home.

“you don’t mind the driving
you see the passing fields
you like going way out in your thoughts
but every night you feel it
that hungry sort of sadness
like there’s some essential thing you haven’t got
you thought you’d be a kind man by now
but you’re not”

This summer saw the release of a brand new Max García Conover record, Stagger. However, the album is currently only available to his Patreon patrons, so it’s a pretty exclusive, mysterious thing. Stagger is again built from the singles that have been sent into the world previously, but in order to discover the true shape of the album you’ll have to sign up, or hope that the album someday sees the light of Bandcamp. That said, we know the first single is ‘Rich Man’, a verbose, politically-charged song that takes on the present moment, exploring not only the anger and helplessness but also the failings and fears of hypocritical action. Have a listen below:

You can find Max García Conover on Bandcamp, and support his Patreon page for exclusive music and rewards. Motorhome is available via Son Canciones.

Photography by Shaw Photography Co.

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Sparse guitar and piano act as a backdrop to Scheltinga’s vocals, producing songs as quiet and unassuming as they are heartfelt and melodious. Most are short and sweet, all offering a different take on the basic blueprint. Take for example ‘Clown’, which begins with delicate finger-picked guitar and breathy vocals, before spiking in peaks of passion.

“The night saw the candles
The evening, dry
She holds her dreams so tight
But we are not asleep”

‘Master’ introduces piano and skittering percussion, sounding part age-old folk song, part stripped down jazz track, like a languorous tune being played from the corner of a smoky cafe. ‘Tomorrow’ is tautly emotional, dealing with being separated from a loved one (“You’ve got to go, got a plane to board, headed home”), and another great example of how Scheltinga creates real feeling using minimal ingredients. If you’re still not sold, try the opening track ‘I’ve Come To Know You Well’, which is perhaps the most sparse and delicate on the record.

As Drunk With Love describe in their bio of Maud Scheltinga: “Over the past couple of years, Maud has interpreted and re-interpreted the world around her by means of her songs, which act as short stories. Listening to her music feels like listening to a bookshop owner taking different (but equally beloved) books off the shelf and dazzling you with short and direct anecdotes that offer you a peek inside.”

This literary theme is continued in the very special CD package put together by Drunk With Love. The music will come in a second hand book, with spaces carved out for sheet music and the CD. You can order it now from Drunk With Love Records, or digitally form the Maud Scheltinga Bandcamp page.

Maud Scheltinga is currently on a European tour with Jake Bellissimo. There are several dates left, so go check them out if you’re in The Netherlands or Germany!

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Now Golden is back with a self-titled follow-up, a record which sees the Casey Golden sound expand with the introduction of violins, flutes, pedal steel, vocal harmonies, and piano, The result owes as much to 1960s Brazilian tropicalia as it does traditional folk pop. The label say the album “offers a space to reflect, ponder [and] question, as you swim through a murky ocean just off of a Brazilian shoreline, where all the past lives go to tango and drink Tecate”.

‘The Corners of My Song’ is the perfect example of this, winding pedal steel mingling with Golden’s vocals, soft as the white sand of an exotic shore. As such, a certain mellowness permeates the track, though one tinged with a sense of longing or nostalgia, something in the vocals or lyrics suggesting a gentle sort of sadness that’s intrinsic to time passing and people changing.

The self-titled full-length, Casey Golden, is out today (10th March) on Muscle Beach Records, and you can grab your copy now from the Casey Golden Bandcamp page.

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Recorded with Jesse Barrera, the track blends mainstream pop sensibilities with the chilled vibes of Toro Y Moi and Blood Orange to make something laid back and sweet, a moreish jam that will keep you warm through the darker months. Beginning with half-paced percussion and intermittent guitars before Atlas’s silky vocals enter the fray, the song bubbles beneath the surface. Never quite breaking through its casual, languid vibe, the vocals flow with a pleasing ease, tripping off the tongue in liquid cadence, though the lyrics display hints of something a little more desperate. Take a listen below:

The tour starts tonight at Vancouver’s Rio theatre, before snaking down the west coast and finally hopping east. Find all the dates below:‘Compromised’ is available now via iTunes and Spotify, and you can get tickets for the shows via the Tim Atlas website.

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Such influences and ideas are explored in a ‘The Same Water’, a short documentary based around Katie Spencer’s work. The film, which originally premiered at Kardomah94 in Hull, began as a series of recordings taken from a live session for local charity, The Warren. Intrigued by the atmosphere and inherent flow of the songs, director Patrick Mateer decided to expand the videos into a short film centering on Spencer’s creative process and personality. As Mateer explains:

“I was inspired by Katie’s music – and at first, the song “Drinking The Same Water” in particular – I wanted to look at how I could visually reflect the themes and emotions of the songs. The heartbeat of the film is Katie’s storytelling through her lyrics and I used these, along with the interview footage we filmed, to weave a narrative amongst the songs that tells us who Katie is and why she makes the music she does.”

We’re delighted to share the film for the first time online. With songs interspersed with intimate and insightful interview sequences, as well as lovely scenic shots of Hull and East Yorkshire, it makes for a pretty inspiring listen. In a world where so called millennials are labelled vapid and superficial, young artists don’t often get the opportunity to reflect on their ideas and aims, and it’s a testament to Mateer and Spencer herself that ‘The Same Water’ allows the latter and disproves the former.

The film was commissioned by Warren Records who are a PRS For Music Foundation Talent Development Parter, and the music is being released as an EP, aptly titled Live Soundtrack to a Short Film, which you can get on CD/digital via the Katie Spencer Bandcamp page. In addition, Spencer is currently working on her debut album alongside Brian Young, featuring Ted McKenna, Foss Paterson and Danny Thompson, so be sure to keep an eye on her website for further news, and be sure to listen to more of her music via Soundcloud. You can find out more about Patrick Mateer via his website.

Photograph by Patrick Mateer

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Timmins is currently working on a series of songs based around old maps from the German school system in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and while the inspiration may seem a strange one, there are actually interesting parallels to be drawn between the two. As he explains:

“I see a strong connection between maps and songs…both take the infinite chaos of the world and shape it into something comfortingly comprehensible. Thousands of kilometres of rugged coastline represented with a simple line; an extended period of intense emotion reflected in a few minutes of organised sound. A map or a song can only ever be a shadow of the complex beauty that inspired their creation, but under the right circumstances they can shape a new reality with its own intrinsic beauty.”

‘Vulnerable’ is the latest single, what Timmins describes as “a call to emotional honesty and integrity.” As such, the song is as sincere as it is self-aware, trying to live a better, simpler life of candour while bemoaning the current habits of pride and shame. This is all backed by gentle-yet-technical guitar work which swells with a pleasing repetition.

“Walking numb and reckless through the trees
What’s the good in imperfection
Callous hearts are not anomalies
How we selfishly crave affection

But we’re so afraid to cry
Woohoo-ooo
I don’t want to live a lie
Let me be vulnerable this time”

You can find all of the songs on the Mark Timmins Youtube page.

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All we have in way of a preview so far is this video trailer, though the sample is more than enough to suggest that Lucky’s brand of warm folk and evocative songwriting is sounding as good as ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLDRNxn-oAo

To help along physical pressings of the album, Zachary Lucky has set up a Pledge Music page with a variety of pay scales and prizes for those who donate. Not only do all pre-orders come with an early download of the full record, but depending on how much you have to spend you could also grab yourself a personalised postcard, signed record, test press vinyl, a photo book, acoustic house show and even a (possibly awkward) Skype call with Lucky himself.

Everywhere A Man Can Be will be released on the 7th October via Wroxton Recordings, and you can support the pre-order campaign right now on Pledge Music. Also, be sure to delve into the Zachary Lucky back-catalogue on Bandcamp.

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“[The album charts] the ups, downs, and quiet revelations of Luley’s young adulthood in Brooklyn, NY. Heartbreak, loss, and anxiety give way to newfound love, reconciliation, and hope as the album’s ten songs mark time spent fighting darkness, not in vain.”

Ahead of the release, Luley and Co. have put out the first single, ‘Ditmars’, to whet our appetites and properly introduce their sound. As promised, the track’s dreamy shimmer is cut through with shoegazey percussion and post-rock flourishes, melancholy and hope acting as counterbalances, light and dark swirling through one another in complex patterns.

“You are spots of light and color
swimming across my eyes
when I first step into darkness

You are as real as the memory of day,
couldn’t convince you to stay

You took my sunshine away
You took my light”

Swimming In Sunlight is out on the 12th of August on CD and cassette via Furious Hooves.

Photo by Patrick Curry

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As the opening title track suggests, Braver is a slight departure from her traditional acoustic folk beginnings. Falling somewhere between pop and indie folk, ‘Braver’ is imbued with a determination and grit seen only in those oppressed for too long, rising from an even-toned beginning into an impassioned climax, as if shackles are shaken free across the runtime. The song comes complete with a video which carries the following quote from Abigail Adams: “If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” That should give a little more context.

“Dry eyes, a deep glass, a quiet rage
Violence is nice when you have no place

Oh, you prince of pride
You have me, you hate me and

I cannot take this anymore
I am not what you want me for

I have no weight, have no weight”

‘Blue’ is slower and more delicate, though again the song grows in conviction as the instrumentation swells, and ‘The Hunt’ questions the flimsy façade of masculinity explicitly, the lyrics unflinching. “And is this what makes you a man?” she sings, “To take me in and let me stand / Then cut me down so you can hunt”. ‘Used To It’ is a gentle electro-pop ballad that threatens to boil over without ever quite managing it, before closer ‘Wet Lungs’ sees a return to a piano-led sound, the vocals tender and graceful and echoing in the spaces between notes. Again, the song builds toward a climax, as if Fowler is propelled forwards by her own words, drawing strength and emotion from their sound and order.

“And I don’t need moonlight to tell me it’s evening
And I don’t need wet lungs to know that I’m sinking
And I could use help from you
But how can I ask you to
Climb so far down”

Braver is out now and you can buy it from the Sal Fowler Bandcamp page.

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Maybe it’s just because I’m listening with this prior knowledge, but the opening track of Old Factory, ‘Big Ghost’, sounds like a man who’s ready to be back. The guitar is slick and electrified, the whole thing full of energy and life. Bathgate delivers lyrics about pumping hearts and ghosts emerging from throats like static before the song builds into a swirling clattering outro with a waspish droning background. Old fans of Bathgate will be delighted too with ‘Acorns’, a slice of the kind of superior folk rock that made his name, where a slammed drum beat eventually kicks the song into life, becoming its pulse, lingering even in the moments of near silence. SIngle ‘Calvary’ is slow and stirring, with additional vocals from Samantha Cooper, as well as piano and strings. Lyrically its something of a paradox, simultaneously hurt and victorious, wise and suspicious and joyously naive. I guess that’s something that can happen when songs are crafted over the course of years, things and people change, lines that held certain sentiments at the outset may take on another meaning altogether.

“Ain’t it good to be alive
with the wounds still in your side?”

‘Wait’ is elegant and sombre, again with piano and violin and cello, before closer ‘Red Arrow Highway’ burns slow with lush and pretty instrumentation, the kind of patient and considered folk rock that sounds really good during the dawning spring.

Let’s hope that it’s not another half-decade before we hear more from Chris Bathgate. You can but Old Factory now via the Chris Bathgate online store or Quite Scientific Records. And if you haven’t already, why not dig into his back-catalogue? I promise you won’t regret it.

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