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Donovan Woods, Hard Settle Ain't Trouble, Picture You, Put On Cologne, Radical Face, Shane Burke, The Amazing, The Breathless Boy, Welcome Home
Let’s take a mellow moment and turn our ears to the acoustic side of poprock. Our four featured songs have a stripped down feel, unhurried, and certainly not cranked to eleven. The Amazing are an example of the neo-folk roots revival apparently going on Sweden over the past decade (I’m thinking here of other Swedish acts like The Tallest Man on Earth), though their most recent Picture You album expands their sound in a more poppy direction, both melodically and instrumentally. But “The Headless Boy” is more a throwback to their earlier material, a delightful, almost Donovanesque tune with some lovely harmonies in the chorus.
Donovan Woods is one those breathy singer-songwriters with whom you can pull up the covers and settle in for the night. And while he might sound a little bit like those breathy others, his subject matter is decidedly different, tracking a bit deeper and more realistically the actual ups and downs of relationships and life’s disasters or disappointments. His most recent album, Hard Settle, Ain’t Trouble features the beautiful and moving “They Don’t Make Anything in that Town,” which is pretty self explanatory. A great song exemplifying his Canadian roots (Sarnia, Ontario) is “My Cousin has a Grey Cup Ring.” But featured here is “Put on, Cologne” from his 2013 record, Don’t Get Too Grand. Why? Because it’s wonderfully weird. The title? No, I’m not sure what it means or refers to. All that is clear is that he has got a real problem with somebody’s ‘stupid European boyfriend’. It is a song that seems to really capture the irrational frustration of unrequited love.
Radical Face have put out a number interesting records, including their just-released The Leaves. But the song here, “Welcome Home,” comes from their 2007 album Ghost. There is something otherworldly about this tune, the way the march-like drumming and swirling vocals combine, which is probably why they used it in French TV’s The Departed, a creepy enigmatic (but riveting) show about people who died but somehow inexplicably returned years later. And I love the cover of this album.Welcome Home
Last up is Colorodoan Shane Burke, a man with an amazing voice. Generally, a lot of his material would not really fall under the poprock mantle, but “I Go Crazy” has a great rollicking feel and a trebly guitar intro and leadline that threads it way through the song. A worthwhile boundary stretch to finish things off. I Go Crazy
You can explore more of what The Amazing, Donovan Woods, Radical Face, and Shane Burke have to offer on their websites and Facebook pages.
There is no particular theme to this post’s trio of songs, though each selection has a distinct sound that sets it apart. Starting with some Canadian content, Ontario native Matthew Barber typically runs the gamut of breathy guitar folk to straight up bar room rock and roll, but on “Blue Forever” it is the hypnotic piano hook that drives the song, later aided by some understated, echo-y electric guitar.
Simple Kid is the moniker for Irish multi-instrumentalist/producer Ciarán McFeely. After making some waves with his punk band, The Young Offenders, McFeely stripped things down to a solo project, initially recorded on a home multi-track cassette recorder. “Staring at the Sun,” from his 2004 album 1, kicks off with a distinctive guitar hook, with the rest of the song channeling a great Beck-like vibe. Sadly, after his equally interesting 2007 album 2, Simple Kid largely disappeared.
New Zealand’s Strange Babes round things out with a blissful, retro-sixties pop gem, “Come Back Around,” featuring chime-y guitars and killer organ fill that follows the chorus. They are not going to win any awards for lip-synching but the video here shows a band that is reverent without being derivative of the poprock psychedelic scene.
