Tag Archive for "Adele" - The Recommender

LORDE

Welcome back to The Recommender. Did you miss us? After a temporary hiatus, partly enforced due to a severe and unexpected computer malfunction, but also partly volunteered so we could ride out the endless waves of blog lists that swarm the online world through December (end of year lists) and the start of January (2013 ones-to-watch lists). We’re starting 2013 with a serious contender for the best discovery of the year. Yep, we think she’s that good. Welcome back. Welcome back to your favourite rambling tipster.

We return with a delivery of pop. Pop is something of a minefield. Step in the wrong direction and support from blogs like ours will incinerate only a moment after the artist has planted their first foot. Who dares walking that fine line? Who has the bravery to dance between the dangers? Who understands what it takes to find the secure gaps between the common, overly-cute, pop-by-numbers and the style that we’re more keen on, that comes with edges and enough gravitas to keep us interested? Well, we believe that a young, New Zealand artist called Lorde does. She may only be a princess today, but one day we expect her to become your new queen of pop.

Referencing the style of pop that she delivers is like skipping through some of the most interesting female solo artists of recent times. Helping her to negotiate the minefield are the likes of Lykke Li, with all her alternative theatre (see the track, Royals), whilst the pop accessibility of Marina lights the way to the throne (The Love Club), even the soulful coos of Adele at her most understated appear in the smaller corners of her music (Bravado), whilst the kooky cool of Uffie and the cross-genre edges of Santigold suggests a strength beyond that found with most other pretenders (Million Dollar Bills).

Lorde, real name Ella, understands what all good pop music needs. It’s aspirational, as she asks “let me be your ruler..let me live that fantasy“, on Royals. There’s usually four beats, although she’s not afraid to go tribal with the sticks. She talks to the every-man about subjects they’re looking for, such as love or peer pressures. There are grand, over-sized ideas which are accomplished using the precise production that only a proper studio and a quality producer can achieve. But she also has an ear for a melody, a set of clear choruses and an instant appeal.

After demonstrating all this pop sensibility she also knows how and when to challenge the listener. Off-beats are located where others would have kept it simple, and she regularly layers her own vocals lending them some gloomy, threatening lyrics. You can’t ever imagine Britney spitting out the lyrics, “Breathed so deep I thought I’d drowned, it feels better biting down“. That’s not something you would shelve next to the accessible, sugary style you might find on the X-Factor. Part of her magic is this sublime charm for writing pop music that’s sometimes inaccessible – she isn’t just prepared for the minefield, she’s designing her own!

That’s not to suggest she too isn’t a potential pop starlet. Her excellent voice might come in layers on tunes such as the exceptionally bright Royals, but each layer could be delivered alone and still stand tall. Each song on her recent Love Club EP could be a single (all made available to download for free on her site here), and each one is fizzing with excitement and drama. It won’t take you more than one listen to decide whether you like this music. It’s instant, like all great pop music. The fact that she’s giving her initial release away for free is a sign that this is an artist more focused on building an audience than trying to rush to the top.

Perhaps the most impressive part of this story is that the artist is only just sixteen years old, (she still attends Takapuna grammar school!). That makes her the perfect age to attract her peers, allowing her a common touch by covering the subjects of love and friendship without patronising them, but it also means that she should be savvy with how the Internet generation moves and shakes. No wonder the giant Universal label signed her up – having met with her parents first because the process started when she was just 12 years old, after a school video of her singing had found its way to the desks of their A&R department.

Her young age confirms just how early this stage is, so there is no doubting that the minefield is still laid out in full before her. At the time of this going to press, she only has just over 2000 likes on her Facebook, just over 600 followers on her Twitter, (both accounts started in November), her contact email is still a Gmail address, there are no press photos available, zero entries on Music Robot, and just a handful of appearances on Hype Machine. Expect that all to change very soon. We couldn’t think of a better way to kick start our 2013 than by covering an artist that is just starting out on her career. Consider this a post of fresh starts; Welcome back to The Recommender, and welcome to the world of Lorde. (MB)

LORDE – ROYALS

LORDE – THE LOVE CLUB

LORDE – MILLION DOLLAR BILLS

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Published: January 30th, 2013
Author: Mike Bradford
Category: The Recommender
Tags: Adele, Lorde, Lykke Li, Marina & The Diamonds, Million Dollar Bills, Royals, Santigold, The Love Club, Uffie

MARY EPWORTH

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Usually a biography that contains stories of an artist’s Romany Gypsy influences and a love of ghost stories would have us running to the horizon. However, there’s something this artist has done with the traditional English song that’s gritty and dark. Once you hear the rest of her biography you realise she’s destined for success, she always has been. Her upbringing clearly set her off on this direction, influencing her to her core, infusing with her soul and 2012 should see her finally reach the first big junction in that destiny as she sets about releasing her debut album. Thankfully the Gypsy workshops her father used to take her to as a child didn’t exclude her from experimenting outside of that particular box, as we now see her confidently striding along new paths and it’s resulted in some pretty exceptional music.

Mary Epworth is the younger sister of Paul. We better address this and get it out of the way early, as it will only be the elephant in the room otherwise. Not that she’s in Paul Epworth’s shadows or anything, as she clearly has sackfuls of her own talent, but by having one of the world’s most important producers du jour as a brother must be a factor in her ability to seek studio advice or make industry connections. If her album isn’t immaculately produced we’re pretty sure her brother will have something to say about it. The list of recent clients that have been in his studio reads like one long glorious roster of best-selling artists, including Adele, Florence & The Machine, Friendly Fires, Bloc Party, Primal Scream – we could go on – so it’s no wonder his work earned him no less than four Grammys at the 2012 award ceremony. If only ten percent of his stardust rubs off on his sister then she’ll be a massive success.

Thankfully her own abilities and song craft will get her there anyway. As we mentioned, this is clearly a musical family. She’s due to release her debut album, Dream Life, in June on Hand Of Glory records. To compound her beautifully balanced contrast between light and shade, we heard that the album was partly put together inside a barn near her mother’s ancestral home in the Norfolk countryside, whilst other parts were recorded in an art-deco apartment above a brothel in East Berlin. What a year that must have been! It’s entirely appropriate for a record that tips it’s feathered brim to fuzzed-out folk, with all it’s crashing acoustics, as much as it bows its Trilby to the classy string and brass arrangements. Quite rightly this is fantastically produced, not by brother Paul, but by Will Twynham, a co-owner of the Hand Of Glory label. He’s done it’s wide open scale all the justice it deserves.

The track that’s garnered most attention, quite rightly, is the fantastically sizeable, Black Doe. You can see it’s video below and witness one of the songs of the year. It’s absolutely massive in scale, with gritty guitar chords that scrape along it’s centre all the way through, breaking up the loose banjo plucking like a wonderfully clumsy bully in a playground. It stomps away from the outset, as Mary’s gossamer vocals are laid out on top of it all. If you thought the opening was oversized just wait for the chorus. It opens up the chords and makes the song feel like some idiot has pushed you into a boxing ring. This is a song you don’t so much listen to, more like you have to go ten rounds with it. The verses are simply there so you can take out your gumshield for a brief moment and have someone sponge you down before the bell tolls on the next chorus. If nothing else Mary wins the “Biggest Chorus Of 2012” award hands down.

The single is due out on April 23rd and they also hand out a batch of very handy remixes, from Young Edits, The Slow Waves, Jape and Small Pyramids. The latter of which we attach below so you can hear what the LA-based Zach Hunsaker has applied to it with his usual confident but understated electronics. It’s a twisting remix that flies in the face of the original to good effect, utilising the vocals in a manner more reminiscent of Class Actress. It’s another fine choice by Mary as she broadens her fearless appeal by allowing her music to cross over the genres. Artists as hybrid as this show off exactly how complex and interesting the world is, as a multitude of influences open up and infuse with youthful minds from all corners of the globe. Ultimately though, it’s not your upbringing, your useful industry connections or your destiny that give you a successful career in music, it’s the quality of the tunes you write. And Miss Epworth writes ‘em just fine. (MB)