LUCY ROSE - FLORAL DRESSES

I've been following Lucy rose's music for a long time and I would go so far as to say I have been quite obsessed with not only her music but her live performances since 2011. Her debut album 'Like I Used To' really put her on the map as one of the newest and most exciting singer/songwriters in modern music. Released in 2012, her debut album was a brilliant introduction to her soft and tender style of indie/folk music. At her core, Lucy Rose is a singer/songwriter who finds creativity and inspiration to write music in some of the most personal and private moments of her life. Her mastery over the singer/songwriter genre is shown through her ability to bare her heart and tell stories through her music. More often than not her songs are inspired by personal experiences and her lyrics are brutally honest, coming from a place of real emotion and vulnerability. This combined with her outlook towards the music industry, her kindness to her fans and her pure and fragile vocals are what truly makes Lucy Rose special to me as a person and as an artist. Although Lucy's first album was very acoustically driven, her second album 'Work It Out' released in 2015 saw her take a slightly different path as the album consists of songs that are more electronic in their composition. Her two albums so far show an evolution from making acoustic folk music that is slower paced and fragile to making new sounds that conform more to the alternative/indie genres with an abundance of electric guitars, energetic and purposeful drum beats and synths. However, what remains the same are Lucy's open hearted and honest lyrics as well as her pure and sweet vocals. These elements are what really draw you in when listening to her music. 

Her long awaited third album is soon to be released this July and here we have the first single from the album ‘Floral Dresses’. The song features backing vocals from fellow British folk band The Staves, three sisters from Watford who are also one of my favourite folk artists to date. Additionally the song, and the album for that matter, marks Lucy Rose’s departure from the Columbia Records music label and onto the small independent label Communion records. Speaking on the new single Lucy noted how this song: “really reminded me about who I was, and I always think that some of the best songs are the ones which can stand on their own with just one instrument. The message is pretty clear and I hope other people will find comfort in it, and realise they are different but also the same as many people.” It feels like Lucy is going back more to the style seen in her first album, stripped back fragile and leaning more towards the singer songwriter genre. Intricate folk music and thoughtful delicate singer songwriting is at the core of Lucy’s music and this is really well reflected in this new song. The track is composed of everything Lucy does best, within the lyrics she tells a story and the minimal acoustic guitar strums and fragile vocals drive the song forward. Through the lyrics, the message of the song is extremely clear 'I don’t want your diamond necklace, your disapproval cuts through’ the song is about staying true to who you are and remaining unique even if others disapprove of it. 

The motivation for the song and the very direct and openhearted lyrics are clearly based on a personal experience from Lucy herself. Throughout her music, Lucy has always used her songwriting as a vehicle and a channel to process and deal with very personal experiences throughout her life and this element to her music is still present here in this new record. The way she is so forward and open to express her vulnerability within her songwriting is one of the reasons why her music is not only relatable but also incredibly endearing and engaging to listen to. With this new track, her songwriting remains incredibly self aware and gives us an open window into the life and mind of Lucy Rose. Lucy's voice is always such a pleasure to listen to. Her sweet, natural vocals combined with these very honest and emotive songwriting is what makes this song and her music in general work so well. 

Overall, the song is a strong reentrance back into the music world after being away touring and songwriting for a while. This new record suggests a revisit to the very melancholic and stripped back acoustic songwriting that fans of Lucy first fell in love with on her first album, the style of music Lucy herself truly adores the most. The signature fragile and pure vocals coupled with Lucy’s always honest and self aware song writing is a combination Lucy has mastered over the course of two albums and is a skill she still uses to success throughout her music today. This new single is the first sign of what’s to come from Lucy’s new album ‘Something’s Changing’ and is the first clue in understanding which direction Lucy will be taking her musical adventures next. I eagerly await to hear more from her. The album is out in the UK on July 14th. 

LORDE - GREEN LIGHT

It’s been a long time coming for Lorde to return with new music. After shooting to fame in 2013 with her debut album Pure Heroine in 2013, the now 20 year old New Zealand singer songwriter has finally released the first glimpse of what she’s been up to for the past few years. The new single Green Light is the first completely new and original material we’ve heard from her in a while. Rising to global Fame in 2013, Ella Yelich-O' Connor (aka Lorde) turned a lot of people’s heads in the music world for her incredible songwriting abilities that showed a maturity beyond anything you would’ve expected from a 16 year old. Lorde also caught people's attention due to her refreshing, droll vocal tones and her dark and twisted blend of pop music and electronica. In 2013, the then 16 year old provided a breath of fresh air to the mainstream music industry that appeared to be throughly saturated with formulaic and unoriginal pop records. Each record from the singer songwriter has consistently shown a mixture of hard hitting, self aware and personal songwriting, dark electronic rhythms and punchy bass lines. Yet this new single highlights a new direction for Lorde in a lot of ways. As Ella tweeted herself in preparation for releasing the song: ‘I am so proud of this song. It's very different, and kinda unexpected. It's complex and funny and sad and joyous and it'll make you DANCE’.

The track is noticeably different from her previous works, her voice is not only a touch deeper but the tone of her voice seems a lot more direct and angry. You can tell the lyrics come from a place of personal heartbreak, the conviction and force in which she sings these lyrics albeit to a relatively lighthearted electronic beat further enforces this idea. Listening to the lyrics it becomes increasingly clear Lorde’s music both from the past and now looking into the future will always be used as a vehicle to express her real feelings and personal experiences and that’s something that is rarely seen so openly in the music industry today. In many ways, this new record sees an experimentation and an evolution of Lorde’s well established style she already carved out for herself in her first album. The steady piano chords that form the main hook of the song is something we haven’t heard before much in Lorde’s music. These prominent piano chords mixed with Lorde’s signature cool, quirky vocals rest on rousing electronic beats that rumble underneath the track and provide something different while still remaining recognisably ‘Lorde’. Her decision to include such drastic shifts in tempo within this new single gives further evidence to a consistent theme of difference and unpredictability in Lorde's music. Producing a song with such an offbeat, changeable tempo signals Ella’s continual commitment to offer up something new with every piece of music she creates. Her unique and edgy style of music is what made her entrance into the music industry back in 2013 so innovative and refreshing and it’s good to know that four years down the line with this first sample of her second album ‘Melodrama’ (coming out June this year), her music remains just as bold and original.  

Green Light comes from a place of  loss and heartbreak but at the same time it’s about the overwhelming sense of freedom that comes with these changes in a person’s life and the rush of possibilities that follow an ending relationship. The track is driven by a jaunty piano riff and soon builds up into a  euphoric and cathartic dance driven tune. The chorus itself sounds like something you would hear on a drunken post beak-up girls night out with spectral backing vocals reminiscent of the choirs accompanying Lorde on earlier songs such as Team. The song is a lot more upbeat and poppy which is something we don’t usually hear a lot in Lorde’s music, however the track still features Lorde’s iconic contralto and features the now familiar dark and heavy electronic beats that defined her debut. A follow up tweet from the 20 year old singer songwriter goes on to say: ’It's the first chapter of a story I'm gonna tell you, the story of the last 2 wild, fluorescent years of my life. This is where we begin’. Within the song the lyrics themselves not only tell the personal story of a broken relationship but it also exemplifies Ella’s mastery over the songwriting genre and her ability to incorporate open hearted and often brutally honest lyrics into her music (‘I know about what you did and I wanna scream the truth / She thinks you love the beach, you're such a damn liar’). With a bouncy chorus and slower paced verses that move forward the story of  a relationship breaking down, the outro brings us back to everything that we always loved about Lorde as the music fades out with boisterous and grungy synths. 

With Lorde lined up for some big festival dates this year, it only makes sense for her new music to head towards a more full bodied, theatrical sound. Based on this first taste of the new record, Lorde has managed to somehow stay true to her roots, giving us a new song to go crazy over that features all the crowd pleasing elements that Lorde is now known for while also giving us something new to chew on. Green Light suggests her music is taking a turn towards the brighter, more mainstream dance genre yet still offers up that dynamic, offbeat edge that we all love her for. 

LONDON GRAMMAR - BIG PICTURE

I’ve been in love with London Grammar ever since their debut album ‘If You Wait’ was released in September 2013. The album is particularly special to me as it was one of the first albums I remember being excited about listening to just before I nervously entered my first year of University. The first thing that draws you into this band’s music is lead singer Hannah Reid’s pure and naturally captivating vocals. Her voice combined with the minimalist electronic rhythms and spaced out guitars provided by the other two members of the band Dominic ‘Dot’ Major and Dan Rothman is what makes this band's sound so distinct. Although after their debut album the band gathered a lot of attention and their music was met with a very good reception, ever since then London Grammar have been pretty quiet. I would hear about them now and again, travelling around the world, performing at various large venues and they also collaborated with the British electronic duo Disclosure on their first album which was released a month after their own debut. However, other than a collaboration here and a big festival appearance there, London Grammar have remained relatively quiet in the four years it has taken them to return with new material. 

Many including myself have been eagerly awaiting any new material from the trio for a long time which is why it was a huge surprise when they spontaneously dropped their first new single in the early hours of the New Year. The track titled ‘Rooting For You’ was their first new original song since their debut back in 2013 and listening to it for the first time made me remember exactly why I love their style of music. The song stays true to London Grammar’s now well established style, it is an electronic tinged melancholic track that like most London Grammar songs puts Hannah’s beautiful voice and pure tones into the spotlight. Reid’s sparse, ghostly vocals lead the song and are soon backed up with a symphony of string instruments that allow the song to build into an almost cinematic feeling record. Their second new release is titled ‘Big Picture’ and again really shows us how much the band have perfected their sound over the last four years. While their first comeback single ‘Rooting For You’ was an extremely gentle and emotive symphonic record that showcased Reid’s fragile vocals, their second new single ‘Big Picture’ sees a change of tone for the band. Yet this new single still inevitably contains all the key ingredients that make London Grammar’s music so special. 

With Reid's pure vocals combined with spectral and purposeful guitar rhythms, the track gradually works itself up from a sombre and slow paced song to a bright and euphoric piece of music. The track slowly evolves into an optimistic and instrumentally driven record with a rousing upbeat rhythm. The record somehow manages to show off Reid’s vocals while at the same time creating a soft and calming electronically layered rhythm underneath that features looped reverberating vocals from Hannah. With this record and the aforementioned first comeback single ‘Rooting For You’, it’s clear that the long time away spent writing and recording was most definitely worth it. If anything, these new tracks from London Grammar perfectly show how comfortable the band have become in their musical direction and this new material signals exciting new things to come from the trio.