Industry news & advice blog

Canary Gold – ‘Hummingbird’

The brainchild of brothers Spencer and JP O'Grady, Canary Gold got off to a flying start to 2019. Their first single, 'The Streets Are Too Rough', quickly racked up near 40k streams on Spotify and with a live line-up completed by bassist Sean Morrison and drummer Gregor Marr, they are also becoming a formidable force on stage. They are familiar faces on Scotland's live circuit, including a recent packed headline show in their hometown of Aberdeen.

Their latest track, 'Hummingbird', is a dramatic, tangled track that seeks to find beauty amidst chaos: "Through contrasting something as graceful and delicate as a hummingbird with the chaotic rhythms and atmosphere of the song, we’ve tried to conjure images of survival, which shows that beauty lives on despite its setbacks."

Skewed time-signatures and dramatic rock textures are the order of the day in a score that hints at varied influences. Although the brothers make use of a rock band's set of instruments, ‘Hummingbird’ is often structurally more similar to an electronic dance track. On top of this sit smoothly delivered almost-pop melodies, layered and spliced in a manner that is more suggestive of experimental hip-hop.

The band have been beavering away on some new songs and have plans to release another single before the year is up, followed by a run of gigs, "We've been writing a lot from our flat in Glasgow and have a lot of new and exciting ideas that we're eager to share!"

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Dorsal – ‘are you here’

As post-rock outfit Dharma Wild reached its natural end, Dave Lancaster was left with a mountain of demos on his computer. He could still feel their pull after taking some much needed time away from music. This prompted him to send some of the material to his hometown buddy Ewan Lilley, also known as R.Lyle. R.Lyle has had success of his own, having been featured on compilations by both Bonobo and Gilles Peterson. These exchanges ultimately led to Dorsal and their debut album, 'tema', which is out in November on Sixteen Records.

The lead single from the album, 'are you here', is the perfect embodiment of Dorsal's cinematic electronica. Like a slow motion rave in an abandoned warehouse, there is a dreamlike intensity to it all.

This is an aesthetic that Dave had been seeking in his music, a sound that he refers to as, "late night sedative beats". As soon as he found it, he knew: "I’d had the ideas in my head all day at work. When I got home I must of made the demo in about half an hour. I sent the same untouched demo to my producer months later. It still really stirs up the feelings of who and where I was on that day. That’s always made the song feel really special, and it’s something I definitely look for in every piece of music.”

There is a meditative quality to the track's slow pulse and cavernous reverbs, and the movement of the mix is hypnotic. The instruments swirl around the listener's head before sliding off into the distance. It is definitely a track to whack on your favourite headphones and get lost in.

'are you here' is out now. You can stream it on all the usual places, or watch the glitch-tastic video here. With the record on its way next month, Dorsal are putting together a live show and have plans to collaborate with filmmakers and musicians going into the new year.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Morley

Do Nothing – ‘Handshakes’

First things first, Do Nothing are dead cool. So cool that there are at least two moustaches in the band and the singer wears his uncle's oversized suits…and they totally pull it off. Were they always this effortlessly cool? Did the coolness find their band or did the band find their coolness? Either way, they're rocking it. They've recently played in Moscow with Interpol (also dead cool) and they're currently taking their wonky art rock across Europe.

We've been having a listen to 'Handshakes' and we're just a little bit addicted. Vocalist Chris Bailey fluctuates between a croon and falsetto as the band demonstrates that they have more than enough substance to go with their style. As an extra bonus, there is even a hint of LCD Soundsystem in the dryness of Do Nothing's delivery. You get a sense of 4 musicians perfectly aligned in their songwriting; the phrasing of a vocal is reflected in the guitar, passed onto the bass and back around again. All held together by Andrew Harrison's excellent drum work.

As is often the case for a song that 'just works', it all clicked into place with relative ease, as guitarist Kasper casually declares: "The song came about pretty naturally. I was messing around with the single note delay that the guitar uses throughout, and the song just sort of happened."

They have a run of UK and Ireland dates lined up in November, I've already ironed my suit and am growing my best impression of a moustache in anticipation. Check their Facebook page for details.

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Sancho Panza – ‘The 2200 Year Event’

Just over a year into their journey, Nottingham-born Sancho Panza are really cracking on. If you're from the area, you've probably seen them popping up all over the gaff with slots at Rough Trade, Bodega, Dot To Dot Festival and a headline slot on the indie stage of Nottingham Riverside Festival. Now, they have a fast approaching headline show at Rough Trade Nottingham and an EP on the way. There couldn't be a better time to dip into their new single, 'The 2200 Year Event'.

Sancho Panza are the archetypal modern indie band, skillfully interweaving the sonic textures of dreampop and indie with less obvious influences. They say that they're into spaghetti western soundtracks and you can weirdly tell.

‘The 2200 Year Event’, produced by Lee Smith (Easy Life, Jake Bugg) seems to shapeshift through all of these influences in a masterly subtle fashion. We start off nodding along to an undoubtedly indie first verse until the guitar becomes gradually more processed and the drums evermore erratic. Then, somehow, the final 30 seconds or so of the track wouldn't feel out of place in a Tarantino film.

The band are confident that this artful dexterity has sprung from age and experience, and that they are only just getting started: "We've been a band for just over a year now, and have had other experiences in past musical projects. Sancho Panza feels like it's a maturer sound to our previous endeavours. We've learnt from mistakes and feel confident that the band is moving into the right direction."

Their gig at Rough Trade Nottingham is this Saturday 12th October from 7pm. If you can't make it to that one, they're at Billy Bootleggers (Nottingham) on 24th October, then play at The Bodega's Hockley Hustle on the 27th. You will also find them taking to the stage at The Venue Derby on 31st October. No excuses then.

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Maddie Bowe – ‘A Song I Could Write’

Following on from winning the Mayor of London Song Prize last year, Maddie Bowe has continued to impress in the industry. Her contemporary folk styled songwriting has taken her to venues and festivals across the UK, the highlight coming in April as she performed at The Feast of St. George in London's Trafalgar Square. Add to this BBC Introducing airplay, winning the CirKT music programme, plus an upcoming EP release, and I think that we can agree that things are going pretty swimmingly for Maddie.

'A Song I Could Write' is a lovely piece of folk-pop that unfolds like a warm autumn afternoon. It is fitting that the track's title and opening lines refer to the songwriting process, as Maddie radiates a natural ease with when it comes to music making. Her melodies are expressive and infectious, her voice is distinctive and her lyrics honest, giving her an edge in a crowded singer songwriter marketplace.

Her openness also comes across in her discussion of the song's emotional content: "It expresses the pain of suppressed hope, then realising that a change in perspective can flip your whole outlook on life. I was about ready to give up on the prospect of finding love, but discovered that if I am fully myself and care less about the opinions of others, I could live a happy life."

Maddie is also helped along by producer/multi-instrumentalist Joey Walker and a set of great musicians in Croz Stewart (backing vocals/additional guitar), Dan Johnson (bass) and Rebekah Harvey (violin). Their work adds an extra layer of gloss and toe-tapability to the track.

'A Song I Could Write' is released next Friday 18th October, with a lyric video arriving on 21st October. As part of the CirKT programme, which has received a Mayor of London Cultural Impact Award, Maddie is currently preparing for a run of gigs in the Kingston area in November. Her debut EP is earmarked for release next spring.

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