3rd June 2015
Bringing you up to date with the latest releases, here’s our pick of the top three singles this week…
Waxahatchee – La Loose
Rather than being some sort of wacky moniker based on the outcome of a chimpanzee being let loose with a typewriter (see Chumbawamba), Waxahatchee is an indie pop outfit named after a creek in singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield’s home state of Alabama. The third single to be released from third album Ivy Tripp, ‘La Loose’ utilises a frenetically playful drum machine, intermittently swelling synths and gliding guitar lines to deliver a charmingly sparse backdrop to Crutchfield’s loosely introspective lyricism. Her quirky brand of melodic folk/pop, as evidenced here, has seen Ivy Tripp receive glowing reviews from all the major players of the musical press.
Pink Film – Gut Wrench
Sounding pretty similar to a certain legendary progressive rock band, London based four-piece Pink Film may or may not have been named after the blanket term applied to any Japanese theatrical film that deals with either nudity or sex. Stating its scuzzy intentions from the very opening bars, ‘Gut Wrench’ is an alluring mix of sparse, psychedelia tinged verses and its subsequent building up to a satisfyingly crunchy assault of fuzzed out guitars. Several internet searches reveal to me that not too much is known about Pink Film at this stage but, on the strength of ‘Gut Wrench’, that looks all set to change. In the meantime… at least I have some bawdy Japanese smut to see me through the weekend.
Van Morrison – Carrying a Torch
Most of you will know Van Morrison as the composer of the always pleasurable, but forever on the precipice of being overplayed, 1967 hit ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. Personally, I will always remember him as the slightly cherubic looking figure bedecked in a rather fetching purple-brown sequined jumpsuit during Martin Scorsese’s 1978 concert film ‘The Last Waltz’. Though extremely unlikely to outshine such sartorial glories of yore, he has embarked on a new project of reworking his back catalogue with a series of duets. Forever the literalist, ‘Carrying a Torch’ is taken from Morrison’s newly released album Duets: Re-working The Catalogue. The song features Clare Teal who incidentally achieved the biggest ever recording contract for a British jazz singer when she signed with Sony in 2004. Only because Curtis Stigers ain’t British.
Scott Hammond
