Take It Easy

Ok, so first up today is a personal friend of mine - Nottingham-based, Devonshire-born student Mr. Tom Dove. I don't want to say too much about him, because I'll probably struggle, even more than usual, not to be overtly hyperbolic. But basically...Tom's awesome. He's just put together a new demo, setting himself up as an independent singer-songwriter in the mould of Damien Rice or Bon Iver -although he doesn't sound particularly similar to either. In fact, comparisons are hard to make... maybe Matthew Gair mixed with Andy McKee? Plus a bit of Damien Rice thrown in?

Who knows...

Anyway, I have (completely without his permission), uploaded the three songs he's recorded so far - links below. 'Phone Calls' starts beautifully - the guitar part is probably my favourite off the EP (although the ending to Ariel is particularly nice) - and although the lyrics get a little bit twee in parts, Tom sings with enough conviction to carry them off most of the time. Like all the tracks, it's worth waiting till the end of it, when he really starts to build and get strumming like a beast. The end of the chorus to 'Last Orders' is awesome - the way it drops back into the verse is a nice touch, and really brings out the guitar. 'Ariel' is slightly softer (not that any of the songs are aggressive as such) and around 2:20 it hits possibly the highest point of the EP - jump to that if you're not convinced by anything else.

And if you are convinced, Tom'll probably be playing open mics and so on around Nottingham so get down there and show some support, or give him some Myspace hugs and kisses.

I mentioned in my last post that I went to see Gaslight Anthem the other night. Before the gig, I had only heard their second album, which gave me a slightly warped perspective on them - good as it is. Happily, I've managed to get my hands on the first album since then, and I thought it might be good form to post one of the softer acoustic tracks off it, partly because it sounded particularly good live and partly because it means this post has a well-formed running 'acoustic' theme. Hooray. 'The Navasink Banks' should give you an idea of their versitility, and while it's fairly average as far as such songs go, its got some lovely atmospheric electric bits over the top which make it stand out for me a bit.

Gaslight are a punk band who occasionally go a bit soft (which I love), and the same could probably be said of heavy metal group Dream Theater. Obviously the fact that I just called them heavy metal will put off most people, but 'Hollow Years' is probably closer to Coldplay than Judas Priest. (Although when I say that, I'm definitely not comparing them to either band, just illustrating a point.) To be succint: the guitar is quite nice -with a bit of a Spanish vibe - the drums are chilled and not overbearing, but his voice isn't the strongest... Altogether the song is pretty easy listening and shows a nice variety of style from a metal outfit. Skip to about 3:30 in to hear the best of it.

And finally, 'Little Baby Pines' by SUNBEARS! - whose album is called Dream Happy Dreams. A great album title, which pretty much sums them up for me. They sound kind of like a cross between Phoenix and Death Cab For Cutie - happy but fairly quiet. Dreamy, I suppose. Little Baby Pines is one of my favourite songs of the moment, and has been all the better for the few rays of sun we've been getting this week in England. Of the last three tracks I'm posting, it's the one I'd most highly recommend - as I would their album.

Cheers.

Tom Dove - Ariel
Tom Dove - Phone Calls
Tom Dove - Last Orders Myspace

The Gaslight Anthem - The Navasink Banks Buy
Dream Theater - Hollow Years Buy
SUNBEARS! - Little Baby Pines Buy