Single of the Week: Just Mustard - Frank

Photo: Karl Walsh

If Wednesday was the roaring sea, 'Frank' is the aftermath on the storm-ravaged beach. Just Mustard's first single since releasing their critically-acclaimed debut album last year follows a metronome beat, a deadened bass and trademark lurching percussion. Perhaps the most noticeable difference in comparison to previous releases is how much more audible the lead vocals are, removing a small layer of mystery, but not too much. The final 45 seconds of 'Frank' still see the skulking unseen leviathan sound roused, a presence in their music which is summoned both live and on record, those eyes want to and will consume you with distortion and sluggish menace. Once again, almost effortlessly, Just Mustard have released an imperious single which gets the listener in their magnetic choke-hold.

'Frank' / 'October' will be released as a double A-Side on limited edition 12" vinyl on 1st of June and can be pre-ordered here https://justmustard.bandcamp.com/album/frank-october

Single of the Week: Baba - Hold On Tight

'Hold On Tight' is the first release of 2019 for Dublin singer-songwriter Siobhan Lynch aka Baba and is a powerful voice for those suffering from mental health issues, something Siobhan has experienced herself.

"I have always suffered with my mental health since I’ve been a teenager" she says, "but in early 2018 after a very dark period where I suffered with debilitating anxiety and I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through, I decided to get some help in the form of counselling".

"For so long I was afraid to talk to anyone about what was going on and I am now so proud to be able to write about it and be open especially in a modern world where so much of ourselves is online and we are expected to be shiny and happy".

Baba's latest single 'Hold On Tight' slips a sliver of atmospheric mysteriousness toward your eardrums at its outset, a patient build acts as a soothing background to her customary brisk and powerful vocal. The mood is highly contemplative and the music provides the listener with opportunity to digest and reflect at its break from 2:24 to 2:51. Although the song is melancholic in delivery and pace, Lynch succeeds in throwing a blanket of defiance and encouragement across its breadth, ultimately releasing that heavy tension with banging alternative-pop vivaciousness. 

'Hold On Tight' by Baba is out today, and available to stream or buy on Spotify and iTunes.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5GJL7356oxMcnGv4wcS5hk?si=cjBaT5YIQPus5Uuviw2jvQ

http://babamusicface.com/

Single of the Week: Leila Jane - Little Lady Blues

In August 2017 I dropped into the recording studio of Rohan Healy and his brother Al Quiff for an interview for Dublin City FM, after a great chat they told me there was an artist whose new EP they were working on that they felt I might like. Afterwards I'd hoped this intuition on their behalf stemmed from my musical bedrock of the blues, specifically blues-rock, my favourite of all genres. A segment of one of the songs blew me away, I think it was a Saturday morning so I was probably a little tired and emotional, which is a good place to be when it comes to listening to music I find. The track would feature on London / Donegal artist Leila Jane's Decision Maker EP which was released later that year, and made the No. 2 spot in my Top 20 Irish EP's for 2017.

The winner of the 2015 Imelda May Scholarship for song-writing saw her take up a place at BIMM. Steeped in classical blues, and citing listening to Robert Johnson for the first time as a seminal moment on this voyage, I first saw a brief set last year at The Grand Social as part of the Five Lamps Arts Festival, and more recently at The Sound House in Dublin in support of Jane Willow's EP launch, the latter of which left a lasting impression on me. When you hear the songs you know and love replicated almost identically in a live setting, but with heightened energy, it's hard to avoid those spinal chills.

The Sound House, Dublin - 22nd November 2018. Photo: Remy

'Little Lady Blues' is the debut single release from Leila Jane, and its roots grow a few layers down into the blues-rock timeline. The 1970's saw a big revival in artists adapting and re-interpreting the blues of Son House, Howlin' Wolf, Slim Harpo et al, too many to mention, and re-imagining them in electric blues. There was John Mayall, Clapton, Robin Trower, Johnny Winter, Peter Green, and of course Rory Gallagher. One thing all of these artists had was a deep respect for the origins of the music plainly incorporated into their sound. 

Leila Jane continues this tradition, influenced by early blues, but also nodding strongly to the 1970's revival, with the intro to 'Little Lady Blues' bringing to mind Gallagher's 'Laundromat' as well as Mayall's 1969 live album The Turning Point. A heart-felt tremelo vocal lays out its acknowledgement in emotive terms, again thematically dealing with the human malaise of the individual, the blues after all, are about struggle and trying to find a way out. A rumbling percussion and rhythm section channel the sense of urgency and conundrum faced by the song's protagonist. The most rewarding aspects of her single however reside in it's raw power and the unfiltered self-awareness of the song-writing. It provides much relief for me that this musical tradition which I love so much is in such capable hands.

Leila Jane will be officially launching her debut single 'Little Lady Blues' in The Vintage Room at The Workman's Club on the 29th of March. 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UPr2VtUSKTNDVO8EuvCwQ?si=OlEx-RMWRvCpROZWlfwKWg