And here is the first playlist of the new year. Just because we have just come through the festive period doesn't mean that there was still plenty of great music whizzing around the DAA office. Music like this… https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2isxuYdvp3KEAMs8O9gBEv?si=jV5JAmPWSm-3_TOKYeN-0w
A Song About Love at Christmas – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Christmas is an all-encompassing time of year, a time when even the most every day of actions and routines seem only to be viewed through a festival filter. And so it is only natural that artists and creatives, including musicians, especially musicians, turn their craft to similar viewpoints. Echoglass is no different. But, given their... Continue Reading →
That Was The Musical Week That Was – 270920
A busy and varied week in the the sonic trenches, plenty of new music and rising talent, if you can't find something to love in this playlist then perhaps music isn't for you. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4C6EGPdptRmYlhavRDTK5v?si=HitCDoEyRtqwzjXJvn6leg
Heart – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Echoglass has always been a band able to offer up a shifting array of styles and genres finding their consistency more in the less musical elements, the lyrical depth, the lingering melancholy which seems to haunt their music, their often quintessential Englishness…actually, make that quintessential northernness, the intimacy of their deliveries and any number of... Continue Reading →
Little House – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
We know that Echoglass is pretty deft at fashioning music across a wide range of genres, their fluid and fairly eclectic back-catalogue is testament to that. But I feel that they really come into their own when they play the role of small town lamenters, troubadours of the kitchen-sink drama, purveyors of the northern chanson, revelling... Continue Reading →
Hard – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Echoglass has always proved to be very chameleon-like when it comes to genres and musical styles, equally able to deliver spacious indie soundscapes as they are R.E.M. style alt-rock. Latest single Hard not only sits towards the latter end of that sonic spectrum but pushes even further into the boisterous and rocky territory beyond. Guitars... Continue Reading →
Lonely – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Echoglass is one of those bands who are able to cover a lot of musical ground. Some bands do this because they are unfocused regarding what they want to be, they lack identity or are perhaps a bit unsure of where they fit in. Echoglass do it because they are able to fit in everywhere... Continue Reading →
Scene and Heard – CCCXXV: Little Harwood – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
In the parlance of the younger and hipper than myself, “What’s not to like?” When it comes to bands as interesting, eclectic and wonderfully disarming as Echoglass the answer is, well, nothing. 'Scuse the double negative. Firstly when listing the great and good from their North-West homeland they casually throw in iconic artist L. S.... Continue Reading →
Memories – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If Drowning saw Echoglass playing with subtle balladry, Blackburn Boulevard took a more indie-pop route and Last To Know wandered some wonderfully Americana musical pathways, Memories seems to tie all those ends together. It has depth yet sass, it tugs at heartstrings, joins country vibes with the folk sounds which in part informed its development,... Continue Reading →
Last To Know – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
And just when you have Echoglass pegged in the broad indie-pop spectrum, when you think you have worked out their musical approach they go and throw a curve-ball. Not satisfied with just ploughing the same musical furrow, Last To Know sees them break out the Americana vibes and it is great. Musically sitting somewhere between... Continue Reading →
Eyes – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
One of the things I love about Echoglass is their ability to hop-across genres, mix and match styles and musical stances and still sound like themselves, a blend of sonic cohesion and musical exploration. Eyes sees them plying their trademark positivity, the ability to take the minutiae of everyday life no matter how good or... Continue Reading →
Blackburn Boulevard – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
If my first encounter with Echoglass caught their more thoughtful and mellow side with the slow burning and highly textural music of Drowning, Blackburn Boulevard sees them in more playful mood, musically anyway. Here, the medium is a sassy, indie infused, clean limbed guitar driven vibe, there is still room for the clever piano break... Continue Reading →
Drowning – Echoglass (reviewed by Dave Franklin)
Music can make big, bold statements, make obvious moves and play predictable cards but it is at its finest, in my opinion at least, when it is employing subtler and more supple techniques to engage the listener. That, is exactly what Echoglass do with Drowning. It runs between pop balladry and more muscular indie lines... Continue Reading →