I seem to have a thing about big classic pop songs right now, they just seem to connect with me. The Losing Touch’s ‘Through the Night’ isn’t a big classic pop song, it’s a huge classic pop song.

It’s a builder – it starts with voice, strummed guitar and delightfully subtle keys before gradually building to a huge huge sound, massed vocals, keys to die for. People are going to be reaching for an Elbow comparison – well OK, yes, but no. Yes, in that it builds to this dense huge sound. But to me I’m going to take another comparison – Scott Walker – because this song is as much about those fantastic vocals. The music is great, I mean really great, but it’s the vocals that hold your full attention.

It’s a ballad in a style that I don’t hear much any more. But if I reach back through the years in my music collection I do.

And I’ve already hinted at the music, but the band throw everything at this track – string sounds, backing vocals to the max, simple but incredibly effective drumming, guitars. It bloody soars.

‘Through the Night’ is a wonderful meaningful beautiful song that deserves to be huge, as huge as the way it sounds.

The info

The Losing Touch had an accomplished debut year in 2019, having played sold out gigs in Liverpool, Leeds and in their hometown of Barnsley twice. The band released their debut EP, entitled ‘Midnight Again’ on October 17th to much praise, described as a ‘perfect blend between Arcade Fire and Elbow’. Lead single ‘There Must Be More’ received plays on Lauren Laverne’s BBC6 Music introducing show and Janice Long’s BBC Radio Wales show, who said: ‘just so good, can’t wait to hear more!’.

Formed by long term friends and collaborators James Gilroy and Nevyn Stevenson, The Losing Touch take influences from everything from The Pogues to Nick Cave and Doves to Tom Waits. Their songs span stories of determination, love, death, pain, happiness and all the other universal truths. Gilroy provides the lead vocals and Stevenson the lead guitar, the pair recruited Ben Scarff on Drums, Callan Mellor on Bass and Liam Brown on Keys.

The Losing Touch play Barnsley (17.03), Sheffield (18.03), Leeds (04.04) and Manchester (05.04)

Back in September last year I reviewed the band’s single ‘Sing, Don’t Shout’ and was mightily impressed. This is no different.

OK, so this is very much a personal take on the single’s sound. It sounds like Morrissey singing the vocals on something which is both Smiths’ like and kinda Orange Juice in places. But it also has some hints of indie-pop. It’s a mid-tempo thing that I can quite imagine myself gently swaying to or drifting around in a vaguely rhythmic way – gladioli optional you understand.

I’m being slightly unfair – and incidentally somewhat showing my age – to the single really. To define it in terms of music from way back when seems that I am defining it as retro. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t draw on that music but Sweetness have their own thing going on.

The song is actually a wonderful thing. It has a tune to die for, the playing is absolutely fab – those guitars people, and the vocals are way cool. The lyrics are great, they have that arch poetic quality that pop in all its forms doesn’t seem to have that much anymore. And I really love that keyboard that comes in towards the end of the track.

Sweetness are a band treading their own path, now’s the time to join them on their journey.

Last year I reviewed ‘Magnetic’ from the band and I was rather taken with it. I’m going to say right up front that I am similarly taken with ‘I Wouldn’t Mind’. The thing about Oh Papa is that their songs aren’t flash, they’re just quietly incredibly impressive. They feel timeless musically. They are brilliantly played and put together so well.

This song does what ‘Magnetic’ did, it sounds simple but the closer you listen you hear the layers of sounds in it. Simple plucked guitar, sparse drums, the occasional lovely backing vocal. But the space in this track is incredible,

And this song does something unexpected, it drops to voice and acoustic towards the end. Musically that section might be placed at the start of the song so it starts quiet and builds but this drop out is so effective.

Lyrically the song explores the concept of offence, and how senseless being offended can be. The words of this song are simple but all the more effective for it.

Musically it’s gentle and quite dreamy. It has hints of 70s singer/songwriters and Americana but it has hints of indie-pop in there as well. There is one particular bit that had me in mind of Aztec Camera. But the track also has hints of gentle soothing surf in the guitar. You’ll notice I said dreamy, by this I didn’t mean dream-pop, although there are bands who fall into that genre that sometimes sound a bit like some of this song.

I played this to several people – just as an experiment you understand – and the range of possible dates that they said it could have been recorded ranged from the late 60s right up to now. For me the production marks it as being of now but that’s possibly a bit geeky of me.

Oh Papa are one of those bands that I’ve started telling people they have to listen to. I love what they do, and I love this song.

The info

This is the first single to be released from their forthcoming EP, recorded at Tesla Studios with David Glover (Slow Club, Self Esteem).

Oh Papa write a blend of soft rock, americana and subtle surf, which has drawn comparisons with Harry Nilsson, Lou Reed, Whitney and Andy Shauf. Oh Papa have been refining their songwriting when many bands are still recreating the indie-rock sounds of the ‘00s. Although they keep one eye on the past they have no intention of rehashing it.

The band self-released their debut EP in November 2018, which garnered support from various stations, achieving dozens of plays across the BBC by Huw Stephens, Tom Robinson and Christian Carlisle. In 2019 the band worked on a second EP at Tesla Studios with David Glover (Charles Watson and Self Esteem), due out in April 2020. Their latest single, Magnetic (ft. Before Breakfast), released in late 2019, has already racked up substantial plays (90k+) on Spotify.

Oh Papa have supported Shonen Knife, Boy Azooga and Still Corners, as well as Billie Marten, who hand-picked the band for her album launch exhibition and tour dates in 2018. They are striving to change the perception of what it sounds like to be a band from Yorkshire, whilst actively trying to dispel the image of the toxic masculinity still prevalent in indie-rock.

Realms hail from Doncaster and they do that post-hardcore thing. It’s a while since I reviewed a release from a post-hardcare band, although I went through a period a while back when I did quite a few. That period kinda ‘made’ me something of a post-hardcore fan.

Some of the stuff I reviewed, and listen to now (much to the annoyance of my neighbours I’m guessing), takes a while to get into the heavier sections. This doesn’t, it just fucking crashes right in. This I like, really like. I really love hard pounding guitar and that throbbing bass and drums you can feel physically, you know somewhere down in your gut.

The first ‘quieter’ section – you realise that I’m using that in a relative sense – is as heavy but there are the most wonderful vocals, there are harmonies in there. Guitars are shit off a shovel fast and screechy. It’s bloody fucking good. This band are fantastic.

In fact the further you get into the track, the more it changes – there is something we might almost call a light section at one point, a grinding section. The thing about post-hardcore, well at least it is for me, is how a band melds the sections that have different feels together. Do they shift suddenly or just change in a seamless way. Realms tend to change in a seamless way. This is not better than the sudden change thing, but I kinda personally prefer it.

Post-hardcore is, I’ve realised, something of a ‘Marmite form of music’. I’ve played some of the stuff I have to friends who love heavy rock and metal but they just can’t get their heads around it. You either love it or hate it. I love it. But in it there is, as there is with all sorts of music, bands who do it better than others, Realms do it better people, way better.

Yet another visit to Wharf Chambers, and yet another fantastic lineup for a gig. King Orange I know and really like, Femur and FUS are bands that have been on the ‘go see them list’ for some time – friends have said I really ought to see them – and Desenser were completely unknown to me.

Desenser – from Sheffield – kinda live on that crossover of riffy grungy stuff, hardcore metal and punk. As that might indicate it’s loud, bloody loud with full on screamed vocals.

But it also has a huge load of raw energy and that ‘on the edge of falling apartness’ thing, a band pushing it to the edge – and indeed over that edge. The energy visually comes from their singer, who is almost constantly on the move, on and off the stage.

I like some bands who do what Desenser do, some not. Desenser I liked. Seeing for the first time I was only able to form an overall impression but this is a band who can play and it’s a great live experience.

So this is what I actually wrote as I stood and watched and listened to FUS:

“I am not, if I’m entirely honest, sure what to say about FUS. I mean what in the living fuck are they doing. It’s all constantly changing tempos and styles – fast and thrashy, acidy blues, and what the hell let’s throw in something jazzy, what about something funky.

“If anything the closest I can come up with is Zappa, a bit of The Fugs, a touch of the musical madness of The Goodies, and possibly some Captain Beefheart. The words are on the verge of being absurd, possibly even childish, and sometimes definitely not safe for children.

“Covering a Taylor Swift song is strange but then again perhaps not, and it’s not a straight cover by any means.

“This is up there in the list of ‘strangest things I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard some strange things in my life. What I can’t work out is whether this is absolutely fucking brilliant, or just chaotic silliness that just isn’t for me.”

Talking to the gig’s promoter after the gig I said that I was still processing FUS. To a certain extent I still am. The longer I think about the band the further towards ‘this is absolute fucking brilliant’ I go. One thing that helps that is that the three of them can really, and I mean really, play. The sheer musical skills on view were a joy to behold. Another thing that helps is that remembering their set makes me smile, and perhaps I’ve got too used to ‘serious’ music that I’ve forgotten that music can be entertaining sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of musical silliness.

I think I need to see FUS play again, now that I kind of know what they do, now that I know what to expect, to fully process and come down firmly on the scale of ‘I really like this band – I don’t like them’. What I can say is that I’m really happy I had the experience of seeing them, so perhaps I do know where on that scale I am – the fucking brilliant end.

The more I see King Orange the more I really like what they do. I get that post-punky thing they do, I get that they mix it up with something kinda poppy. I have fallen somewhat musically in love with the vocals, the clever drumming, that throbbing bass, and that stabbing, whirling metallic guitar.

Their sound is once both sparse and rich. There are layers of sound but somehow there’s space for the individual instruments to shine out. But when this band launches into a bass heavy thundering riff you feel that power in your gut, in your soul.

While the band do that ‘not saying much, just play the songs’ – the individual songs, while having that King Orange style, are discernible as separate entities. There’s variety in their songs.

Visually they basically sing the songs, they let the music dazzle us. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all, when the music is this good.

They end their set with their single ‘English Earrings’ and live this has an extra edge of sinister, a note of menace over and above the recorded version. People, just go see King Orange, check out the single, it’s classy stuff.

Femur are one of those bands that I’ve wanted to see for ages. Why I don’t know, it’s just that the vibe on the street says ‘see Femur, it’s an experience’. Was I disappointed, did |I regret that urge to see them, nope, this band rock.

They play a kind of doomy psychedelic garage, but it’s doomy. It whirls and swirls. It’s a sound that you want to dive into and go deeper and deeper into it. From the moment their set started I was totally hooked. You may ask yourself why their guitarist starts lying on the stage, I did, briefly, I came to the conclusion why in the hell not.

It’s a sound so thick it has a physical presence, you can feel it move over you, through you. The waves of sound are hypnotising. Tearing yourself away from it requires actual physical effort.

I managed briefly to tear myself away and scribble some notes, they say

“Oh fuck this band are so great, so good, so brilliant. It’s post-punk on acid (that’s that doomy thing they have), it’s garage taken to an illogical extent. It’s The Doors if they had gone further and deeper.

“It is a glorious wonderful sound that batters its way into your soul as well as your ears. It’s completely fantastically beautifully relentless”

And yet in all that you can hear that individually the band can really play – the guitar is wonderful, there was some rather wonderful cymbal playing at one point. And their singer has a really great voice, there is a slower and sparser song where you got to hear that.

I can already feel the start of an overwhelming need to see Femur play again. This band are addictive. If you haven’t seen them yet, you need to see them, you must see them.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography – see many more from the gig on his Facebook Page

It’s a while since I’ve reviewed anything from Backspace – either a release or seeing them live. This is actually one of the first songs they ever wrote but they’ve revisited the track with the assistance of Liam Dickman (Venus/Purple Thread) on producer duties.

It’s a raw rocky thing in places, this thing roars people. Somewhat rockier than I might have expected from Backspace, but it has these wonderfully poppy sections that just add to the thrill when those raw guitars crash in. The contrast is the thing that does it for me.

Rosie is on fine fine form vocally, she’s really going for that punky rock voice. And she does this great off hand ‘I really don’t care’ vocal thing. Guitars crash, drums thrash, you get the idea. When this song let’s go it’s a bloody joy. And musically it’s great, the playing is all spot on. The quieter sections are great, there’s a pop smoothness in them that’s fantastic.

There is however what we might refer to as ‘an elephant in the room’ here. With Liam taking production duties, you might, let’s call it detect, something of a Purple Thread feel to it. To this I say ‘well OK so yes, but actually no’. On a cursory listen you might be reaching for that comparison but a closer listen will reveal what I’m going to call a pop sensibility under all that rocky feel, as opposed to the funky feel that Purple Thread have. There is a difference and you can hear it. Over all those crashing guitars there’s something of a big pop ballad vocally in places. You may, of course, disagree.

This is one cool track people, the sound and feel is something that’s fantastic. I’d honestly like to hear Backspace do more like this.

Look this thing rocks people, it’s way cool. Go listen.

The three tracks on this EP – ‘She Thinks She’s Punk Rock N Roll’, ‘Don’t Touch’ and ‘Bigger Than Me’ – are all live favourites that fans have repeatedly asked the band to release. These songs are angry by name, angry by nature.

‘She Thinks She’s Punk Rock N Roll’ is a riot of angry guitar and vocals. Lauren spits out words at breakneck speed while noisy noisy guitars and thrashing drums thrill. Yet, let’s not get too fixated on the riotous thing because it’s not mindless thrash, there’s a sense of craft in the way it’s together. The shifts in riff, the different ways Lauren sings – Lauren’s vocals are an absolute joy.

‘Don’t Touch’ gets sort of metal in places, but it has these almost poppy vocals. It rocks, it rocks fucking hard. It makes you want to mosh, people. It kinda sums up what hands Off Gretel do. And frankly, the lyrics are disturbing.

And now to something different, well at least to begin with, ‘Don’t Touch’ starts with this strange off-kilter guitar and voice section before it explodes into something bigger. Yes it’s grungey but it’s also strangely gothy in places, and strangely psychedelic. My music reviewer head – that makes weird and strange, very strange I admit, leaps at times – said ‘well that’s bit DENSE’. What I mean by that is that it swirls and whirls, and builds into a maelstrom of noise.

I’ve had a special fondness for Hands Off Gretel since LSF first came across them. They were the first band we interviewed (at Long Division back in 2015). They’ve come a long way in that five years – band members have changed, the songs have changed, what they play has changed. So I’ve been keeping up on their releases. And although we haven’t reviewed their releases for a while (too long to be honest) hearing these songs makes me want to do that again.

For me these three songs encapsulate what Hands Off Gretel are live, and live they are incredible. If Hands Off Gretel are new to you, (where have you been), then this EP is a must to introduce you to the thrill, the excitement, the frankly excellent playing, the fucking fantastic songs, that is Hands Off Gretel. Go listen now, I mean right now, don’t delay.

Stream/Download: https://ditto.fm/the-angry-ep?fbclid=IwAR2LyMfQvlpGlsVdKStgNCvRMnjjMRdENhvKyAcM54vMSMHrnHkGTGGcAas

I was rather pleased to be going to Wharf Chambers, Wharf Chambers is just the sort of place to be going to see bands on a Thursday night. It’s a friendly cosy sort of place. If you’ve not been to a gig there, you should. Sorry, in my customary fashion I got a bit off on a tangent there. It’s probably a first for me to go off on a tangent right at the beginning of a review but there you go. So to get back on track. I was going to Wharf Chambers to see a gig that had been put on by Boudicca Records (a record label based in Scotland) that focuses on female artists and bands. One of the bands I know and love – Kath & The Kicks – and the other two I had only the vaguest idea of what they do.

Wyse appeared with a band. Although for me the fact that she had a band became very much a secondary thing. This was because she’s a compelling performer and I found myself really concentrating on her voice and the words of her songs. I had read that she’s been compared vocally to Bjork and I kind of get that in some ways, and in others not at all. I mean yes her voice has an incredible range, but it’s very much a voice of her own.

The opening song had me in mind of that angular pop-ish rock that was very much in vogue in the early to mid 80s. Wyse swaps between guitar and keyboards within songs. I thought I had a handle on what Wyse does but no. The second song is something else. It’s dark, almost gothy in places, and builds to something heavy, really heavy, where she employs that screechy keyboard thing beloved of certain 80s rock bands.

I was beginning to get the idea that Wyse is one of those artists who is difficult to pigeon hole musically.

When she sings her next song with no mike and an acoustic in the middle of the room, a song about OCD. I was also getting that she likes to tackle difficult and possibly very personal things in her songs. I was moved, the rest of the room was moved. It was a very special shared moment, the sort of thing that happens so very seldom at gigs.

And so that ‘let’s make it really hard for reviewers to be glib in their reviews’ continues. Songs – or rather one song – go from heavy to almost funky, sound sorta punky and raw as fuck, until it goes all smooth and soaring, and almost proggy. With Wyse switching between guitar and keyboards and then percussion. It’s impressive.

But then towards the end of her set there is a song that stops me in my tracks. It is my ‘favourite’ song of the set. I say ‘favourite’ for reasons that will become clear. It is a song about emotional control called ‘Switch of my Controller’. It is written from the point of view of the person doing the controlling, not the person being controlled I found when I asked her about the song after her set. I found this song incredibly disturbing. I think if you listened to the words you’d find it disturbing but it connected with me so strongly because of my own personal experiences. You might think that being disturbed by a song would make me not like it, but no I really like songs that I can relate on on a personal level – whether my reaction is good or bad. Musically it starts with just keyboard, then guitar and then to the full band at full throttle. I was left drained and emotional by the end of the song.

It was with some disappointment on my part that she announced her final song. It goes from light and poppy with these injections of darkly warped guitar before building to something at first post-punky and then full on rock. It is bewildering, it’s compelling, it’s absolutely brilliant. It takes my breath away.

I really like artists that are difficult to describe musically, and Wyse is definitely one of those. In fact I was really impressed and somewhat hugely taken with Wyse. Musically it’s great in that ‘how in world does that work’ way. Her songs tackle difficult subjects. Her songs are compelling. Wyse is somebody I want to see again.

It had been a while since I saw Kath & The Kicks play, too long to be honest. The band starts in a rush of guitar, bass and drums, and that’s it, I’m in a happy place, a very happy place.

For those who don’t know (and if you don’t where have you been) Kath & The Kicks play rock – sometimes it’s on that alternative side, sometimes it’s on the heavy rock side, and even at one point on the heavy rockabilly side but at all times they rock hard.

It’s rock but they do subtle touches that raise it above the average. Bass that swings, sweet sweet vocals from Kath and great backing vocals from Shaneen on bass, and clever drumming. It also has the great guitar playing of Kath, Kath is one hot guitarist.

The set highlight for me is their last single ‘Walls Between Us’, a song which is very much not your average rock song lyrically (do check it out people), it’s a fine fine thing.

Kath & The Kicks are one of the bands I have a tendency to gush about to people I know, I’m always telling people to go see them. The band are a great live experience, one you should see.

And so to EBB. Beyond knowing that they play prog rock and that their Facebook Page describes them as ‘Quite possibly the love child of Heart & King Crimson’ I didn’t have that much to go on.

There are a lot of EBB – Erin on Guitar/Lead Vocals, Nikki on Keyboards, Anna on Drums, Dog on Bass, and Suna and Kitty providing backing vocals. Size is not always an indication of quality but prog generally goes with a lot of band members.

Their opening song is prog, it’s prog that reminds me of Magnum (oops showing my age there) musically. And musically it’s that side of prog that I continue to be reminded of for the whole of their set. I’m not really sure about that King Crimson reference, I didn’t get that at all. But EBB have something that isn’t old school prog and that’s the vocals of Erin, Suna and Kitty. When they sing together you get that melodic rock thing going, that’s a real joy.

Forgive me but I kind of need to think aloud for a while about EBB. The issue for me is that I’m old enough to have heard and loved a lot of prog and progressive music in my life. From the old school prog of the early 70s and progressive rock of the late 60s, through to the New Wave of British Prog Rock in the 80s (and yes that was a thing, honest). EBB have the chops musically that prog needs, this is a band who can really play well. There are touches of heavy rock in there, and this is no bad thing. The vocals are outstanding. It ticks a lot of boxes.

But, and this a big but for me, as much as I like prog (and I really like prog), the music reviewer side of me says ‘but the thing about prog is that it’s progressive, there are bands that could be considered as prog now – for example Muse – that have that prog thing but with an edge of something taken from up to date music. EBB don’t do that’.

The prog fan side of me says ‘It’s so long since I’ve seen old school prog live, that’s a bloody lovely thing’.

You can see that I’m conflicted about EBB, or rather I was. At the gig I just let my music reviewer head go away and sulk in a corner while the music fan head really enjoyed the band’s set. I just let myself be transported by great music played and sang really well. EBB are a band I want to see again.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography – see many more from the gig on his Facebook Page