Echolines – The Poison Artist

Newcastle’s Echolines are back with their new single ‘The Poison Artist’, out on 6NOT4 Records.

Their previous single, ‘Imagination Stranger’, was a pop celebration of 80s indie influences. Things have taken a more expansive and darker tone this time. From the warped synths, to the Robert Smith meets an angry Jimi Goodwin and Guy Garvey vocals, they’ve struck a dank chord of greatness.

They adopt Public Service Broadcasting’s style with the inclusion n of exerts from a documentary on the CIA. From this sinister early inclusion, ‘The Poison Artist’ explodes with colour, vigour and dreaded nihilism. Brass, so often the accompaniment to glory, rages here like a rabid wolf!

The guitars, whilst they have jangle reminiscent of The Cure’s triumphant Glasto set, the intensity of them is soul crushing. The imagery they create is of love being torn down, through self-destruction and at worst, for sport.

Echolines are rapidly becoming a vital band for your record collections!

*Image courtesy of Van Goth

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Elbow - Little Fictions

The Bury outfit, now a four piece after drummer Richard Jupp departed, have returned with their seventh studio album ‘Little Fictions’. This deep into their careers, you have to wonder whether they can keep adding to their fine body of work.

So, unsurprisingly, they open with ‘Magnificent (She Says)’, the archetypal Elbow euphoria soars through the chorus. Before its big release, the band expertly build a tension and injustice, can’t imagine what world they’re living in! Then, Garvey’s vocals some swooning in singing ‘a world that doesn’t even know / how much it needs this little girl / it’s all going to be magnificent she says’. It’s like a wormhole sucking in all ill feeling and spewing out a sense of hope only a child could have.

Jupp’s departure has lead the band towards a more beat heavy album than previous. On ‘Kindling’, the simplicity of the percussion allows the strings, vocals and guitar to have a hymnal quality.

On ‘Gentle Storm’, the constant percussion anchor Garvey’s tale of not wanting to argue with his wife. Again so simple, they neatly tie this complex tale of Garvey begging his wife to just love him at all times. To portray such a vulnerability after years of growing adulation from fans is a glorious feat of song writing and will only adhere him to the bosom of many more.

Garvey got married in the period between albums and wrote some of the lyrics whilst on honeymoon in Sardinia. So, you would forgive him for writing a lot about love, particularly the romantic ‘Head For Supplies’. However, on ‘Montparnassa’, Garvey again is achingly honest with himself post-breakup and lying to a therapist to get sympathy.  

Having Elbow back is like welcoming a friend into your home for a boozy night of catching up and reminiscing. It’ll leave a mark in the morning but you’ll be yearning to do it again and again. ‘Little Fictions’ is the blueprint for how a long standing band can subtly evolve and take their fans along for the ride.

Elbow - All Disco

Oh Guy Garvey, that voice, from the first word it instantly feels like your best friend has come home from a long spell away.

‘All Disco’, inspired by an interview Garvey did with Pixies legend Frank Black, details how he learned to let go of his ‘be all end all’ attitude towards his songs. This seems odd, as Elbow have always sounded at their best when their mind body and soul have been left out there for all to hear.

That said, fans should rejoice at Garvey’s new reflective stance. The world lost too many heroes last year and to have another one slide into murky waters trying to be perfect would be a tragedy.

Elbow’s archetypal sound is out in full force here, lending itself to all things beautiful in the world. So, to combine it with a wise message of letting obsessions will hopefully have a positive effect on the simplistic dialectical discourse the world has adopted of late.