Re-Covered: Sally Anne’s Favourite Illustrated Albums

If you’re anything like us, throughout Lockdown you may have been seeking refuge in some of your favourite records, perhaps rediscovering some old classics along the way. So, for this new feature, illustrator Sally-Anne Hickman re-imagines her favourite ten albums of all time by painting their covers in her own unique style, using watercolours.

Check out the last of Sally-Anne’s choices below!

PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
PJ Harvey is a storyteller. This album is a macabre mix of chilling tales told over an unnerving organ and bluesy guitar. Harvey uses biblical imagery in her lyrics, she sings of the dry earth and hell, managing to somehow show a vulnerability in her strong raw vocals. The album is a display of her song writing mastery, PJ Harvey unleashes musical theatrics and melodrama and proves that quiet is just as powerful and disturbing as loud.

 

Sally-Anne Hickman
@sallyshinystars

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Five Favourites: DEHD

Set to release their new album later this week, Chicago’s DEHD have been impressing us this year with a series of gritty singles. With a raw edge, brooding basslines and sultry vocals, they create instantly infectious indie-pop, and we can’t wait to hear the album in its entirety.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them or influences their writing. So, we caught up with vocalist Emily Kempf to find out her “Five Favourites” – five albums that she loves more than most. Check out her choices below, and keep your ears out for DEHD’s new release on Friday.

Broncho – Double Vanity /  Bad Behavior
I’m obsessed with Broncho, I think they are a perfect band. I can put them on in any place with any group of people and they just fit in. They are the band everyone wants to know – like a secret you find pride in knowing about first and can’t wait to tell your bestie. If I could marry music I would marry Broncho.

Emily Sprague – Water Memory
I’ve listened to Emily’s ambient masterpiece Water Memory more times than maybe any other record. The amount of times I’ve tucked away in the corner of the tour car with Water Memory in my headphones is countless. It’s my go-to to feel calm, to feel safe, to fall asleep or to mediate with. It’s a beautiful peaceful sweeping record that brings you somewhere far far away and then all the way back home again. It just washes you right out.

Jah Wobble & The Chinese Dub Orchestra
A special choice, several years ago this was a record I originally picked for its cover at random in a record shop in Seattle. It’s best listened to while laying on the floor alone or with a pile or friends. Make sure to have either a ceiling fan or the windows open wide to invite a light breeze. This record is to be listened to with intention – and buckle in, it will soothe and surprise you.

Sibylle Baier – Colour Green
This is a record to cry to, a classic cry album for sure. Her melodies and lyrics and lilting breathless voice make you feel like you’re all grown up and alone in a cottage someplace cold and quiet, with snow on the ground. She’s a secret tear on the pillow late at night when no one’s paying attention. Beautiful and heartbreaking and worth every second.

Sunglow – Hog Heaven
Daniel is a mastermind producer of playful, inspiring soundscapes that energize and incite. I have been a fan for a while and also could put on any of his records to shift a mood in the room instantaneously. It’s fun, fresh and pure freak mode. Don’t shuffle! Play in suggested record order, the songs are all “holding hands”.

Huge thanks to DEHD for sharing their Five Favourites with us! 

Flower Of Devotion, the new album from DEHD, is out this Friday 16th July via Fire Talk. Watch their latest video for ‘Month’ here:

Photo Credit: Alexa Viscius

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Francis Of Delirium

Formed of 18 year old songwriter Jana Bahrich and collaborator Chris Hewett, Francis of Delirium create swirling guitar tunes that centre around Bahrich’s personal experiences. The Canadian-American duo recently released their new EP, All Change, via Dalliance Recordings and it’s full of fuzzed up, cathartic guitar sounds.

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Jana to ask about her “Five Favourites” – five albums that inspired her song-writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to Francis Of Delirium’s new EP at the end of this post.

 

1. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left
I can pinpoint the exact moment I heard ‘River Man’ for the first time. That song is so special, everything about Nick Drake is really special. It legitimately made me feel like my soul was lifting out of my body. His voice, the chord progressions, the string arrangements, everything adds so much. It might’ve affected me so much because it’s this singer-songwriter but it feels presented in a way that is completely new and so grounded in the earth. Both Chris and I have a special love for Nick Drake. We played this kind of brutal show and then came into the studio the next day and watched a Nick Drake documentary so there’s something comforting about him and his music, in particular this whole album.

2. Caroline Polachek – Pang
I think this is just an excellent pop record. The vocal melodies she’s choosing are so angular and unexpected but accompanied with really emotional and lush production. She has such control of her voice. There’s a KEXP session she did that was just her and a piano and I had to keep pausing the video every few seconds because I was so overwhelmed by how insane her voice is. It sounds out of this world.

3. Solange – When I Get Home
As a listener it feels like there’s so much intent with everything Solange does, maybe I’m cheating because there is literally an interlude on the album that says “do nothing without intention”. Both visually and in an auditory sense. She did a performance that was a medley of songs from When I Get Home on Jimmy Fallon and that was really important to me. I love choreography and shows that are big and planned but have a way of maintaining intimacy. I think that’s really hard to pull off. It’s something I think about a lot for our live shows. Obviously venues we play are pretty small, so it feels important to keep a closeness between the performer and the audience but I would like to incorporate something theatrical without alienating the audience so it doesn’t feel like I’m not there with them anymore. To me, Solange achieved that with her performance on Jimmy Fallon and the album is great.

4. The Microphones – The Glow pt.2
Phil Elverum’s music always centres me. It reminds me why I like Chris and I figuring out how to record music on our own and how getting it wrong but it still feeling right and ultimately that being what matters the most is really important. Phil always creates such a wonderful sense of space which makes me feel like I belong in the album he’s making, in particular this one, there’s this sense of home. Whenever I listen to him I want to go and try new recording techniques and try new things, listening to his music is like instant inspiration for me.

5. James Taylor – Greatest Hits
We grew up with a lot of “best of” albums around the house, which I never really realized until a bit recently. We had the R.E.M CD with the hand on it, the Nirvana black album, the wings best of, The Beatles one album so I really grew up on bangers only. Sometimes I want to do these huge ambitious orchestral albums and I still want to make a musical but James Taylor always reminds me, if you have something simple and pure and honest it can be just as arresting as anything else. He makes it seem a lot easier than it is and always reminds me to really check and double check if what I’m adding is serving the song.

Thanks to Jana for sharing her favourites with us! Listen to Francis Of Delirium’s EP below.

Photo Credit: Patricia Marets

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Guest Playlist: Sink Ya Teeth

Covid 19 and the necessary restrictions surrounding it have brought about a number of cancellations of music events, including what would have been Get In Her Ears’ very first festival. Taking place this Saturday 18th July, it was set to be a pretty special day, filled with some of our favourite female and non binary artists. Fingers crossed we can finally make it happen next year…

One of the bands set to play was Norwich duo, Maria Uzor and Gemma Cullingford – aka Sink Ya Teeth. Creating their own unique dance-punk soundscapes, they’ve become firm favourites of ours over the last few years, having blown us away with their soaring, sparkling majesty at one of our earliest gigs at The Finsbury.

In the absence of our festival, and any gigs, at the moment, Gemma and Maria have put together a playlist of the songs that have been getting them through lockdown… Have a listen, and make sure you check out their latest album Two now!

Gemma’s Choices:
My song selections are songs by new (to me) bands, or songs that I’ve discovered during lockdown (mainly via playing Scrabble while listening to music!) or RE- discovered – songs that I’d forgotten how good they are.

Automatic – ‘Too Much Money’
Really enjoyed this album!

U-Bahn – ‘Turbulent Love’
Devo-esque greatness. The whole album is great!

Public Practice –  ‘Extra-Ordinary’
My favourite new band discovery via Lockdown. 

Le Tigre – ‘Friendship Station’
Listened to the whole album again for the first time in a long time and it was like “this song is my favourite, no THIS song is my favourite, no THIS song is my favourite…” – you get the jist!

French Vanilla – ‘Suddenly’
Love a bit of post-punk and sax.

This Human Condition – ‘God Kills Another Kitten’ 
A Bristol band that we were introduced to when doing a short interview for Punka/Wig in A Box All Out and Loud programme on Twitch. 

Spandau Ballet – ‘Glow’ (12″ Version)
I’ll let this speak for itself. 

Eddy Grant – ‘Electric Avenue’
Was reminded of this great song by some American friends. Then became a massive ear worm for days on end!

The Bangles – ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’
As soon as I hear this, I wanna dance!

Juniore – ‘Adolescent’
ADORE this song! Perfect.  

A Certain Ratio –  ‘Always in Love’
Their new single from their upcoming album, which we’ve heard and can confirm is amazing!!! And we’re also proudly doing some vocals on a couple of songs on it.

Maria’s Choices:
Just feeling kinda mellow and summery. Enjoying the sunshine, wild flowers, and the slow pace of life. My choices are just a backdrop to that vibe…

Rare Silk – ‘Storm’
Falle Nioke/Ghost Culture – ‘BARKé’
The Style Council – ‘Long Hot Summer’
The Rah Band – ‘Messages From The Stars’
Sylvester – ‘I Need Somebody To Love Tonight’
Carly Simon – ‘Why’
Yasuaki Shimizu – Kakashi’
Jan Hammer Group – ‘Don’t You Know’
Virna Lindt – ‘Underwater Boy’
Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes – ‘Summer Nights’ 

Listen to the full playlist on Spotify now!

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