Track Of The Day: Amaroun – ‘Brown Skin Beauty’

Having previously received acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music and BBC Music Introducing, and having charmed our ears with spellbinding tracks such as ‘Rise’ and ‘Scarlet’, GIHE fave Amaroun has now announced the release of her upcoming debut album, and we could not be more excited! Following her last single, ‘Floating’, she has now shared a brand new taster from the album…

A poignant offering reflecting on a personal journey of building in confidence to having the freedom to feel comfortable in your own black queer skin, ‘Brown Skin Beauty‘ flows into the ears with a sweeping ethereal soundscape. As Amaroun’s soaring, luscious vocals ripple atop the shimmering musicality, a truly blissful offering oozing a sparkling majestic grace is created.

‘Brown Skin Beauty’ is accompanied by a captivating new video, featuring Amaroun’s sister –  Sophia Brown – who you may recognise from Top Boy or Marcella. Watch it here.

Mars, the upcoming debut album from Amaroun, is set for release on 3rd June.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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LIVE: A.A. Williams – Lafayette, London 04.03.22

After two years of re-scheduling show dates and a tentative return to live music across the UK, London-based songwriter A.A. Williams delivered a stunning performance that showcased her heavy sound in all its glory at Lafayette last night.

A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, Williams’ blending of post-rock and post-classical elements has a hypnotising quality, one that was clearly appreciated by her silent crowd. It’s rare to hear a venue so quiet between songs, but Williams congregation remained devotedly still throughout her set.

Performing songs from her debut album Forever Blue, which she released in 2020, Williams opened the show with an exquisite rendition of ‘All I Asked For (Was To End It All)’. Her soft vocals floated above beguiling keys before heavy riffs and percussion broke the spell and dominated the track’s closing minute. What’s obvious throughout the set is Williams’ and her bandmate’s impressive instinct for volume fluctuation. Her balancing between loud and quiet is the lifeblood of Forever Blue, and it’s something that translates beautifully into a live setting.

Suited in black and playing her guitar in the spotlight, Williams cut a calm and captivating figure, enhanced by her ability to switch from a fragile-sounding exhale of words to a powerful extended vocal. Her voice was occasionally lost in the flood of heavy, feverish sound, but in the moments where it did cut through, it made for intense and cathartic listening, effortlessly elevating the rapturous mood.

It’s hard to pick standout tracks from the set, as Williams’ performance had a whole, defined, cinematic quality to it. Her poignant renditions of ‘Dirt’, ‘Fearless’ and the emotionally raw ‘I’m Fine’ made listeners hold their collective breath, but closing her set with ‘Melt’ was undoubtedly a highlight. The smouldering, brooding track was stripped of its more melancholic feel once the blitz-like volume change kicked in, once again displaying Williams’ and her bandmate’s instincts for intricately cauterizing the ear drums.

Taking time to thank her fans between songs and genuinely appreciative of their applause at the end of the show, A.A. Williams provided an aural tonic of intense, beautifully executed sound at Lafayette, proving that the two year wait to hear her poetic ruminations on Forever Blue was well and truly worth it.

Follow A.A. Williams on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Scrounge – ‘This Summer’s Been Lethal’

Having continued to impress us over the last few years with both their breathtaking live energy and the unique, genre-bending sound of their recordings, South London duo Lucy and Luke – aka Scrounge – have now announced the release of their upcoming debut album, and we couldn’t be more excited. Having received acclaim from the likes of Radio X’s John Kennedy and BBC 6Music’s Steve LaMacq, they have recently shared the first taster from the album.

Flowing with a twang of rippling hooks alongside Lucy’s gritty, raw vocals, ‘This Summer’s Been Lethal‘ builds with a bewitching tension and potent beats, creating a stark, fizzing soundscape. Oozing the duo’s trademark deep stirring allure and dark, compelling energy, an added uptempo edge propels the track, inciting a small glimmer of hope in these uncertain times. A swirling, immersive wall of sound, here Scrounge have showcased how they are consistently honing their sound; adding innovative layers to create resonant, cathartic anthems for the present day.

Of the track, the band explain:

“‘This Summer’s Been Lethal’ is a retrospective track rooted in uncertainty, desperation and disappointment despite all the excitement of summer… Recorded on the hottest day of the year, we wanted to make something dismal yet danceable. With its pulsing drum patterns and ringing guitars, this track reminds the listener to persevere through the pessimism.”

Scrounge are heading to SXSW this month, and we could not be happier for them!

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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ALBUM: Perennial – ‘In The Midnight Hour’

Connecticut art punks Perennial capture the spirit of post-hardcore with their ambitious sophomore LP In The Midnight Hour; an infectious, relentlessly noisy record, oozing ever-perennial punk energy and inspired by the eclectic sounds of their cultural New England surroundings. From watching post-hardcore arts-college/rec-centre gigs, like Q And Not U and The Blood Brothers, to indie record store discoveries like Nick Cave, Perennial absorbed and integrated an assortment of ideas, exploring and expanding their sound to deliver an unpredictable, complex punk album.

Following their debut EP Early Sounds for Night Owls (2015), their debut LP The Symmetry of Autumn Leaves (2017) and EP Food for Hornets (2019), multi-instrumentalists Chad Jewett, Chelsey Hahn and drummer Wil Mulhern – with encouragement from The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die’s Chris Teti – began deconstructing hardcore punk; maintaining their intensity, but emphasising a greater degree of creative expression. Opening with ‘The Skeleton Dance’, Perennial are loud enough to wake the dead, conjuring a whiplash-inducing combination of electronic instrumentation before diving headfirst into hardcore dance-punk anthem ‘In The Midnight Hour’, a worthy title track where the kinetic guitar riffs bite as hard as Hahn and Jewett’s haunting lyrics.

The angular art-punk attack continues with rambunctious groove on ‘Soliloquy For Neil Perry’, leading into the propulsive slam-punk-poetry of ‘Lauren Bacall In Blue’, an infectious, unapologetic track as alluring as its namesake. ‘Food For Hornets’ allows for further experimentation, with Hahn and Jewett trading screaming vocals over scuzzy post-hardcore guitar-hooks and aberrant effects. As Hahn chants “cut up the pattern, yeah,” the band do just that, descending into rumbling idiosyncratic melody.

Catch your breath during ‘Hey Eurydice’ because you won’t get another chance for the remainder of In The Midnight Hour. Conjuring the spirit of poet T. S. Eliot with abrasive, crushing rhythm and punishing percussion, ‘Tooth Plus Claw’ ends with a bang but not a whimper, whilst ‘Melody For A New Cornet’ follows with an equally aggressive performance from the atypical noise-rock trio, pounding basslines leading to the propulsive rhythm of ‘Hour Of The Wolf’. Narratively, ‘Perennial In A Haunted House’ is the ghostly quiet, long after the midnight hour has concluded, the haunted house of our own making. But musically, Perennial’s scrappy lead single couldn’t be louder! ‘I Am The Whooping Crane’ follows with an experimental blend of jazz-infused punk groove, poetic storytelling, and Motown flirtation (during its final seconds) before ‘Absolver’ closes the album with sonic ferocity.

12 songs, 22 minutes of erratic art punk for the nocturnal! Perennial’s unpredictable sophomore LP – “a punk album that doesn’t operate like a punk album” – rewards repeated spins, each track layered with enough weirdo punk energy and reckless abandon to keep the needle dropped.

 

Follow Perennial on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Omari Spears

Ken Wynne
@Ken_Wynne

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