ALBUM: Space Captain – ‘All Flowers In Time’

Brooklyn-based band Space Captain have released their eagerly anticipated full length album All Flowers In Time via Tru Thoughts Recordings, and it’s a patient, well-produced, retrospective joy of a record. Influenced by the likes of Thundercat, Amy Winehouse & Bon Iver, the album is an eclectic mix of jazzy trumpet outros, sax solos, and acoustic “e-bow” guitars – blended together by warm, laid back melodies.

Opener ‘Side Eye’ blazes with smooth vocals, gentle guitar and subtle electronics that create a pleasant, hazy atmosphere. It flows in to ‘Blue’ with it’s sweet R&B vibes, which are effortlessly extended on brief interlude ‘Daybreak’. Third track ‘Sycamore’ is a clear highlight, with its wonderfully laid-back, eclectic summer sound. Vocalist Maralisa’s talent is displayed with ease and elegance here and it’s hard not to be swept away by the sax solos and simmering percussion. ‘Loveline / The Drive Home’ brings you back down to earth with it’s easy samba-inspired beats.

‘Cells’ is a dreamy two minutes of nostalgia – “new things with him are like old things with you / but loved like older things I used to do” – whilst ‘Hollow’ unlike it’s name, is full of emotion and drips with melancholy, melodic magic. The band have dubbed penultimate track ‘Hours’ as the “country hit on the album”, but that’s too simplistic a label. It’s another emotionally charged offering from vocalist Maralisa and proves the multi-instrumental sensitivities of the band are finely tuned.

‘Flood’ closes the record with more of Space Captain’s trademark relaxed beats and guitar-led melodies. All Flowers In Time is proof of the band’s “unique musical chemistry”, and you’ll be swept away on nostalgic waves each time you listen. Grab your copy of the album here and follow Space Captain on Facebook for more updates.

Photo Credit: Patricia Lopez

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

ALBUM: Pale Honey – ‘Devotion’

If you blend the vocals of Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell and the Cardigans’ Nina Persson with clear electronics and hazy guitar riffs – you’ll end up with the sound of Gothenburg duo Pale Honey. The band released their second album Devotion earlier this month and it’s a cool, understated new offering.

‘Replace Me’ is a strong album opener, displaying the pair’s inherent ability to craft assertive, memorable indie-electronic tunes. It blends seamlessly in to second track ‘Someone’s Devotion’, which is an up-beat, fuzzy guitar-led rejection of love. ‘Get These Things Out Of My Head’ follows and just like the track’s name, you’ll struggle to get the buzzing synths out of your brain.

‘The Heaviest Of Storms (Devotion Pt. 1)’ smoulders for just shy of six minutes, making it the strung out and sultry highlight of the record, whilst ‘Lesson Learned’ is another coolly uncompromising tune that threatens “I will break you honey” with casual venom. ‘Real Thing’ is charged with “electric” “obsessive” energy, and ‘777 (Devotion, Pt.2)’ bookends the previous three tracks with quiet guitars and sweetly jaded vocals.

Penultimate track ‘Golden’is another charged tune that quietly, but defiantly champions independence, whilst ‘Why Do I Always Feel This Way’ closes the record on a note of uncertainty. There’s one thing we know for sure though, Pale Honey pack a powerful punch with their assertive indie-electronic offerings, and you should head down to their show at Old Blue Last on November 7th to hear their tunes in the flesh (RSVP here).

Follow Pale Honey on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut