Five Favourites: Tenderness

As someone who had Deep Throat Choir soundtrack me walking down the aisle, hearing the voice of anyone from that incredible collective always feels pretty special. And so the debut solo album from Katy Beth Young (also of Peggy Sue) – aka Tenderness – has been an extremely welcome treat for my ears since its release last month. Showcasing Young’s gorgeously rich vocals as twinkling Americana-tinged hooks ripple throughout, True offers stirring reflections on relationships, grief and the fleeting nature of joy. As a gentle melancholy flows alongside a twinkling uplifting grace, it’s an exquisite testament to Young’s resonant songwriting and the beautiful raw emotion that shimmers through every song. I was lucky enough to hear the album live at St Pancras Old Church a few weeks back; a perfect setting for the moving celestial splendour of Tenderness.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them the most. So, we caught up with Katy to ask about her “Five Favourites” and she’s picked five albums that she feels most influenced the writing and recording of True. Check out her choices below, scroll to down to watch the beautiful video for ‘Day Of Atonement‘, which features Deep Throat Choir singing alongside Katy, and make sure you set aside time to immerse yourself in the full album.

Kim Deal – The 2013-2014 Singles 
This is not exactly an album (sorry!) but I love Kim Deal a lot and she/The Breeders have been a huge influence. She put out these ten singles in 2013-14 without much fuss and I listened to them constantly when I discovered them about a year later – ‘Are You Mine?’ and ‘Beautiful Moon’ are pretty much perfect. There’s surfy guitars and lo-fi drums and Kim Deal’s perfect voice and also absolutely killer lyrics like – “I’m happy for you / but I feel crying”. I’m always aiming for that kind of conciseness and contradiction with my own lyrics. The arrangements are very sparse and simple and satisfying and they sound very alive. It’s like each song has been condensed into its absolute essence, which is something I’ve aspired to do with Tenderness – just letting the song be itself musically and lyrically. They also all sound like they belong together – from the heaviest to the gentlest. True was made over quite a long time, so Euan and I worked really hard to pull some sonic threads through them and make sure they belonged, and this set of songs was a really good touch point for that. 

Big Thief – Masterpiece
The first Big Thief song I heard was ‘Real Love’. In the space of a week about six different friends sent it to me saying “I think you’ll like this” and obviously I did. I love every Big Thief album & their solo stuff too – they are each perfect for a slightly different day, time, mood  – but Masterpiece is still the one I listen to the most. It makes me want to sing along in a way that probably only Mariah Carey ever did before. The song ‘Masterpiece’ makes me want to write loud songs and ‘Lorraine’ makes me want to write quiet sexy songs and ‘Vegas’ makes me want to practice the guitar. 

Allegra Krieger – I Keep My Feet on The Fragile Plane
A lot of my writing influences happen quite slowly without me really noticing, but recording influences are much more conscious. Allegra Krieger was a big one for this album. The sounds and the mood and the space she leaves around things is so captivating. We used it as a reference for vocal sounds and mood a lot. And the songs are brilliant and clever – there’s a real sense of place and time and Krieger can create a whole world or a whole relationship in a couple of lines. This is one of my favourites from the song ‘Lingering’ – “I wanted to tell you something small and stupid / but I couldn’t remember when I saw your face.” I’ll listen to any album that Double Double Whammy puts out now. 

Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
For better or worse Bright Eyes will probably always be my hand-on-heart ‘favourite band’. I discovered them at my most tender and suggestible age (I was trying to download ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ on Limewire but I’d forgotten what the title was). Oberst’s lyrics have had a profound effect on how I write and what I aim for – they are honest and wise and naive and heartbreaking and hopeful at once. When I was younger, I loved Lifted, or the story is in the soil, keep your ear to the ground the best because it’s noisy and emo and kind of mean, but now that I’ve fully accepted that my soul is part-country I’ve come back around to I’m Wide Awake… It’s a bit of a time capsule for me now, plus it has Emmylou Harris on two songs.

Laura Marling – Song for our Daughter 
This album came out at the very start of the pandemic and I listened to it a lot walking around my local area that summer – which is also when I was writing the songs that would become True. Laura has been an influence forever, but I think at that moment there was something particularly inspiring about the clarity of her voice and her storytelling and the musicality of the arrangement. It helped me give myself permission to make these quieter songs with my voice right in the middle.


Huge thanks to Katy for telling us about her Five Favourites! Watch the beautiful video ‘Day Of Atonement’ below, and make sure you check out True, the debut album from Tenderness, which is out now via Amorphous Sounds.

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Charlotte Spiral

Informed by personal loss, the need for escapism and intense self-refection, London-based dark-pop duo Charlotte Spiral are preparing to release their upcoming EP, New Light, on 9th April. Co-produced by Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey (Kae Tempest, Bat For Lashes, Sia) the band’s latest offering was recorded both remotely and in-person over the last year in and out of lockdown, an experience which heightened the EP’s themes of connection and isolation.

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 Charlotte Spiral’s Amy Spencer to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – five songs that have inspired the band’s song-writing techniques. Check out her choices below and scroll down to listen to a live rendition of Charlotte Spiral’s latest single ‘New Light’ at the end of this post.

1. Laura Marling – ‘Fortune’
I’ve been listening to Laura Marling since I was in high school. I used to play guitar and sing and I was very inspired by her, especially as she was so young and already releasing records. I hadn’t heard of many singer-songwriters who were that young, and who also felt like they were doing something true to themselves.

Until her latest album Song For Our Daughter came out at the start of the first lockdown, I hadn’t listened to her for quite a while, but it became my lockdown soundtrack and continues to be on repeat. This song is one of the highlights from the record – it’s so elegant and it reminds me of ‘Blackbird’ by The Beatles. I love the lyrics, in particular, the line “better off measured in coffee and wine” and the subtle arrangement of Laura’s vocal, guitar and strings. I also love that the record is written to a fictional daughter, it’s very poetic, and I’m always drawn to records that have an underlying theme throughout.

2. Rufus Wainwright – ‘Memphis Skyline’
Avi Barath (the other half of Charlotte Spiral) introduced me to Rufus Wainwright when we were at Goldsmiths University. I’d always known of his music, but I’d never properly listened to his records. When Avi and I went to Tel Aviv a few years ago, we had this song on repeat driving around in the boiling weather.

It’s a gorgeous song, the arrangement is unbelievably beautiful and it gradually builds to an epic ending. It was written about Jeff Buckley after he died. Rufus’ music is a mix of ballads, musical theatre and classical, which I think we have tried to capture within our music. The way the piano and vocal parts work together in this track in particular is an inspiration for us, and we have some new music coming out later this year, which I think feels especially influenced by Rufus’ sound. He’s a true hero of mine and one of our main references for the project. I think both of his albums, Want One and Want Two are beautiful, but this song is pretty much perfection!

3. This Mortal Coil – ‘Song To The Siren’
This track is a cover, originally by Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley’s dad. I was recommended to listen to this song by my singing teacher when I was at Goldsmiths, she wanted me to try and embody some of Elizabeth Fraser’s vocal tone. I’ve always tried to sing this song the way she does and apply it to my sound, but it’s almost impossible because her voice is so unusual and unique. The way she sings here is with so much vibrato! It’s such a sad song, but she completely makes it her own. I think everything Elizabeth Fraser does is wonderful and I’ve always been inspired by her music, from the Cocteau Twins to her work with Yann Tiersen and Massive Attack. She has such an ethereal voice and her song-writing is one of a kind. A huge inspiration for me.

4. Moses Sumney – ‘Don’t Bother Calling’
I discovered Moses Sumney when he released his first record Aromantisism in 2017. I’d have it on repeat whilst I was working. Throughout the album, the focus is on his vocals, whether it’s his lead vocal or layers of harmonies and that’s something I’ve always loved to do throughout my music. I remember when we went to record our track ‘Wide Eyed’ from our first EP Ideal Life with Dan Carey, and he suggested Moses Sumney as a reference. This made me even more excited about working with Dan! ‘Don’t Bother Calling’ feels like a bittersweet kind of song, so dreamy and melancholy, but at the same time catchy – the perfect mix! And Moses’ falsetto is just incredible and his music is otherworldly. The lyric “the world is a wonderland scene” is beautiful.

5. Audrey Hepburn – ‘Moon River’
‘Moon River’ has got to be one of my favourite songs of all time. I love the film and book Breakfast At Tiffany’s, but it’s the song that I truly love. If anyone asks me to sing something, I’ll sing this! Just after I graduated I was a nanny and I’d sing it to the baby I looked after every day. She started singing it too at some point! It’s so graceful and understated.

I love the strings at the end of the track and the line “my huckleberry friend / moon river and me,” always gets me. I’m definitely a pretty cynical person, but I’ve got some romance in me too, and this song is that bit of romance in me. I think you can hear this romantic, rose-tinted vision touching some of our music. ‘Moon River’ is a timeless song, and that’s something we try to capture throughout our Charlotte Spiral releases. I’ll try and sneak this into one of our shows one day, whether Avi likes it or not!

Thanks to Amy for sharing her favourites with us.
Watch the video for Charlotte Spiral’s single ‘New Light’ below.

Follow Charlotte Spiral on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Photo Credit: Barbora Mrazkova

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ALBUM: Lizzie Reid – ‘Cubicle’

Glaswegian singer-songwriter Lizzie Reid pushes through post-breakup pangs and towards bold self-assurance on her debut EP, Cubicle. A mixture of new additions and pre-loved tracks, the record is a serene snapshot into a definitive healing process that enabled the singer to learn more about herself and her sexuality.

Lo-fi opener ‘Tribute’ starts with stripped back strums as Reid sings “I will try not to / laugh it off in solitude / but I don’t understand / quite why you left,” signifying the inescapable relationship post-mortem, questioning everything in order to rebuild oneself. Mesmerising melancholy continues in the equally beautiful ‘Seamless’, which showcases a Country twang to her vocals. Each hand-picked detail is painfully relatable as she admits, “I still have your clothes / I’ll be wearing your jumper,” marking the physical emblems we hold onto when we’re not ready to let go.

Reid recalls heartbreak with the same vivacity as Julia Jacklin on Crushing – each line so overtly honest and elevated with every note. ‘Always Lovely’ echoes melodies from Laura Marling that tail off throughout Once I Was An Eagle, enhancing a despondence to her tone which later forms into a choral crest that shows a determination of strength, despite exposing a palpable tenderness.

On ‘Been Thinking About You’ Reid’s vocals mirror Helena Deland, with the last lingering notes echoing those of Jeff Buckley. Cubicle‘s title track is the real clincher, the finale you can only hope for in an already stunning assortment of vignettes. “I can’t escape this night / I’m in the cubicle” Reid details feeling trapped while in a weird limbo between breaking up and moving on: “the sweet unbearable”. We’re left hearing a bittersweet surrender, signalling the acceptance of growing apart from someone.

Lizzie Reid’s debut album Cubicle is an aural elixir that illustrates storytelling in its truest form. The last notes lingering on for a long time to come.

Photo Credit: Chris Almeida

Charlotte Croft
@croft_charlie

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Introducing Interview: RUNAH

Having received support from the likes of Clash, as well as wowing crowds at Sofar Sounds sessions, Irish artist RUNAH creates truly dreamy, emotion-strewn offerings, with shades of the majestic splendour of Laura Marling.

Ahead of the release of her debut album in May, we caught up with RUNAH to find out more…

Hi RUNAH, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hello! I am a musician originally from Manchester, now spending my life between Manchester and Dublin. I have an alter with herbs and offerings on it and my favourite place is anywhere outside.

How did you initially start creating music?
I was originally a dancer and for various reasons could not continue. It was a strange experience, and a necessary one – I had placed all of my perceived identity onto that being who I was and then I wasn’t. I wrote a lot, and my brother offered me his guitar to borrow, and here we are. I couldn’t stop.

Your new single ‘Ground’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about?
It is the story of a woman caught between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. She longs to fully experience the liveliness of the living, but sees their recognition that she is not from this realm. But equally she cannot rest with the spirits as she is in body. The song is about power, frustration and all that she wishes to know. It is also a nod to our growing gap between understanding the world we live in and its cycles, and our tech fuelled society, which I don’t think my spirit was made for.

 

You’ve been compared to the likes of Lana Del Rey and Cat Power, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
Lisa Hannigan and Laura Marling are two of my favourite artists, I’m not sure how my influences come out in my work, but I know they do. I’m just not overly conscious of those choices. But I love the way they both tell stories in their music.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
I do! I try to see more, but I also teach Yoga so sometimes my evenings are full. But I love live music. Both in Manchester and Dublin there is so much magic to be heard. I am new to the Dublin scene but it’s been fun so far.

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
A lot of stories about wild women, interesting creatures and how much I love crystals. But they are mainly stripped back at the moment, it all tends to be quite mystical and dreamy, whilst I take you with me to the realms in my head.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
Oh, I LOVE this question. Izzie Walsh, Megan Dixon-Hood, Lindsay Munroe and Chloe Eleanor are just a few of my favourites. But there are so many fantastic musicians, it’s magical.

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
It is difficult but I just love making music and if a few individuals feel like dancing around or listening to my stories then that’s the magic, isn’t it? It’s wonderful to have people write or come up to you and say “wow, this made me feel this” or “I felt like I’d been to a different place”. I love music for this reason – it’s an offering, so if anything comes that is wonderful.

Finally, what does the rest of 2019 have in store for RUNAH?
Magic, and my debut album Strange, out May 5th – it’s all about the wild woman archetype and my journey with her. In love, loss, sexuality, vulnerability, anger, passion and all the magical changeability, that what is women are. It is a love letter to all who identify as women but also the divine feminine that is in us all. May there always be magic with you.

Huge thanks to Runah for answering our questions! 

Strange, the debut album from RUNAH, is out 5th May via Beardfire.

 

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