FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: THINK IT’S ALL OVER?

So to the pitch…it’s another of those weeks when I haven’t got a clue how to start this column so let’s talk about Fantasy Football. I’ve been playing the Daily Telegraph version of this game (without allegiance to the newspaper) for over 20 years, initially along with a group of work colleagues and latterly with a small band of friends and acquaintances. Despite being a Spurs fan, I’m not bad at it and have won our little league several times over.

This season I was also asked to join the bigger scale Fantasy Premier League, primarily to give some transfer advice to my grandson Dylan in his inaugural season. This was quickly undone when I took an inordinate amount of time to assimilate the rules which are somewhat complex in comparison to the simpler Telfooty version. The upside of this though is Dylan can’t be bottom of our FPL league in Week 2 as I missed the deadline to enter and start with nul points! 

Photo of Soccer Mommy by Zhamak Fullad

Oddly after that we begin with a soccer reference of a different kind! Readers may recall my delight at watching Nashville-based singer-songwriter Sophie Allison aka Soccer Mommy perform at Glastonbury in June when I featured her set in my Saturday report. Earlier this month she unveiled a new single, “M”, ahead of her fourth studio album Evergreen due out on 25 October. Hearing the new song took me back to when she previewed the album at the festival via a single track, “Lost.” Raw emotions couched in a restrained lyricism are very much her signature.

“M” seems to be a natural companion song to “Lost”, a remembrance of her late mother who was first diagnosed with a terminal illness when Sophie was just into her teenager years. Connecting the past with the present, it is a simple and heartfelt expression of a grief that changes over time while vestiges of it unshakably stay with you; perhaps summed up by the line “I hear your voice in all my favourite songs.” Soccer Mommy delivers subtle artistry at its best. Shot through with melodic phrases and unexpected changes, “M” ends with a calming coda with woodwind overlaying guitar and keyboard textures.

Artwork by Lisa Berkshire

It has been a while since we last checked in with Barbara, the Brighton band formed by siblings Henry and John Tydeman whose shared love of 60s and 70s music alongside eclectic influences from Glam Pop to Broadway has initiated a series of entertaining and highly literate singles. All Barbara’s work is infused with humour and an innate Britishness which brings a touch of eccentricity. Among a handful of emerging independent acts that I consider should be right up with the mainstream, Barbara has at least been able to spread the word to a wider clientele via a series of tours supporting the likes of The Divine Comedy, Haircut 100 and more recently, Paul Weller.

As it happens, the video to Barbara’s latest single, “Property-Owning Democracy”, has footage from its Edinburgh Castle show in July supporting Paul Weller. Referencing the novel song title, the boys confessed that “we know that the cost of living and inflation really aren't very sexy things to write a pop song about... but we like a challenge!” Somehow, the brothers have managed to embed lyrics about the cost of living in a ‘bop shoo waddy’ chorus as well as finding rhymes for that potential tongue twister of a song title. As ever the sympathetic storytelling is accompanied by musical panache which turns a potentially sad tale into something of a triumph.

Photo of Maya Delilah by Peter Miles

Next, a new name to me. BRIT School attendee Maya Delilah is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist from North London who unlike most recipients of our column inches has been snapped up by a major label and has a debut album in the works via Blue Note/Capitol. “Look At The State Of Me Now” is the lead single from the forthcoming record and I was drawn to it by the fragility of Maya’s voice allied to the song’s neat chord modulations and not least by an unexpected, short yet splendid guitar solo before the midpoint. The conflicted sentiments at a relationship’s break point she voices may echo familiar songwriting territory but they are immaculately voiced.

Another aspect which drew me to Maya Delilah’s song was her collaboration with Aquilo’s Ben Fletcher and Tom Higham who co-wrote, produced and recorded the song in the duo’s London studio with Maya on guitar and vocals, Tom on guitar and Ben adding keys, bass and drums. After a three-year hiatus Aquilo returned with new music this year and released a fourth album, A Quiet Invitation to a Hard Conversation, two weeks ago. Aquilo’s brand of poignant electronica has always been beguiling and that is certainly true of the new album. Picking a track from the new record to share is a challenge but I settled on the quietly majestic and evocative instrumental title track.

Now to a random YouTube find. I did feel the name Hannah Quinn rang a bell but I now think it’s unlikely that this particular Hannah had previously submitted songs to Fresh On The Net. Despite her relative youth at just 16 years old, the Newcastle native has already written 30 songs and has just released her first EP. In case you struggle to detect a Geordie accent, that’s Newcastle, New South Wales by the way. Which reminds me of the summer Australian football pools but we won’t go there… Meanwhile, this is “Bring In The Rain” by Hannah Quinn – a young artiste with a great deal of promise. The song has more than a hint of Fleetwood Mac about it, some tasty guitar and vocals and a mature response to wanting to prove someone wrong.

Photo of Samantha Fish by Kevin England

We close with a timely dose of blues rock, a genre close to my heart which gets less airing in these columns that perhaps it should. Though just 35, Samantha Fish is something of a veteran and I particularly loved her collaboration with Jesse Dayton last year which brought an auspicious album, Death Wish Blues, and a blistering UK tour which we covered at London’s 100 Club in November. Samantha in her solo right will be back in the UK in October for her Bulletproof tour. Meanwhile she has a live performance single out today with an alternative version of “Better Be Lonely” which was originally featured on her 2021 chart-topping album, Faster. The song captures the raw empowerment of Samantha Fish live. She is a magnetic live performer and seismic guitar player who will be well worth catching when she reappears on these shores from 4 to 13 October. See the poster below for the full tour dates.