FIFTY3FRIDAYS: 300 NOT OUT
I was a bit surprised when checking in to my Wix dashboard to see that this is issue No. 300 of this column. That number does include a few precursors before the Fifty3Fridays designation was formalised but I am mildly proud of this overall milestone. One day I’ll find time to will add a proper archive and search function to the site but at present if you want to read any old stuff you have to scroll down the home page and hit the page numbers. I might also pick up the banjo again…
Though several posts predate this, Fifty3Fridays officially began life as a regular weekly column on 29 May 2020, a child of the pandemic. Coincidentally, that issue also featured a song by our opening artist this week, Guildford alt. rock 4-piece, The Lunar Keys who happen to have a new single out earlier this week. I picked The Lunar Keys for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent longlist in 2017 and followed the band ever since. TLK continue to steadily release anthemic music with a strong social ethic and have grown into a compelling live act. NB. 2027 tour dates should be announced soon.
“Sinner” opens with slow fuse guitar giving way to a steady beat and bass line anchoring JC’s questioning vocal primed for a dynamic shift as the first chorus erupts. Fall back and build to crescendos are the order of the day in a powerful, confident rock opus. Lyrically, the song’s mood shifts underpin a political/social message which takes aim at the rich and powerful apparent ‘winners’ in today’s world. The band members have a commendable history of ‘putting their little money where their big mouths are’ to support a raft of charities on the back of single releases via a £1 donation for each of the first 250 reviews or airplays. Aptly the latest beneficiary is KEY4LIFE, the UK charity whose aim is to reduce youth re-offending and to support those in prison or at risk of going to prison.
Another new single next but this one introduces a new name to Fifty3Fridays. A debut, no less. Ella Fox has dubbed herself "the Queen of Faraway Lands" which I take to mean Australia and has been based in London for a couple of years. Ella has teamed up with Joseph Hitchcock of London’s American originated project, Paper Anthem, to co-write songs. I’m sure readers will recognise Joseph as a past regular in these columns, although Paper Anthem has been on hiatus for a little while. Encouragingly reluctant to label her music as this or that, the description of it in her bio as having ‘a perfect blend of nostalgia with a sprinkle of modern familiarity’ seems to me to fit perfectly. I would add to that a certain maverick spirit with she shares with Joseph.
“King Of Greed” features lyrics, vocals and some sound guidance from Ella Fox with Joseph on acoustic, electric and bass guitars. The pair wrote the drum parts together which are played by the eccentrically named Winwill Costan while producer Danny Monk weighs in on Mellotron and percussion. The opening chords immediately put me in mind of Crosby, Still & Nash and carry things briskly through the first verse to a comparatively dreamy chorus. Ella’s vocals bring an irreverent charm to proceedings as she dissects the cracks in a confused relationship. The pace rarely lets up, taking in a guitar solo en route to a suitably abrupt ending. Saddle up for the ride.
A complete change of pace now as we shift from the big city to the raw, elemental beauty of Cornwall where singer-songwriter Hannah Bullock works her magic embedded in the county’s native land and seascapes. That same natural imagery forms the backbone of Hannah’s recent debut EP, I Take It Back, to help create an emotive set of four songs with themes of love, loss and learning to stand tall again. I was particularly taken with the third track on the EP which rightly made last week’s Fresh On The Net Listening Post.
Track 3 from the EP, “Gather You Up” wraps itself around you like a warm blanket. Contrastingly it opens with plaintive guitar perhaps more suggestive of a lament but as Hannah’s crystalline tone comes in, it applies immediate balm. There is a serenity to her voice which provides comfort and emotional shelter to an infant from the extremes of weather pictured outside her imagined cocoon. The organ adds further warmth and a vintage note to the atmosphere Hannah creates here. The delicacy of the instrumentation as the song reaches its close sets the seal on a compelling lullaby. I Take It Back can be found on the usual platforms including Bandcamp here.
It’s at this point on a Friday that I usually reprise my two Alt Picks: songs chosen from Fresh On The Net entries that did not make the Listening Post. Each of us moderators can pick two songs every week. Here are the ones I chose as my FOTN Alt Picks w/e 7 Nov.
SOLO RONIN - Goodbye Summer
Solo Ronin is the Tokyo-based alternative rock project of singer-songwriter Kris Thiesen. Born in Japan and raised in California, Kris draws inspiration from the melodic alternative rock and emo of the early 2000s, writing songs about love, distance, regret and the things we sometimes struggle to say. Through his own music he aims to capture that nostalgic feeling of the music he grew up with.
“Goodbye Summer” is the latest of three singles Kris has made with producer Aaron Johnson. As we wake here to foggy November mornings, it’s good to remember that summer wasn’t that long ago. Chugging guitar chords herald an earworm of a song as memories of a fleeting summer romance are gently played out. The good times and the what-might-have-been moments are given plenty of air by Kris’s hushed, warm vocals and the light and shade in the song’s unhurried arrangement. The song was inspired by the many times he spent working at summer camps and the brief connections that somehow stay with us long after they're over.
Photo of Ollie West/Alor by Isabella Rubin
ALOR - Nuclear
Alor is an alt. folk band based in Manchester. Alor released a self-titled EP two years ago with a six-piece line up led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Ollie West. The band name references the Old English word for an alder tree, traditionally linked with a transformation. The full band is working on a debut album – the intriguingly titled 61/350 due out in spring next year but the track you are about to hear just features Ollie on vocals, synths and piano and bassist Ashley Garrod. Some more full band songs are expected in the next few months.
I felt I could fully relate to Nuclear as I am finally getting to grips with Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time which has languished on the bookshelf for far too long. Alor’s song makes a philosophical companion; a clear high vocal over plaintive piano which resolves into a satisfying recurrent harmonic motif. The singer questions the nature of the universe with a sense of impending doom to arrive at a perceptive conclusion. It’s a song I can listen to over and over.
Photo of OK Go by Nathaniel Wood
It seemed appropriate to end on a celebratory note to mark the 300th issue, so who better than US rock legends, OK Go. The band certainly looks to be in triumphant mode in the above photo. Formed in 1998 in Chicago before moving to LA 3 years later, OK Go is notable for many reasons, not least that the four-piece has only had one change of personnel in 28 years when the original guitarist Andy Duncan put down his axe in 2005. Duncan’s replacement, Andy Ross, has been ever-present since, allegedly beating 34 other guitarists to the role, in an audition where a willingness to perform a choreographed dance on stage was the final hurdle.
I’ve loved this band for many years. OK Go is actually over here this week for 4 UK dates culminating in a show at O2 Forum, Kentish Town tomorrow evening. To give you a flavour of its inimitable live show, here is a version of “Return”, a song from OK Go’s eponymous debut album this time performed on handbells! Anyone who has tried to murder “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” with a handbells ensemble will appreciate quite how skilful the bells can be rung in the hands of masters. Marvellous!
I could not finish this piece without a reprise for arguably OK Go’s most famous song, immortalised in its Grammy-winning video from 2007. “Here It Goes Again” is from the band’s second studio album, 2005’s Oh No. You should find it a moving experience.
