FIFTY3FRIDAYS: FRESH FAVES, FOOTIE & FESTIVALS
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- 5 min read
All the f’s this week and we won’t include Farage in that. It was a busy start with Sunday at Haslemere Fringe Festival and then my turn to write the reviews for the latest Fresh On The Net Fresh Faves the next day. In between the two, there was Mexico v England. I decided to stay up for it, started to do a bit of research on the Faves to avoid wall-to-wall punditry and finally switched the TV on just before 1am to find a relaxed Thomas Tuchel being interviewed. Once I twigged that the game was delayed by an hour, I gave up, set the match to record, went to bed and got up to watch at 6.30am without knowing the score. At least I could fast forward the hydration breaks. Well done, England and good luck for Saturday night. No dark arts please. Late score… Trumpfantino 1, Belgium 4.
Pic of Ward Thomas above at Haslemere Fringe Festival
We kick off with a selection of favourite tracks voted by Fresh On The Net readers last weekend. I’ve picked out four of them to highlight but you can listen to all ten songs and hear what I had to say about them on the FOTN site.
BOTTLEMOTH - Lilac
I chose Bottlemoth’s uplifting single, “Suki”, as one of my FOTN Alt Picks in March so it is great to see the band has now made the Faves too. The five-piece indie rock crew from the South West only formed around 18 months ago yet quickly put out a debut album, Even Us Ghosts, last October. Sonically, Bottlemoth brings together influences from folk, rock and indie to create emotive and thoughtful songs. Drawing inspiration too from 90s/early 00s guitar music, there is a hint of nostalgia to the band’s sound and often an epic feel.
“Lilac” hits you with a rush of guitar, giving way to an opening line, “Nothing’s going to happen if we don’t say goodbye” which imparts a certain finality. Impassioned vocals carry personal musings which seem to work across both relationships and friendships. The alternating loud and soft passages give the song an epic feel while the choruses hint at catharsis. The song is wonderfully balanced and contained, bringing with it a kind of beauty, reflective of the colour purple and the shade of lilac. A band to take note of, for sure.
FREDDIE DICKSON – Exit Game
Next, a returning Fresh Fave, namely Freddie Dickson who made it here in March 2024 in partnership with fellow singer-songwriter Kat Koan. Freddie is now back in his own right with this seminal exercise in songwriting, “Exit Game.” The British indie artist’s darkly romantic songs draw inspiration from disparate sources including a move from London to Berlin in 2018 where he finished his second album, Blood Street. A third album will follow soon, heralded by this fine song.
“Exit Game” is a song about the uncertainty inherent in pursuing a career in music; how easy it is to feel cast adrift and disconnected. It is equally a rallying call to give it one more shot – not to “lose sight of the dream.” You sense that the artist is grateful for the support of friends and fans in keeping the faith. Set against an easy, rolling soundtrack, Freddie’s intimate vocal displays the clearest diction without ditching character. A hymn to resilience underpinned by a true talent.
SIIGA - Human
Four-time Fresh Fave, Siiga (the soul) is the recording nom de plume of Richard Macintyre, who lives on the Isle of Skye and seems now to be enormously successful in the streaming world as an independent artist. With two earlier albums under his belt, Richard has devoted the past 4 years to creating a concept album which blurs visions of the future with a sense of nostalgia. The songs were written during a time of self-imposed exile “living in the mediterranean South of France amongst the open night skies and vivid colours of the landscapes around him.”
“Human” is from Siiga’s concept album, Nostalgia Burns, which he has created with a small team of collaborators as a kind of antidote to the growth of AI, signposting the uniqueness of human imagination and creativity. Sonically the music exudes a grand vision with a quiet majesty built of flowing melody lines, deft instrumentation and a warm yet earnest vocal. Lyrically the song moves from nostalgia and self-examination to a place of hope; a reaffirmation of being human. Mighty and impressive all round.
SOFT COTTON COUNTY - Hippo's Circus
Another returning Fresh Fave is London-based Soft Cotton County, a project that brings together singer-songwriter-musician Andy Coombs, musician-engineer Sascha Panknin and vocalist Shira Fox. Emerging in 2009 with an eponymous debut LP, the dream pop trio went on to release a well-received follow up, Ten Years of Travel, in 2024 and is currently working on new tracks for a third full-length offering. The band’s moniker comes from an imaginary designer label that Andy conjured as a name for the project; useful, he notes, were he to branch out into a clothing range in the future.
“Hippo’s Circus” is the latest of the new material to be aired. It is a song very much in the tradition of Soft Cotton County; wonderfully airy with music box charm, chiming guitar, piano notes and looped keyboards. Shira’s gauzy vocals paint an intriguing picture of the circus coming to town, invoking past memories with a decidedly dark edge to them, calling out bad dreams and broken promises. This ambivalence runs throughout the song which is insistent by its very nature. A song to embrace but not run away with.
Next to the two songs I chose as my Alt Picks from last week’s Fresh On The Net entries.
RELUCTANT BOB & THE LONELY LOVERS - Carry On Without Me
Another little gem arrives from Waterford’s Robert Baker in his current psychedelic-pop alias as Reluctant Bob & The Lonely Lovers. Nowt to do with Carry On films, despite the title, “Carry On Without Me” sees Bob playing someone who may be nearing the end of the road and is saying his goodbyes. There are shades of Morton Valence’s Rob Hacker in Bob’s conversational vocal and the meandering guitar figures are a real delight.
ALICE ASHE - Six Feet Under
The Isle of Man’s Alice Ashe comes across as a seasoned Nashville pro on this stark tale of revenge on a controlling, abusive partner yet, to my surprise, this is actually her debut single. “Six Feet Under” features great storytelling in the Country music tradition, delivered by Alice in a weathered, expressive drawl replete with swoops, cracks and slurs in all the right places.
And so, to last Sunday’s event, the Haslemere Fringe Festival run by some of the nicest volunteers that will ‘ere cross your path; a not-for-profit enterprise, with any monies raised going to support Haslemere Community events. When we moved to Haslemere we did not expect a summer festival on our near doorstep and Sunday, the last of a busy three-day event, was a grand day out. We had choirs, opera singers, country stars, indie rock bands, covers and some eye-popping young talents very new to stage performance; all set in the compact but spacious enough Lion Green. Closing the festival on Sunday in some style was Ward Thomas, the British country sister act from East Hamphire, again just down the road as it happens.
The duo will be on tour in September to celebrate 10 years of its No 1 album, Cartwheels. Over the next few weeks, I will feature some of the acts I had the pleasure of hearing at the Festival but I’ll leave you with “Carry You Home” from the wonderful Ward Thomas. Not quite a football anthem but we all need a “reason to believe”, don’t we.
