Playlist: part #8

Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand - Weekend

A couple of weeks ago I was looking forward to the release of Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand’s collaboration album Willson Williams. And it was worth the wait. To listen to these two sublime voices blending beautifully together, you’d think they’d been making music together for decades rather than recording as a duo for the first time.

There’s plenty to love here, not least “Grace” with a video that revels in the landscapes of Holy Island (but perhaps also has a hint of local lifeboat heroine Grace Darling about it, too). However, the stand-out on the first few plays was “Weekend”. It’s an unassuming anthem for anyone who feels they don’t quite fit in, casting a bewildered eye at the hedonistic weekend offender culture that engulfs our towns and cities. After spending too much of my adolescence in mediocre nightclubs, wondering what I was missing, this song put wiser words to my teenage angst:

“I wanted to be part of the crowd,

But I kept my coat on, said the music was too loud ...

... We go out on a weekend, have someone else’s fun,

Get dressed up like someone who belongs,

To the weekend.”

While the lyrics are thoughtful, the music is upbeat: uncertainty hidden behind a pop mask, much like that mysterious Saturday night bravura. The subject matter might be a follow-up to “Sorted for E’s and Whizz” but this is definitely the grown-up take on the material.

Willson Williams is available here. The duo is touring the UK throughout May. I’m looking forward to their Durham gig at the Holy GrAle, and you can check out all the dates here.

Labyrinthine Oceans - Untitled

After rushing out a debut album, Labyrinthine Oceans has taken stock, regrouped and emerged stronger than ever. April’s Untitled promises that it’s the start of a new direction for this female-fronted northeast band – and it delivers on that promise in spades.

The new song is a two-and-a-half-minute journey into the shadows. Lead singer and creative force Julia O’Neill talks up the influence of the Riot Grrrl movement, and there’s more than a hint of Courtney Love in that twisted scream of a chorus. But the best female-fronted 90s rockers – looking at you, Throwing Muses – learned long ago that amid the noise, it’s the moment of calm that really hits. The grungy combo of quiet verse, loud refrain is familiar but doesn’t prepare unfamiliar ears for the devastating fade out on “I can’t do this no more”. These oceans have depth.

Labyrinthine Oceans features at the Roulette Festival on Saturday at Sunderland’s Independent. It’s an all-dayer, featuring 12 genre-bending bands in a compelling musical mish-mash. And the Oceans should be one of the highlights of the show.

Borealis – Farewell

I’d have to confess that jazz is rarely my music of choice and I find a lot of contemporary jazz bewildering. But occasionally something emerges that strikes a chord with me. Borealis, something of a supergroup of local musicians put together by guitarist Joe Steels, managed to do just that lately. This is the closing track from their self-titled debut, a five-track collection inspired by the expansive landscapes of the North Pennines.

Much of the inspiration came during lockdown, and Steels went through his contact book to assemble a team that could bring his vision to life. Farewell is a wordless meditation that highlights the voice of Carlisle’s Asha Nicholson to evoke a mood of timeless tranquillity. Borealis is playing in Blaydon and Barnard Castle at the end of the month, and comes to Durham’s Gala Theatre in a lunchtime slot on June 21. Full gig details can be found at Joe Steels's website.

Thanks for reading playlist number eight. If you liked it, give a like and subscribe. If you really liked it, consider buying me a coffee. But, most of all, please consider supporting the artists by buying their music or attending their gigs.

Previous playlists: Folksy flavours / Politics / Stockton Calling / Russia / #6 / Border Crossings