singer-songwriters – Radio Free Lightning Bug

Charlotte Cornfield Sings “Andrew”

Posted on January 30, 2019January 21, 2019 by Rob Jones

A languorous and contemplative indie-rock love song from Toronto-based, Montreal-bred singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield. This is her new single “Andrew”, a harbinger for her soon-to-drop new full-length record The Shape of Your Name, out April 5, 2019.

Have a listen!

The song reflects a sense of quiet helplessness; seeing someone you know take a path that’s ultimately not good for them, wanting to shake some sense into them, but realizing that such an action would be ultimately fruitless.

Charlotte Cornfield has been on the scene in Canada for many years by now, building up her momentum as an artist and a dedicated following along with her. In and out of different bands of various genres, and with a formal education in jazz drumming, she took all of those experiences and influences and poured them into her music. Among those influences, her songwriting reflects a modern take on the Laurel Canyon-style confessional style, taking autobiographical raw materials to make her songs into aural indie films that play in your head as you listen.

She recently signed with Outside Music (The Besnard Lakes, The Hidden Cameras, etc), with the upcoming The Shape of Your Name being her third full-length.

Around the time her first record Two Horses came out in 2011, I had a chance to interview Charlotte Cornfield about her background and her approach to songwriting. You can read that piece right here while you wait for the new album to come out on the Next Door Records label.

Otherwise, you should check out charlottecornfield.com for more music, and for news on the upcoming record.

Happy Listening!

Taylor Janzen Sings “New Mercies”

Posted on January 23, 2019January 11, 2019 by Rob Jones

Emotionally connected and introspective indie pop/rock from Taylor Janzen, a Winnipeg Manitoba native and up-and-coming singer-songwriter who’s starting to make waves outside of Canada, too.

This tune was released toward the end of 2018; an existential call to a god who may or may not be there, and the need to take care of oneself in the light of one’s own spiritual longing either way.

The artist at the centre of this song has been described as a “sad song enthusiast”, and it’s arguable that this song is one of those. But at the same time, there’s certainly hope to be found in the struggles described here; that regardless of the silence we sometimes find in times of trouble, sometimes that silence becomes the space wherein we find our own answers, or maybe just a sense of serenity that puts our struggles into the right perspective.

You can choose a service to add “New Mercies” to your playlists right here.

Read more about Taylor Janzen and about this song at Nylon magazine.

Happy listening!

No Sailor Play “21 Rules”

Posted on December 5, 2018November 16, 2018 by Rob Jones

Effervescent string band pop imbued with acoustic brightness, vocal and instrumental call and response interplay, and good-natured lyrical winks of the eye.

Here’s No Sailor with “21 Rules”

The “No Sailor” moniker is in place as a vehicle for the work of singer-songwriter Kieran Garvey and his collective of indie-folk-pop compatriots. The video you’re watching was shot one evening in a friend’s handmade barn in Pennsylvania, that state being a known hot spot for both handmade barns and acoustically-inclined string bands.

Getting the upright piano into the space for the shoot was a challenge, evidently. Kieran tells the story:

Getting the piano on and off the U-Haul wasn’t too much trouble, but getting it up the bent staircase to the loft space of the barn was PURE HELL. It was an absolute beast to lift. I think we had six or seven guys on it too, all a bit worried we’d die like a cartoon character and get crushed by a piano. In the end nothing but the piano was harmed as a little wheel broke off in the process. We were all super happy we made the extra effort though, as the piano looked great, sounded alright, and our pianist had a hell of a good time playing it and improvising between takes.

All’s well that ends well!

As for the song itself, “21 Rules” is concerned with rules of engagement and sometimes dubious and often on-point lines of etiquette to toe. You decide if the advice is worth taking, Casanova being in agreement notwithstanding.

Garvey and his band are set to release the first full-length No Sailor album in early 2019; Anchor Broken Free. To make sure you get the news on that release and other tidbits, be sure to follow No Sailor on Twitter.

Happy listening!

Jim Brown Sings “Richard”

Posted on October 24, 2018October 22, 2018 by Rob Jones

A sepia-toned western tale full of plaintive and hushed vocals, thrumming acoustic guitar, and with murmuring electric guitar floating in the background like a comforting memory that’s tragically just out of reach. Singer-songwriter Jim Brown’s portrait of a badman who knows the end is near touches on Townes Van Zandt and Nebraska-mode Springsteen.

Listen here, pilgrims.

Brown’s new record is called The Devil on the Other Shoulder, out now.

Learn more here.

Happy Listening!

“The Strongest” by Andrea Desmond

Posted on September 3, 2018August 31, 2018 by Rob Jones

Andrea Desmond is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. Here’s a cut off of her most recent EP, Brighter Than the Stars, released this past August.

Desmond was a one-time student of world-class songwriter Alan Menken, later to forge her own path via formal education and in playing a lot with bands in California and Nevada particularly before embarking on a career under her own name. She takes her musical influences from a range of pop songwriting schools, from Sia to Regina Spektor, balancing pop hooks against varied textures and emotional undercurrents.

In listening to this track, there’s a definite sense of hopefulness in a world that seems to make despair a default position. If it’s anthems for 2018 going into 2019 that you’re looking for, you’re on the right track here.

For more about Andrea Desmond, check out her official site right here.

Happy Listening!

Ana Egge Sings “Dance Around The Room With Me”

Posted on July 2, 2018June 26, 2018 by Rob Jones

The best music touches us where we live, in an emotional place. Sometimes though, we get tied up in our emotions to the point where we can’t even identify how we’re feeling. That’s what this song from singer-songwriter Ana Egge is about; finding the strength to cut loose from that, allowing ourselves to feel what we feel, and becoming more aware of ourselves as a result.

Now, she’s passing that same spirit of bravery, emotional honesty, and independence on to her now four-year old daughter, embodied in this song, “Dance Around the Room with Me” taken from her newest record White Tiger.

This kind of liberation was instilled in the songwriter from early on. Egge was raised by free-spirited parents and encouraged to explore her possibilities from childhood to the time the music bug seriously took hold. From there, she built her own guitar (which she still plays today) while apprenticing under a luthier, and set out on a musical journey of her own design.

Since her first record in the late 1990s, she’s shared stages with Lucinda Williams (who once called her “the Nina Simone of folk), Shawn Colvin, and Texas Swing legends Asleep at the Wheel, with whom she collaborated in the studio. She’s appeared on albums by Ron Sexsmith and Joel Plaskett, and has worked with producers Steve Earle and Martin Terefe, among others.

With this song, she builds from a folk-pop musical base comprised of her warm acoustic guitar and light-as-air vocal. She throws in a few sonic surprises too with some ambient keyboards and subtle strings that make this song wistful and joyous all at once. And that “opens up, opens up your heart” hook will stay with you, friends.

It could be argued that this is a children’s song, dedicated as it is to Egge’s daughter and featuring a video that centres around children too. But an important takeaway here is that the sentiments of being free to feel one’s emotions as they are is a challenge set before all of us. This makes this song something of a defiant anthem in an age that seems to proudly tote “fuck your feelings” sentiments on the reg.

“Dance Around the Room With Me” is an antidote to that brand of callousness and disregard for the feelings of others, and ultimately our own feelings too. That makes this song pretty easy to love, and proves too that we have lots to learn about ourselves no matter how old we are.

Ana Egge is about to embark on a tour of the east coast of the US, with select dates in Canada and the UK, and some dates opening for Iris DeMent. Her new album White Tiger is out right now.

Happy listening!

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