Posted on Friday 12th March 2021 at 09:15
It's Friday and there is so much great new music out in the world today, including albums by Tom Grennan, Nubiyan Twist, Thunder and an exceptional new EP from Do Nothing. Read on and check out our Spotify playlist below for even more tunes!
Tom Grennan - Evering Road
Tom Grennan has today released his highly anticipated second album, 'Evering Road' via Insanity Records. 'Evering Road' marks a bold and exciting new chapter for Tom Grennan, blasting back with a sophomore album shot through with raw emotion and searing honesty. Named after the East London address Tom shared with his then-girlfriend, it’s a hub of love, heartbreak and redemption. Set to include soaring first single 'This Is The Place', the soulful, introspective 'Oh Please' and now 'Amen', a gospel-inspired awakening as Tom roars, “I don’t go to church, but Amen!”
Packed with defiant songs to define the new decade and torch listeners’ hearts along the way, 'Evering Road' also serves a deeply reflective and personal body of work. Speaking of the reformative and empowering writing experience, Tom hopes that showing his scars will help others who have endured similar emotional hardships.
Tom Grennan's Rock City show is now sold out, but you can join the waiting list here.
Do Nothing – Glueland EP
Nottingham’s Do Nothing release a 5 Track EP Glueland on their own label Exact Truth. The band, comprised of childhood friends vocalist Chris Bailey, guitarist Kasper Sandstrom, bassist Charles Howarth and Andrew Harrison on drums, have had a breakout 2020, with all three singles from debut EP Zero Dollar Bill - ‘Contraband’, ‘Fits’ and ‘LeBron James’ - landing on the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist. This new EP was produced by Ali Chant at Toybox Studios in Bristol and mixed by Tom Rees, lead vocalist and guitarist of Cardiff band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.
Lead track Glueland is a sleazy and low slung dirty groove monster that hints at The Talking Heads, Arctic Monkeys, LCD Soundsytem and Mark E Smith with lyrics about being stuck in limbo land. It's an instant golden nugget.
Buy your tickets to see Do Nothing live in September.
Nubiyan Twist - Freedom Fables
Nubiyan Twist return with their brand-new album Freedom Fables on Strut, the follow-up to the acclaimed 'Jungle Run' from Spring 2019.
Woven around soul-searching, cautionary tales and parables for modern life, the new album is the most accomplished yet by the Leeds / London collective, effortlessly fusing different soul, jazz and global styles with great musicianship and lyrics. "Freedom Fables reflects on the power of narratives. Each vocalist on this record explores their own memoirs, a freedom of expression underpinning our belief that music is the ultimate narrative for unity,” explains Tom Excell. “The record references a lot of music that we all loved during our formative years; you can hear touches of broken beat, blunted hip hop, highlife, Latin, jazz and UK soul running through the tracks.”
The album is also packed full of illustrious guest appearances: regular collaborator Cherise features on the brilliant 'Tittle Tattle', calling out gossip through acerbic nursery rhyming, the loping 'Flow' dealing with the ebb and flow of anxiety and the epic Brazilian jazz workout, 'Keeper'; UK jazz saxman Soweto Kinch brings a burning alto solo and rhymes to the determined 'Buckle Up' alongside the band’s own vocalist Nick Richards as the track aims to “find the door to peace” among life’s challenges. “Soweto is a trailblazer of the UK scene both as an alto player and as a rapper with a unique flow and important lyricism,” reflects Tom Excell. “It was really important for us to invite him to contribute to the album.” Richards continues the “dust yourself off and find hope” theme on the rousing 'Wipe Away Tears'; Ghanaian great Pat Thomas voices a gorgeous Accra meets London highlife jam; massive new vocal talent Ria Moran (a contemporary from the band’s time at Leeds College Of Music) steps up on the sensual 'Morning Light' tackling delicate complexities of the heart and long time friend of the band, KOG, brings his trademark full strength Afro dancefloor energy.
Buy tickets to see Nubiyan Twist in Nottingham or Manchester here.
Thunder - All The Right Noises
British hard-rock heroes, Thunder, release their 13th studio album 'All The Right Noises'. The album is a return to the full-throttle sound of Thunder that has seen them create a hugely successful 30+ year career at the forefront of British rock, all built around the lifelong friendship of vocalist extraordinaire Danny Bowes and songwriting genius and guitarist Luke Morley. 'All The Right Noises' is an intense confection of illicit charms that reasserts their authority as the number one band in the land.
Recorded in the months leading up to the first Covid-19 lockdown, it was originally due for release in September 2020. Strange to reflect then on how much of the new material appears to address the challenging new world we now inhabit. On the album, Luke says “ All the songs were written and recorded pre-Covid. But it is interesting how if you look at some of the tracks through the prism of Covid they still make a lot of sense.” The volcanic lead single from the album, ‘Last One Out Turn Off The Lights’ could easily be mistaken for world-ending lockdown rage. But, says Luke, “That was directly about Brexit, but you could apply it to everything else.” The track is indicative of both the ferocity and message of the album as a whole, with subjects tackled including depression, mental health, and diversity
Buy tickets for Thunder's show at Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena here.
