The Underground of Happiness

New tunes for a new decade. Enjoy. Playlist The Fantasy Orchestra - Flow (Disco-Ordination) Arboretum – A prism in reverse (Thrill Jockey) Cabane feat. Kate Stables & Bost Gehio – Now, winter comes (White Label) Coco – Empty Beach (FCA Records) Craven Faults – Vacca wall (The Leaf Label) Caribou – Never come back (Merge/City Slang) Olafur Arnalds feat. Voces8 – Nyepi (choir version) Daniel Knox – Room key (HP Johnson Presents) Keeley Forsyth – Look to yourself (The Leaf label) Aoife Nessa Frances – Libra (Basin Rock) Dead Famous People – Groovy girl (Fire Records) Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage – Exactly what nobody wanted (Moshi Moshi Records) Katie Von Schleicher – Caged sleep (Full Time Hobby) Theatre Royal – A marvellous death (Vacilando ’68) Shadow Show – Contessa (Stolen Body Records) Lewsberg – From never to once M Ward – Migration of souls (Anti Records) Mick Harvey – The Somme (from the soundtrack of the film Waves of Anzac) (Mute) Modern Stu...

Robust and inspiring folk instrumentals (mainly) from the rural Yorkshire/Derbyshire border of the north of England. 6 or 12 string guitar takes the lead for the most part and with some authority. The album reminds me a little of William Tyler. There’s a similar endearing feel of immersion in the simple joy of playing. Like the gorgeous opener ‘Home for Moss Valley’ with the genius addition of a string section behind the guitar picking for added lilt and bounce. The sublime harp accompaniment in ‘Cwm elan’. The momentum of perfectly judged percussion and (what sounds like) bodhrán in ‘Bramley Moor’. The beautiful wash of guitar drones at the beginning of ‘Fortingall Yew’. A bleed of melody. And that song’s climax when the strings rise up to take a lead from the guitar and add the seriousness or gravitas of classical music. The wonderful communal vocal moment of ‘Phoenix Works’. A documenting. A flying of a flag. Double bass and a great drum stomp. A sense o...

Some pieces of music stand or fall on the singer’s voice. That’s the way with the opening song on the new Julie Byrne album. A voice of what though? It’s in a not dissimilar register to Alela Diane in the mid range where you find a speaking voice. But a different tone to that and with an appealing reedy tone to it as opposed to Diane’s bell clear quality. The lines of swells and pauses filled only by acoustic strums and her voice and distant strings singing in the wind. Not really a sound you would associate with New York. A hush. Not a rush. And the line in the middle that stops you. I’ve been called heartbreaker Folk music with a distinct attitude hidden in its mild clothes. A beautiful thing. Not Even Happiness by Julie Byrne