The word ‘Sisyphean’ means to continue doing something even though it is futile and is derived from the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who had to fruitlessly push a boulder up a hill for eternity. Sisyphes, a musical group from the coastal town of Margate, UK, have no such trouble andContinue Reading
Swedish guitar virtuoso Janne Schaffer has been a fixture of the Swedish music scene since the ’60s. Having worked with luminaries such as ABBA and Bob Marley, he has contributed to various projects, including the Electric Banana Band and, most recently, The Night Agent. The Night Agent are a synth-popContinue Reading
Johann Sebastian Bach once quipped: “It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time, and the instrument will play itself.” While this tongue-in-cheek statement is technically true, instruments can be utilised creatively, and even an instrument as ubiquitous as theContinue Reading
The name Eugenia comes from the Greek word for ‘nobility’. It is the given name of Eugenia Fera, who fronts the Italian art-rock band Eugenia Post Meridiem. With post meaning ‘after’ and meridiem meaning ‘after noon’, the band name conjures images of its enigmatic frontperson after her thirdContinue Reading
You can’t separate the art from the artist when you don’t know who the artist is. hangtime is, presumably, a duo. Any information available online about the group is contradictory. Their Spotify bio alludes to hangtime being a solo project, while from their Instagram, one can glean they are anContinue Reading
Bristol-based musicians Oliver Wilde and Nicholas Stevenson make up the charmingly named indie-folk project Oro Swimming Hour. Following Penrose Winoa (2017) and Lossy (2019), their third album, Pterodactyl, is a cocktail of emo-folk-driven sentiments and personable songwriting that manages to warm the heart as it slays. While lo-fi luminaries Sebadoh and Elliot Smith, as well asContinue Reading
The region known as the ‘Nordic countries’ is known worldwide for its progressive politics, cold weather, and tradition of music performance of the highest standard. Icelandic jazz singer Marína Ósk met her band while studying for a master’s degree at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and while theContinue Reading
Australian renaissance man Ziggy Alberts has been asserting his presence as a purveyor of earnest music and the written word since 2011. His sixth album, “Dancing In The Dark”, comes with an alluringly minimalist sound that is processed and slick but doesn’t compromise its human touch. The ten songs here,Continue Reading
Is our willingness to trust an artist to be sincere based solely on intuition? In his paper “Trust and Sincerity in Art”, C. Thi Nguyen of the University of Utah wrote, “In aesthetic life, we trust each other to follow our own paths, so that it is more meaningful whenContinue Reading
Technology, much like nature, is fallible. Though modern technology and cloud computing promise accurate data representation and secure archiving, the truth of existence is that nothing is sacred, and even the most robust and protected information is liable to be corrupted. One need only look to the relevant example ofContinue Reading