Saint Etienne
Home Counties
IT'S been five years since Saint Etienne released Words and Music, their love letter to the emotional power of music, and now they return with a journey through the counties they grew up in. This is a day trip of places where people build domestic lives, teenagers get bored and dreamers plan to escape. Saint Etienne have always spanned many musical genres and this album is no exception. The 70s disco samba of Dive will have you twirling around a ballroom that has seen better days, while Take It All In is a mellow 60s shuffle. Underneath The Apple Tree is a Motown stomp, while the electro-pop of Out Of My Mind wouldn't sound out of place on a Kylie album. A lot of it is nostalgic but it sums up the love/hate relationship we can have with the places we came from.
8/10
Lisa Allen
Dan Auerbach
Waiting On A Song
THE second solo album of Black Keys frontman and guitarist Dan Auerbach is likely to draw mixed reactions. Essentially it's an easy listen with an edge that sees two music worlds – old and new – collide. If you like genre alchemy and a meeting of worlds, this is your bag. If not, then you probably won't make it past the first track, Waiting On A Song, which is also the name of the album. The tune ambles along nicely but it's certainly not a scene stealer. Meanwhile, Dire Straits fans will appreciate the handy guitar work from Mark Knopfler, who features in the track Shine On Me. This is the first release on Auerbach's newly created label, Easy Eye Sound, and by all accounts, it is a rather promising start.
7/10
Kerri-Ann Roper
Marika Hackman
I'm Not Your Man
UNDERSTATED and harmonious, yet disarming, Marika Hackman's second album is filled with haunting vocals and knowing guitar twangs that take you on a journey, and then catch you off guard. There's nothing predictable about this folksy, alt-rocker-ish, electro-tinged east London woman with a lot to say about life and love. Some moments in I'm Not Your Man might seem curiously familiar; others, like music you've not yet discovered. With tracks like album opener Boyfriend, to the unexpectedly Nirvana-esque, gently winding Gina's Song, it's clear to see she's grown from her 2015 debut. Also packing a punch are Time's Been Reckless and Cigarette. Hackman's sometimes eerie, often uplifting tones will fit in with those lazy summer days or days when you need a break from it all, and will inject fresh new life into a tired old playlist.
8/10
Lucy Mapstone
All Time Low
Last Young Renegade
THE Maryland pop-punkers return with their nostalgia-tinged seventh record. Last Young Renegade is a kind-of concept album that brings back some memories of Green Day's LP American Idiot (except without the politics and "rage and love"). The Last Young Renegade is a more introspective character reacting to personal events rather than one lashing out at events happening in the wider world. The record is tied together with synthesizers and reminiscences over younger years, such as on Good Times. One of the better songs on the album is when they team up with indie-pop power twins Tegan and Sara on penultimate track Ground Control. This record sends All Time Low in an interesting direction musically. The sound is probably not sustainable over any more albums – but then, they probably don't mean it to be.
7/10
Ryan Ward
