The Metaphorical Boat Spotify Playlist - September/October 2017

For those of you who like your musical recommendations in playlist-able Spotify form, on a bimonthly basis The Metaphorical Boat posts a selection of songs that we have been enjoying over the prior eight weeks or so, containing songs that we've written about, new songs that we haven't written about but are enjoying nonetheless, and a few older but fantastic tracks that are currently floating our Metaphorical Boat.

Below you can find our playlist of songs that we really enjoyed in September & October 2017. If you like what you hear, or just want another playlist to add to your growing list of playlists, then we really hope that you'll take the time to visit the playlist on Spotify and give it a follow. You never know, your new favourite song of all time could be somewhere on this playlist!

This month's playlist feature songs from established artists like Franz Ferdinand, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Courtney Barnett/Kurt Vile & The Go! Team, songs from newer acts such as Confidence Man, Anteros, Girl K, Seazoo, Outsider & The Cornshed Sisters, plus local acts like Runabay (the most recent guest of our podcast), Aidan Logan, Bicep, The Wood Burning Savages, Amy McAllister, Malojian & Lauren Bird. Lots of great music from lots of great people for your ear-based amusement.



In addition, as of 2017 The Metaphorical Boat has started a rotating playlist of songs, which we will update on a regular basis. You've seen it on the sidebar of our blog, now you get to see it in a blog post as well. Hurrah for duplication!

As soon as we come across a new song that we like, it will automatically go to the top of this playlist, and we will remove a song from the playlist as soon as it has been on it for 2 months, so if you give it a follow, you will always have a fine conveyor belt of fantastic music courtesy of us at The Metaphorical Boat. You can find the playlist as it stands as of now below -

Anteros - Bonnie

We've been loving the songs that London 4-piece Anteros have been putting out the last few years, with "Breakfast", "The Beat" & "Drunk" being among the irresistible pop gems the band have graced us with, and we've also been lucky enough to catch them live at The Great Escape two years running, and have been captivated by them each time.

The band have just released their latest single, which is one that we really enjoyed we heard it at The Great Escape earlier this year*. "Bonnie" continues the band's run of fine, ear-worm inducing indie-pop songs with a jagged edge and an irresistible chorus. We still think that the closest musical comparison for the band is Blondie, which is by all means the greatest compliment we believe we can bestow upon the band.

"Bonnie" is out now.



*Although in our review of The Great Escape, we erroneously referred to it as "Bunny". Homonyms are fun. 

Lauren Bird - I Wonder

Whilst there is still a few months to go until the end of the year, it is increasingly seems that our favourite album of 2017 is going to be "The Inbetween" by Strabane singer/songwriter Lauren Bird. We'd been following the progress of Lauren for a few years, and were not disappointed when the album finally landed - a mixture of happy songs about sad things and sad songs about sad things, all underpinned by the ukulele. 

The whole album is a real treat, although if we were to pick out our just three tracks that demand your attention, they would firstly be "Things I'm Good At", a self-depreciating look at all the things Lauren considers herself good at. Second of all would be "That's The Truth", a truly majestic and heartbreaking song that gets me a little bit bleary eyed just thinking about it, and contains of the best, most heartbreaking lyrics in a song we've heard this year - "I'd rather be nothing that be a burden to you". 

And the third song? That would be "I Wonder", another great tale of heartbreak, with a chord sequence that reminds us of "Over and Done With" by The Proclaimers (which we are informed was merely coincidental). The music video for the song has just been released, which depicts a couple at a critical stage of their relationship, which has been directed by Caris Rianne (who as everyone who listened to our podcast with Lauren Bird knows, has collaborated with her before).

It's also the first time that Lauren has appeared in one of her own music videos, albeit in a small, blink and you'll miss it cameo role. In fact, if you are trying to get your Lauren-sceptical friends to listen to her music, you could turn it into a game of "find the Lauren", with the first person to spot her in the video winning. That way, you can introduce a friend to Lauren Bird's fabulous music, as well as having the superiority of winning the game. It's a can't lose situation. 

"The Inbetween", the debut album from Lauren Bird, is out now.

The Metaphorical Boat Podcast Episode 06 - Runabay

On each episode of The Metaphorical Boat Podcast, Christopher McBride, the Captain of The Metaphorical Boat, will sit down with one of his favourite musicians, and over a cup of a lovely caffeinated beverage and a bun or tray-bake of the artist's choosing (The Captain always goes for Battenberg. Always), chat through the artist's life, musical highlights, and most importantly, how many sugars they take.

Our guest on this episode of The Metaphorical Boat Podcast is John McManus from Antrim/Belfast six-piece Runabay, who talks about the band's new single "Too Soon", how Runabay's live set has evolved, whether he prefers songs that come together quickly or slowly, and whether he'd like to see their music used in adverts.

Listen or download now on Soundcloud or on iTunes:



Find out more about Runabay on -
Official | Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp