Jamie Johnson - Old Friend

London based singer-songwriter Jamie Johnson first caught my attention last year with his wonderful song "Christopher", a heart-rendering song which made our Top Songs of 2019, (as well as picking up love from Phil Taggart at Radio 1), and that felt like it had been written just for me, and not just because it shares its name with myself.

And with his first release of the year, it looks as if 2020 is going to be just as bright. "Old Friend" was inspired by a old classmate he met on the train, and is a gorgeously tender track that manages to create something very special using such a sparse setup of just acoustic guitar & vocals, and calls to mind a more lo-fi sounding version of Jim Croce.

Jamie Johnson has a habit of releasing songs that pull all the emotional strings, and he's done it again on "Old Friend".

Mark Hegan - Skyward

It's great to get new music from an artist that we've been fans of on The Metaphorical Boat in different guises. One of the Northern Irish acts that we were really excited about was In An Instant, who released some great songs that melded together indie-rock with electronic elements extremely well, like "All Binds Fall Undone", "Where The Demons & The Devils Speak", and a track that ended up in our Top 10 Songs of 2014, "Something Right & Something Real". Alas, like many local acts, the band called it a day not too long after releasing their final single in 2016 without gaining the wider attention that they definitely deserved.

Fast forward three years, one of the members of that band, Mark Hegan, has just released his debut single under his own name, "Skyward", having re-located from Bangor to London. If like me, you were a fan of In An Instant, then you will instantly enjoy this new track, as it is not a million miles away from the music he was producing in his old group. It's not as upbeat as prior songs he's been involved with, although given that the song's about isolation and feelings of losing one's identity, but it still successfully melds of electronic and rock elements in a great way. In particular, we do enjoy the little guitar licks, which reminds us of Mark Knopfler's solo works.

In An Instant may not have had the success I would have wanted them to, but Mark Hegan has shown with his debut single that he's still got some great tunes in him.

"Skyward" is out now.

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. 

Banfi - Rosedale House

Three months in to 2017, and we at The Metaphorical Boat have already enjoyed what will be our favourite gig of the year - Bear's Den at the Limelight in Belfast. A fantastic mix of their older folksy songs and their newer, more synth-pop inflected tunes, alongside some moments which you wouldn't get at any other gig, such as when the entire band came off stage to perform "Isaac" completely unplugged in the middle of the crowd. Plus, "Auld Wives", this blog's favourite song of 2016, nearly reduced us to tears, something that we don't usually allow to happen to ourselves in public places.

The support act were pretty decent as well, a London based trio who go by the name of Banfi. We enjoyed their set, with two songs in particular standing out. The first one was "June", a catchy as heck song that reminded us quite a bit of The Police in places. Alas, that song hasn't been released as a single, but the second song that caught our attention, the song they closed their set with, has.

That song is "Rosedale House", a driving piston of a song in the mold of Bruce Springsteen, or Ten Fé at their more rocky. The band are currently signed to Communion Records, the same as their tour buddies Bear's Den, so should expect to hear more from them over the next few months.

"Rosedale House" is out now.

Public Service Broadcasting - Progress

We have been fans of Public Service Broadcasting almost as long as this blog has been running, ever since we heard the multicoloured sounds of "Roygbiv" five years ago. Famed for their re-purposing of old vocal samples from public information films, the band have taken a somewhat niche concept and become a big deal off the back of it, with two albums that smashed right in to the albums chart (including one album, "The Race For Space", which has been certified Silver by the BPI), and selling out Brixton Academy. It's been a pleasure at The Metaphorical Boat watching the band going from humble beginnings into the stratosphere, and it has been a real pleasure to be able to write about it every step of the way.

The band are now gearing up for the release of their third album, which for the first time sees them expand into a trio, with JF Abraham joining the original core line-up of J Willgoose Esq. and Wrigglesworth (the latter of whom we really should have entered into our auto-correct by now). The first single to be taken from the album is "Progress", a song that for the first time in a PSB single, features a guest vocalist, with the main vocal hook being provided by Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura (although this isn't the first PSB track to feature guest vocals, with "Valentina" from their previous album featuring Smoke Fairies).

As of yet, it is not clear what the theme is for the band's 3rd record, as the band claim that it is a "closely guarded secret", although based on "Progress", we have three potential theories.

1. This is going to be an album about Public Service Broadcasting - this is the least likely of our theories, but we're going to run with it anyway. The use of samples in "Progress" could be interpreted as being an updating of the operating statement from their first album track "Theme From PSB". Also, the use of the sample stating "These men look the same as they have always looked...but before your eyes they are changing" could be interpreted as a statement introducing JF Abraham as a full-time member to the band. However, as the band don't strike me as the sorts who would be into navel-gazing, this is very unlikely to be an album all about themselves.

2. The album is going to be about the assembly line, manufacturing, and/or Henry Ford - The song has a somewhat mechanical feel to it, with the use of vocoders leading to some comparisons to Kraftwerk, and given that the samples seem to reference the creation of machines, the idea that the album is centred around manufacturing seems to take shape.

Furthermore, as someone pointed out on Twitter earlier this week, "Why I Believe In Progress" is the title of a book by the forefather of the assembly line, Henry Ford, this theory gets a little bit stronger. We could even read into the colour of the single sleeve for the song and take it as a reference to the famous misquote from Ford about only selling cars that were black, but then we're probably taking this deeper than we intended it to go.

3. The album is going to be a political one - although Public Service Broadcasting's music to date hasn't been overtly political in tone, in the past year the band have been much more vocal about their own political leanings. As well as citing the Manic Street Preachers as an influence, the band recently played a gig for the Corbyn-affiliated People's Assembly, and J Willgoose has been a lot more vocal on Twitter on his own political leanings (and woe betide anyone who tries to tell him that musicians should shut up about politics). Giving the title has echoes calls to mind "progressiveness", perhaps this album could be an overview about the artist's political beliefs, or perhaps an album about the history of progressive politics, which given the current upheaval on the world stage, would make this quite timely.

Tangentially, before this track was announced, we had a feeling that the album would be about the European Union, although given that this track doesn't give any indication of this, German musical influences aside, we're going to bury this theory for the time being.

But whatever the third album happens to be about, we're just glad to see Public Service Broadcasting back, and we are confident we are going to really love what they have to offer.

"Progress" has an impact date of 5th May.

Bokito - Better At Getting Worse

The first time I came across the name of the band Bokito, I automatically assumed they were Japanese. I saw their name on the website for The Great Escape, and based on my incredibly rudimentary knowledge of the syllable structure of the Japanese language, assumed that was where they were from.

However, it turns out that I am wrong, as Bokito are in fact based in London, with their lead singer hailing from Kilkenny. In fact, I am now even less sure that bokito is in fact a Japanese word still in use. I've found a dictionary that seems to suggest that it's an onomatopoeic word for the snapping of fingers or a radish. However, as that dictionary dates from 1892, I cannot be sure if it is still in use in contemporary Japan. If you know better than me as to whether that is indeed the case, please let me know, for I am genuinely curious.

But back to Bokito the band. They describe their sound as a "tropical indie", which straight away means you're likely to get instant Vampire Weekend comparisons. "Better At Getting Worse" is the first track to come across our radar, and it's a decent introduction to the band, filled with organ sounds , unconventional Afro-beat rhythms, and vocals that sound surprisingly close to those of Marcus Mumford. It sounds like they'd be great fun to see live, which hopefully we'll get the chance to do at The Great Escape in May, now than I know who they are.

"Better at Getting Worse" is out now.

Blisss - Porcelain/Chalk Air

You've got to love it when an artist picks a name for himself that encapsulates the sound of their music so perfectly. So when it comes to the music produced by London based Tom Greenwood, the moniker he chose for the project, Blisss, couldn't be a better fit (the additional "s" in the name presumably there for improved Google-ability).

Blisss have released two singles to date. The first, "Chalk Air", was released at the end up August and has picked up quite a bit of love from the blogosphere for its psych-pop sound. It's the follow-up single however, "Porcelain", which has really impressed us. The song is a powerful, enrapturing song that reminds us strongly of Primal Scream at their most blissed out (for lack of a better term), or more contemporaneous influences like Jagwar Ma, plus you really can't say no to a towering guitar coda that would make "The Four Horsemen" proud.

Ten Fé - Turn

The Metaphorical Boat has been extolling the virtues on London duo Ten Fé for over a year now, with the psychedelic "Make Me Better" being named as our #1 single of 2015, and also being big fans of the driving rock sounds of "In The Air" & "Elodie". We've had the pleasure of seeing them live twice, once in London and once in Brighton (but zero times in Belfast yet, but hopefully that's something that will be remedied once they finally play here). Needless to say, their upcoming debut album, which is now scheduled to be released in 2017, is going to be a firm favourite with ourselves once it comes out.

Following the release of "Elodie", we said that as much as we loved the rockier side to the band, we were looking forward to hearing some of the more psychedelic sounding tunes they've played live being given a push. Well, it's almost as if someone's been listening to us, as Ten Fé have just released "Turn", which sees Leo Duncan take on lead vocals on a single for the first time since "Make Me Better" (we'd observed at their Great Escape gig that Leo tends to take on lead vocals on the weirder sounding tunes, with Ben Moorehouse taking the lead on the rockier songs).

The song takes its title and theme from the idea of "turning the other cheek". As everyone knows, this phrase originates from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus says to His followers that if anyone hits them on one side of the face, to turn around and let them hit them on the other cheek. It's a great sentiment, but one that can't always be applied universally. It would make boxing matches tediously one-sided, for example. The song itself is a woozy sounding slice of psychedelic sounding pop, one which isn't a million miles away from the sound of Jagwar Ma (interestingly, the bands share a producer, Ewan Pearson), and is another great piece of music from Ten Fé, one that hints at a wonderfully diverse album once we receive it.

"Turn" will be released as a 7" single on 21st October.

Anteros - The Beat

Of all the new acts that we've come across in 2016, perhaps our favourite of the bunch has been the London four-piece Anteros. They first grabbed our attention back in April with their fabulously catchy single "Breakfast", and our love for them was solidified when we got the chance to see them at The Great Escape in Brighton. After seeing them in the flesh, we predicted that one song in particular in their set was so good, that it would end up being their breakthrough single when they got around to recording it.

Well, the time has now come to see whether our prediction will come true or not, for Anteros have just released the song in question, "The Beat", and it's just as good as when we first saw it live. The song is an infectious little pop tune with a chorus so infectious that it'll be stuck inside your head for so long that even the world's most powerful cotton bud will be unable to scrub it from your brain. The song, and the band in general, will inevitably be compared to Blondie, although for our money the song is more in line with the sound of The Noisettes during the period when they were immovable from the upper echelons of the chart.

So will "The Beat" be Anteros' breakthrough single? The answer to that question is out of our hands, but if we had a say in it, it would be a resounding 'yes'.

"The Beat" will be released as part of the "Breakfast" E.P, which is out on September 19th.

Anteros - Breakfast

That all important fountain of knowledge known as Wikipedia informs us that Anteros is:

a) the name of an asteroid in a far flung part of the galaxy
b) the god of unrequited love in Ancient Greek mythology
c) a neo-tropical genus of butterfly
d) an American automobile company
e) a 3rd century Pope.

But from which of those did London based four-piece Anteros derive their name from? Scroll down to the bottom of this post to find the answer, but before you do take the time to listen to the band's latest single. "Breakfast" is a song about being bored by a partner who keeps you up late for all the wrong reasons, sung over a wonderfully breezy indie-pop tune. They've been compared to The Drums elsewhere, and there's definitely a little bit of Real Estate and Skaters in them as well.

"Breakfast" is out now.



Answer: b) They took their name from the god of unrequited love in Greek mythology. I love quizzes.

Ten Fé - Elodie

The band responsible for The Metaphorical Boat's favourite song of 2015, London duo Ten Fé, have started of 2016 rather strongly. Their previous single, "In The Air" picked up a lot of support online, causing it to race up the Hype Machine charts.

Now to capitalize on the momentum, the band have unleashed a new single on us. "Elodie" follows the same style of driving rock a la Bruce Springsteen/War On Drugs that marked "In The Air", albeit one which has a much more tender heart than its immediate predecessor.

It's a great track, and one can see why it has been released now in order to ensnare those people who were already enraptured by "In The Air". I do hope though that the next release sees a great emphasis on the more psychedelic aspects of their music that we've seen both on "Make Me Better" and from their hypnotic live sets. But with their debut album out this year, I'm sure that we'll be hearing lots of different sides to Ten Fé in 2016.

"Elodie" is out now.

Straw Bear - All You Need Is An Electric Guitar

Now here's a welcome return for a band whom we have much affection for. London 5-piece Straw Bear first captured our attention back in 2012 with their lovely single "Kitty" and its accompanying album, "Black Bank", which at the time we described as a great example of 'postmodern English folk'. Although it didn't pick up as much love as we would have liked it to, it did earn the praise of Bob Harris and Tom Robinson among others.

Now fast forward a few years, and the band have just unleashed their first new material in quite a while. "All You Need Is An Electric Guitar"[citation needed]   is the band's ode to the power of music, a song which follows on nicely to the sound that the band produced on "Black Bank", with the addition of some lovely psychedelic guitar lines to the mix as well. Since it went live last month, the single has already picked up quite a bit of love online, so here's hoping that this song will give the very much under-appreciated Straw Bear the boost that they deserve.

"All You Need Is An Electric Guitar"[citation needed]  will be released on 18th December.

Ten Fé - In The Air

Back in August, we founds ourselves instantly captivated by "Make Me Better" by London duo Ten Fé, a song that had us convinced that we were definitely on to a good thing with these guys. In the intervening period, I was lucky enough to catch the band live at a church in London in September (St. Pancras Old Church, Anglican), and was both overwhelmed and blown away with their psychedelic atmosphere and just how well they seemed to go down with the packed out audience. It was a stroke of genius to both start and end the set with those uplifting strings from "Make Me Better", and afterwards I was left with the impression that these guys have the potential to be the spiritual successors to Primal Scream's mantle. 

With the New Year upon us, and with it the period being the time when most blogs put on their prognostications for which artists are going to be big in 2016, it's a perfect time for Ten Fé to release a new single to keep them very much in our thoughts. If you were expecting "Make Me Better" Mk II however, you will be rather disappointed with "In The Air", but if you happen to be a fan of driving modern rock (like ourselves), then you will be very happy indeed,given that like a lot of new-ish rock from the past year, it takes its cues from The War on Drugs and Bruce Springsteen. It might not hit the giddy heights of "Make Me Better" (although to be fair, very few songs released this year have), but it is still a good reminder of why we should be expecting big things from them next year.

"In The Air" is out now.

Ten Fé - Make Me Better

Every now and again, a song comes out of the blue that catches us off guard and blows us away in a way that we hadn't even expected. On this occasion, the artist is London duo Ten Fé, and the song in question is "Make Me Better". 

Having recently signed to Bad Life records, they enlisted M83 producer Ewan Pearson to record their debut album, with the first fruits of these sessions being "Make Me Better". The song is a powerful, string enhanced electronic song that have vocals that call to mind mid-00s Moby and a slick, powerful production that has shades of both Primal Scream and Jagwar Ma. If you're not hypnotised by its psychedelic groove and irresistible hooks, then you're a stronger person than we are. 

If the rest of the album is as good as this, then we might have an early contender for best album of 2016. They're already well primed for best single of 2015 in any case.

"Make Me Better" is out now.