Scott MacKay - Half of Everything

It's Valentine's Day this week, so what better time to have on the blog a song about divorce? Our timing is always impeccable.

"Half of Everything" by Canadian singer-songwriter Scott MacKay is a country-inflected song that takes the idea of splitting everything 50/50 after a romantic split, and taking it to its most logical, ridiculous conclusion. The song's got a classic singer-songwriter county feel to it, sounding something a bit like Jake Bugg, if he had a sense of humour.

"Half of Everything" is out now.

Lore - More Than This

Since forming in 2015, Derry 4-piece Lore have released an E.P, a few singles (including a radical folk re-working of "Teenage Kicks", and have been touring all over the country with their folk-pop stylings. If you haven't come across them before, their most recent single, "More Than This", is a good introduction to them. The song is one that should win over fans of the most recent remake of A Star Is Born, as the country-esque sound and crescendoing male/female vocals do call to mind the song "Shallow" from that soundtrack.

"More Than This" is out now.

Wojtek The Bear - A Long Wait For Bad News

Fun fact - Wojtek was a bear who was enlisted in the Polish Army during World War II, rising to the rank of corporal, before retiring to Scotland and living out his life in Edinburgh Zoo.

I'm presuming that it is this ursine and its Scottish connection is where Glasgow band wojtek the bear (all lower case) took their name from. The band released their debut album last year, and are just about to set sail with Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub & a host of other heavy hitters on a set of Mediterranean dates.

The group have just released their latest single, and second of 2019, called "a long wait for bad news". Musically, the song calls to mind the sound of fellow compatriots Idlewild & King Creosote, a melancholic folk-inflected indie-rock song, held together by the sorrowful and haunting tones of Tam Killean.

"A long wait for bad news" by wojtek the bear will feature on "old names for new shapes", a limited edition 10" vinyl collecting the band's planned single releases for the year, in November 2019.

Conor Mason - We Watched The Sky Rotate

Derry based singer/songwriter Conor Mason has been involved with several music projects over the past few years, including being involved with blog favourites PORTS & Our Krypton Son. He's also released a number of solo albums over the years, with his first new album under his own name since 2012 due out next month.

As well as featuring a new version of a track that we first wrote about back in 2011 (which unfortunately is no longer available on the interwebs), the album also features the rather nice single "We Watched The Sky Rotate". If you're familiar with PORTS, it's musically in a similar musical area, an atmospheric piano-led folk track with a wistful & tender central melody.

"We Watched The Sky Rotate" is taken from Conor Mason's 4th solo album, "On The Surface", which is out on 2nd November.

Runabay - Too Soon (Reverie)

Hailing from the Glens of Antrim and Belfast, sextet Runabay have been building up a name for themselves over the past few years with their folk-rock sound, and have developed a reputation as one of the best live bands on the local scene.

We were lucky enough to catch the band live in the Duncairn Arts Centre (one of the finest local venues in North Belfast) for their sold-out performance there, and were mightily impressed by how tight they are live, their great vocal harmonies, and most importantly the strength of the tunes that they have amassed in their set. It was interesting to note that some of their earlier songs, including ones that first brought them to our attention originally, were dropped from the set, and the quality of the songs on offer didn't suffer one bit.

The band have just released their latest single, which marks a further development of the band's sound. "Too Soon (Reverie)" follows on from their recent single "Lotus" in moving away from the more raucous sound of Runabay's earlier sound into a sound that's more holistic and pop-orientated. With its pop chorus and finely tuned harmonies, there are elements of The Shins, Fleet Foxes, and even a smidgen of Coldplay in "Too Soon (Reverie)", but more importantly, there is an emerging sound that is very much one that belongs to Runabay alone, which bodes well for the band going forward. With a strong set of tunes, and an enviable live presence, Runaway are making a mighty mark on the local scene.

"Too Soon (Reverie)" is out now. John from Runabay was also a recent guest on our podcast. 

Little Lapin - Wake Up With The Sun

Cornwall based singer-songwriter Lucy Hill, aka Little Lapin has picked up quite a bit of love across several different releases, picking up airtime on 6music, Amazing Radio, and getting played on Radio 2 by Bob Harris. She has a new album coming out next month, and one of the tracks featured within has really tickled our fancy.

"Wake Up With The Sun" is the kind of folk-tinged music that we absolutely love, a Joni Mitchell-esque track that mixes the beauty in Lucy's voice with the bright and optimistic lyrics to great effect, like a folk version of "Walking On Sunshine" with an earworm activating melody.

"Wake Up With The Sun" is the title track to Little Lapin's 3rd studio album, which is released on 14th April.

Jon Solari - Sistine Chapel

Having followed the local Northern Irish music scene for some time now, it is not rare for us to see bands come to their natural conclusion, before splintering off into many numerous different projects, many of which of a solo nature. We've written before about the band New Ancestors, and more recently about how one of their members turned his music towards recording as Brash Isaac.

Now, another member of that band has gone down the solo route, although in Jon Solari's case, he's decided to record under his own name. "Sistine Chapel" is the first song released from him, and it's a great little introduction. It's not a million miles away from the raucous folk-rock that he was making whilst working with The 1930s many moons ago, but with added polish and with a really strong chorus to boot.

"Sistine Chapel" is taken from the E.P "Guilt Trip", which is out now.

Hannah McPhillimy - Ruins

It has been a while - nearly four years in fact - since we last mentioned local singer-songwriter Hannah McPhillimy on these pages. Not that she's been silent the past few years mind you - she joined synth-pop band Go Wolf, whom we've talked about quite a bit, and has still been plugging away on her own material, most notably the "Disappear Here" EP released in 2015 in collaboration with author Jan Carson.

Her most recent release is "Wind Machine", which came out in June. Produced by Julie Mclarnon, who's worked with Neutral Milk Hotel & King Creosote among others, the E.P mixes folk and jazz influences into a package topped off by Hannah's plaintive and honest vocals.

Taken from the E.P is "Ruins", which for lack of a better term, is the most accessible song on the E.P, with it's familiar chord structure and emotive and endearing chorus, so it's no surprise to see that it receive the video treatment. The video sees Hannah singing in the forest, interspersed with scenes of what can only be described as the most intensive game of Jenga ever played. We were under the impression that the video is a pastiche of the chess game from the Ingmar Bergan film The Seventh Seal, although we've been since informed that it's most likely a coincidence.



The "Wind Machine" E.P from Hannah McPhillimy is out now.

Brash Isaac - In The Dark

Brash Isaac is the nom de plume of Andrew Cameron, who was previously the drummer for Northern Irish folk mainstays New Ancestors. His first single under the new name, "In The Dark", has already picked up quite a bit of love online, and it's not hard to hear why. The song plays up his roots in the local folk scene, and compliments this by taking it into a more alt-rock territory. It also reminds us a little bit of "Hangingaround" by Counting Crows in places, which we don't think is a bad thing at all. It's an irresistible little debut.

"In The Dark" is out now.

Streets of Laredo - 99.9%

Streets of Laredo are a five-piece indie folk rock band from Brookyn by way for New Zealand. They released their debut album "Volume I & II" a few years ago, a release that admittedly went over or heads when it came out. However, it looks like we've picked a good time to get acquainted with them, as the first song from their sophomore album is a rather great one.

"99.9%" mixes Springsteen-esque lyrical imagery with a driving rock rhythm that mixes horns and electronics rather effortlessly. It also reminds us a little but of a more uptempo Neutral Milk Hotel in parts, which can't be a bad thing at all.

"99.9%" is out now. Their 2nd album is due out in the autumn.



Photo is © Jessie Sara English

Silences - There's A Wolf

Armagh band Silences made everyone sit up and notice (and for us to continue granting them our attention) last year with the release of the accessible and affecting single "The Sea", which deservedly ended up being one of our favourite singles of 2015. It's fair to say that after that single, the next thing that they bring out was always going to be much anticipated.

Which brings us on to "There's A Wolf", which the band premiered this week. Quite surprisingly, after releasing what was their poppiest song to date, they've not followed up with a similarly accessible song, instead giving us something a little bit more left-field, whilst still being unmistakably sounding like the product of Conchúr White & co. "There's A Wolf" has the band's usual folk underpinnings, but here is is complimented by electronics and heavy guitars that take the song in a completely different direction in the song's final minute, and there's an underlying aggression in the song that we've rarely come to see in their music to date.

"There's A Wolf" is a brave song to for Silences to unleash after releasing a song as accessible as "The Sea", but it's a interesting shift from the band, showing us that there's more to them than the tender sounds we've come to know them for.

"There's A Wolf" is taken from the "Luna" E.P, which will be released on April 15th.

Ciaran Lavery - Return To Form

In the three years since Aghagallon native Ciaran Lavery released his album "Not Nearly Dark", it is safe to say that he has picked up a rather hefty following. If you want evidence of that, just take a look at the fellow's play counts on Spotify. 

Most Northern Irish artists with a self-released album would be happy enough to rack up quadruple figures on the site. With minimal promotion, Ciaran Lavery's most popular song, "Shame", currently stands at over 17 MILLION streams, with a handful of other tracks currently on seven figures. In addition, his monthly listeners figure sits at a whopping 1.2 million as of the time of writing. There's a couple of theories as to how this has happened (TMB's own theory is that because his music is somewhat similar to the rather popular sex beast Hozier, his music will come up as a recommendation whenever someone listens to his Spotify radio station, which generated a lot of attention in his music in its own right), but however it happened, it is definitely well deserved. 

As a result of his success off his own back, Ciaran Lavery recently signed a record deal with Believe, who are the home of James Vincent McMorrow and Asian Dub Foundation among others, and has an album lined up for release in a few months time. The first single released from the album is "Return To Form", and is certainly the most radio-friendly song that Ciaran has released to date (polite f-bombs excepted). Musically, it owes a lot to "I'm Not The Only One" by Sam Smith, although with the choirboy swooning replaced with Lavery's trademark world-weary ragged vocals. The song's already notched up over 200k on Spotify, and if the momentum continues, we might see Lavery crossing over into the mainstream charts with this release.

"Return To Form" is out now. Its parent album, "Let Bad In", will be released on May 27th.

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.

David C. Clements - My Dear Mother

Well, this return sure was a long time coming. The last time that Belfast based singer-songwriter David C Clements graced us with new recorded music was nearly four years ago near the beginning of 2012, although he's been active live locally in the intervening period. According to someone on Twitter, the reason for being so low-key is because he "prefers making buns." Whether this is metaphor for something that cannot be described, a euphemism for for something that can (albeit not in polite company), or that he genuinely prefers baking is unclear.

But no matter, for after an extended break that would even make Stereo MCs say to themselves "speed up, old chap", he has released a brand new single/E.P as the first release from his upcoming album. And if "My Dear Mother" is an indication of what to expect from it, that we're going to have a great album on our hands. It's a song that mixes an anthemic modern folk sound with a glam-rock stomping beat and overlain by Mr Clements' heartfelt vocals. Welcome back, David.

"My Dear Mother" E.P is available as a free download, containing the lead track, plus a few live and alternate takes of crowd favourites, as well as a Neil Young cover. He headlines The Empire, Belfast on December 21st.

PORTS - Gameplay

First, a point of order - the last time we talked about the Derry based quartet formerly known as Little Bear, we referred to them as PØRTS. However, recently it has come to our attention that this is incorrect.

The diacritic overlay through the "O" wasn't an official part of the band's name - it was more a stylistic decision to go alongside the release of their first single under their new name. As such, their name is, and always has been, PORTS. I would question why they would go for a name that is much more hard to Google, especially given the fact that having a familiar name was the reason why they changed it in the first place, although we imagine it's much easier to type on a regular QWERTY keyboard.

But let's leave the semantics to one side for a moment, for the band have just announced the release of the first single which will appear on their long awaited debut album. "Gameplay" sees the band continue their long track record of producing emotional yet effective folk-haunted indie-rock, albeit in a much more polished form than we've heard from them before.

"Gameplay" will be released on October 12th.

Lauren Bird - Goodbye, Good Luck

It's very rare on The Metaphorical Boat for us to cover a song that we've featured fairly recently in the past, but in this case, we're more than happy to make an exception.

Back in December last year, we came across Strabane singer-songwriter and ukulele enthusiast Lauren Bird after she performed two songs in a competition a friend of the blog was taking part in. She completely won us over both with her beautiful take on "No Surprises" and the self-penned "Goodbye, Good Luck".

And in the intervening period, she's gone on to win over even more people. In February, she was crowned the winner of Chordblossom's Kickstart competition (the same competition that boosted the career of Soak in her formative days), and in the past few months she's played several festivals, as well as being asked to support Hannah In The Wars on their Irish dates. She's also managed to find the time to compose the soundtrack for a feature-length film due for release next year.

And to cap off a great year so far, she's just released a new single, which is a updated version of the song that made us fall in love with her in the first place. A tale of learning to love being on your own, "Goodbye, Good Luck" has been given a slightly poppier upgrade from the earlier version, with added hand claps and other additional studio bobbinses, although the ukulele still remains at the heart of the track.

It's lovely to hear a fresh version of the song that made Lauren Bird grab our attention. Hopefully now it will now grab the attention of even more people.

"Goodbye, Good Luck" is available to download now. Lauren Bird will launch the single at The Bat With No Name on Friday 28th August. Support comes from Ciara O'Neill and Isobel Anderson.

The Emerald Armada - This House

Folk rock quintet The Emerald Armada have spent the past few years cementing their reputation as Northern Ireland's best live bands, with their raucious gigs becoming the stuff of legends. One problem with bands with such a great live reputation is how to transfer that live sound over to record, with previous releases doing so with somewhat mixed results.

Which is why their latest single, "This House", is quite interesting. Produced by Rocky O'Reilly (previous releases were produced by the band), the song sounds more studio-orientated than previous recordings, and sees a slight adjustment to their style. Whilst the verses still retain the Irish folk-rock sound that they're known for, the choruses take on powerful, alt-rock vibes, reminiscent of Foals or The 1975, and although at first the difference between the two styles may seen a bit jarring, it works surprisingly well after a few listens.

"This House" is perhaps the most realised recording that The Emerald Armada have made to date. I'm not too sure how well it's going to fit into their live set, but if there's one band that can make it sound fantastic on stage, it's them.

"This House" is out now.

The Cadbury Sisters - Sarah

Bristol trio The Cadbury Sisters are an act we've been aware about for some time without really delving deeply into their music. I've heard bits of pieces of their music which I've liked, and I'd hoped to catch them on their most recent tour whilst I was in Edinburgh recently, although unfortunately a gym-related incident put an end to that plan (kids - always stretch before doing any strenuous exercise, especially if you and working out have a very tumultuous relationship).

So with a new E.P out, it's never been a better time to check them out, and wouldn't you know it, they've released a real thing of beauty in "Sarah", the E.P's title track. It might be a bit easy to compare its sound to both Haim and The Staves, two other bands made up of sisters, but in the case of "Sarah", it's an apt comparison, with the song taking cues from the former's alt-pop aesthetic and the latter's close harmonies to create something simultaneously captivating, accessible and otherworldly. They're heading to Glastonbury this weekend, and if they can deliver more songs like "Sarah", The Cadbury Sisters could win over quite a lot of people.

"Sarah" is out now.

The DŁX - Let Go

There were a few songs that we came across over the past few months that we loved, but didn't get around to posting due to our own semi hiatus-y state, so it's time to get around to doing just that now that we're ramping things up again.

Hailing from Mississippi, The DŁX are a trio who describe themselves as making 'off-the-wall pop' music. They released their debut single "Let Go" a few months, and if it they ever find the mathematical equation for fitting as many good vibes into a 4-minute pop song, "Let Go" will probably be used as its benchmark. Its group vocals and somewhat sunny disposition call to mind a scaled down version of The Polyphonic Spree. It might come off as a bit saccharine for some tastes, but we've never been ones to shy away from the twee, and who in their right mind could say no to a song that uses the ukulele as its base?

"Let Go" is available to download now.

The Jepettos - Closer E.P

It's been a few months since we heard from The Jepettos, the Belfast 'lullaby-folk' group fronted by husband and wife duo Mike and Ruth Aicken, but it's fair to say that quite a lot of people have. After all, the band have somewhat unexpectedly, yet welcomely, become of the most popular local artists on Spotify. Two of their songs, including most recent single "Orchard", have racked up over a million streams on the service, whilst at least six others are current north of 100,000. Given the royalty rates Spotify offers, that's probably only earned them enough to buy a packet of Fruit Pastilles, but it's great to see them picking up such a massive audience.

And that audience is only going to grow further, with the release of their new E.P, "Closer". The E.P contains four tracks that the band wrote for a play developed by the Re:Play Theatre Company for children with PMLD. The first track, "Shimmer", harks back to the sound of the song that first brought The Jepettos to our attention all those years ago, "Goldrush". Next up is "Meet The Aliens", a hand clap dominated song that sees Ruth joined on vocals by a children's choir, which reminds us a little bit of "Raconte-Moi Une Histoire" by M83 in some places.

Up next is the endearingly sweet sounds of  "The Mission", a song that contains one of my favourite chord sequences ever. The band finish with a bang in the form of "Shooting Stars & Fireworks", a song that is about as raucous as a band like The Jepettos are ever going to get.  The song is like a more playful, ukelele led younger cousin of the sort of track that might have appeared on the last Elbow record.

"Closer" is an absolutely lovely E.P from start to finish - it's like an aural comfort blanket. Although the songs have been written for a younger audience, there is enough sweetness and gorgeousness on the E.P to charm anybody of any age.

The "Closer" E.P is available to buy now.