Sun Gods - Zanzara

By the start of January, I had assumed that the song that would end up being The Metaphorical Boat's Top Song of 2019 would be a dead certainty. After all, what song in this calendar year could hope to compete with "Harmony Hall", the breathtakingly stunning return from Vampire Weekend? Ever since then, it's been far and away the favourite, with no other song even hoping to come close to its brilliance.

Until now that is, as we've now discovered a song that might give it a run for its money. The song comes courtesy of Sun Gods, a 4-piece Belgian band, and boy, does it tick a lot of our metaphorical boxes. "Zanzara" (which is Italian for mosquito), is a tender electro-stomper of a song that calls to mind the production of Prides or Bear's Den circa "Red Earth & Pouring Rain", with a songwriting style that draws fond comparisons with The Waterboys.

So is it as good as "Harmony Hall"? After several listens, I would say not. But it comes pretty darn close.

"Zanzara" is out now.

The Shimmer Band - Jacknife & The Death Call

Here's a band we've been following for quite a while but haven't had the chance to write about on the blog to date, although if you follow our bi-monthly Spotify playlists, you'll have come across them a few times.

Bristol group The Shimmer Band first came to our attention last summer after hearing their song "Freedom", a song that contains everything we love about about early 90s British indie in one easy-to-swallow single, on Steve Lamacq's show on BBC 6music. We also liked "Sunkick" which they released at the tail-end of last year. Although it didn't have the same immediate impact as "Freedom", it showed the band relying less upon paying homage to the past, and more towards carving out their own sound.

This leads us nicely onto their latest single, "Jacknife & The Death Call", a song that combines the immediacy of the former with the more personalized sound of the latter. It's a heavy electro-rock indie track, with elements of hip-hop production, which calls to mind the sound of Kasabian, Does It Offend You, Yeah?,  and perhaps most surprisingly to these ears, a more fuzzy, darker, frenzied version of Elbow's "Grounds For Divorce". They're on tour with hotly tipped mischief-makers Cabbage at the moment, so the future does look bright for The Shimmer Band.

"Jacknife & The Death Call" is out now.

Pure Youth - New November

As you've probably noticed, we've been taking things a little slower on The Metaphorical Boat in 2015 for various personal reasons. That being said, there's still plenty of great music new music being released, and although I'm not able to write about as much of the great stuff as I would like to, if there is something really special that deserves to feature on these pages, then I will do my utmost to ensure that it does.

Like this one here - "New November" by London based 4-piece Pure Youth. I'd previously written favourably about the track a few weeks ago on Fresh On The Net after it was voted amongst the best songs submitted that week, and the more I've listened to it, the more I've come to realise how wonderful a song it is. It's a sleek, electro-pop song which comes across like a more guitar-heavy version of Bastille, as well as not sounding a million miles away from current 'going to be massive' group Prides. Plus, it does something that few songs in its genre tend to do, by culminating in a roaring, epic, skyscraper of sound.

"New November" is the sort of song that sounds like its destined to smash the Top 40 sometime next year, given that it sounds like something that belongs there, if not necessarily at this moment in time. Here's hoping that the song, and of course Pure Youth, manage to get the traction needed to put this tune in its rightful place.

"New November" is taken from the E.P "On Our Way" (which, surprisingly, swings more towards traditional indie-rock), which is out now.

Sykes - Gold Dust E.P

London trio Sykes came to my attention a few months ago after the people at Fresh on The Net made one of their tracks a weekly fresh favourite. I'd meant to give them a bit of blog loving at the time, but never got around to it. But never to fear, for the band have just released a new E.P, "Gold Dust", which gives us the perfect opportunity to introduce you to this wonderful band.

To start with, the title track is something special indeed. It's a fantastic alternative pop track with a real heart that fans of Chvrches will completely lap up. I'd said back in July that if Ellie Goulding released this track as her new single, it would spend weeks on end at #1, and three months later I still stand by that assessment. 

The rest of the E.P doesn't match up to the title track, although there are some songs worth listening to. "Anybody Out There" sounds like a more chilled out La Roux, and the guitar work at the end of "Away She Goes" is rather impressive. 

"Gold Dust" offers a decent introduction to the music of Sykes, and if they can deliver more pop gems like the title track, then they are going to be a very interesting prospect going forward.

The "Gold Dust" E.P is out now.

In An Instant - Light You Know And Love E.P

It's been a long time coming, but on Thursday 29th May, almost a year after their initial demos got so many people excited, and after 7 months in the making, Bangor four-piece In An Instant finally released their debut E.P, "Light You Know And Love", to an appreciative crowd at Voodoo in Belfast. (Incidentally, top marks to the band for selling their band t-shirts at the gig for a bargain price of £5. You wouldn't even get a plain t-shirt in Primark for that amount of money.)  So, has it been worth the wait?

The answer is a resounding yes. The E.P kicks off with "Lovers Apart", a song which showcase the band's ability to mix both rock and electronic elements in such a seamless fashion. The song, with its anthemic chorus and ascending guitar lines, calls to mind the sound of bands like The Killers, and dare I say it, Snow Patrol. Next up is "The Mighty Hands", a re-recorded version of one of their earlier demos, which is a dance-friendly indie rock track which lends itself well to being played live, with its well executed use of the humble 'woah'.

The strongest track on the E.P is "Something Right And Something Real". As we've mentioned before, the song contains great big guitar hook, an exquisite use of electronic instruments to bolster, but not overwhelm, their sound, a massive chorus and an irresistible, danceable rhythm. It's early days yet, but at the moments it's a frontrunner for this blog's favourite song of 2014. The tempo goes down considerably for "Boundaries", a song which pulls of the oxymoronic trick of on the one hand being subdued, whilst simultaneously sounding loud, impassioned and anthemic. It's the one song on the E.P that's the least typical of the sound of In An Instant, yet is still a rather great song.

 E.P finishes with a re-recorded version of "All Binds Fall Undone", the song that made this blog fall for In An Instant in the first place. It took a few listens to warm to this version, as they've made a few changes from the initial demo, with a heavier emphasis on guitar and a different treatment of the vocals. However, it's safe to say that on reflection, the new version is still a quality track, one which is more in line with the sound of the E.P, and a fitting conclusion to the E.P.

At the E.P launch of "Something Right And Something Real", I heard a few members of the crowd making some grand statements both about the band's performance at the gig (for the record, they were pretty awesome), and about what they were likely to achieve - one person called it the most important event in Northern Irish music since the A Little Solidarity gigs back in 2008, whilst another person commented that watching In An Instant perform in this place, at this time, was like witnessing a little bit of history. Whether these statements just amount to hyperbole, or whether this really is the start of a new movement in music here, remains to be seem. What we can say with certainty however is that the"Something Right and Something Real" is a brilliant starting point for what has to be the meteoric journey of In An Instant.

The E.P is available to buy now.

Viola Dust - The Big Hop

It's not often that you come across a début song by a group that sounds like it could appear in the Top 40 on Sunday in its current form and not sound out of place. It's rarer still for said song to come from a band who are literally in their infancy, only playing their first gig two weeks ago and not even having a Facebook page until this week. And its even rarer still for said band to hail from lovely Newry (Northern Ireland's newest city since 2002).

Yet all these circumstances have come together like a beautiful cosmic collision to give us "The Big Hop" the début single from 5-piece group Viola Dust. The song is one part post-Guetta electro-pop, one part Bastille, one part alternative rock, and one part that they can claim as their very own. It's a sleekly produced, well polished track. Many more established acts would have taken years trying to perfect this kind of sound. Viola Dust have cracked it on their first attempt.

So have we found ourselves another reason to get excited about Northern Irish music? You bet your bottom dollar we have.

"The Big Hop" will be released as a single at the end of the summer, with an Irish tour planned for July/August time.

Prides - Messiah

Having introduced themselves to the world last year with the fantastic "Out Of The Blue" last year, and re-reminded us of their brilliance a few months ago with "The Seeds You Sow", everyone's favourite non-Chvrches Scottish synth-pop trio Prides have announced the release of their brand new single.

The band have stated that the goal of their new single, "Messiah", is to bring back pitch bent keyboard sounds into popular music. To allow it to rise from the dead, if you will. And I think it's fair to say that they have done a pretty decent job of it. Prides seem to specialise in making synth-pop that is just screaming out to be played in stadiums, and if "Messiah", a track that's as 80s as the Rubik's Cube and as big as Giant Haystacks, is anything to go by, they are gradually inching their way there.

"Messiah" will be released on June 23rd. They play at The Great Escape, Brighton on May 9th, and spend the rest of the month supporting Foxes, the lucky beggars.

Ed Zealous - Thanks A Million

Earlier this year, Belfast electro-rockers Ed Zealous released "Medicines", a cracking scuzzy monster of a tune. That song received quite a bit of airplay of Radio 1, including being used as bed music of Phalice's late night midweek show, and is surely a contender not just for the best song from NI of the year, but the best song of the year.

Six months down the road, and the band have announced the release of their latest single, "Thanks A Million". Once again produced by Eliot James (Bloc Party/Two Door Cinema Club among others), the track is a smidgen more pop orientated that its predecessor, whilst still holding on to its harsh in-your-face electronic production. The chorus sounds like it could have easily have been lifted from The Killers' back catalogue, albeit a slightly more chaotic one.

With two great singles under the belt this year, Ed Zealous are real contenders to be the next break-out artist from these shores. Let's hope that their debut album, scheduled for release some time next year, delivers on their promise.

"Thanks a Million" will be released on October 21st.

Affleck - Affleck E.P

At the tail end of 2013, it appeared that Belfast band Eatenbybears were on the cusp of greatness. They were favourites on the local scene, being tipped for big things by many observers, including this humble blog.

And then they split up.

Back in April, former Ebb member Olan Stephens revealed his electronic project The Bedroom, complete with a bonkers music video to match it. And now this week, the other 3/4 of the band have come together to  release their debut E.P, which has been recorded under the name Affleck. The E.P sees the group descend further down the rabbit hole from their last single as Eatenbybears, "Your Pet is Dead", into even more uncompromising territory.

If it was necessary to describe the "Affleck" E.P in a sentence, it could probably be summed up as "Hot Chip recorded in a demented parallel dimension". The release sees the band moving away from guitar-focused tracks into dark electronic arrangements, largely abandoning obvious pop hooks in the process.

Having said that, there are some slightly poppy moments on the E.P, albeit ones of a twisted variety. "Cat King Lightning", which should be considered the focus track of the release, is track which combines a warped, dissonant keyboard hook with the violin lines of Aidan Kelly, a rather accessible chorus, and a rather unexpected jazzy piano breakdown. Similarly, "Lucete" (which the mighty oracle that is Google informs me is the name of a character in Bioshock: Infinite) has a chorus the size of the Eiffel Tower ("All this has happened before, and all all this will happen again"), yet the song itself has a rather odd structure which builds up to a climax where different vocal lines bounce off each other to create a discomforting effect.

For fans of Eatenbybears listening to Affleck for the first time, there might be a level of culture shock greeting their debut release. It is not a record that could be called instant, but one which benefits from repeated listens, with different little nuances to be discovered on each visit.

"Affleck E.P" is available to download on a pay what you want basis. For further reading, check out this interview with Affleck explaining the reasons for the dissolution of Eatenbybears.

The Ghosts - Enough Time

London based quintet The Ghosts (not to be confused with the band responsible for "Stay the Night") was formed by singer/songwriter Alex Starling after the tragic end to the band he played keyboards for, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool. The quintet make psychedelic synth-pop that treads the line between Pet Shop Boys and Empire of the Sun.

Their debut single, "Enough Time", is a great introduction to the band's sound, with the soaring falsetto of Alex Starling acting as the perfect foil for the cacophony of electronics that overpower the song. The music video for the track is a bit of a mind melt, but thoroughly enjoyable

"Enough Time" will be released on January 15th, with a debut album to follow in April.

The Ghosts - Enough Time by The Ghosts

The Narrows - Able Danger

Dark electro is the order of the day for Manchester based trio The Narrows. Their latest single, "Able Danger", is a sleek, futuristic, yet paranoid slice of rock tinged electronica. Rather bizarrely, the vocals of the song, especially at the tempo change 90 seconds in, remind me slightly of a processed Ozzy Osbourne.

"Able Danger" will be released on 24th October, backed up with new song "I Am the Last One Here." The video can be viewed below.

Mind the Gap - Once You Leave

"Once You Leave" by LA quartet Mind the Gap is an icy cool slice of radio friendly electronic-rock that echoes the sound that brought Foster the People into the US Top 10 this summer, as well as reminding me slightly of "Sunshine" by Keane.

With a background in writing for TV, the band have a real knack for creating music that can elicit an instant response from listeners. The dual chorus approach on "Once You Leave" will set the song up as a future anthem of youth.

Roman Foot Soldiers - Waterfront

It's not often that I write about a group that hail from Indonesia, but it's not often that you come across a band like 6-piece group Roman Foot Soldiers and their own brand of cool, electro-rock.

Their track "Waterfront" evokes the style of Phoenix and Cut Copy, with an anthemic chorus and stadium sized synths. It's no wonder that they have supported Hurts in the past.