You may recall I’m something of an admirer of the angelically voiced Emmylou Harris. It came to my attention some months  ago that a duo known as First Aid Kit had released a song called “Emmylou”. I had a listen, liked it, made a mental note to look into them some more and promptly forgot to. Then one recent sunny Sunday afternoon in the pub (all the best things happen at the pub, right ?) one of our number was playing some tunes in the beer garden through a Bluetooth speaker when some voices and a tune caught my ear. On enquiring as to its source I was told it was First Aid Kit singing “My Silver Lining”. Remembering my previous mental note to discover more about them I went straight online and ordered this album on which said song  features as the all important track 1 side 1.

First Aid Kit are two singing sisters, Johanna and Klara Söderberg, who sing “Country” music. And so the clue to their unique selling point lies in their names, for Johanna and Klara are singing sisters from Sweden who sing “Country” music…I’ve put “Country” in quote markes as it’s Country Jim, but not as we know it, filtered through Swedish Folk and pop music and Country Rock. Their Dad, Benkt Söderberg, was a member of successful Swedish rock/pop group Lolita Pop, imagine Roxette but Swedish with song titles like “Tarzan On A Big Red Scooter” ! The sisters discovered Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons in their mid-teens and it had quite the effect on them both. They harmonise beautifully with voices that are harsher than the sweetness of Emmylou, it is however a beguiling sound their two voices create together.

“Stay Gold” was their 3rd album, originally released in 2014. It’s very much influenced by the Emmylou Harris of “Wrecking Ball” and “Red Dirt Girl”, it’s country music alright but this ain’t stories of Cowboys and Trucks and Rodeo’s. I guess it is what was known for a while as alt.country, the basics of the style are there with great harmony singing, lap steel guitars etc. but the lyrics mention New York and Chicago which really isn’t Country territory. Standout songs include the already mentioned “Silver Lining”, “Cedar Lane”, “The Bell” and “Waitress Song”. I promise I will now listen deeper into their releases (5 albums so far) so you might well encounter them on here again in the future.

My Silver Lining - https://youtu.be/DKL4X0PZz7M?si=kB3JqLjJDxdQH-JM

We covered Beagle’s first album, “Sound On Sound”, back in February (https://www.whiterabbitrecords.co.uk/blog/read_205380/20234-albums-thing-265-beagle-sound-on-sound.html) and here’s their second. Beagle were a Swedish alt.pop band formed in Lund in the early 90’s is the short intro. I got hooked thanx to mix tapes/CD’s swapped twixt a group of friends across the globe.

Great pop songs in a style not a million miles different to that record “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” but so much, MUCH better than that, is where they are at. “Nothing Counts For More”, “When I Speak Your Name”, “It Ain’t You”, “Hills And Valleys” and particularly the rollicking “Nine Out Of Ten” are all joyous pop singalongs played on acoustics, mandolins, banjos and screeching harmonicas (there’s electric instruments too).

As non-native English speakers there are some delightfully odd rhymes in the lyrics (try “I walked the streets up to her house, Every garden, now well most, Has a holder, carrying com-post” !) but you forgive them that for the quality of the songs. Same applies as back in February, Beagle always put a smile on my face when I hear them and that can’t be a bad thing.

Nine Out Of Ten - https://youtu.be/zXuZN-6kJbo?si=U4NTxuj15P2SM6gK

If you go back through this blog you’ll find scribblings about The Adverts, TV Smith’s Explorers and TV Smith himself. In those you’ll read about my long standing admiration for him and how I’ve been lucky enough to become acquainted with him. On June 14th this year I was privileged to be able to promote the Shrewsbury show on his UK tour promoting this, his latest album “Handwriting”. I picked this copy up at the gig. It’s on “Glow in the Dark” vinyl (although I’ve yet to play it in the dark) and it’s great.

TV has fashioned himself into an acoustic troubadour over the years, travelling Europe with his collapsible guitar and at one time playing sets as long as Bruce Springsteen’s ! He still plays the old Punk hits, in Shrewsbury he opened with The Adverts “No Time To Be 21” (featuring my favourite opening line of almost any song in “Life’s short, Don’t make a mess of it”) followed by the Explorers mighty debut single “Tomahawk Cruise”, but these days much of his set is taken from the solo albums he’s been making since 1992’s “March Of The Giants”.

The title song “Handwriting” knocked me out at his recent Shrewsbury gig and hearing it here unwraps even more layers. It’s set in a sci-fi future where people are confined to sleepdromes full of screens and a camera that constantly monitors them. In this world handwriting is banned. Our singer has discovered if you “accidentally” cover the camera it takes the authorities 15 minutes to get to you so he can sit down and write by hand for 10 minutes at his antique Ikea desk. He writes slowly and purposefully, a little act of rebellion in a totalitarian future.

Elsewhere “Handwriting” is a state of the nation address if you like. He covers the furious pace of life in “Who’s Got The Time”, corrupt politicians in “Best Of The Worst” and our unknown but fate filled future in “Children Of A Dying Sun”. The instrumentation is largely acoustic with percussion, keyboards and other instruments played by producer Gerry Driver.

I’ve been on the TV Smith train since 1977. I’ve seen him live countless times and own a lot of his albums. He never gives less that 100%, he’s a songwriter and particularly a lyricist of great skill. More power to him and his righteous ire at the state of our world and long may he continue to make honest and engaging records like “Handwriting”.

Handwriting - https://youtu.be/AdNsCZqqFNo?si=-pNzw0wR_v_Ezq6S