Hannah Robinson’s latest single Who Am I sees the Newcastle-based artist delve deeper into darker sonic landscapes.
Building on her dream pop background, Robinson further develops her sound on this release with a stunningly crafted piece of dark shoegaze.
Attention is paid to the atmosphere of the production from the very start, with the eerie, dreamlike nature of the distant backing vocals. This is immediately split by a clean, driving bassline which propels the track towards its chorus.
The rhythm section is stark within the mix, set against the hazy canvas it’s painted upon. This atmosphere is built via beautiful vocal layering, used excellently throughout the track to fill out the sound.
However, great production isn’t all the single has at its core. Who Am I is just a great piece of songwriting, acting as a character study into narcissism and the delusions of past lovers. This culminates in the explosion of a chorus that packs a musical punch.
Overall, if you’re a fan of groups like Wolf Alice or NewDad and love dark, hazy indie rock, you’ll get a lot out of this incredible track. You can catch Hannah Robinson at Munro Festival in Stockton in June and can find her Instagram here.
Friday night saw art-pop outfit Amateur Ornithologist celebrate their anniversary at The Globe with a vibrant live performance.
The night began with support from Sheffield’s May Days In Barcelona, who brought a different vibe to proceedings with a shoegaze-inspired brand of folk that was truly magical to witness.
May Days In Barcelona – Live at The Globe – 18/10/24
An awful lot of effort went into their performance, featuring numerous looper pedals, a violin and a guitar. This 100% paid off, delivering a captivating and engaging performance that silenced the room.
With songs inspired by such things as birds of prey, it’s no surprise that the set felt majestic and beautiful. The set was concluded by a wonderful cover of Smile! No One Cares How You Feel!, which rounded off the musically rich show well.
They were followed by Belle Skies, who shifted the mood from shoegaze-inspired folk to full blown indie rock. I was impressed by the groups stage prescence, which was both captivating and engaging, further enhancing their very unique style of indie rock.
Clad head to toe in medieval regalia, the group took influence from the least obvious places with songs inspired by Saint Rose of Lima, the patron saint of embroidery, and Nosferatu.
This all led to fun and surreal pieces of indie rock, which seemed to draw inspiration from the 2000s with twinkling synths, strings and riotous guitars.
The whole thing came together very well leaving an impression and showcasing their crop of great indie rock songs.
Belle Skies – Live at The Globe –18/10/24
Next up were headliners Amateur Ornithlogist, who decorated the stage in beautiful autumnal leaves and even dotted a few fake crows about for added effect. The group really took full advantage of their headline slot bringing energy and costumes aplenty to bring something different to their show.
However, the focus was fully on the performance, which was executed to perfection with the stage presence matching the quality of the songwriting on show. The whole thing popped with colour and excitement.
Musically, the band falls somewhere in between musical theatre, Talking Heads, and David Bowie, crafting a unique blend of traditional pop and new wave.
The combination of violins, guitars and thumping bass worked incredibly well to create a collage of fun, colourful songs with meaningful lyrics to boot.
Frontman Daniel Clifford’s vocals were excellent, injecting something special into each tune. This was further enhanced by the amazing lyrics, which flickered between personal topics and playful whimsy.
Amateur Ornithologist – Live at The Globe – 18/10/24
Particular highlights included When They Fall, with it’s epic Bowie-esque feel, and Birds Fly Over Me, which has been stuck in my head for days since the gig.
The instrumentation was fantastic throughout the night, with the band sounding tight. I especially want to praise the guitar work, which was truly excellent, without being overly showy with its beautifully clean tones.
The night concluded with a noncore that treated the crowd to a fun cover of Boney M’s Rasputin, a fittingly enjoyable finale with the band’s Talking Heads vibe turned up to ten.
Overall, I had a thoroughly enjoyable Friday night, and I’m excited to see where the group goes next as they depart the live scene to create their next album.
Combining the very best of shoegaze and dream pop, Waves of Dread have produced one of the best EPs to come out of the North East this year with The Tide.
Following up 2023’s A Bad Dream in a Raging Sea, the Newcastle group have pushed themselves forward with their latest release, which combines lush production with excellent songwriting.
This all coalesces into a tight package that feels like waking up to a beautiful morning, with its hazy and distorted production.
Opener The Tide sets the dreamy tone, providing fun basslines and synths aplenty. Beneath the dream pop aesthetics lies an exceptionally written song, with a gorgeous chorus that hits all the right notes.
Early Riser builds on these aesthetics with a very trippy sounding beginning, featuring distant vocals and a beautiful guitar line built upon a bed of rainfall. As the track progresses, it welcomes gorgeously thick basslines into the mix, with a few hauntingly good synth lines thrown in for good measure. The whole thing feels like waking from a nice dream into a perfect morning.
The guitars clean up for Overspill, with its sharp guitar melody. The track once again demonstrates the smart production choices that run through the EP at its core. The use of layering is fabulous, allowing the track to get dirtier as it goes on, as layer upon layer of guitar is added to the overall mix.
Restless Sleeper, Sleepless Dreamer concludes the EP, using a glockenspiel to power the track forward, contributing massively to the dream pop feel. There’s more of an acoustic focus on this track, yet it is still washed in beautiful reverb.
Overall, this dream pop and shoegaze EP is a must-listen for fans of groups such as Slowdive and Cocteau Twins, with sharp songwriting and lush production.
Big Romance’s latest single “Self Medicate” shows their ability to mix genres to excellent effect, blending shoegaze, indie and post-punk together in a rewarding mixing pot of gorgeous production and great songwriting.
Opening with a reverb-heavy 90s feeling introduction, I was immediately reminded of the Siamese Dream era Smashing Pumpkins with its dreamy production and vocals.
This is quickly interrupted by a laid back verse with a real slacker vibe, fitting well into the established vibe of the track.
The pre-chorus shifts gears as the distantly distorted guitar stalks the vocal melody with fuzzy distortion and precision.
Eventually, the tracks anticipation pays off, unveiling a twinkling guitar solo that reminded me of dream pop bands such as NewDad.
The spacious nature of the production throughout illustrates the band’s love of shoegaze whilst highlighting their focused songwriting.
The introspective lyrical approach that the track takes examines coping mechanisms and relationships with sharp lyrical quality.
When the chorus hits, it hits hard. I can hear the influence of Slowdive in the production through the heavenly feel brought by the backing vocals, and the swirling guitars drenched in distortion and reverb.
A crunching guitar solo fires through the crescendo of the track, adding an appropriate ending to the song, before its distortion blends into the mix, allowing the song to sail off into the sunset.
Overall, the song combines the best bits from various subsections of indie music, making it easy to get on board with production you can sink into and sharp songwriting.
Hannah Robertson returns with yet another gorgeously dark single, taking her dream pop sound in a more twisted direction.
Beginning in a realm of dreamy and hypnotic guitars, the track quickly awakens you with a rush of distortion and drums, bringing a gnarly edge to Robertson’s dream pop production.
The influence of groups such as NewDad and Slowdive is evident within the dreamy shoegaze-inspired production. However, an underlying darkness brings a nasty edge to the ethereal track, making it more dream rock than dream pop.
The anticipation built up through the verse explodes in the chorus, which musically acts as a dark counter balance to the airy intro.
Throughout the track, the performances and production are exceptional, helping build a dark, dreamy atmosphere with their crispness.
If you love groups like Wolf Alice and enjoy hypnotic, dreamy production, then this track is perfect for you!
Humbug North East 