EP Review: “Petals” by Phavors

Hello! 🙂

It has been an awful long time since I’ve done an album/EP review; even longer time since I’ve been asked to do it as well!

Back in mid-May, I was sent a message on my Instagram page from a duo called Phavors. At the time, they were just about to release an EP called “Petals” and wondered if I could write a review of it on my blog. They are my first group to be based in the U.S. to ask for my services, and even though I feel more comfortable talking about international music, I thought it would be fun for not only me, but for my audience too!

So, when the band sent me their pitch and link to the tracks included on the EP. They also included that they sound like Bon Iver but have elements of Billie Eilish, which is what sold me. I’m not a huge fan of folk music, even though I love singer-songwriters Dido, Celtic Woman, Sarah McLachlan, and The Civil Wars; I’m still pretty picky when it comes to the genre as a whole. However, I chose to look beyond that and focus my attention to Philip and Kayla’s work. I hadn’t listened to anything before I went to write this review, it’s just what I like to do for things such as this, that way I’m not overthinking my words as the music flowing in and out of my mini speaker.

The EP itself only comes with four songs, and the first happens to be the title track “Petals.”  My first thought was how beautiful it was, the light sound of the acoustic guitar with Kayla’s soft vocals, were really nice. It reminded me of waking up early and wanting something soft and mellow to begin the day on the right foot. It’s a soothing song that suddenly made me really calm inside. It’s the perfect way to begin a short musical journey. And then we move onto, “Waste Time” and I’m not going to lie, I wanted to use the title as a pun, but I didn’t. I was good, but boy! It would’ve been perfect. One thing I liked about this, was we were finally able to hear Philip’s voice. He is definitely quieter than Kayla. I really liked the slight boop of bass in the beginning, it made me think the general sound would be a little different compared to the first and it is different. I had the same vibes I experienced in the previous, but the tempo is more upbeat and happier.

Third is “Water Is Still” and I was actually looking forward to this one. I had hoped it would sound calm; almost like you should expect to hear it at a spa. In a way, it was exactly how I hoped it would be, but thanks to the addition of electric guitars to the airy beat in the background it gave it a nice little change. It was the perfect instrumental for me. I was so happy to hear something like this, where there’s no vocals at all. It’s just a nice collection of soothing sounds together. Lastly, we have “Home” and to hear Kayla and Philip’s soft words come into focus and together was wonderful, but towards the end of it, everything grows louder and I really liked it.

I was genuinely surprised by this. There were moments when I thought of them sounding like artist Banks and British band London Grammar in a way, like the second track gave me a strong Banks vibe with Kayla’s cool voice, but the whole thing had a London Grammar type of flare. I find it a bit odd that I was half expecting everything to sound a bit like Dido, but they ended up sounding more modern, almost new age type of music that I am learning to fall in love with in the last few years. After I finished listening, I started searching on my Spotify playlists for more comforting type of music like Phavors. After what’s been going on with the world lately, I needed to escape my reality a little longer.

Have you heard of Phavors yet? If you have, do you have a favorite song? What were your thoughts on their new EP too?

 

Album Review: “Truth Is A Beautiful Thing” by London Grammar

I feel like albums are generally hard to review. I tend to get fairly bored quickly and want to take breaks while listening and typing out the actual posts. As much as I think doing individual tracks are too simple, I often wonder why I stopped doing them and the music videos! I had plans on doing a few albums but I am just losing interest in the ones I am hearing and that sucks! So I might be only doing EP reviews unless I find an album I feel needs to be discussed in full detail.

Now that is out of the way, we can finally talk about British trio London Grammar. The members are Hannah Reid, Dan Rothman and Dominic Major. Their newest album “Truth Is A Beautiful Thing” came out in early June. I’ve been looking forward to new music by these guys. If you are a big fan of Florence + The Machine, I’m betting money you’ll enjoy this group as well. I feel like they are more indie, alternative rather than the pop-y sound that Florence + The Machine seem to have; they’re both similar but I actually listen to more London Grammar just because I really enjoy Hannah Reid’s deep voice!

The song that starts off the album is the first single they released at the beginning of the year, “Rooting For You” and I remember watching the music video on the third of January and fell completely in love with the introduction of the song. It is so slow and gorgeous, you only hear Hannah’s high pitched voice in an echo-y sequence and you also hear a guitar and piano in the background too. It’s such an amazing way to began an album. Second is “Big Picture” which became their second single, it was released a month later and I was surprised with it because usually you don’t hear another single for another month or two. This one has another soft beginning, but you kind of get that it’s going to pick up tempo wise once you start hearing the guitars. The beat doesn’t become like this typical rock song but it does increase in rhythm and speed.

Next is “Wild Eyed” and I really like hear Hannah’s voice in this one. You don’t hear anything else but these electronic noises in the background and of course a sweet keyboard too. I really like this! I enjoy their air-y and dreamescape type of songs. That is how I got interested in the band in the first place and I hope they never lose that side of themselves! The fifth track is “Oh Woman Oh Man” which was released as the fourth single in April. I didn’t exactly gel with this one when I first heard it mostly because it does have a sort of pop-rock type of vibe to it. You can hear real drums in this one and it’s nice, but after hearing for the second time, still not enjoying it as I’d like to right now. Afterwards you have “Hell To The Liars” and firstly I love the title! It is so soft, the piano is even gentle, but the sound does get more poppier as it goes on, but it doesn’t lose its edge. Thank god!

We then have “Everyone Else” that sort of gives me a country vibe! It has a good groove, but I can’t seem to shake this country beat I am hearing throughout, but I will say though, it’s not bad! I think it would be a good trailer song for a TV show or movie. I really enjoy that high note and how she let it out so long, I used to know how to do that. Seventh track is “Non-Believer” and this has a little bit urban feel to it, they were definitely experimenting with the music on this album. I like it! I kept picturing multiple people just walking, don’t know why it came to me like that it just did. Next is “Bones Of Ribbon” and I like how you can never know how a song is going to sound like by them. It has the normal eternal sound they’re known for but yet it still has a rock-y feel to it too.

We’re almost finished and “Who Am I” is next, this one doesn’t have much as far as sound goes, so you have to pay attention to the lyrics or at least I have to. I think it is meaningful, the perfect breakup song that isn’t so catchy and annoying if I can be truthful. I really like it surprisingly! The tenth song is “Leave The War With Me” and I really think it has some jazz-y notes throughout, just with the piano and guitar sounds. I think it’s beautiful! Lastly we have the title track “Truth Is A Beautiful Thing” and this was the third single that was released in the middle of March, in case you were wondering which one was left in the timeline. This definitely has a long, almost ominous introduction. I say “almost” because it’s a cross between creepy and sweet, which sounds odd I know but it gives you a desolate type of feeling but yet it is very welcoming at the same time. It’s also the best way to end an album if I’m being honest!

I have to say I really enjoyed this album! I now understand why this beat out Katy Perry for best new album releases! Even I didn’t believe it could be that good to take that kind of title from her but it is pretty incredible! I think I liked nine out of the eleven songs on the standard edition. Like my previous album reviews I don’t like going into the deluxe editions, but if you are interested in the other songs, there are seven more included on the deluxe. So if you haven’t purchases the album yet, I’d just go ahead and paying the extra for the deluxe but that’s my opinion!

Have you heard London Grammar’s new album “Truth Is A Beautiful Thing” yet? What were your favorite songs? If you didn’t like it, tell me some of the reasons why!

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January Playlist

Howdy!

This is the first month of 2017, what did you think of it? Better than December in general? Or was it just okay?

Soo… I have some good news. My Spotify started working suddenly! My little logo on the side of my menu hasn’t been working since maybe April and then it went off officially in May and didn’t have it until Dec. 28th, I still don’t know why it’s working but I’ve been loving the crap out of it!

I knew I missed Spotify but I didn’t think I missed it this much! One of the first things I did was make a whole new playlist for my blog. I bet nobody knew it was different, which is okay. I haven’t been very open about it because I figured it would stop working on me. In case it ever does that again I created a playlist of songs I missed and hadn’t heard in a while! I was even adding songs that I was listening from YouTube for the past eight months. Funnily enough, it’s still growing! This playlist has a total of 300+ songs on it! The last time I checked it, I read 128 songs… I’m just making things easier on myself!

Now to talk about song of the month, which you’d think would be very, very difficult to pick from but it really wasn’t because I went with the first new single of 2017! On New Year’s Day, I woke up late in the afternoon and found out that London Grammar had a new song on their website! It was released about five hours before and I kind of hoped it was up on YouTube (I found it odd that my instinct was to look for it on there first) but it was there! The new track is called “Rooting For You” and man, is it good! I really love them, they’re different and tend to chill me out if I’m having a very hectic day!

Since I had the blog playlist at the side, I didn’t want to necessarily share it again, but I also hadn’t been keeping track because of the amount of music I’ve been listening to! However, I can tell you some artists and genres I’ve been listening to lately. Symphonic metal has come back into my life! I have quite a bit on my iPod but I have a whole playlist that has 830 songs in it. A band that I’ve been obsessed with lately is Beyond The Black. You’ll learn more about them on Thursday! I’ve also been listening to my ole hip hop/rap playlist that has all the good stuff on it. As I’m not much into new rappers, I have been hooked to G-Eazy. I literally have 7 songs on my starred playlist!

However, I’ve been very happy that I can listen to my “Fantasy” tracks without having to worry about it going on a break in the middle and become a total buzzkill! And I’ve titled them “fantasy” but not in a sexy way – ew! I think the best way to describe it is “epic” instrumentals. I mostly use them for whenever I’m doing blog posts or while I work on my project. So that’s what I’ve chosen to share with you today as January’s playlist, is my Volume II fantasy playlist. Enjoy!

What was your song of the month? What was the first song you listened to ring in the new year?

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Top 3: Indie

I’ve been getting into a lot of Indie music lately. I love to listen to Indie music whenever the artists and/or bands are already soft, calm, and sometimes dark whenever I’m feeling the same way. I’ve had a few days were I’ve been feeling pretty crappy. I’ve tried to keep myself energetic as I possibly can but it’s being a pain in the ass when your body is too lazy. Yesterday, it was such a struggle getting myself to sit up for more than an hour. I wasn’t in the mood to read, watch TV, I barely had enough energy to listen to music that’s how crazy it all is, if I’m denying any kind of music at all, you know something’s wrong with me. Most of my problem is the fact that I’ve lost my will to sleep. My whole pattern is messed up, getting it back on track is also a pain in the ass! I’m getting tired of sleeping in til noon or two in the afternoon, but after I’ve stayed up for half of the night after getting maybe two hours of sleep, even flickering my eyes open to roll over in my bed, makes me wanna go back to sleep. I’m weak that’s all there’s to it. If I can get myself to stay up all night and all day that next day, then I could probably get it all back on track where I wouldn’t feel like crap all day long and I’d actually be happy to do things again.

I’m surprised that NONE of the mellowish music that I have on my playlist on Spotify cures my problem because majority of the music on there is fairly simple and sweet – gentle and lullaby-like. I’ve decided to start a new series that represents something with me on Thursday’s, Since I’m talking about music, I thought I’d start there. There are different artists and groups that I’ve slowly gotten into recently, but there a couple that I love and have loved for years it seems like Plumb and Dido. They really started the playlist for me. Anything that sounds like Dido’s music in a way can do wonders with me. If I could get away with listening to this type of music at night without learning the words and just letting myself drift off to dreamland, that basically cure any problems I have I would imagine. Do you have a specific genre of music were you can listen to at night and just completely shut off the world and let it take over your senses and muscles to the point were you’re lifeless but awake? I do and the top three artists and groups are:

1. Banks – I am a newly fan of the California native, Banks. I was actually not a fan of her in the beginning because I thought she looked too much like Sara Bareilles. I was introduced to her music by another blogger, I skimmed through the post and was not yet hooked to anything in particular yet. Somehow I heard “Before I Met You” on one of the Sirius XM radio stations or just on a TV show I don’t remember, all I remember was feeling connected to her low voice and the soft but dark beat of the song. From there, I went on my Spotify and just started listening to her released singles and EPs. I hate myself for never giving her a chance at first but I’m glad I was given a second chance and saw the light. I’m all ready for September when her debut album comes out. Thank God!
2. Zella Day – Zella Day, I found her on accident. I was searching for new music in May, going through the new music releases on Spotify and the song “Sweet Ophelia” showed up first and I was hooked as soon as it started. It wasn’t just the beat of the song that made me melt, her vocals were so strong but gentle. It was a catchy song, easy to remember all of the lyrics of the song. I’m ready for my next iTunes card, because I’m buying the rest that I don’t have yet but maybe I can hold out until her new EP comes out.
3. London Grammar – This band consists of three members, Hannah, Dan, and Dot. They were another I found on accident, I was really looking for soft and calming songs, very Indie honestly. The song “Strong” began to play and the different sounds of the guitars gave me a very interesting feeling, I was hoping it wasn’t going to be too upbeat because I am a lover of songs starting off slow and then end up getting more and more uptempo. This song was a good balance of the two, I think the only reason it has that kind of balance is because of the girl’s voice, it’s very low but also high in a way too. I even have a little bit of trouble getting MY voice to go back and forth, she does sound a bit like Florence Walsh of Florence + The Machine but I feel like Hannah’s voice is stronger than Florence’s in a way. It’s hard to explain and I’m not about to start a debate of how I’m wrong so I’ll just stop there.