All posts tagged Sways

Parade – Candide

“If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others?”
– Voltaire, Candide

It was always going to take something truly magical to awaken me from my writer’s hibernation. With every passing month, it’s felt harder and harder to find the right words. I bought a desk in an attempt to commit myself, but the desk soon became littered with half-finished articles and a sense of frustration. I kept making excuses and finding new distractions…. and I think for a while, I might have even fallen a little bit out of love with music. That seems like such a strange and horrible thing to admit now, because in truth, it took just a few seconds of ‘Candide’ by Parade, to know that this was THE song to make everything right again.

A beautifully imagined debut by one of Manchester’s most promising new artists; ‘Candide’ is seemingly seeped in an old fashioned romanticism, a celebration of regret, despair and longing. Every moment is tenderly crafted by an artist determined to find hope in the darkest of places. Produced in the now mythological SWAYS Bunker.. or for the unenlightened, the spiritual home to some of Manchester’s greatest modern outfits (MONEY, Kult Country, Bernard & Edith and PINS) it seems like the stars might be aligning for Parade to break beyond the confines of the crumbling white walls that stand defiantly opposite Strangeways prison in Salford.

Having been a member of the confrontational and enigmatic post-rock outfit, Hartheim; a band which ended in the most tragic of circumstances with the untimely passing of guitarist Gaz Devreede, one could have almost forgiven Parade’s Nic Townley if he had disappeared off the radar completely. But this is a fascinatingly personal vision, full of hunger, desire and a dream-like innocence that clings lovingly onto every piano chord. With a vocal tone reminiscent of the unashamedly emotional quiver of Jeff Buckley, Townley has a remarkable ability to draw the listener into his world, and keep you there. Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek invited Townley to sing on stage with him during last year’s RNCM show; an unreal moment for an unknown artist, but one taken confidently. Candide is one of the most heartbreakingly perfect pieces of work I’ve heard in forever.

Parade headline Soup Kitchen on September 30th

Photography by Natalie Curtis

Phill Young

Bernard & Edith – WURDS

grets

There is no greater pleasure for someone like me, than to see a Mancunian act like Bernard & Edith find themselves in the position of beginning 2015 signed to Bella Union, deservedly about to find bigger audience. I distinctly remember the first time I met vocalist Greta ‘Edith’ Carroll down at the SWAYS Bunker, her warm personality left a real impression, shining brightly in a room full of chattering people… and together with her talented partner, a/v artist Nick ‘Bernard’ Delap, they have created a musical project unlike any other.

This is pop music with a uniquely northern imprint, defined by Greta’s jazz influenced vocal, unconventional and darkly delicious. Nick’s beautifully experimental soundscapes, produced with field recordings and basic instrumentation, add texture and mystery. It’s an artistic marriage made in well… Whalley Range. I’ve done my little bit in supporting Bernard & Edith along the way, having promoted them back in 2013, and written about them here on numerous occasions… so it feels fitting today to support and celebrate the official launch of WURDS at The Eagle Inn, Salford tonight. 8pm

https://www.facebook.com/bernardandedith

‘Wurds’ 7″ available here: http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/prod/Bernard+Edith-Wurds-BellaUnion-100217.html

Phill Young

Hartheim – Welcome To Hartheim

welcome-to-hartheim

What’s not to love about Manchester’s Hartheim? Their bold sonic assault blends fiery passion with a fine-tuned aesthetic. Their music videos are arresting and brave. There’s a primal quality to their tunes, the best of which have the ability to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

Welcome To Hartheim is brooding and convicted, a reverent force of nature occupying musical territory somewhere between Joy Division and early Puressence. Arpegiatted guitars chime, gritty vocals loop like a mantra. It’s tense and compelling – a joyride through some dark, exotic wonderland. Honed by Sways mainstay Martin Hurley, the steely production makes for an addictive listen. It forces you to want more – to play the track over and over until you’ve had your fix. The climatic ending is pure catharsis – an exhilarating experience you wouldn’t want to miss.

Paul Baird

MONEY – The Shadow Of Heaven

money

There are some artists for whom superlatives simply don’t work. Not that they are undeserving, far from it, but that those kinds of words fail to describe the real essence of their work, immersed as they are in the endless ping-pong tournament of one-upmanship, competitively striving for greater metaphorical heights.

Once every blue moon comes a MONEY, where if you let it, the art will force you to form a relationship with it so personal, that it becomes difficult to extrapolate from your soul. It speaks from within you, you gradually become as much a compulsive semi-conscious transmitter of it’s supposed message as you do a receiver. And so it was with The Shadow Of Heaven, falling to terra firma as it did almost a year ago; part debut album, part emotional interactive installation.

The video for the title track, it’s climatic penultima, extends us another parable upon the impassioned anthology of Jamie Lee and cohorts. It raises head and arms towards the sky, cryptically calling out the questions for which there are perhaps no answers, yet silently and crucially accepting of fate.

Perhaps it will lull us all into doing the same.

Mike Phillips

Hartheim – Welcome To Hartheim

hartttt

It’s fair to say that in the ensuing months since I first introduced Hartheim, the Manchester band have started to generate the kind of buzz needed to seperate themselves from the pack. Debut offering Yellow was certainly an ambitious statement; that dark bellowing vocal still leaves me in a state of rapture after all this time, with it’s climactic ending worthy of a bigger stage.

Having since taken a handful of live shows, each outing seems to further cement them as a band to keep an eye on. Against an immersive visual backdrop, the brutal nature of Hartheim’s set is fully exposed; front-man Mike Emerson’s performance is at times hypnotic, channelling an almost uncomfortable emotion. There’s an element of theatricality and danger to be found here too, and they’ll need to be careful it doesn’t overshadow the music. That being said, this is a band willing to challenge both themselves and the audience.

In Welcome to Hartheim they have created a sound that echoes the work of Esben and the Witch, an unsettling narrative played against brooding guitars, before descending into a cavernous emptiness. When you tear apart the aesthetic exterior, Hartheim are aiming straight for the heart.

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Phill Young

G R E A T W A V E S – YOU

greatwaves3

drop it from the heavens

If I’m honest, this week has been difficult; Sounds From The Other City was a huge success for all at Tru Luv and it’s been hard trying to refocus. One act that played the festival to great acclaim last year is Liverpool/Manchester based G R E A T W A V E S. Having seemingly been in hibernation these past few months, David Lacy’s dreampop project finally emerged with a beautiful new track in YOU. The production is cleaner this time round, more refined. It feels like the sun rising at the start of a new day, warmth scattered across the sky.

https://www.facebook.com/greatwaves

Phill Young