Fusing pop and soft rock into hauntingly beautiful but pulsing melodies and lush musicianship, Ghost is a searing track all about the person who comes into your life like a game show host, showing you all of the best parts of themselves, and then when you pull back the curtain to look for the truth and the real person, you discover the smoke and mirrors that lie that behind the facade....and that in reality there is nothing there...like a ghost. Written by Mark Sykes and Claire Helm and produced by Steve Dutton with mastering from the highly respected studios of Carl Rosamond at RSS Music and Media.
This track features a veritable Huddersfield super group of superb, well established local musicians of the highest calibre. With polymath Steve Dutton from the mod legends The Killermeters on drumming, engineering, producing, cinematography and photography duties, local rock god Roger Kinder from one of West Yorkshire’s leading live bands Razorbach on lead guitar, the badass bass from Mark Sykes of Champagne Supernova, and the exceptional singer/songwriter and exemplary musican Nick Ryder on additional guitars and keys.
Ghost also features the stunning acoustic guitar of the late Boo Sutcliffe, and this fact is heartbreakingly significant as it is the last track that Boo was able to play on shortly before brain surgery led to him losing his renowned dexterity in his arm and hand. It was purely incidental that the track was called Ghost, as his playing is very much alive and in glorious technicolour on this powerful track, and will forever be.
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Moving Into Tucson, the indie pop rock band known for their evocative storytelling and unforgettable melodies, returns with Are You Ready, a shimmering Britpop anthem for our times. Infused with the optimism and energy of the genre's golden era, this track is a call to action wrapped in an irresistibly catchy tune.
The song’s lyrics, driven by heartfelt imagery and a universal message, evoke childhood innocence and the urgent need for unity. With lines like, “Are you ready to build up a world of love / To build up a world of peace” the track challenges listeners to step up and create a better future. The nostalgic verses, painted with sunny playground memories and riverside conversations, are a poignant reminder of what’s at stake.
Anchored by the chorus’s soaring harmonies and upbeat rhythm, Are You Ready is not just a song, it’s an anthem of hope. The band’s Britpop influences shine through in every driving chord and uplifting refrain, making it impossible not to sing along.
Are You Ready is more than a rallying cry; it’s a feel-good reminder that change starts with all of us. So, turn up the volume, let the music inspire you, and join Moving Into Tucson in building a world worth dreaming about.
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| Photo - Clare Marie Bailey |
Gwenno today announces her new album Utopia due out July 11 via Heavenly Recordings. The album is the follow-up to her hugely acclaimed third album Tresor which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2022. To accompany the announcement Gwenno has shared lead single “Dancing On Volcanoes” together with a stylish B&W video shot in Las Vegas. Over a backing track that swirls, drives and punches like a motorik-fuelled version of The Smiths, Gwenno looks back on dancefloors that no longer exist, to the act of dancing as catharsis and the magic of losing oneself until 5am in a strange and beautiful new environment. It’s the perfect return of one of the UK's most creative and driven musicians.
Commenting on the track Gwenno says: “Jarvis Cocker dancing alone on stage, surrounded by dry ice, perfectly conveying the loss of our congregational dancing and drinking in small venues with a slight swing of the hip and flick of a hand... dancing 'til 5am at Le Mandela restaurant in Grangetown, Cardiff... the Pet Shop Boys' perfectly aimed observations on modern life... the spirit of Johnny Marr on guitar, his echoes of the Celtic sea passed down through the generations... the need to dance as a cathartic act... it's all here - Dancing on Volcanoes!"
43 years into her life, Gwenno Saunders has been many people. The disaffected Cardiff schoolgirl; the teenage Las Vegas dancer; the singer in indie pop group The Pipettes. There was a turn in a Bollywood film, a nightclub tour, a stint cleaning floors in an East London pub. Long before she would become an acclaimed solo songwriter in both Welsh and Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury, a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, there were the days of Nevada, London, Brighton; of Irish dancing, techno clubs, messiness and chaos.
Utopia, Saunders’ fourth solo album, is an extraordinary exploration of all of these selves. If the singer regards her first three solo records — 2014’s Y Dydd Olaf, 2018’s Le Kov and 2022’s Tresor as “childhood records”, rooted in her upbringing, her parents, her formative identity, then Utopia captures a time of self-determination and experimentation. These are songs of discovery, of the years between being someone’s daughter and becoming someone’s wife and someone’s mother. They range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, via contributions from Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline, and encompass William Blake, a favorite Edrica Huws poem, and the Number 73 bus. It is her finest work to date.
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While staying true to the themes of medicine and misogyny at the heart of her conceptual album, "Young Men Need Their Wives" is drawn from a much more personal well of influence. Ultimately pressured by multiple therapists and medical professionals to stay in an abusive relationship during a particularly challenging chapter of her life, this fierce track channels the chaotic, disorienting emotions she felt during that time.
As Hannah explains: “I wrote "Young Men Need Their Wives" as a fierce declaration that we are all worthy of love that is kind, genuine, and healthy—free from manipulation. Many of the lyrics are drawn directly from the harmful and dangerous advice I was given verbatim by therapists and medical professionals. This song is not just about reclaiming my own voice; it’s also about empowering anyone who has ever felt pressured to stay in toxic situations. It serves as a reminder that we deserve love that lifts us up, and we should never settle for being collateral damage in someone else’s journey of self-discovery.”
With lyrics that cut right to the bone and a score that blends the raw energy of Sonic Youth's distorted guitars with the soulful, catchy, yet vulnerable sound of The Shirelles; "Young Men Need Their Wives" shakes to the core with its rebellious spirit and defiant message.
A standout moment of her next album ‘Fragile Creatures’, this song is an assertion of independence and strength that turns a painful experience into a powerful call for self-worth and self-liberation. The track will feature on the record alongside previous singles ‘Curious Mixtures’ and ‘The Edinburgh Seven’.
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