Ahead of her anticipated new album Modern Age arriving on August 18th, Nashville singer-songwriter Jill Andrews has released her new single "80's Baby." With the slow burning nostalgic leadoff track, Andrews remarks with wistfulness on just how different the world has come to be since the days of making mixtapes and cruising the cul-de-sacs.
Of the new single, Andrews said “I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee. We lived in middle class suburbia with green lawns, fenced dogs, and nice neighbors for the most part. If my homework was done, I had freedom to run around the neighborhood and explore with my friends. Friday night was a trip to Blockbuster and The Dairy Queen for a couple chocolate dipped cones for my brother and I. My family would all gather on the couch with a bowl of popcorn to watch the latest Indiana Jones movie.
As a child, I loved the feeling of togetherness with my friends and family. My life was centered around other people. In writing this song, I was comparing my experience of childhood to my own children’s. There has been more isolation in their experiences brought on by the pandemic and by the proliferation of personal devices. Now kids can be entertained at every moment. The outdoors isn’t as exciting as watching television or playing video games. There isn’t as much time to dream and create. It makes me miss the simplicity of my childhood and wish that I could go back in time a few decades and take my kids with me.”
Standing at the intersection of memory lane and tomorrow, Modern Age is an ode to simpler times, an album that goes beyond nostalgia to veneration of what were to so many, the golden years. It’s a stunning reflection on how far we’ve all come, but one that leaves the listener wondering about the price of “progress.” Produced by Lucas Morton at 4115 Studios, it features ten tracks that range from anthemic, pop dreams with ethereal synths and rich vocals, to intimate acoustic confessions. It’s a meditation on childhood and changing times, growing up and looking back. In moments, the epitome of 90s pop perfection with airy synths and shimmering vocals and in others, pared down and heart-wrenchingly intimate, Modern Age is dripping in reverence for a simpler time, when the world was as big as your high school, when love was waiting by the phone, when we wondered about the future instead of lived in it. With addictive melodies that evoke Susannah Hoffs and Kate Bush, Modern Age is at once a time capsule of and a love letter to the places we all began.
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From the UK’s West Country, Burr Island are duo and best friends, Tom England and Oskar Porter. After garnering support from Mark Radcliffe at BBC Radio 2 for their second single, ‘Nunney Town’, Burr Island dive into more political waters with their third release, ‘English Roses’.
Having harnessed a core following round the Glastonbury type fields of yore, Burr Island have brought comparison to the iconic Simon & Garfunkel, however, their originals and equally introspective lyrics bring new meaning to that golden era of San Francisco ‘happening’ hippie spirit, as channelled through their beloved West Country, as they take you on their own Burr Island; an intimate, melodic journey and state, in search of meaning and humane value.
‘English Roses’ is a folk song about xenophobia and how growing up in small towns, the duo saw the insidiousness of unconscious racism, notably during Brexit when there was so much hostility in the air. “You only grow English roses, calling the other flowers weeds”. Now, with the government forcing this cruel rhetoric again, with ‘STOP THE BOATS’, aiming to divide us once more, Burr Island look to remind us that there is an inherent commonality among humans.
Recorded at Kundalini Studios in Devon and produced by Steve Cradock (Ocean Colour Scene/Paul Weller/The Specials/P.P. Arnold), ‘English Roses’ encases its politically charged lyrics in a sentimental and warm vintage sound, which builds from its poignant beginnings to powerful and thought-provoking heights. It’s a classic sound but with the duo’s perfect heartfelt harmonies echoing important social and political issues of our modern era.
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They say no artist's journey is the same. And in the case of Megan Wyn that statement could not be more true. Megan has been playing festivals and shows on the circuit since she was 16. At the ripe age of 18 she has already done the toilet tour more than most musicians ten years her senior, thanks to the kind help of her mum, Nerys.
It is rare that an artist's first single release comes after sets at The Great Escape, Truck Festival, Y Not and Isle Of Wight Festival. Especially when they completed their debut headline tour earlier in the year. But no story is the same.
An old head on young shoulders, Megan rightly feels that she has reached her starting point. With live experiences already in the bag, it was just a matter of honing her sound and landing on something that was truly representative of herself. It's also true that moving from her native Anglesey just off the Welsh coast, to her now home of Manchester at the age of 16, would have helped Megan develop not only as a musician but most importantly as a woman.
Megan grew up wanting exactly what she has now, the ability to put pen to paper and have songs fall out of her, to play shows to packed out venues in Manchester, as well as, elsewhere. And most importantly, play the festivals she probably would have attended anyway. 'You Don't Get It', sounds like a cut from the Ayoade classic, Submarine. It is a quintessentially British sounding record full of hope and desperation in equal measure.
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