Why Green Buzzard's Forthcoming EP Needs To Be On Your Watch List

And so we reach that point where, other than that seasonal horror that is Christmas novelty songs, new tunes are mostly samples and teasers to what’s coming in the new year. And which way will music turn on this early evidence? Well, same-same and different – as is usually the case.

One thing that seems consistent across a lot of new tracks is the sometimes seamless, sometimes deliberately clashing, mix of the synthesised and the ‘real’. With a first-time self-directed video, Laura Marling has often struck some form of that mechanical/organic balance, and with Soothing (More Alarming/Kobalt) those visuals add to the feeling of slightly discomforting mystery. “…Brooding…” is in the lyric, and in the overall feeling. It comes at you in disconcerting gentle waves, as in a dream – but one that seems likely to take a turn to the nightmarish by the second verse. 

Golden Features also seem to be searching for that peace of sleep. Tom Stell’s band guise offers Wolfie (Foreign Family Collective) as a mostly electronic lullaby to the nephew of the title, as one of the first releases on ODESZA’s newly minted label. As the human element, Julia Stone provides the ideal voice to encourage drifting off to dozing – take that as you will – as her tones float by, skipping stones and lulling the restless innocence. 

If you want a more grown up voice to coming out of the other side of heartbreak, Nadia Reid’s The Arrow & The Aim (Spunk) still comes with the unblinking gaze of her stunning first album Listen To Formation, but comes with a few more layers – notably Sam Taylor’s guitar shimmer alongside that sincere, keening, so-human voice. As it unfolds, it’s a sometimes bumpy recovery, but it all ebbs away beautifully as the storm apparently passes. 

Also further finding their feet, and allowing their style to reach more of its potential, Green Buzzard. As producer, Burke Reid (ex-Gerling, credits now including everybody from Courtney Barnett to Gareth Liddiard, PVT to DZ Deathrays…) finds the pop band that’s probably always been in Paddy Harrowsmith’s head, with Do You Ever Glow? (I Oh You) still just that little bit frayed to be interesting, and retaining that classic slightly English feeling of 20, 30, or 40 years ago. Their upcoming 2017 EP now goes on watch list.

Well, to be entirely correct Spring Has Sprung (Ratbag) actually a while back, and we’re now falling into the season following, but Skegss offer up an early contender for feel-good hit of the summer. With all the rattle and bounce of a bunch of blokes having a few beers in a beachside park and eating prawns straight off the wrapping paper.

Meanwhile, in England the days are getting shorter. Little Cub are down as contenders of next year, and with occasional outbreaks of other noises, seem to have a wide collection of 1980s electronic pop from which to take their cues. My Nature (Domino) has Dominic Gore certainly referencing his (sur)namesake, there being a fair bit of Depeche Mode’s emotional walls to it, along with some Pet Shop Boys’ ironic detachment, and even some of New Order’s early mood of resignation. Ladies, the future. Which is, as usual, just a rerun of what went before, with a slight update in the technology.

Relatedly, let us speak of Trampolene’s artistic credentials. Taking their name from a Julian Cope song (ask your hip grand-uncle…), they moved from their native Swansea to a flat in London where they set up a ’24-hour artistic commune, with no internet access’. Band lead, Jack Jones – fine name for a Welshman, certainly – is currently acting as both opening spoken word act and guitarist in Pete Doherty’s latest backing combo. With the gloriously named Blue Balls And A Broken Heart (Mi7 Records), the band have a similar weary broken romanticism and odd nostalgia, much akin to the old Libertine, with intermittent outbreaks of messy squealing noise over Jonesy’s ponderings. The Doherty-featuring clip is, naturally, in a scratchy and slightly faded black and white.

With its asymmetric sample loops and odd tensions of a built around former romantic partners, Pearls make an idiosyncratic racket, sometimes with a touch of Gorillaz trundling across desert climes as Superstar (Remote Control/Dot Dash) unfurls. Settling into a new lineup – although still centred on Ryan and Ellice working together after certain sparks have gone – this is slightly askance modern pop that seems set to develop into something of worth, and likely airplay.