Overcoats - Fire & Fury (Official Music Video)

Overcoats second album, The Fight, dropped on the 13th March. The email the band sent around to their mailing list to advertise their new arrival was slightly apologetic in tone, acknowledging that the day Corona Virus (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic might not be a great time to be unleashing a new album on the world. Still, they hope it will provide a certain amount of comfort to listeners and that we all get through this.

The band released one of my favourite albums of 2017 in Young, so the expectations were always going to be high. It's too early into my listening, and too early in the year, to give my verdict, but as 'Fire & Fury' shows, the signs are very, very good.

Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

Sharon Van Etten's 2019 album Remind Me Tomorrow has an air of toughness and stone cold Patti Smith esque cool about it that just takes the breath away. 'Seventeen' (along with 'Comeback Kid') is a great example of this new found steeliness, and it's a record that will stand the test of time I'm sure.

Cosmo - Midnight

I first heard this song about... three months ago? I can't remember how I came across it, but I'm pretty sure that a random Spotify playlist was involved...

I did what I often do on Spotify, which is to file it away for a later date to listen to distractedly while doing other things, or else be stopped dead by.

This was one of the 'be stopped dead by' ones.

"That sounds a helluva lot like Florence Welch..." I thought.

There isn't really anything about Cosmo up online if you search by the band name and song title, and searches are hampered by there being an Australian band out there called Cosmo's Midnight, so I've only just found out that... I was right. It, um, is Florence Welch singing, and that Cosmo's 'Midnight' basically lives in a weird algorithmic space on YouTube with various slightly obscure/less well known Florence + The Machine tracks such as 'Paper Massacre', 'Conductor' and 'As Far As I Could Get'.

Given that the identity of the vocalist on this track has been quietly driving me mad for at least a month now, it is good to know that I was right, but... Had I trusted my instincts and typed the band name, song name and 'Florence Welch' into my search engine at the time, I would have found this out a lot faster. As such, I probably am the last person in the Florence + The Machine fan universe to figure this out. (Looks mildly embarrassed in a pleased kind of way)

Niki & The Dove - DJ, Ease My Mind (Official Music Video)

Shot through with the brooding intensity of both early Florence + The Machine and mid period Patrick Wolf (it was released in 2011, the same year as Ceremonials and Lupercalia), the epic 'DJ, ease my mind' is a masterclass in baroque pop: All encompassing, dramatic, ferocious, slightly mysterious...

It featured on 2012's Instinct album and hasn't really aged since. A floor filler in any era.

Celeste - Stop This Flame (Official Video)

Celeste was crowned BBC Music's Sound of 2020 back at the beginning of January, about a month before 'Stop This Flame' was released. I see this song as being a vindication of that decision but it's also an exciting record generally: There is so much going on in there. From the jazz influenced vocal to the house feel of the piano riff, to the general sense of euphoria. It is the sound of a rising artist having her moment and enjoying every second of it, with the expectation of more moments to come, and I salute her for it.

Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog

Every now and then I like to re-watch this clip, and generally salute Big Mama Thornton. Her version of 'Hound Dog' was the original version, pre Elvis Presley. She also wrote and performed the original 'Ball and chain', as made famous by Janis Joplin (who certainly acknowledged Big Mama Thornton, whereas Elvis Presley did not).

She was just an absolute powerhouse of talent. An absolute legend.

Maggie Rogers - The Knife (Live On Austin City Limits)

Maggie Rogers Heard it in a past life album feels almost ubiquitous these days, thanks to the success of 'Alaska', but it's a ubiquity that's well deserved given its sonic palette of sophisticated pop. 'The Knife' has more in common with the upbeat 'Give a little' than with the brooding but hypnotic understated electro of 'Alaska', but it's a complex piece of pop that holds up well to repeated listening. And you can dance to it.