Latest Reviews

April Lawlor – known creatively just as April – began writing songs when she was only ten years old. By last year, she’d started posting her bedroom creations onto Soundcloud, and she quickly started winning fans. An early supporter was American indie-pop musician Alec Benjamin who invited her as support on to this European tour last year, leading to April playing a string of shows across the continent.

James Vincent McMorrow has crafted one hell of an infectious upbeat in his latest single ‘Gone.’ The Irish singer-songwriter that captured everyone’s heart with his rapturous cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ is dabbling with some unique R&B/pop sounds in the most recent piece.

Birdy laments her lost, wandering soul through a heartwrenching melody in her new single ‘Just Like a River Does’. As can be expected from any Birdy venture, the tune is rife with poignant piano chords and impassioned vocal work that will simultaneously soothe and sadden you.

With the Coronavirus pandemic resulting in widespread lockdown, Canadian singer-songwriter Donovan Woods holed up in a makeshift recording studio in his Toronto home and got to work on his seventh album, the aptly named Without People. It marked something of a change for Woods, whose blend of country-folk and sublime storytelling has garnered widespread critical acclaim, close to 300 million streams to date, and a JUNO Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year for his 2018 offering Both Ways.

Dutch DJ and producer Oliver Heldens founded his Heldeep Records label in 2015, and in the years since it has gained a reputation for giving young and talented, and more established producers a platform to let the world hear their sound. With his latest release though, Heldens didn’t feel it was quite right for Heldeep, and so he has founded a new label – OH2 Records – which has released the track.

Hailing from Sweden and otherwise known as Svea Virginia Kågemark, SVEA turned a lot of heads with her debut single Don’t Mind Me back in 2018, a smart, confident pop track with a message of empowerment. It marked her out as a rising star, and her follow up track Selfish only accelerated that reputation. Her 2019 single, Complicated, with Alexander Oscar has racked up millions of streams on Spotify.

Jade Bird’s latest single ‘Headstart’ explores the restlessness of an infatuation through a magical, saccharine melody. The English singer-songwriter doesn’t hesitate to lean on her vibrant, sweet-as-molasses voice that glides through the notes with ease. Her personality is beaming through the composition, and the instrumentation only heightens the spellbinding allure of Bird’s vocals.

Up and coming Moroccan Canadian singer / songwriter Faouzia has joined forces with American pop and RnB artists John Legend and Charlie Puth to create a stunning new track, “Minefields.” The single dropped this week and is already receiving rave reviews and the praise of fans everywhere.

Swedish singer and songwriter LÉON, otherwise known as Lotta Lindgren, dropped her self-titled debut album last year, four years after the release of her first single. In the intervening years, Lindgren spent time writing in LA, with the recording process taking place in London. The album received solid reviews and established her as an artist to watch.

WizKid, the alias of Lagos-born singer and songwriter Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, is undeniably one of Nigeria’s biggest stars. Since his hit single Holla At Your Boy blew up back in 2011, and his smash hit collaboration with Drake – One Dance – went to number one in no fewer than fifteen countries in 2016, WizKid and his eclectic mix of R&B, Afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, pop and hip hop has been on a collision course with global superstardom. With his new album Made In Lagos, it feels like he has finally fully arrived at that destination.