Episode 80
Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett – Orchestra
Edwyn Collins – Paper Planes
The Tubs – Freak Mode
SASAMI – The Seed
Marianne Faithfull- Burning Moonlight
Patrick Watson and Charlotte Cardin – Gordon in the Willows
AJR- Inertia
Saya Gray – Thus is why (I don’t spring 4 love)
Circuit Des Yeux – Megaloner
Edwyn Collins – Paper Planes
Paper planes came to me from the Guardian list of top songs of 2025. A bit further down the list than the others I have played. This is a lovely song and if you read about his life, especially the two strokes he had in 2005 it makes the song more memorable.
You will probably remember his great hit from 1994 A Girl Like You by Collins. His bio on Spotify is really interesting.
A member of Orange Juice (1979 – 1986?), he had a challenging time keeping on a label after Orange Juice and started producing at his own studio purchased with the proceeds from A Girl Like You. The 2005 strokes left him unable to remember words or talk. By 2007 he had recovered and continued making and producing music. His songs are really great with his deep baritone voice!
Edwyn Collins: Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation review – the sense of an ending
Recorded at his home studio in Helmsdale in north Scotland with musicians including his son, William, there is a sense that Edwyn Collins’s 10th solo album – and his fifth since two life-changing strokes in 2005 – is about homecoming, coming full circle, marking the end of a journey. Quite apart from the explicit references to the village in which he lives on The Bridge Hotel, he sings elsewhere of “winding my way back home”.
There’s also a sense of reckoning. The title track alludes to the speech problems caused by his ill health: “Back when the words came easily/ I had the answer to everything”, something also touched upon on Knowledge. Indeed, his lyrics are equally thoughtful and thought-provoking throughout, the musicianship sensitive and never seizing the spotlight from his still distinctive baritone. Paper Planes and It Must Be Real are particularly beautifully realised; the rousing The Heart Is a Foolish Little Thing conceals rueful and tender sentiments. Collins has just announced a farewell tour for the autumn. One has to hope this compassionate, empathetic record is not his farewell album too.
SASAMI – The Seed
another selection from the Guardian list. A great collection, but it needs to be updated.
I am including something different for a video – something live
SASAMI – ‘Slugger’ & ‘Honeycrash’ (Live @ 3voor12 Radio)
so from the Guardian
Sasami Ashworth’s gentle indie rock debut, Sasami (2019), felt reasonably familiar to fans of her previous band, Cherry Glazerr; the bracingly industrial metal of 2022’s Squeeze less so. Now the California musician has moved into sprightly, shiny pop for her third solo album, picking over matters of the heart.
Interesting that they included SEED as one of the best in 2025 because they also write this
Pop may not always come naturally to her. Most of Ashworth’s choruses linger on the ear no longer than a lost ladybird, and the deft Taylor Swift via Grimes-sounding production can’t conceal a dearth of durable material.
For the Seed they write
the marvellous The Seed introduce intriguingly metallic textures.
The Guardian
oh well…
Patrick Watson and Charlotte Cardin – Gordon in the Willows
Have you seen this
Winter Gift Performance ft. Charlotte Cardin
This would have been such a cool (cold) concert to view. It does look like a cold night on the mountain!
Watch Patrick Watson and Charlotte Cardin Perform Surprise Set on Mount Royal
Mount Royal came alive with an unexpected musical gift last night when Patrick Watson and Charlotte Cardin surprised Montreal with an impromptu outdoor concert. Locals bundled up against the winter chill to catch the unannounced performance, which Watson shared through his social channels and was broadcast live on ICI Musique.
Under the starry sky, the pair unveiled their newest collaboration, “Gordon in the Willows,” a hauntingly beautiful track they crafted together last autumn at Watson’s hideaway in Lost River. The song begins with Watson’s fingers dancing across piano keys while Cardin’s voice weaves through the melody before fading into subtle waves of rhythm
Saya Gray – Thus is why (I don’t spring 4 love)
This is the second time we have played Saya Gray, both tracks from the same album.
Saya Gray: Saya review – oddball heartbreak anthems bounce around pop history
If not a genuine oddball, Saya Gray is at least a very entertaining self-stylist. A self-proclaimed “vagabond”, she has talked about having ESP and perfect pitch from birth. The Toronto producer and vocalist’s debut album proper can’t possibly live up to all this bluster but it is a thoroughly enjoyable ride: a set of elastic, translucent songs that draw equally from quirked-up TikTok music – think Kate Nash-style vocals, dreamy Frank Ocean production – as they do yacht rock, country and AOR.
Yacht rock really??
and on this song…”Thus Is Why (I Don’t Spring 4 Love) is a three-and-a-half minute survey of every popular sound circa 2009.”
They continue in a refreshingly honest way, unlike so many other music mags. For the Guardian, Saya Gray suffers from faint praise
which feel drawn straight from a playbook titled Weird, Not Too Weird, Things to Do on a Pop Album. In these moments, she sounds like everyone else. But elsewhere on Saya, Gray has the makings of a true original.
Bob’s Notes
Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett – “Orchestra” – Loose Talk
Bran Ferry of course is a legend after years of solo albums and his era defining work with Roxy Music. This is still my favourite Roxy number.
On Mar 28, Ferry is releasing his first album of new music since 2014’s Avonmore. It will be Ferry’s 17th solo studio album. Loose Talk adds an interesting wrinkle to the Ferry canon as he only provides the music. The “vocals” are a spoken word performance by Amelia Barratt. She is an artist based in Glasgow working with painting, writing and performance.
The Tubs –“ Freak Mode”- Cotton Crown
The Tubs are a London based band who evolved from the previous unit Joanna Gruesome. Reminiscent of Richard Thompson fronting REM, The Tubs released their debut album in 2023. Cottown Crown was their sophomore follow up and contained such gems as Freak Mode. According to frontman Owen “O” Williams, lead single “Freak Mode” was written “about dating while grieving the death of my mother,” the folk singer Charlotte Greig, who is pictured breastfeeding an infant Williams in a graveyard on the album cover. “It’s about making wacky tragicomic romantic assumptions and being an emotional freak, but also kind of being self-aware about that and explaining it to whoever you’re shagging.”
The jury is in and critics loved this album!
Marianne Faithfull- “Burning Moonlight” – Burning Moonlight EP
The single is from an EP of the same name, which is due to be released for Record Store Day in April in 2025. Faithful is a sixties icon who passed away at the end of January earlier this year. She initially became famous for dating Mick Jagger. Her first hit was her top 10 single of the Stones “As Tears Go By”.
Her popularity was overshadowed by personal problems in the 1970s, when she became anorexic, homeless and addicted to heroin. In 1979, the same year that she was arrested for marijuana possession in Norway, Faithfull’s career returned full force with the album Broken English, her most critically hailed album.
Since then Faithfull collaborated with countless artists and released a multitude of projects. Her last is this EP
…
AJR-“ Inertia” – The Maybe Man
AJR is an American indie band founded by brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met. They have been making and releasing music for nearly 20 years. They initially drew attention by performing covers of popular songs and posting them on YouTube.
The brothers grew up in New York City and eventually reached a point of popularity where they sold out Madison Square Gardens.
In 2023, they released their fifth album The Maybe Man.
Inertia is a highlight track with a clever video.
It’s also nice to see a song stripped to its bare bones.
Circuit Des Yeux – “Megaloner” – Halo on the Inside
Circuit des Yeux is the stage name of American singer-songwriter Haley Fohr. Halo on the Inside is her seventh studio album. It was released only last week.
I selected the track Megaloner which is a real keeper.
The music on this album is a glorious mash up of industrial, rave , goth and synthpop.
In stark contrast, Fohr also makes music under the name Jackie Lynn.
Whole-Hearted 
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