One of the nicest things about being a music fan is discovering a talented artist in their very early stages and then, because of that talent, watch their careers grow. Such is the way with Låpsley who first appeared on Breaking More Waves on the 28th December 2013 as an unsigned singer and producer with a disarmingly beautiful, minimal, pitch-shifted vocal ‘duet’ called Station. From that point a deal with XL Records followed and in 2016 Holly Lapsley Fletcher’s debut album Long Way Home followed. The question here was how could she possibly create an album that matched the sleek simplicity of Station? The answer was, she didn’t need to. Long Way Home was much more fully fleshed than might be expected. The likes of Operator (He Doesn’t Call Me) found her going up-tempo, reaching out to the disco and sounding a little like a lost M People tune, whilst Hurt Me was a big electronic pop ballad that managed to sound grandiose and intimate in equal measure. Long Way Home was a highly cohesive debut record that has provided the footing for Holly to go in any direction she wants in the future. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next. Låpsley - Hurt Me (Video)
With the UK summer festival season now over (there’s a blog post to be written about how the concept of ‘summer festival season’ is a contributory factor to the death of indoor music venues – but we’ll leave that to another day), we’re reminded of the final day of our final festival (Bestival). There on a lazy come down Sunday,Breaking More Waves favourite Låpsley provided goosebumps and chills in places we didn’t even know it was possible to get them, with a beautifully discreet but emotional set, that if our life of festivals was a film would have found the credits rolling immediately after. It isn’t of course – and so we stayed for the likes of The Jacksons and Clarence Clarity into the evening, but that day it was this song, Hurt Me, that got us inside. Now there’s an official video for you to enjoy, which is one of those ‘artist goes for a walk’ type ones. So if you woke up this morning and thought to yourself "what I really want to see today is singer and electronic musician Låpsley going for a walk," then you're in luck. If you didn't, then you should still listen to this wonderful tune, even if you've heard it a few times already. Låpsley - Hurt Me (Video)
Well this is rather good isn’t it? Hurt Me, the new single from Låpsley is a shift more towards the middle ground of traditional pop song than her previous more experimental work, but thankfully with the change there is absolutely no loss in all the things that made her previous songs so compelling; the beauty, the heart wrenching emotion and the power through calmness are all still present and correct. Before you panic with our use of the words 'middle ground', let’s be clear; Låpsley hasn’t made a club banger bound for constant rotation on Capital FM and is unlikely to soon be found hanging out in the VIP section of Shoooshh or Liquid with Joey Essex. No, this is just the sign of a young artist developing and expanding her musical vision even further, not playing safe and repeating what has gone before, without compromising what made her special in the first place. Låpsley - Hurt Me
One of the highlights of Brighton’s Great Escape festival back in May was the performance of XL Recording artist and Blog Sound of 2015 winner Låpsley. Having previously witnessed one of her early electronic sets at Glastonbury Festival the year before on the BBC Introducing Stage, which was to be honest a little bit ropey, the improvement nearly twelve months on was vast. In Brighton she was composed, soulful and the benefit of practice was clearly evident. It’s that composure in particular that shines through on new track Burn. This clearly isn’t a song that’s aiming for the pop charts, but a song that shows that Låpsley is in command of doing what she wants to do, irrespective of commercial potential or not. “You may be the one that I’ve chosen, it’s gonna burn if we get closer,” she sings in that confessional mellow tone she has before adding “I’m thinking about the long term, I’m thinking about the future.” It’s another strong argument for less is more – listen to the way the song swells gradually into something rather powerful and then with a single swipe cuts it all down again for a moment. Gorgeous. Låpsley - Burn
This is the third installment of a series of posts designed to suggest a few artists that might be worth your attention if you're struggling to decide who to see amongst the hundreds playing at this year's Great Escape in Brighton. Click back through the previous two posts to see recommendations 1-8. Here's our next four: Recommendations 9. Låpsley Winner of the Blog Sound of 2015 poll, a nominee on the BBC Sound of list and one of our choices as Ones to Watch 2015 last November, Liverpool's Låpsley (real name Holly Lapsley Fletcher) has been making quite a storm over the last year and a half with her beautiful downtempo electronic music that captures the minimalism of James Blake and then twists and manipulates it into something with aspects of jazz, soul, classical, pop and ambient dance in it. Having put going to university on hold she's signed to XL records and is now pursuing a musical career to see where it takes her. With only a handful of live shows under her belt, she's on a fast learning curve, but her Understudy EP from January bodes very well for an innovative and intriguing album at some point in the future.
10. Float Fall Belguim's Float Fall captured hearts with a delicate little pop song that sounded like a cross between The Beautiful South's A Little Time, David Gray's Babylon and Coldplay's Fix You with beats back in 2013. It was called Someday and we've been waiting for them to make their way to the UK ever since. Finally 2015 is that time.
11. Broods Of New Zealand brother sister duo Broods' debut album Evergreen, last December we wrote: "Despite the album achieving number 1 in the charts in their home country and number 5 in Australia, in the UK Broods hardly made any sort of dent in the public consciousness due to a promotional campaign that appeared to focus largely on Australasia and America rather than Europe. This is a shame, because with Evergreen Broods conjured up a record of swelling atmospheric synths, polished production (from Joel Little of Lorde fame) and most importantly some excellent melodic, hooky, memorable pop songwriting that has been the soundtrack to the second half of our year."
12. Ward Thomas Ward Thomas (another sibling duo) are one of the groups that alongside Breaking More Waves favourites The Shires are being touted as responsible for an upsurge in UK based country music. If vocal harmonies, good old twangy guitars and songs that sound like they've come straight out of Nashville are your thing, then we recommend Ward Thomas for Great Escape.
As soon as this new Låpsley video for Brownlow was released yesterday virtually every new music site in our land (and other lands) rushed to post it. A day after, the video still has just around 4,000 views so we figure there’s a hell of a lot of people out there who don’t click play as soon as something new is posted, so a more leisurely and less rushed post is still worth the time. Here’s the key facts you need to know about Brownlow: 1. The song is taken from her Understudy EP, which is a very good EP. In fact we have a spreadsheet called Favourite EPs of 2015 and it is listed on that spreadsheet. Having said that there are only 2 other EPs listed right now, which suggests we either have very high standards or actually haven’t listened to that many new EPs this year. See if you can guess which it is. 2. There’s a mellow bouncy bass sound in Brownlow which sounds very much like the bouncy bass sounds that bald headed techno brothers Orbital used to make. This is also a good thing. More bouncy bald brother bass please. 3. The video is basically Låpsley riding around in a car a bit and being ‘in da club’. Thankfully she has yet to write a song with lyrics that revolve around her being ‘in da club’ but if she does we may have to reconsider our position on her as that would not be a good thing. This song, as far as we can tell, is about living for the moment and seeing what happens, with lyrics about jumping into a pool and not knowing where the bottom is. Dangerous but exciting. Especially if you can't swim. 4. Låpsley was the winner of the Blog Sound of 2015 poll. This was also a good thing – she was one of our votes. 5. She’s playing some live shows and festivals soon. Dates (here). Another good thing. In summary Låpsley + music = a good thing.
The votes have been counted and verified and we can now confirm that the winner of this year’s Blog Sound of 2015 poll is Låpsley. We’re very pleased to see Låpsley top the poll, having supported her on the blog with a number of posts, starting in December 2013 when Station was first released. She was one of our three choices in voting on the poll, the other two being Laura Doggett (who didn’t make the Blog Sound longlist) and Chløë Black (who did). Låpsley has also appeared on a whole variety of tip lists and ones to watch posts across the internet over the last few months so it comes as no surprise to find her topping the Blog Sound Poll as well. Of course winning a poll or being included on a tip list is no guarantee that future releases will be as inspiring as the ones that get artists noticed in the first place, but we’re certainly hoping that things go well for Låpsley and that she achieves whatever she wants to achieve with her music. Her new EP is released on January 5th. About The Blog Sound Poll The Blog Sound poll asked 62 UK based music bloggers to nominate their 3 favourite emerging artists. The definition of emerging was left to individual bloggers, but to be selected an artist couldn’t have had a Top 40 hit either as an artist on their own right or as a named collaborator at the time of voting. Låpsley was the clear winner of the poll with double the number of points than any other act on the 15 strong long list that was announced when the voting closed. The longlist can be seen by clicking here. Låpsley continues a pattern of female vocal acts topping the poll. Previous winners are Banks, Marika Hackman, Haim and Friends. Last year's joint winners Banks and Marika Hackman have continued to receive support from UK bloggers in 2014, being the 2nd and 3rd most blogged acts by UK bloggers on Hype Machine. So the title 'Blog Sound of 2014' stood up well. The voting blogs this year were: 17 Seconds, A New Band A Day, A Pocket Full Of Seeds, A World Of Music And Madness, Across The Kitchen Table, Alphabet Bands, Beat Surrender, Beat2aChord, Both Bars On, Brapscallions, Bratfaced LDN, Breaking More Waves, Brighton Music Blog, Daisy Digital, Dots And Dashes, Drunken Werewolf, Echoes and Dust, Electronic Rumors, Even The Stars, Everything Flows, Getintothis, God Is In The TV, Hearty Vibes, Hitsville UK, I Love Pie, Just Music That I Like, Kemptation, Like 1999, Lipstick Disco, Little Indie Blogs, Love Music : Love Life, Music Broke My Bones, Music Liberation, Music Like Dirt, My Day By Day Music, Never Enough Notes, Not Many Experts, Notes For A Road Sign, One Album A Week, Popped Music, Queen Beetch, Rave Child, Scientists Of Sound, Some Of It Is True, Song By Toad, Sounds Good To Me Too, Sound Of Now Music, Spectral Nights, Sweeping The Nation, The Blue Walrus, The Devil Has The Best Tuna, The Electricity Club, The Evening's Empire, The Mad Mackerel, The Metaphorical Boat, The Paper Penguins, This Must Be Pop, Thoughts On Music, Three Beams, Too Many Blogs, The VPME, What If I Had A Music Blog Lapsley - Falling Short (Video)
We’re getting ready to say goodbye to another year and here at Breaking More Waves it’s been a very successful one. How do we define this success? In three simple ways: 1. We’re still doing what we do. That might not sound a particularly impressive statement, but to continue to keep Breaking More Waves running, this year posting nearly 50 more times than any previous year and hitting over 500 posts in total, against the pressures of a demanding full time job and family is success in itself. 2. To still get huge pleasure and enjoyment out of doing what we do. 3. Having cheekily asked on Twitter if anyone would be prepared to pay to read our blog posts and getting a few positive answers, in January of this year, alongside another music blogger Adam from Alphabet Bands we put this to the test and participated in a non-stop 24 hour Blogathon to raise money for Cancer Research asking readers (as well as friends and family) to sponsor us. We were stunned by the reaction from readers and their generosity, eventually raising just over £1,500 between the 2 blogs in the 24 hour period. Receiving £50 donations from complete strangers who were reading our posts was an incredibly humbling experience and without doubt the best and most valueable thing we have ever done in Breaking More Waves 6 and a half year history. Goodbye 2014. We’re closing our year by featuring 12 of our favourite songs we've featured this year, each one in video form. For once, we 're providing no commentary on the individual tracks, we think we've said all we want to say for one year. This isn’t a definitive list as we’ve chosen 1 song from each month, meaning that on really good months a number of great songs have had to be sacrificed and some songs that we adore haven’t made the cut as they never had a video. We've also chosen 12 different artists. See you in 2015. January Låpsley - Station
Our fifth one to watch for 2015 is another artist who, like earlier choice Laura Doggett, first appeared on Breaking More Waves at the back end of 2013 with a song that still stops us in our tracks; the calm perfection of Station. At the time we posted Station it had just a few hundred plays. Now it has over half a million. When Station was uploaded to Soundcloud, sailing enthusiast Holly Lapsley Fletcher was just a d-i-y artist recording at home on GarageBand . Very few people could have had any idea that this song was part of the beginning of a journey that would, over the course of the next 12 months, lead her to play Glastonbury Festival on the BBC Introducing stage as her second ever electronic gig and sign with XL Records, the home of diverse artists such as Adele, FKA Twigs and Jungle. Låpsley has grown from making songs created from simple acoustic guitar loops to beautifully crafted pieces that encompass downtempo electronica, ambient and on Falling Short, a song about the complexities of relationships and not being able to hold on, elements of jazz and soul but all played with a very modern experimental edge. Her debut EP Understudy is being released on January 5th next year. Her journey is only just beginning and for that reason she has to be one to watch for 2015. What roads will she take next and where will they lead? Låpsley - Station (Video)
Last night Holly Lapsley Fletcher better known quite simply as Låpsley released a new track to the world. In a radical departure Falling Short ditches her previous downtempo beauty for a big booty shaking banger about being in da club with a cheesy mid-section rap from Pitbull. Actually this may be a lie. Sorry to er....fall short. Falling Short continues where Station and Painter (Valentine) left off, constructed from a deep gorgeous minimalism with some vocal manipulation tricks, but if anything it adds tones of soul and jazz showing that despite the pitch shifting Lapsley has a wonderful voice all of her own. Whilst it's still very early days and we'd still exercise a degree of caution, a Låpsley album, no matter how far off it is right now, seems like an exciting proposition. Låpsley - Falling Short
Having disregarded music industry protocol and wisdom by uploading Station to her Soundcloud account just before Christmas when almost everyone was doing other things, Liverpool’s Låpsley found herself at the centre of a blog-buzz Hype Machine jumping whirlwind by the start of January and it hasn't stopped since.
So let’s just pause and offer four words of warning: It’s very early days. Whilst the music Holly Lapsley Fletcher is creating are undoubtedly gorgeous downtempo gems, the corner of the internet that deals with new artists (and that includes us) needs to learn a lesson from her songs and chill a bit. Why? Because she’s hardly played any live electronic shows; being thrust into the limelight and broadcast to the world online at Glastonbury on the BBC Introducing Stage was a gamble when so few gigs have been played. She’s still incredibly young, and therefore still developing as an artist and a person. Too much excitement can be a dangerous thing, even if the artist doesn’t feel it, those listening can sometimes expect too much. You think we'd have learnt that by now wouldn't you? So for now let’s take a breather, enjoy the music and this newly released video for what it is, but not start calling her the female James Blake or whatever other superlative is out there. As hard as it is not to get over excited, let’s just all keep a bit calm. That's going to be bloody difficult though isn't it? Låpsley - Painter (Valentine) (Video)
We’ve already posted the sparse and beautiful Pray For You by Tydes via Soundcloud (featuring one of our favourite discoveries of the end of 2013 Låpsley) and now here’s a video. A man with a set of telescopic loppers, some support scaffolding in what appears to be the abandoned remains of a building, some undergrowth, some acrobatics and dancing are the main components here. We really have no idea what it all means, but then does everything have to have meaning? Sometimes it’s nice just to have art for arts sake without reading anything into it. In other Låpsley related news, she’s been announced as one of the artists playing the 2014 Kendal Calling festival. Tydes - Pray For You (Featuring Låpsley) - Video
Låpsley is rapidly turning into the new rising queen of the blogosphere following the release of Station and Painter (Valentine) - we’re pretty pleased to have helped her on her way a little. Yet whilst the downtempo beauties she’s been releasing recently sound languidly restful, she certainly isn’t taking it easy when it comes to creativity. Here she is again, this time with Tydes out of Los Angeles (real name Ian Edson) helping sprinkle her magic on his track Pray For You from his forthcoming EP released on March 17th. Just like the two aforementioned Låpsley gems Tydes keeps everything minimal with just a couple of repeated vocal lines, ghostly chilled production and drips of electronic elegance. Another melancholy sounding piece of slowtronica to put on repeat. Tydes - Pray For You Featuring Låpsley
Over the last few years there’s been a subtle shift in the paradigm in terms of how musicians present themselves. No longer it seems do new artists have to have charisma or stand for anything but the music they make. Releasing via the internet as a ‘mystery artist’ or an alter-ego is almost de rigueur these days – the statement ‘it’s just about the music’ seems to crop up time and time again. Pop music has resorted to the same traditions as both classical and folk music have done before, bringing a new conservatism where doing anything that could be seen as detracting from the substance of the song itself is pooh-poohed by the new tastemaker elite. It’s why somebody like Låpsley fits perfectly in. Now don’t misunderstand us, this isn’t a criticism of this young singer / songwriter / producer who has started to weave some quite brilliant material; far from it. It’s just a fact that she’s operating in a way that many iGeneration artists are right now – with some affordable technology, an electronic alter ego and with little flamboyance, extravagance or pretentiousness about the way she presents her art. What little we do know of Låpsley is that she’s 17, lives in Liverpool, loves sailing plus photography and after a number of early acoustic attempts and electronic dabbling has left many listeners breathless with her beautiful song Station. It’s a tune that without any label backing became a word of mouth (or should that be blog to blog?) hit since it was first uploaded in late December, including on Breaking More Waves. Now Låpsley follows up Station with what feels like its natural sibling. Painter (Valentine) bathes in soft electronic hues of loveliness. It’s the musical equivalent of a cuddle when you’re at your most vulnerable from someone who really cares. It’s a song that reshapes, twists and distorts reality and makes everything seem OK. It’s the stuff of dreams, dreams that are magnified by the lyrics: "Come paint these wings and make me fly." It is, we hope you agree, just gorgeous. In this case being 'just about the music' is 100% enough.
As a new music blogger there comes a great pleasure in discovering a song that comes along with no fanfare, writing about it, and then slowly watching that song go supernova, from a few hundred plays to over one hundred thousand plays in a couple of weeks. This is the case with Station by Liverpool’s Holly Lapsley Fletcher, better known as Låpsley. Station is our favourite song of 2014 so far. (OK, we wrote about it in 2013, but the momentum really didn’t get going till over the New Year period). Now there’s a simple but effective video directed by Mike Brits that perfectly suits the elegant ambience of this ‘duet’ with a twist. If this was the last song we ever heard in our life we would die happy. Still and always beautiful. Låpsley - Station (Video)
For the last couple of weeks the majority of artists and the music industry have been on holiday, which from a blogging perspective has been a welcome respite from the daily in-box overload, allowing us to spend time seeking out our own gems for your audio gratification without too much interference from labels and PR. Arguably one of the brightest diamonds we’ve found in that time is Liverpool’s Låpsley. When we first heard and posted her stunning song Station (if you haven't heard it yet let it make sensual love to your ears here) it had less than a couple of thousand plays on Soundcloud, but in the last week the track has gone super nova hitting up over 50k listens and reaching the Top 5 on Hype Machine's most popular chart. You would imagine after that this new producer of wonder would be giving it a rest, but yesterday evening she uploaded another track called Travelling, this time a collaboration with Manchester’s Sam Kyle aka Nomi (who we assume is the man pictured above and below on his Soundcloud player). Travelling is the right title for this 9 minute epic. It’s not as song based as Station but instead it’s a journey through techno, downtempo and bass genres that shows the limitless possibilities of computer generated music. Rather like the Jon Hopkins record Immunity, Travelling is a headphones on, eyes shut, lose yourself piece right through to the fading piano and crackling atmospherics at the end, although don't listen in bed as you might just want to dance as well. Nomi x Låpsley - Travelling
Whilst the opportunity for long-term careers and significant monetary gain for many musicians may have been destroyed by modern technology and internet, for others it has created the chance to create and be heard in a fashion that is far simpler than it ever has been before. 17 year old Liverpool based Holly Lapsley Fletcher aka Låpsley is a prime example of that. She’s been uploading tracks to the internet for the last half a year, starting with songs built around simple acoustic guitar loops before progressing to pieces that mix ambient, house and downtempo electronica. Whilst some of these tracks sound like Låpsley is still finding her musical feet, (although with 45,000 plays on Soundcloud in 2 months Pick Me Up finds her standing strong) it’s with Station, a new track uploaded on Christmas Eve, that things seem to have really fallen into place. The song’s calm caress and velvety minimalism provides the backing to an unnamed 'co-vocalist' of sorts who brings a touch of soul to this chilled gem. In just over the three minutes of Station Låpsley shows us how electronic music can make something disarmingly beautiful. A sleek spell has been cast. Låpsley - Station
