The last time I saw London based duo Glass they had ditched the keyboards and were making a mainly guitar based racket, with lead singer Jessica Winter prowling and pouting the stage as if she was possessed by the very spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. So, it comes as some surprise to see that new single Vulnerable sounds like the marching anthem of the lonely alt-pop kids, with a big killer chorus: “Oh she’s vulnerable, really shouldn’t be alone, someone should take care of her, she doesn’t have a home.” Whether the song is dealing with physical or emotional vulnerability isn’t really clear, nor if Jessica is sneering with disagreement at the idea of a woman alone is vulnerable, or if it’s a straight-laced commentary, but either way singing this one out loud is a strength-giver. Produced by Dan Grech, who has worked with artists such as The Vaccines, Lana Del Rey and Circa Waves and Keane, Vulnerable is out now via Supernatural records and comes with a karaoke styled video (which you can find by clicking here). As is the way with the internet these days, the duo’s previous releases have mysteriously disappeared from Soundcloud, although you’ll still find them on other streaming services like Spotify. Glass play Camden Assembly, London on the 9th March.
There’s something disturbing about the new Glass video that makes me either shiver with the awkwardness of it all or laugh as a method of psychological protection. After all, the whole thing seethes with a violence and rage that looks almost genuine. It's unsettling nature continues to the multi-layered lyrics: “Mind how you go, take it slow, or the next thing you’ll know, you’ll be wed, you’ll be dead, if that’s what you want, then go on ahead,” raps lead singer Jessica like a modern day Sarah Nixey from Black Box Recorder. Meanwhile behind all of that a super popoid groove keeps the music all sparky and interesting. You can find the duo at Great Escape Festival in Brighton next week. They also play Blissfields and Secret Garden Party this summer. I've still yet to see them live, despite me booking them for their first UK show outside of London at a festival I helped put on (Dials) and then returning to my home city just a few days ago for another gig. It's time to put them on my Great Escape schedule for sure. If you're going, you should too. Glass - Be Careful (Video)
I first met Jessica Winter a number of years ago when she was putting on gigs in a small pub in Portsmouth. I’m not sure if at the time she was even old enough to be there, but if she wasn’t, it certainly showed her commitment to music. Even at that stage it was clear she stood out; a warped version of Kate Bush playing what could broadly be described as pop songs but with some strong classical influence from Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt. A few years further on and she had become the front woman of sepia tinged psychedelic pop band The Hall of Mirrors, who made some small headway into the public consciousness with a number of well received gigs in London, festival slots and a feature in The Guardian’s New Band of the Day (now New Band of the Week) before dissolving. But it’s Winter’s latest project, Glass, that’s turned the dial marked excitement up to the max, especially with their second song Broken Bones. With an accompanying video that is surreal, glamorous and puzzling, the tune sounds a little bit like Luke Haines’ Black Box Recorder fed through a filter marked noir-tinged and trippy. It’s a mesmerising piece that deals with what appears to be the near loss of Jessica’s brother. “Leaving 50 years early, don’t just be a memory to me,” she sings with a sad melancholy tone. Add to that the fact that her brother stars in the video and it makes the whole thing that little bit more unsettling, but it's certainly a beautifully realised piece of leftfield pop music. Glass play a small handful of shows in Bristol, Manchester and London in March. Glass - Broken Bones (Video)
This may be an introducing post on ‘pop hip-op crance’ newcomers Glass, but it’s the second time we’ve mentioned the London based duo on Breaking More Waves, having alerted you to their existence a couple of months ago in a preview of Portsmouth’s Dials Festival. At the time there was no material released to the world, but now, just in time for Halloween, Glass have released their debut video; a bloody piece of disco vampirism that accompanies the bands take on warped electro / piano pop. That ‘hip-op’ reference isn’t some sort of trendily smug Shoreditch clever tag trying to create a scene out of something that doesn’t exist. It in fact refers to the fact that lead singer Jessica (who was once described by the Guardian as ‘Julie Andrews, not on a mountain top, but in hell’) struggled with a congenital dislocation of the hips from birth. There’s nothing out of place with the music from Glass though, irrespective of problems Jessica might have experienced with her body in the past. What It Is To Believe is a dreamy and succinct pop song, matching Jessica’s sweet vocal delivery with elegant keyboard twinkles and electronics. It does the whole simple but effective thing very well. If you’re in London, Glass play the Kluster Rooms, 566 Cable Street tonight and The Old Blue Last on the 9th December. Early reports suggest they're a band who even at this early stage, put on quite a show, but remember, if you go along and Jessica invites you to the toilets with her, take warning from this video. Glass - What It Is To Believe
Dials Festival, Albert Road, Southsea, Portsmouth - 3rd October 2015 We’re pretty sure that we’re not the only music blog that has dreamed of curating its own festival or stage at a festival. So when the organisers of Dials, a brand new multi venue new music event based in our home city approached us asking if we’d be interested in hand picking some of the bands on their bill, we jumped at the chance. Dials is a brand new collaborative festival taking place in 5 venues in Southsea, Portsmouth on the 3rd October 2015. It was originally set up when organisers heard that the well established new music festival Southsea Fest was not running this year and whilst hugely disappointed, decided the show must go on, in the form of their own show. The name Dials comes from the concept that the festival is being run by a co-operative of venue owners, promoters and other music professionals and enthusiasts from the Portsmouth area, who are passionate about bringing exciting new music to the south coast, helping support local musicians, venues, businesses and the community in the process. Breaking More Waves is one of those enthusiasts. Others include iconic independent music venue the Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth cultural website and store Strong Island together with their offshoot record label Strong Island Recordings, Hong Kong Gardeners Club, who have in the past propagated new music nights that included the likes of Everything Everything, Dan Smith (before he became Bastille), The Joy Formidable and Django Django in tiny rooms before anyone had heard of them. Plus us, Breaking More Waves Blog. Hi. You can see the full list of artists playing in the poster below, which includes national touring acts as well as musicians local to the Portsmouth area.
Of course what we’re really excited about is the handful of acts that Breaking More Waves has helped deliver to the festival. There's plenty of noisy rock n roll, indie and such like on the bill, but with our selections we've tried to inject something a little different. Here they are: Alice Jemima It was way back in April 2011 when we first featured Devon based singer Alice Jemima, a then unsigned songwriter, and ever since then we’ve been championing her music to anyone who will listen. We’re proud of the fact that directly because of that championing (and of course Alice’s fantastic songs) she landed a Radio 1 session at Maida Vale and since that time she has slayed the internet; her cover version of No Diggity has built up over 2 million plays on Soundcloud – more plays than all the other artists at the festival put together. The last year or so we haven’t heard that much from Alice, but with some recent support slots with Laura Doggett, a showcase for Sunday Best recordings at Brighton’s Great Escape, a new self penned song Diamonds & Bones getting an airing on Radio 1 courtesy of Huw Stephens and appearances at this year’s Camp Bestival, Somersault and Bestival festivals it seems that Alice is finally readying herself for something pretty special. We’re very pleased and excited to be able to finally bring Alice Jemima to Portsmouth. One not to miss.
Chloe Black “We could have a star on our hands,” we wrote about Chloe Black in October 2014 and now that star shines on Portsmouth. Self-tagged ‘goth ‘n’ soul’ singer Chloe had a big online hit with her lyrically morbid tune 27 Club and all the reports we’ve received since have confirmed that she can deliver live as well with a potent vocal and bags of charm. Prepare yourselves to fall in love with Miss Black in the Wedgewood Rooms.
Black Honey Furious frenetic feedback frenzies, pop melodies to die for and a captivating and dramatic front woman, Brighton’s Black Honey have it all. It’s probably why they were one of the most written about bands by UK Hype Machine listed music bloggers in 2014 and featured on the Blog Sound of 2015 long list – music bloggers version of the ubiquitous BBC Sound of list. As we all know though, being ‘big on the internet’ doesn’t necessarily translate to being a great live band, but Black Honey absolutely do. When we saw them earlier this year we were blown away by their rawness, their musicianship, their tunes and their power. Another must see, they’ll be headlining the Edge of the Wedge stage.
Lyza Jane In contrast to Black Honey’s energy and forcefulness, London’s Lyza Jane creates languid sounding experimental electronic pop infused with modern trip-hop beats not dissimilar to the likes of Banks, FKA Twigs and Tricky. She’s already played Glastonbury festival twice, supported Alabama 3 and recently worked with reggae royalty Ranking Joe. There will be plenty of rock and roll aggression on display at Dials, so slip into something more comfortable for a while with Lyza Jane.
Glass Glass are a totally new duo from London of which not much is known yet. You certainly won't find their songs streaming on Soundcloud, Spotify or You Tube. They describe their music as 'Pop Hip-Op Crance'. Those with good internet search skills might recognise them from previous musical projects. As Dials is very much a new music festival and that means discovery, don't play safe - make Glass part of that discovery. This will be their first show outside of London. Arrive early before they're gone. Curxes / Jerry Williams / Wyldest Whilst we’ve selected acts from London, Devon and Brighton to play, Breaking More Waves is also pleased to give a nod to some of the local and emerging talent from the Portsmouth area, or acts that have Portsmouth connections. Curxes, Wyldest and Jerry Williams are three artists that we’ve featured on the blog a number of times and all of them will be cropping up somewhere on the Dials bill. So if audacious dark electronic music (Curxes) chiming ethereal guitar pop (Wyldest) or catchy acoustic pop (Jerry Williams) are your thing, then go watch all of these.They’ll be giving some of the national touring bands a run for their money. Tickets for Dials are on sale from today and available locally from The Wedgewood Rooms, Pie & Vinyl, Strong Island’s store. You can also buy them online from this link. We recommend buying early as the current £15 price tag is for early birds only. Keep an eye out for a shiny website for the festival coming real soon and in the meantime, check the Dials Facebook (here) and enjoy the playlist below of most of the artists so far announced. More acts are still to be added to the bill. You can follow Dials Festival on Twitter here Buy tickets using this link
Jordan Cohen better known as Glass has now put the whole of his Follies and Flames EP up on Soundcloud, following lead track Bed becoming a minor blog hit earlier this month. This U.S musician has produced a set of recordings that possess a warm relaxed electronic soul vibe that make us want to put our sunglasses on and bob our head like a turkey. Our favourite tune from the EP however (besides Bed) is the least songlike of all 6 tracks. Rae finds Glass at his most experimental and atmospheric, from the weird pitch-shifted vocal slices to the strange electronics that slide in and out and tap gently at the headphones. It’s a fascinating and oddly sexy piece of music, designed for the later hours. “It’s pop with this infused sub-genre that I think really captures the zeitgeist of the times, like what Kanye West is doing and what James Blake is doing—just complete experiments,” Cohen recently told 18 Love Music. Listening through the whole Ep, we can go with that. Glass - Rae
This blog post is one of a series published as part of Breaking More Waves non-stop 24 hour Blogathon to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you have read this post and enjoyed it or the music we’d really appreciate it if you would donate £2 to Cancer Research using the button below.
From the warm electronics to the smothered beats to the lyrics about being so close and intimate with someone, their body asleep, but you’re awake in the discomfort of thought that you don’t truly care for them, this debut song from Glass is a bit of a beauty. Labelling his music as future soul Glass may be right on the zeitgeist in terms of the sounds and production, but behind all that there are all the things that make a song resonate just that little bit more such as emotion and a cracked humanity - in this case mixing lust with self-loathing. Bed comes from the forthcoming debut EP Follies and Old Flames, due late January. It has our favourite cover art (see above) of the year so far. We’re a sucker for anything with the sea on it. Add some artistic flames contained within a see through box (we’re guessing it’s a metaphor for some sort of trapped fiery emotion) and you’ve got us right there.
So who is Glass? If you don't want to know stop reading now, but for the rest of you (and referencing point 14 of this list) here's what we know: His real name is Jordan Cohen and he quotes James Blake, The Weeknd, Mount Kimbie, Sohn and Chet Faker as references. There's some other music of his online but it's not under the name Glass. Some of it may involve acoustic guitars. It's not as good as Bed so we'd recommend you don't bother trying to find it. However as Glass he has also produced this track for Jonah McGowan which is worth a listen.
