New Music: Holly Macve - Heartbreak Blues

Judging by the occasional comment I get on the blog I know that a few of my regular readers really dislike it, no I’d go further and say really HATE it, when I post songs by artists performing country music. As yet that level of hate hasn’t motivated anyone to start an online petition requesting the government to debate its possible removal from the blog, but still, the hate is real. So for those of you who get angry about such things, please take this as A COUNTRY MUSIC WARNING.

For the rest of you, here’s the latest from Holly Macve, taken from her album Golden Eagle released March 3rd. With all the right country twangs and slides, this dejected beauty has all the trademarks of something emanating from the southern states of the USA, even if the reality is that Holly is from the UK. Grab a slice of her Heartbreak Blues, which topically mentions building walls, although I suspect they’re very different from the one that Trump wants to make.

Holly Macve - Heartbreak Blues

New Music: Holly Macve - Corner Of My Mind (Video)

Having returned from the wonderful Latitude Festival (where Christine & The Queens mesmerised me with one of my favourite performances of the year, a play which featured just 2 actors talking about their relationship in a bedroom was one of the most thought provoking and interesting things I’ve seen on stage and where Louis Theroux dad-dancing in a sweltering hot film tent was a major highlight out of many) inevitably there were some acts on the bill that I had to miss due to line up clashes. One of those was Holly Macve, who played in the beautifully fern lined and tree shaded surroundings of the Sunrise Arena, although thankfully I’ve already manged to catch her twice this year, once solo at Great Escape Festival in Brighton, the other with a full band at her own show at St Pancras Old Church in London.

Holly’s new single, Corner Of My Mind will be familiar to anyone who has seen her live. With the sparse noir country acoustic instrumentation providing the backdrop to Holly’s haunting tones that are both mournfully sad and beautifully haunting plus dark lyrics that speak of violence, misery, mistakes and fatherhood rejection it’s powerful contemplative stuff. There’s an album on its way via Bella Union as well. Take a listen below.

Holly Macve - Corner Of My Mind (Video)

The Great Escape 2016 - Preview / Recommendations (Saturday)

From my perspective the final day of the official Great Escape programme has less must sees than the previous two days. However, Saturday’s Alt Escape makes up for this with an abundance of choice, so there’s never going to be a dull moment on the streets of Brighton. These posts focus on the core event though, so in a similar manner to the two previous posts (here and here) I’ll waste no time and get straight on with recommending five acts that may be worth your while checking out.

The Big Moon 12:30 Komedia (Also playing at The Corn Exchange 19:15)

The Big Moon will be playing a huge venue (The Corn Exchange) later in the evening when they play support to The Mystery Jets, but early risers are advised to catch these Blog Sound of 2016 long list nominees earlier in the day at Komedia. Expect brash bold noisy guitar pop such as The Road, Sucker and new tune Cupid (below) to blow the cobwebs away.



Cadet 13:15 Paganini Ballroom

Grime isn’t a genre that you’d really expect to see on Breaking More Waves, but for me one of the beauties of Great Escape is to be able to sample something a little off your normal musical road map. As I listened to the festival’s Spotify playlist last month, Cadet’s track Stereotype stood out. With its honest lyrical delivery, he deals with the idea that stereotypes sadly often come from behaviours of reality - we're all likely to be our own stereotype.



Ary 15:30 Patterns Upstairs (Also playing at Stick Mike's Frog Bar 01:30 Saturday)

I first wrote about Norwegian pop singer Ary back in January and compared her to the likes of Aurora and Emilie Nicolas. After impressing audiences at other European new music festivals now she heads to the UK, hopefully to do the same there with her take on pulsing electronic Scandipop.



Holly Macve 18:45 Sallis Benny Theatre

From the Bella Union label comes Holly Macve, another artist I introduced on the blog relatively recently. Clearly inspired by American songwriters, Holly possesses a show stopping country tinged vocal that sounds as if it’s been beamed from 50 years past into the present. A must see.



Stevie Parker 19.45 Komedia Studio Bar

Gorgeous, laid back, keyboard based chill-pop from an artist from the Bristol area that is cropping up on the undercard of a lot of UK based festivals this year. Full confession; I’ve only heard one song (Never Be – streaming below), but it’s an enticing enough beauty to make me want to hear more. Stevie Parker is the last of my tips from the Great Escape 2016 official core programme.



Alt Escape Bonus Pick: Emily Burns 14.45 The Black Lion

New Music: Introducing - Holly Macve

Sometimes, because of the way the internet works, allowing us to just connect with people or places that share a commonality of thought or taste, certain new artists names appear regularly on my radar until it comes to a point where I think “OK, I need to check them out.”

Such is the way with Holly Macve, who was signed to Bella Union last year. The tipping point came last week when I noticed that this 20 year old from Yorkshire had been announced at the bottom of the bill of this year’s Latitude festival, having previously been announced for Great Escape, End of the Road and SXSW

As soon as you press play you’ll understand why Belle Union boss Simon Raymonde signed her after seeing her play in Brighton. “I had a tip-off to go to a basement bar where she was playing. In a room full of beery boys chatting across all the music beforehand, the minute Holly opened her mouth the room fell silent. Hers is a rare gift.”

You can listen (and watch) that gift below. Holly’s voice sounds as if it’s been dug up from the past, or if not the past certainly from across the Atlantic Ocean. It possesses a sad wavering country tone and an occasional hint of Laura Marling in its intonation. She sets it against a background of sparse simple acoustic plucks, and on her cover of Melanie Safka's tune of the journey of life, We Don't Know Where We're Going, confident piano keys. It all leaves space for reflection and thought, like the day after a lost weekend. The songs never sound as if they’re trying too hard – they don’t need to, they already know they’re great. They will probably have you in bits.

Holly Macve is one of my favourite discoveries of the year so far. I should have taken notice of the internet earlier.

Holly Macve - We Don't Know Where We're Going



Holly Macve - The Corner Of My Mind (Video)