Song of the Week - Ren Harvieu - Black Wig

 

If on a weekly basis like me, you scroll through all the big weekly playlists on Spotify, it’s pretty likely you’ll find a lot of songs that sound boringly similar. Pop music has always been that way of course, it’s why we can described music as having an ‘80’s sound’ or ‘60’s sound’. Pop = a popular sound, so if it's popular humans will want to make more of it.

However, it’s always nice to stumble across something that is refreshingly inventive and adventurous. Which is exactly what the new song Black Wig from Ren Harvieu is. Remember Ren? She first featured on this blog in 2011 and in a Ones to Watch 2012 post. Her debut album reached number 5 in the charts in May 2012. 

These days she leads a lower key musical existence but that doesn’t mean that her new tune is anything less than wonderful. On Black Wig there’s a string quartet, a harpsichord, a musical saw and a colourful video directed by Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers who Ren has a long-term musical relationship with.

Listen, enjoy and take some satisfaction in the knowledge that there are still people out there creating their own unique musical worlds. You won't see or hear anything else like Black Wig this week.

You can find the song on the Breaking More Waves New Music Weekly Playlist (here)

Ren Harvieu - Black Wig

Ren Harvieu · Black Wig

Albums of the Year 2012 - #7 Ren Harvieu - Through The Night

Released in the spring of 2012 Through The Night is a lush, orchestrated album of nostalgic torch songs and classic retro-pop tunes that acts as a showcase for Ren Harvieu’s seductive voice. Every word is beautifully sung, recalling the likes of Dusty Springfield, Karen Carpenter, Shirley Bassey and James Bond soundtracks. The trick with Harvieu is that she can do subtle and understated. She never has to bellow or shriek or warble and because of that she can convey both strength and vulnerability at the same time. Every contestant of the X-Factor and Jessie J wannabe should be forced to listen to this album over and over until they get it.

Whilst the singles such as Open Up Your Arms and album title track Through The Night failed to make much of a dent on the pop charts, this was never a record designed for the majority of young teenagers. It’s Radio 2 rather than Radio 1, an album to luxuriate in, to feel, to drift away from the world to. Like a fine red wine Through The Night is rich, warm and full of elegance.

Despite being a twenty-something herself, Harvieu and her songs seem to come from a different era. They are all the better for it. 

Ren Harvieu - Open Up Your Arms

Ren Harvieu - Through The Night

Ren Harvieu - Do Right By Me (Video)

It’s not often we’re lost for words, but today we are.

Take two of Breaking More Waves favourite things, namely some great music and the sea, put them in a video and it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll either be gushing our adoration or stunned silent with our infatuation.

This is pretty much our ideal. However many words there are for love, we'll use them all.

That’s all we need to say.

Ren Harvieu - Do Right By Me (Video)

The Saturday Surf #36

Some music bloggers are so time rich that they are able to sit at their laptops and see music drop into their inbox or other feed sources and post about it instantaneously. Breaking More Waves is not one of those. It’s why we post the Saturday Surf. It’s a chance for us and maybe you to catch up on a few musical beauties that would have otherwise slipped away from our ever fast blog super highway. Here are this weeks.

Curxes – Spectre (Strangers Remix)

Take two electronic acts, let them romp around for a while together and soon they’re making babies. [Strangers] have created this one, a remix of Curxes forthcoming single Spectre. It’s like some sort of ketamine fuelled intergalactic bank robbery with its crashes, sirens and spacey pulses. Look out for a forthcoming animated video from Curxes that mixes architecture and music in equal measure.

Ren Harvieu – Tonight (Alice Ant Remix)

Our love of Ren Harvieu just keeps lifting us higher and higher, so this Alice Ant (that’s Alice not Adam) remix is perfect for bringing us back down to a calmer state, with its trippy electronic repetitive groove and Ren’s voice floating around like some sort of sexy washed out ghost.

The XX – Angels

For those expecting that the group’s new material would be a Jamie XX takeover and full of beat bludgeoning dance floor fillers Angels suggests that those expectations could be off mark. For this is a stripped down, restrained love song that should silence every room it’s played in. Beauty can never be understated but this is understated beauty. Angels is taken from the forthcoming album from The XX which drops on September 10th.

Delphic – Good Life

Another band returning to the fold is Delphic, who have shifted direction a little with Good Life. Unfortunately it isn’t some sort of 2k12 banger reminiscing about just how great Felicity Kendal’s garden allotment was (it’s a 1970’s reference kids – Google it) but instead a catchy Passion Pit-esque pop song, which is certainly no bad thing, but it will never be as good as Felcity’s fruit and veg. Yum yum.

Ren Harvieu - Tonight (Video)

This year nearly all of Breaking More Waves favourite albums fall into one of two very distinct categories. The first is a slightly quirky, experimental but still accessible sort of pop album that never forgets the song even when it’s being a little bit out there. Examples of this are Alt-J, Django Django and Grimes. The second is something that is richly nostalgic, often very warm and evocative, transporting you to somewhere far removed from modern pop culture. The likes of Crybaby, Michael Kiwanuka and the gorgeous Ren Harvieu are fine illustrations of this.

If Jimmy Saville (allegedly the first DJ to ever use twin decks) was still alive and if he was still presenting his TV show Jim’ll Fix It we would have written to Jim asking if he could fix it for us to recline on a chaise lounge, drinking fine red wine, surrounded by candles whilst Ren Harvieu stood in the room and sang just for us. It would be a beautiful moment – rather like her new video, which features the late night, brassy big band, sultry perfection of Tonight. It’s absolute love for Ren Harvieu.

(Footnote – if any of Ren’s ‘people’ read this and in the absence of Sir Jim, if Ren isn't too busy, if you could fix it for us instead that would be absolutely lovely. Thank you.)

Ren Harvieu - Tonight (Video)

The Great Escape 2012 - Preview (Part 1)

Founded in 2006 the raison d'être for Brighton’s Great Escape Festival is new music. Often billed as the UK’s answer to South by South West in Austin, Texas, the reality is that as an event it is far smaller in scale and therefore far less overwhelming. It’s possible to stroll round the bustling seaside city’s odd mix of historic and new architecture and not even notice the odd pockets of wristband sporting music enthusiasts navigating their way between the towns venues, pubs, clubs and bars catching the cream of not only British but worldwide emerging talent. Add in the ever growing Alt. Escape (effectively the main festival’s fringe event) and a burgeoning convention schedule (which this year includes Michael Eavis from Glastonbury and Rob Da Bank from Bestival / Camp Bestival talking about the state of festivals) and you have a treat for both fans of new music and those who like to discuss the wider issues of the industry.

Look back at the line-ups of previous Great Escapes and you’ll see that the likes of Florence & The Machine, Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons and even Adele have played the festival way before they became commercially successful artists. In fact we were lucky enough to watch Adele play in the Red Roaster, a small independent coffee store on St James’s St back in 2007 to an audience of less than 100 people.

However despite being much smaller and less intense than South by South West, it’s still possible for the Great Escape experience to be less than great. So in a similar fashion to last year, here are the Breaking More Waves tips for maximising your experience, followed by a few artists on the 2012 bill that we think may be worth going to see. We’re giving 3 tips for each day starting today with next Thursday (times and venues are subject to change), with Friday and Saturday following over the next two days. The event runs on the 10th-12th May.

Our practical tips

1. The Great Escape may be a multi venue event but don’t expect to be able to wander freely from place to place. Many of the venues are small and once they are at capacity you’ll find yourself queuing until someone comes out. Even then those with delegate or press passes get priority access over ticket holders so if you have an ordinary ticket and want to see a particular band arrive at that venue early.

2. Planning is key – you can maximise your enjoyment of Great Escape by using the website gig planners or the highly functional, free and easy to use phone apps to work out your itinerary for the day. Take into account the location of venues – although most are close together you still need to allow sufficient time to travel between each one. Because of venue capacities Great Escape is not like an outdoor summer festival where you can wander freely between stages and just see whatever is on. If you attempt this you run the risk of just catching queues.

3.Sign up to the text messaging service by texting ESCAPE to 80039 and you will be sent details of schedule changes, secret shows, hidden parties, venue capacities and much more as they happen on site. There’s an initial sign up charge of £1.50 plus your standard network charge. After that you will not be charged to receive notifications from Great Escape.

4. Don’t just go to see bands you know. The beauty of any new music event is discovering a band that you haven’t heard before, so just pick something and go see. These days of course it’s possible to do your homework before the event and if you have time listen to every single band playing, but most of us don’t. However if you want some assistance why not have a look at this recently launched website which briefly categorises and rates out of 10 every band appearing - it has a slant towards favouring electronic / dance / pop acts (Porcelain Raft, Trust and Amatorski are some of its picks as ones to see). Alternatively have a look and listen to our recommendations below. 

5. Use Twitter. It can be an invaluable up to the minute source of information using Great Escape hashtags and of course by following The Great Escape, The Alt. Escape and Great Escape Convention feeds, and not forgetting our own Twitter feed where we’ll be updating on what we’re seeing throughout the weekend.

6. Like any festival, pace yourself. Every year we see Great Escape casualties, necking back the drinks on day 1 only to either spend day 2 seeing nothing due to a hangover or losing their way halfway through the first day and ending up seeing no music.

7. Remember that to attend the larger shows at Brighton Dome you need to purchase an extra ticket besides your normal wristband, otherwise you’ll suffer further disappointment.

8. Can't afford a ticket ? Remember that many of the Alt. Escape shows are free for non-ticket holders or they just charge a nominal entry fee. What have your really got to lose except discovering some great new music ?

9. If you want to attend the convention part of the festival you will need a delegate pass, which you can purchase from the Great Escape website.

10. So with those tips, here are Breaking More Waves 3 musical suggestions for Thursday at the festival. Subject to timetable and venue changes (all were correct at time of publication) we’ll be at all these three shows ourselves.

Our music recommendations (Thursday)

Giovanna 13.45 Volks

Performing at an excellent Alt.Escape bill put together by Record Of The Day at Volks on Thursday afternoon that also includes the lovely Emma Louise (who we also recommend and posted about back in January), Giovanna’s debut single Out In Bold has already caught the attention of our blog buddies Faded Glamour and Flying With Anna as well as Radio 1’s Zane Lowe. It’s easy to see why; it’s a sensual and atmospheric song that raises goose bumps. We’re streaming another lesser known song below – Let Go of Yourself. Keep an ear out also for future track To Be Found which may get an airing. We’re informed that Giovanna is the sister of Winston from Mumford & Sons, so banjo watch will also be on high alert.

Giovanna - Let Go of Yourself

Ren Harvieu 17.15 The Loft

There are an awful lot of performers turning to ages past and reinventing or just regurgitating retro sounds but Ren Harvieu’s rich and arresting vocal sets her above many of her contemporaries. Come and see why this Salford lass was in our own Ones To Watch list for 2012 and featured on the BBC Sound of 2012 list too. The Guardian called her the missing link between Shirley Bassey and Adele. Add in a touch of Dusty Springfield and you’ll be getting close.

Ren Harvieu - Through The Night

Friends – 21.15 Horatios

Our final recommendation to see is another band that was on the BBC Sound of List and topped the Blog Sound of 2012 poll. Friends are another one of those achingly cool bands from Brooklyn. Fronted by one Samantha Urbani the bands highly danceable rhythmic blend of funky pop could just become your new crush and what couldn’t be more Brighton than watch them play their first of two Great Escape shows on a tacky bar on a pier that stretches out to sea?

Friends - Mind Control

Ren Harvieu - Open Up Your Arms (Video)

After the first kiss of any relationship, as the days and nights slowly unravel sometimes you find yourself being let down. It hits you gradually - a soft touch slowly turning into a heavy tear stained slap. What you thought might be love is actually just a lustful hunger being fulfilled for a short time. Sometimes satisfying that hunger isn’t enough – there needs to be something more substantial.

Yet at other times something incredible happens; suddenly the world becomes full of endless exciting possibilities and that little word called love appears solid and unifying. That word grows and before you know it you can’t imagine a world without it.

Such is our growing relationship with the music of Ren Harvieu. Open Up Your Arms confirms everything that we thought about her. An exquisitely beautiful string laden song that soars so high that we’re worried we’re never going to come down again. Love of music is one of the ultimate highs. This song is it. Lana, Adele, you’ve got competition. Truly, truly beautiful. Consider us 100% smitten. 

Ren Harvieu - Open Up Your Arms (Video)

Ren Harvieu - Forever In Blue (Tara Busch Analog Suicide Remix)

If you’re a fan of Ren Harvieu’s gorgeous torch-songs the word remix probably fills you with a degree of trepidation; after all isn’t this the sort of music that is best left untouched – it's like putting make up on a naturally beautiful face?

The answer is that by applying the make-up you create something different. It’s not a case of improving the original, but altering perceptions.

So what we have here is something far more experimental, electronic and foreboding sounding. The evil robots have infiltrated Ren’s nostalgic world. It’s probably not even make up that’s been applied here, more of a harsh demonic mask. Purists will be horrified, but those of us who like dirty haunted pylon electronica as much as we like sultry orchestrated nostalgic ballads will be delighted. 

Ren Harvieu has found herself on a number of ones to watch lists at the start of this year including the BBC Sound of 2012, The Guardian critics pop picks and our very own Breaking More Waves Ones To Watch 2012. The debut album released on April 23 will probably be a far less dangerous affair than this remix, but for now prepared to be destroyed by this Tara Busch Analog Suicide remix of Forever In Blue. 

Ren Harvieu - Forever In Blue (Tara Busch Analog Suicide Remix)

Ones to Watch 2012 - #12 Ren Harvieu

We’ve already mentioned that a number of choices in the Breaking More Waves Ones To Watch 2012 list have more than a vague whiff of nostalgia about them. From the 50’s vintage Bo Didley referencing Willy Moon to the old school rock and blues of Alabama Shakes to the smouldering 60’s gangster Nancy Sinatra of Lana Del Rey or the sepia tinged Otis loving acoustic soul of Michael Kiwanuka. Now here’s another one.

When we first posted about Ren Harvieu back in September we mentioned the likes of Dusty Springfield and Carole King as musical similarities. To that list we could also easily add Shirley Bassey (well, actually we did already, here) and Cilla Black because we could very much imagine Ren standing in a venue like the London Palladium and belting songs like Forever In Blue and the Say A Little Prayer referencing debut single Through The Night out and getting a standing ovation. It’s opulent stuff.

For the moment Ren Harvieu has to be content with her recent support slots with James Morrison and two headline shows at the less glamorous Monto Water Rats in London and the Ruby Lounge in Manchester. There's also a simple performance video of her covering The Beatles Something which she put out a couple of weeks ago (see below). At this point in time however, Ren is probably just glad to be getting out playing shows after badly injuring her back in a freak accident earlier this year that almost stopped her music career in the tracks before it even got going.

Through The Night by Ren Harvieu

Sister Morphine – Recorded for MOJO magazine covermount CD by Ren Harvieu

The Saturday Surf #22

The internet is full of hate isn’t it? People seem so much angrier here than they do in real life. It’s a shame because we’re all here for such a short time we should be sharing the love not making war. That’s what our aim is, to provide you with some hot, get-down and take-your-clothes-off-free-musical-loving. Please form an orderly queue and prepare yourself for the Saturday Surf, because by the time you hear these tunes you’ll be feeling moist and ready for action.

Dreams - OooO

Oh man. OooO sounds like an orgasm. And we haven’t even got started. Dreams is one Jesse Pimenta who claims to be from the town of Chillville, USA. Yeah, right. His Facebook suggests he's from Rio de Janiero, Brazil - we don't believe that either. He's probably from Ipswich. He does however sound like Starslinger - that's a fact. This sample based piece of electronic beat laden sexy blog-pop gets straight down to it, nuzzling in against you and making you realise that resistance is futile. Horny jamz. Welcome to the erection section.

OooO by Dreams.

Bear Cavalry – Custom Hands

Next up on this musical love machine is a band that are the indie rock version of the kama sutra – so full of inventive (often chaotic) ideas, that you really don’t know what they will do next. With titles like Will Smith Solves the Rubik’s Cube and David Attenborough’s Voice providing genre straddling songs that slam trumpets, angular rhythmic guitars and tropical carnival chanting (wait until 1.50 for that) into an orgiastic melee of hotbed oddness, entertainment is guaranteed. Even lank-haired emo-gone-dubstep producer Skrillex has used the groups’ acoustic cover of his song Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites on one of his videos gaining 370,000 views on You Tube. Possibly better than that, the band hail from the same part of the world as Breaking More Waves, meaning that for once we get to post about a band from the Portsmouth area – a rare thing. Prepare for a musical rodgering from Bear Cavalry.

Custom Hands by Bear Cavalry

Ren Harvieu - Forever In Blue

And after all that sweaty boffing around, you might just want to slow it all down and make it a little bit more candlelit romantic through the night. In which case this gentle torch-song, Forever In Blue by Ren Harvieu will do just the trick - it's like the ultimate seduction scene in a James Bond movie. With nostalgic 60's overtones of Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey, it probably won't be long before Ren Harvieu gets called Britain's answer to Lana Del Rey, but without all the authenticity arguments.

Forever In Blue by Ren Harvieu

Wild Child – Pillow Talk

And when all that musical coitus is complete, what could be better than laying back and enjoying some pillow talk with the one you love. Here’s one of the ones we’ve been loving hugely this week. Yes we know, we’re a bit slutty, humping and dumping all these musicians, but god we’ve had such satisfaction from it. We’re hoping this beautiful song performed by Kelsey Wilson and Alexander Beggins who are Wild Child will touch you as much as it did us. Imagine if Slow Club grabbed a ukulele and went to the good ‘ole U.S.A. This would be the result.

Pillow Talk by WildChildSounds

There, was that good for you? Same place next week? This musical rumpy-pumpy should be compulsory.

Ren Harvieu - New Waves

This new waves post is probably the longest in gestation ever. Not because we’ve been fine-tuning it and editing it to make it absolutely perfect, but because just as we were originally going to post it the artist concerned – Ren Harvieu – suffered a broken and dislocated back in a freak accident. Because of two serious surgery episodes at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and extensive rehabilitation work, her record label's plans for the release of a single, a spot at Glastonbury and a subsequent album all had to be cancelled.

With this is mind we also put the brakes on our Ren Harvieu introduction until such a time that she was fit enough to be out there singing her songs. That time is now, as Ren has been confirmed to play the 2011 Swn Festival in Cardiff – often a reliable barometer of the great and good of new music as well as a gig in London at The Monto Rats on November 24.

So who is Ren Harvieu? The answer is she’s a 20 year old Salford lass who has a belter of a voice. She sings with a nostalgic rich vocal that sounds as if it’s been plucked from the throat of the greats; Dusty Springfield, Carole King and Joan Baez. Apparently at sixth form college, whilst studying musical theatre, she was told that she couldn’t sing. We can only assume that whoever told her this was locked up shortly after. For the word here is effortless; Harvieu sounds completely at one with her delivery and absolutely natural. Let your granny hear it and she’ll mutter something like “they don’t make them like that anymore.” Oh yes they do gran.

With the likes of Adele, Duffy (first album) and Amy Winehouse (R.I.P) all capitalising on a sound that has taken references from the past and touched people today, it’s easy whilst listening to Through The Night (streaming below), to envisage Ren Harvieu becoming the next name to follow those artists paths to commercial success. There’s a real appetite for this music. In fact there always has been.

Admittedly Through The Night is the only original song we’ve heard from Harvieu, so we could easily be proven wrong, but certainly the video of her beautifully covering Roy Orbison’s classic Crying (with the recently dropped Glasvegas who she supported earlier this year keeping her company) shows that her voice is sublime. Now we just need to hear some more songs.

Through The Night by Ren Harvieu