New Music: Introducing - Talkboy

Talkboy might just be about to become your new favourite indie six piece from Leeds. OK, you may not actually have a current favourite indie six piece from Leeds, but trust me on this, you’re just about to get one.

Bringing the soft sound of the sixties with a more robust guitar-based edge, Mother is all about the rose-tinted spectacled world of parental expectation: "I was always perfect in her eyes, and all I ever did was tell her lies." As the girl-boy vocals convey the angsty thoughts of being a major disappointment to the person who brought you into the world, you might well expect the whole tune to become a bit maudlin, but then all of sudden there’s an uplifting hook and an end conclusion of acceptance: "My mother turned to me last night. She saw I was a normal person." Hurrah! We reach a happy ending. Lovely stuff.

Talkboy are Katie Heap (vocals), Calum Juniper (vocals), Tim Malkin (guitar), Charlotte Jones (keys), Tom Sargent (bass), and Jake Greenway (drums) and have already played at Live at Leeds and a show curated by Abbie McCarthy of BBC Introducing. There’s elements of many classic British indie bands to their sound and if they have any other tunes as good as Mother in their bag it probably won’t be the last time you see them on Breaking More Waves.

Talkboy - Mother

New Music: Lauran Hibberd - Call Shotgun

Today tickets go on sale for Dials Festival, a multi venue event taking place on just one street on one day in Southsea, Portsmouth, October 6th. I’m pretty excited by this because somehow I’ve ended up being the director of the festival and have also been responsible for booking about one third of the bands on the bill. 

Dials Festival is being run on a DIY self-funded ethos. For 2018 it carries no sponsorship (although if any companies out there would like to do so I’d love to talk to you) and is aiming to raise funds and awareness for Solent Mind, a local mental health charity. The organisers are all working as volunteers and take no payment in an effort to try and help increase the money raised. Some artists on the bill have also agreed to play for free or a lowered fee as it’s for a good cause -  although all acts were offered payment - and the venues are all donating their spaces for free. Other volunteers have already helped with the likes of the design of our website and promo material and we're hoping that others will offer their help as we move forward. This is our idea of a community festival. A music community doing something for the greater good.

Tickets are just £12 for super early birds and £16 once they sell out. They will be more expensive on the day. If you want to come and have a great day of live music on the south coast don’t wait to book your ticket - book now in the knowledge that the earlier you book actually helps the festival more (cashflow is important) and therefore the charity. 

Dials will be headlined by Brighton's Tigercub with Welsh band Estrons as main support. The event is 18+ but for anyone under that age you can still come along, but your access will be restricted to just 2 venues - The Wedgewood Rooms and The Edge of The Wedge. Both Tigercub and Estrons will play The Wedgewood Rooms. If you are 14 or under you will need to be accompanied by an adult. 

For £12 (if you get in quick) it's worth it for just those 2 bands - after all Tigercub's last non festival show in Brighton was £10 on its own. Then you can see a whole day of music before those two bands bring the noise.

I’ll be posting more about Dials and some of the acts playing in a few weeks time, but for now, to see who is joining the likes of those two bands, plus artists that I've featured on the blog such as Art School Girlfriend, Jerry Williams and Bokito hop on over to the Dials website for all the details. (Click here) And then whilst you are there why not grab those tickets? More acts are still to be announced.

One of the artists on the bill is someone that Breaking More Waves has been supporting since her very first releases. It has been a pleasure to watch Lauran Hibberd develop her music and style over the last couple of years. Lauran's performance at Dials comes on the back of slots at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival (where apparently actor Colin Firth was in the audience), Common People in Southampton and last year’s Bestival. She’s also supported the likes of Girli, Clean Cut Kid and Bryde and has been played on BBC 6 Music and Radio X. 

Today Lauran releases her new tune Call Shotgun – and it's a fizzed up kiss-off that's full of thrashing guitar abandon. It hits with force. It goes something like this: bang bang bang faster faster harder harder then repeat and is probably that moment in her live set where one second you’re holding a plastic pint glass in your hand and the next moment it’s gone flying up in the air. Yes, Lauran Hibberd brings the mosh and the beer shower with this one. Her rallying call of “Call shotgun. I want one,” deserves to be shouted in indie clubs across the country. I pretty much say this every time Lauran releases a track, but Call Shotgun really is her best yet. Oh and it's on the Spotify New Music Friday playlist in the UK as well, which should bring Lauran a few new listeners and maybe fans. Come see her and a load of other great acts at Dials in Portsmouth this October. 

Lauran Hibberd - Call Shotgun

New Music: Laurel - Same Mistakes

Relationships. Love them or hate them we don’t seem to be able to do without them, do we? It seems that for most of us there’s seem deep seated need to be wanted in some way. On new single Same Mistakes Breaking More Waves regular Laurel sings of that desire. “I don't want you, but I still want you to love me,” she intones. Now if ever there was an anthem for ITV2’s Love Island contestants this could be it couldn’t it? 

Having moved away from her early pop incarnation Same Mistakes is one of two singles Laurel released yesterday (the other being Crave) and they showcase what we can expect from her debut album Dogviolet which is due towards the end of August. ‘Debut album’ still seems a somewhat strange thing to be stating considering that Laurel’s first material featured on this blog way back in 2012, but as I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, sometimes the most important ingredient to good art is time.

Of interest to some readers in relation to this track is the picture that accompanies it. Some of you may remember that I wrote extensively about how musicians seem to like to jump in the bath (either naked or clothed, with or without water being present) for a promotional opportunity. Since that time, I’ve realised that it’s not just the bath (although Laurel has previously joined the musicians in the bath club) but that musicians more generally enjoy having a bonkers photo taken of them. Sitting on a hedge, standing on the roof of a bus, laying on a tennis court, or in this case standing barefoot on a red blanket on a roof for no reason whatsoever seems to be the order of the day. No wonder us non-musicians sometimes think they’re all a bit crackers. But if that’s what it takes to help a good tune get heard, let’s not deny them the opportunity. Right?

Laurel - Same Mistakes

New Music: Introducing - Akine

Breaking More Waves might have been going for ten years now, but there’s still plenty of time for some new firsts. Today for example is the first time I’ve featured an artist from the Ukraine, although it does seem she has lots of UK connections. The artist's name is Akine and she’s the latest signing to Best Laid Plans, a record label that has already brought you the likes of Rag N Bone Man and Rationale. 

Akine currently has two tracks on line. Pray For The Prey is the more upbeat pop tune, but it comes with some depth, as despite the title it deals with Akine’s lack of belief in faith: “I don’t believe in god, nor his angels, nor his disciples, he’s a stranger, he’s subliminal, not my father, not my leader of all,” she sings with a strong willed voice. Later she adds: "And we pray and we pray and we pray, heart of this foolish masquerade." It’s a fine opening gambit that was recorded in Maida Vale with James Earp (Fickle Friends, Bipolar Sunshine, Lewis Capaldi), even if it did lead to her having to post on Facebook "Sorry to disappoint -I am not Satan, nor do I believe in the devil. Hope everyone is having a great day.""

The second song of Akine’s, which you can find on all the usual streaming services, continues the religious imagery. It's is a piano based cover of Devil Like Me, originally performed by Rainbow Kitten Surprise. It shows off her vocal warble to some effect and at some points there’s just a hint of the Adele’s with some of the piano chords.

Akine’s debut EP Don’t Foster Fear will be released in 2018 and here we have perhaps the glimmer of an exciting new talent who comes with something interesting to sing about and some bigger picture ideas than just the typical songs of falling in love and break-up and heartache.

Akine - Pray For The Prey