Chloé Sautereau keeps it real with her new release Ten Thousand Stories. The lyrics reflect her self awareness while accentuating her genuine charm. In our new social media dystopia where everyone is just great Sautereau isn’t afraid to admit she’s not perfect and that she can’t be everything and everywhere all at once. She’s also graceful in how she acknowledges simple pleasures like running by the river at sunrise. It’s that simplicity we adore in contrast to the superficial narratives heard in commercial pop.
Coming from the Big Apple, Chloé Sautereau knows a lot about commercialism. Within those Ten Thousand Stories are lives and ambitions retroactively inspiring anxiety and envy among onlookers. Where so many see impossible Chloé Sautereau sees the respite of shade in its shadow. It’s as if to say; you do you, I’m doing just fine, and maybe it’s true I’m lonely, but who hasn’t been.
It’s fitting too that Chloé finds inspiration in influences like FINNEAS and Julia Michaels, artists who put their philosophical standards above the temptation of playing to our faults. Stylistically Ten Thousand Stories also bears an influences of the 90s singer songwriter movement, falling easy onto your ears while poetically presenting realities of our new updated times.
Chloé Sautereau is featured on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
After dripping out several notable singles Ali George has finally released his expansive new album Watchful Days. The dynamic collection amplify’s George’s soulful music touch within an array of stylistic canons. Every style is fairly within the extended folk range, a detail that reflects classic aesthetic when LP’s really amplified the writers artistic touch.
There are flairs of the traditional in stand outs like Little Prophecy, visions of the traveling troubadour in the Dylan-esque vibe of Dreams Within Dreams, and uplifting cinematic serenades like the excitable single Can We Keep On Healing?
The themes collectively reflect George’s own whiplash emotional duties, simultaneously mourning the loss of a loved one while trying to comfort their partner and help support their extended family at large both emotionally and in practice. It culminates in the personally retrospective Let Me Down Gently, a reflection of how the pressures of the world weigh heavy on a person’s soul.
Watchful Days is a journey that reflects a period in most peoples lives. If you’re lucky enough you don’t experience it until you’re middle aged, but sadly some people experience this when they are very young. No matter when it happens, how you respond to it likely calculates the measure of a person. With that in mind Watchful Days is a work that is as much a foretelling as it is a tribulation. Listen in and see where you stand.
Ali George is featured on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
Morning Bear drops a contemplative gem with their new single Splitting of the Wood. Their dreamy but soulful vibe blends the aura of Fleet Foxes and Hozier, finding the middle ground in between where the metaphysical meets our earthly wonder. It reflects the songs foundational essence, the narrative of repetition and existential doubt. “Here I am again at the splitting of the wood.”
Like any great art there’s room here for you to fill in the blanks, but for us it represents the never-ending cycle of processing your demons, particularly when you’ve already grown beyond the madness but you’re self destructive tendencies keep repositioning you back where you started. Splitting of the Wood is both meaningful and melodically majestic.
Hear Morning Bear now on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
We dig the inventive indie folk vibe heard on it takes too long, the new album from Sock Revival. From the opening October’s Gone you’re immersed in this dreamy melodic melancholy. The intimate arrangements of picked guitar and stacked vocals bear heavy reference to folk pop classics like CSY or Simon and Garfunkel. It also tags how those projects influenced the early works of Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver.
Like them Sock Revival is appropriately sad and somber with the harmonious melodic presence adding contrast in the soothing sonic delivery. Despite the easy association Sock Revival never sounds derivative, the compositions are thoughtful and seek to find new melodic voicings within these realms.
Stylistically this musical melatonin brings comfort and relief when you need a break from the jammy carefree acts known to dominate local folk fests. Maybe we’re just meta, but we’d prefer the melancholy of Sock Revival all 365 days a year.
Sock Revival is featured on our Emerging Folk Playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 