STEVEN JAMES ADAMS AND THE FRENCH DROP

Steven James Adams, the former songwriter/singer/guitarist from the critically acclaimed Broken Family Band, released his brilliant second solo album Old Magick on Fortuna POP! early last year, proof that Adams’s gift for marrying exceptional lyrics with inescapable earworms is very much intact.

With minimal instrumentation, Old Magick is, in part, a reaction to Adam’s first solo outing House Music (2013), an album recorded in his living room and featuring an array of musical friends, including members of bands as disparate as pop-rockers The Vaccines and folk-idols Lau. House Music followed two full band albums with indie pop-rockers Singing Adams.

Adams’ shows are wonderful to behold: funny, intimate and wildly unpredictable. According to a recent Guardian article “you’d struggle to find a British songwriter of the last 15 years who’s had such consistently good reviews.” A genuine entertainer, a truly gifted songwriter, and perhaps the closest thing there is to a British Bill Callahan, Adams has produced a high watermark of a record in Old Magick, proof that his reputation is deserved.

“Across his work with The Broken Family Band and the Singing Adams as well as his recent solo records, Steven James Adams has shown a keen eye for the small delights and absurdities of life. It’s pleasing too, this time, to hear Adams singing unadorned and less accompanied; it lets the melody run uncluttered and those brilliant lyrics step forward” Q

http://www.stevenjamesadams.com

THE CATENARY WIRES

The Catenary Wires were formed in 2014 when Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey (ex-Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, Tender Trap) moved out of London. Unlike some of their earlier incarnations, The Catenary Wires are minimalist, melancholy, and a little woozy. Originally forming the band just for themselves at home, Rob and Amelia started playing songs on their daughter’s 3/4 size acoustic guitar. They are still refusing to give it back. The band agreed to play a first gig in public at the Arnolfini in Bristol, in support of a new film about Sarah Records, and, since then, they have played several shows around the UK, and in Tokyo, Madrid and New York. Elefant Records released their debut album, Red Red Skies, in 2015.

“Indie pop royalty Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey depart from their usual predilection for fuzzy 60s girl¬group hooks on mini-album Red Red Skies and replace it with a more gentle, melancholy sound, though an innate knack for melody remains a constant theme, with Amelia’s saccharine voice being a familiar and prevailing aspect. Red Red Skies will no doubt tug at the heart strings.” London In Stereo

https://www.facebook.com/TheCatenaryWires

TENDER TRAP

Led by Sarah Records luminaries Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey, Tender Trap began as a project with a drum machine designed to fit into a small car and over the course of four albums grew into five strong rock outfit filled with riot-grrrl-esque tales of sisterhood and revenge that wouldn’t be out of place among the punkest moments of Amelia’s previous outfits Talulah Gosh and Heavenly. Brimful with energy, ideas and that unquenchable pop spirit, mixing the vocal harmonies, oohs, ahs and sha-la-las of classic girl-pop with the stripped down beats and dirty guitars of the Shop Assistants and The Vaselines, Tender Trap were one of the mainstays of Fortuna POP! before they called it a day in 2013, Rob and Amelia going on to form The Catenary Wires.

“In a nicer parallel universe, Tender Trap’s Amelia Fletcher is the most influential artist of her day” (NME)

ELVA

Australian Elizabeth Innset Morris was the ukulele-wielding singer and songwriter in Allo Darlin’, who released three fabulous album on Fortuna POP! before splitting up last year amongst scenes of some fervour at their farewell shows. Now married and living in Oslo Elizabeth has formed a new band with her husband, Ola Innset Morris of Making Marks. This will be their first ever full band show, and their first outside of Norway. Beyond that we know little, other than that a banjo is involved, and that if Elizabeth is involved it’s sure to be amazing.