New Year, New Music

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I first came across American singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne as the vocalist of rock band Envy of None, which teamed her with Canadian music legends Alex Lifeson (Rush) and Andy Curran (Coney Hatch). Which is kind of amazing given she's young enough to be either musician's daughter (she turns 30 in December). However, she was already established as an indie folk rock singer-songwriter before signing on to that band and you don't have to listen to much of her work to see what the guys saw in her: A gorgeous voice and some serious musical talent. She has a new album ready to go in September and I love the first couple singles from it.



This video is a nice nod to one of her Envy bandmates, Alex. It's a lovely folk cover of "Tears" from the album 2112 by Rush.

 
Been obsessing a bit over Maiah, listening to her first album and some older work she did based on The Hunger Games novels and movies. Wonderful artist and I hope she has a long, productive career. This video came out almost exactly three years ago as her first full album was nearing release, a cover of "Drive" one of my favourite songs by 80s band The Cars.

 
The guitar has to be one of the most versatile instruments created in the Western world (there are similar instruments in some Asian cultures, too). Between the original acoustic guitar and its modern cousin the electric guitar, the guitar has basically become a core musical instrument in the West. It is most commonly seen in popular music like country, pop, rock, metal, blues, and others, but there are classical and jazz guitar works for guitar, too. In Hispanic cultures like Spain and its former colonies in Latin America, the acoustic flamenco guitar is central to their folk music.

Which brings me to Rodrigo y Gabriela (English is just Rodrigo and Gabriela, their names). This Mexican duo plays mostly Spanish flamenco guitars, which are acoustic, but their style of playing puts a lot of blues and rock electric players to shame (I have seen Rodrigo go electric, but only once). It's complex, energetic music drawing from their own Mexican roots as well as a host of other musical styles. They won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2020 for their album Mettavolution and are about to release their eighth studio LP next month. All in a career that began with them busking in Dublin, Ireland.

Their latest single, from the upcoming album OurHome:


The title track from their Grammy-winner:


And the title track from the new album:

 
And, yes, I am currently on a bit of a break from metal, or at least from listening to predominantly metal. Historically, my taste in music has actually been pretty broad and I am trying to get back to that after a period of very heavy focus on metal. My rock listening has shifted to the very diverse genre known as prog rock (best known from 70s bands like Yes and Genesis but still very much a going concern with some really exciting contemporary artists and bands). The prog sound has become such a "big tent" that the term is almost meaningless but that means it is less likely to become a musical "rut" like metal became for me. I am also looking into a variety of other music, including the ones I have posted about above.
 
Went to see Hawksley Workman tonight, who was accompanied by Mr. Lonely.

Great show. A friend likes going to live concerts, so I tagged along. Hoping to go to a few more with her.

Here's a video of his from Q with Tom Power.

 
When Floor Jansen started her solo career with the album Paragon, she tried something different, power pop anthems and ballads instead of her usual metal. For Hytress, the followup, she is back to metal with a vengeance. Second single is "Bring Me Silence" and in spite of the title, it is NOT bringing silence. In fact, it's one of the best metal bangers from her in quite a while. Powerful stuff.

 
Wow. What a day for new music. I have five pre-saves for today on Spotify. Here's some of them.

Mexican sister act The Warning are back with their fifth studio album. That doesn't sound like much until you consider that the band is only about 12 years old and the eldest member is 26 (guitarist Daniela Villareal). I'm about halfway through the album and, like their last one, it rocks hard and might even be their heaviest yet. I almost wonder if they are peaking too early thought. All three sisters are at top of form (Paulina, the drummer, has won several big awards for her playing already) and the vocals are the best I've heard from them but with their ages being 21-26, one wonders how much further they can go in their current sound and form given a rock career can last into one's seventies or even eighties nowadays.


Then we have the long-lasting American metal band Kamelot. The band dates to the late 90s and has been through a number of configurations. This is their second album this year. Release day single is "Sanctuary" featuring added clean vocals from French singer Clementine Delauney and the powerful growls (roars almost at times) of Chilean death metal vocalist Ignacia Fernandes.


Getting too loud for you? Well, another new release today is the album Good Grief from American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. It's her usual smooth voice and brilliant writing. It's Sara's seventh studio LP but her first in 7 years due to her commitments to various TV and stage projects.


There's more from this week, but there's a start.
 
And one more that I cannot not post: Nightwish is back with a vengeance. No new album yet (7 songs written, though) but to celebrate their 30th anniversary as a band, they are releasing some epic live material in various packages including an album and DVD/Blu-Ray of their 2022-23 tour and their 2021 virtual shows. There's other stuff, too, depending on which box you get. It's not cheap but hardcore fans and collectors will no doubt be all over it. Best part? The release date is in early December, just a month before lead singer Floor Jansen releases her second solo album. So we fans basically get a whole winter's worth of Nightwish and Floor to watch and listen to.

With that announcement comes this new live video, a performance of the song "7 Days To The Wolves" recorded at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam in the Fall of 2022. "7 Days..." dates to the 2011 album Imaginaerum when Anette Olzon was their vocalist. However, Floor joined in the middle of the tour for that album, so this and other songs from it are very much part of her now 14 year history with the band.


Yes, a new album and them getting back on the road would be nice, but this should keep us fans busy for a while.
 
Nightwish is known for having a "big" sound. After all, they are symphonic metal, incorporating orchestral and choral backing tracks onto a metal base. But at heart, their best songs often have a simple, beautiful melody. The band themselves have demonstrated this at times, in particular Floor and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley have performed some nice acoustic versions of the band's songs. But other artists have also picked up on this. Here is "Amaranth", one of the band's biggest hits, done in an acoustic arrangement by Italian duo Melodicka Bros.


And from a session in the lead-up to the band's ninth album, here are Floor Jansen and Troy Donockley of Nightwish with their acoustic take on another Nightwish favourite. This song came out in 2004 and has never left their setlists since. Floor even used a version of this arrangement in some of her early solo shows and uses the original band arrangement in her current metal solo shows. She hit new heights with this song on the 2022-23 tour, letting loose with a powerful 15 second belt near the end that brought the house down.


And from the same set, "How's the Heart" from the then upcoming album Human:Nature packs quite a punch even stripped down to basics here. It's a lively, danceable folk metal number in the original arrangement, riffing on songwriter Tuomas Holopainen's love of Celtic music. In the hands of Troy and Floor, it becomes more of a ballad.

 
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Melodicka Bros. again with another of Nightwish's forays into danceable Celt-influenced folk metal. "Elan" first appeared on Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Floor Jansen's studio debut with Nightwish, and came with a terrific music video by the band's favourite director, Finn Ville Lipainen. It became a favourite fairly quickly and I don't think it has left their playlists since then. The brothers do it as more of a straight folk song and it lands beautifully.


For comparison, here's Nightwish live in Buenos Aires in 2018.

 
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