If you can have an elephant in the room type situation in terms of reviewing, then in my case it might be Jackdaw with Crowbar. I should have reviewed them (at least in terms of a release) long before but apart from some live reviews in the context of APE Promotions nights, I've not managed to reference them in the magazine. As for featuring them on a volume of ‘Hot Music Live Presents'.. well they've been on the list from the start. I live in hope.

It's perhaps made worse by the length of my awareness of them: an old school friend was in the original lineup so I can't claim to have stumbled upon them recently.

In my defence I can bring up the difficulty of communicating with them: I have tried but they are elusive online.

Now finally I get to write about their latest release, a double header of "Crash" and "Roundabout" which is out on TraceyG Records

The records were made by Tim  Ellis (the one ever present member), Adam Sindall, Charles "Aitch"  Bembridge (whom you'll also know from The Selecter) and Paulina Kalwarska (who also created the artwork). However a fair few others have been involved over the years, names who crop up in a wide variety of contexts including other ones we've covered.

That one of the lineup is a visual artist is important given the fact that in live performance, visuals & theatricality are so high profile: in fact one might make something of an argument that reviewing the music divorced from the full live show is selling the Jackdaw With Crowbar experience short: which is fair enough but I'm still happy to break my duck with this piece. Just imagine the performance in your head as you watch.

I'm not going to attempt to pigeonhole the music as that's neither respectful nor possible. A lot of writing about them quite rightly mentions the ideology and theory which underpins their approach and given all the circumstances, seeing them as an arty sort of band in inevitable. However you can't equate that with any sort of inaccessibility because that simply isn't the case. If anything Jackdaw With Crowbar are Fun. Just well thought out fun. The intertwining of the band and what they do with Leamington LAMP (whom we have mentioned whenever we can) tells the story eloquently of their engagement with community and embracing of diverse ways of seeing the world and processing it.

Of course even a great approach allied to the best playing won't remain potent over this long a period unless it is flexible & capable of evolution. Jackdaw With Crowbar have moved on from conventional instrumentation through self constructed equipment & electronic kit to achieve this: embracing change but thankfully without being tied to any given zeitgeist or becoming hostages to temporary fads.

The delightful bizarre "Roundabout" certainly uses a range of instruments and melds modern sensibilities with more retro ones: I hear 1970s synth sounds in there over a very glam rock stomp with a song which have resulted from the collision between a road safety campaign of the era & contemporary children's television.

"Crash" I suppose inhabits a related theme of the dangers of technology but opts for a more modern dance beat with added Eastern motifs whose significance I can't pretend to offer an explanation for. Which merely adds to the pleasure.

So here we are, my first review (and hopefully not the last) of a Jackdaw With Crowbar release and I can only offer sketchy descriptions, but that does at least cue me to send you off to investigate them for yourselves, which is what the purpose of this article should be.

The many fans of Katherine Abbott will be pleased to hear the latest good news from her.

It comes in multiple parts too. The first of which is that's she's working on her album and the others are that before that comes out  "I'll be releasing a few songs I've written and recorded over the past 5 years or so which need to be set free like tiny birds who've been cooped up too long in files on my phone."

The first of those is out now and it's called "Diamonds".

Also featuring on second guitar is Jonathan Fletcher who produced & engineered the track.

Given all the work Katherine has been putting into the WLDFLWRS project over the last few years and the time she spends on the road, it's hardly surprising that her own career hasn't seen these tracks emerge before (though it's worth noting that virtually every one of her songs of whose genesis I'm aware, has been inspired by her travels. She seems much happier composing (and indeed existing) on the move.)

What adds to the picture of the nomad is the way how she seems to drift serendipitously with the natural flow of the rhythms she's attuned to, without any restricting plan. This shapes the nature of her creativity and also how she shares her songs: one seldom gets much warning of their arrival: I described last year's "Pure" and "Carnage" as having "guerilla releases".

Equally this (despite having a producer) affects the production culture. In her own words "sometimes you have to say to hell with perfection and bells and whistles and carefully laid plans and just release the damn songs".

Beautiful crafted & honed as Katherine Abbott songs always are, she has never flirted with the dangers of over-production: indeed the fans alluded to at the start are drawn to her by the emotional truth & accessibility she offers them on record as much as in her intense & ethereal live performances.

However while the general emotional tenor of her songs may be readily accessed, the literal meanings are always much more elusive, and that thankfully is the case with "Diamonds".

Mood setting is one of her fortes but lyrically her pathways take oblique trajectories: you recognise all the words Katherine uses and each individual word picture makes sense, but put them all together and what is she getting at?

It's all terribly allusive (the lyrics would probably stand up well as a poem) and encompass aspects of relationships, notions of rigidity and fragility, and possibly incompatibility. Maybe one person in a relationship wants marriage while the other would be bored by the conventions and longs, like Katherine for the open road? On the other hand, the notion that to "find diamonds, you've got to go under the ground" is open to so many interpretations in just my mind that I'm not confident in going for a single one in this review.

So you can reflect on the meaning, you can enjoy the poetry of the words or you could simply enjoy what is possibly musically the most gorgeous Katherine Abbott single with its lush guitar play & her playful, almost poppy vocal. It actually sounds a lot of fun (you can certainly tap your foot to it: I speak from experience) though that might not fully reflect the lyrics. Certainly I feel it has the potential to attract a broader audience than much of her earlier work: which may or may not be what she wants I suppose.

From what Katherine tells us, "Diamonds" may not have necessarily seen the light of day, but I'm glad she's freed it from her phone as it's utterly delightful.

It's always a joy to introduce a new artist to the community formed by those I've written about & today it's the turn of Cat Mead to whom I was introduced by Ellie Gowers and who supported her on the final date of her most recent national tour& in that context made her first appearance in the magazine.

Today with the release of her new single "Fantasise With Me", we get the further chance to consider her recorded work.

The first point I should like to make is in regard to its composition: when I spoke with her in December, it was clear that she intended to capture many of her original songs that I heard her play in the studio. However this one doesn't seem to have even been written at the time and she went straight into recording it: presumably bumping it right up the queue which says something about her own regard for it as well as the proliferation of new ideas in her mind.

It also speaks to the notion of immediacy: it's great when songs have such freshness as to from inspiration to release in such short order.

It's a bit playful too (which appeals to me) given that the title suggests something rather different to the actual lyrical content: in fact the prevailing emotion she was experiencing at the time it came to her was sadness & I defy anyone to have guessed that accurately from just seeing its name.

One big (and growing) problem for songwriters operating in 2026 is that not only have most themes already been touched on by previous writers but in many cases the associated vocabularies have been reduced to cliches through over use.

To be honest, this results in my occasionally sighing over material I hear & the phenomenon ends up acting as a filter: what I end up writing about for you has to pass my personal cliché test. The rest I consign to a depository of homogenous & derivative content. Which then thankfully passes quickly from my memory.

Here, Cat passes the test with flying colours. Rather than delving into tired tropes, she finds her own path through a conundrum ("about longing for a feeling or a person") by considering & rejecting fantasy solutions and that helps generate fresh articulations. It also helps her voice a rejection of time wasters while she is at it.

Sad she may have been when inspiration started, but I think the song must have operated cathartically for her given the evidence of her words.

In terms of the music, I was intrigued as to what Cat would go for in terms of arrangement given that I'd only seen her play solo with her guitar. To my delight, she has kept things real by continuing with the formula which attracted me in the first place, but very subtly accentuated from time to time to emphasise dynamics: the song is pretty intense & so needs peaks from time to time. Otherwise, Cat has interposed no veil between herself & us.

So if the song itself turns out not to be quite the invitation it's name teased, then it does welcome us nonetheless into the world of Cat Mead & that's most welcome.

You probably could tell by the enthusiasm on display in my live reviews how I was eager to write about the next Banoffee release and with  "Ripening" coming out this morning, I get to do just that.

Many reviewers will be using the word "sublime" about Banoffee and it's so clearly accurate that I must join them and get it into the article from the start: I truly can't write about the song without using it.

It's been a while arriving  & therefore restraining myself has been necessary. I'm sure the timing relates to practical issues (the band members are also studying currently) but with music this good, building a sense of anticipation can add to impact on release: this is a rare quality of single & worth waiting for.

The song itself is a highlight of their remarkable live shows so no Banoffee fan can be unaware of it & like me presumably yearning to have a copy to keep. They too are probably aware of another already recorded song of theirs with a similar level of sublimity just waiting its turn for the limelight. As noted in my last review of a live show (Izzie Derry's Christmas Show) at which they played, a key indicator for me has been the number of local musicians (especially those we rate ourselves) who are admirers: like everyone else, captivated in an instant.

The joys of Banoffee include their understanding, the emotional frisson and they embrace too a series of dualities. The most glaring one, which admittedly has cropped up in previous articles but it's simply too true and too central to their musical identity not to reiterate, is how the songs seduce you into a comfortable familiarity which suggests they you've known the melody all your life and that its simple: then you watch the fingers and realise the complexity and realise that this is all their own imagination at work . Making this work so apparently effortlessly is some art isn't it?

The studio version is absolutely true to the live renditions: they've worked hard to capture the feeling as well as the essence of the song, which can't be easy with material this intimate. It really does draw you into itself just as well in your own space as in the live venue. Credit to producer Tom Gittins  of Monochrome Productions for his art in helping them to achieve this.

The other aspect of the simple/not-so-simple dynamic is the songs' meaning. In this respect "Ripening" might be their zenith to date. "Maturity" is a relative term insofar as it relates to insights and with this song one might question whether Ella & Cia possess sensitivities more mature than other individuals who may have walked this earth for longer. It's a remarkable reflection on growth & finding one's milestones: novels have tried to cover this amount of ground in thousands more words. A poetic musing pivoting round the concept of seasonal growth.

I'm most pleased to report that you can enjoy Banoffee live on March 20th at The Tin, headlining  our ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraiser for that venue alongside The Illusion and DANE-O plus one more act whom we'll be revealing soon.

https://www.universe.com/events/hot-music-live-rosetta-fire-banoffee-the-illusion-dane-o-tickets-GMTBLH

It's been a while since I wrote about a Reiss Pinder solo release: it's been four years since "California" (you can find it on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Seven' too) but in that time he's been written about plenty of times in the context of several bands, most notably & most recently the mighty HEK.

However he's found time to treat us to "By Your Side" which comes out on January 30^th via our local Love + Madness label, run by Pandora Craig & Sam McNulty and which has also put out tracks by artists including Jack Blackman and Dean MacDonald whom we cover regularly.

Awesome as the sound of HEK in full flight is, inevitably with a writer with Reiss' range, there will be songs he rightly feels require a different, more intimate setting to convey their essence. This then is one such.

You'd find it hard to name a band tighter than HEK and this helps magnify their power & increase their impact. Some songs however cry out for looser treatment which is what is gloriously applied with "By Your Side". Reiss seems to revel in being allowed to roam freely, leashless. That he spoke of his love (among other artists) of Bob Dylan in an interview on HillzFM this morning is interesting makes sense in this context. So many of his classics, though the lyrics were carefully pre-thought out, sound like the arrangement was arrived at via a process of jamming: in fact the re-releases in the "Bootleg" series show this to be the case. Here, it was illuminating to hear Reiss speak of the song emanating from an interesting opening chord: presumably he just went from there & it works.

He also puts his lyric writing down to something nearer perhaps to intuition than cold calculation (I think he's being too modest though in calling it  "more or less a ramble"). I'm sure careless & random spouting of words produces some terrible songs but in the head of a writer as good as Reiss, letting instinct have its head can produce something closer to poetry than prose. 

What of course shines through is his honesty & authenticity: he might not fully understand what he's created (and that's actually a good thing for an artist I think) nor how he got there, but what he sings, he truly believes in and is committed to. The passion is palpable. He is certainly amongst the best songwriters creating locally and maybe having this song out under his own name will help to shine a light more clearly on this & get him his due.

As you all know, I am an admirer of HEK and have high hopes for them: working on achieving their deserved success will take much of his time & what amount that leaves for his solo work is unclear, but I hope he can manage both releases & gigs in both formats as I think each deserves its complementary public attention.

Coming so promptly after their last single, "People Just Like You" , Grail Guard seem to be emulating a successful boxer with the second half of a swiftly & strongly delivered combination in the form of today's "Anxieties".

I use the analogy as both songs lay into unpleasant people with the ferocity of righteousness and the integrity which many of us wish we could display in calling out obnoxious views and behaviours and making our own position clear.

As they say of it: "what were you doing summer 2024? If you were setting fire to bins and shouting at terrified families in a Travelodge, this song is about you!" I hope too that those who festooned St George cross flags wherever they could (oblivious to the irony of their Asian manufacture) in order to intimidate people whom they had no capacity to engage ethically with, hear the song too as it has a message for them as well. It even concludes by quoting Woody Guthrie: "all you fascists are bound to lose". Which I found a nice touch.

Obviously Grail Guard realise the cognitive limitations of the people they are criticising and so don't run the risk of their message being misunderstood by using too much ambiguity nor irony. They go straight in. As they not only wear their own hearts not only on their sleeves but all over their apparel, this can't have been difficult.

The good news too is that their own core audience, not in need of this education, will revel in this affirmation of their own values, so it's a bit of a double win. It's a sad fact but communities which feel under threat can cohere all the more in common resistance and this must account for some of the fervour of Grail Guard's fanbase. We have our anxieties too, only ours are polar opposites of the bigots'.

To call their performance of "Anxieties" "full on" is the least I can come up with: it burns with righteous fury. Producing them must present considerable challenges: not only to try & reflect the power of the live versions but merely to organise them in the studio enough to record and get them to restrain their understandable urge to throw themselves about in a manner suitable for the stage but less so when recording needs to be done.

It's a song with a message so the first thing anyone is going to notice is the stream of vocals searing the air, but they have nous with regard to structure too: the words sit within a blistering atmosphere of guitar but with an interesting and melodic bassline calmly anchoring the song and a drum performance which switches from manic to even more manic offering periodic punctuation.

If you are acquainted with the sort of people cited above, that's bad luck. But you could at least play "Anxieties" to them. I'm sure that Grail Guard wish to reach out far beyond the already converted.

Another day & another artist making their debut in ‘Hot Music Live': makes for quite a dynamic start to a year doesn't it?

Today it's the turn of Leamington based trio Nuke The Whales who purvey "anti-capitalist pop punk and songs about your Nan" and who are "fuelled by rage, anxiety, and decaf coffee".

The focus is their most recent release, "Aliens" and since your Nan doesn't seem to feature, it's a fair bet that their target this time out is the former.

It's another one of those "why oh why did I not write about this bunch earlier" type moments as I was hooked long before the end of the track on my first play…. I think you will be too.

It's an objective look at the dreadful state of our world from an external perspective (which needs saying of course) but it's so much more than that.

"Aliens" fits into a noble (local) tradition of catchy punk songs with outer space motifs. Based in the town whose first punk group The Shapes gave us "Let's Go (To Planet Skaro)" in 1980 (an alternative take of which adorns the very first volume of ‘Hot Music Live Presents'): I wonder if a nod is intended here?

From further afield, fans of The Rezillos will also see kindred spirits and just to emphasise that this is not an exercise in pure nostalgia, the sound indicates that lessons have been learned from bands since then such as Green Day: not least that if you take the trouble to write good lyrics, making sure people hear them is in your interests. The first generation punks often felt that being partially indecipherable had advantages in excluding those for whose ears they were not meant: but this is more inclusive and as a polemic makes its point properly.

Above all it's incredibly catchy: if you want to hook someone and try and convince them of an idea, this is a very good way of doing it. I suspect I did actually agree with them beforehand but that in no way reduces my enjoyment of "Aliens". In fact when I've posted this, I may just play it again. I'm hooked.

I'm betting that on this evidence they are great live too. Their next gig seems to be at the LTB (Priory Visitor Centre) in Coventry on January 30^th alongside las vedas (whom we mentioned only the other day), Mesch and Huffing.

For the many fans of Izzie Derry who've admired so many of her recent songs while wincing at the true-life hurts which inspired them, the news that today's latest single "Follow" is a break up song will probably sadden. Will she get the romantic breaks she deserves?  At least one gets the impression that we are getting a glimpse of an "after" situation in that the song and its composition seem to have been part of her process of working her way through her emotions and that she has by now emerged sad but wiser.

Fortunately (if one dare use the term in this context), we might find a bit of solace in the fact that it's less a story of ill-usage (as too many other ones have been) and instead "just" one of incompatibility. Not that this probably helps the protagonist too much, although it does give the philosopher of romance within her the opportunity to debate "do opposites attract?".

The general theme is however perhaps the easiest element of "Follow" to pin down. Reflecting on the music, it occurred to me how long it has been since I heard Izzie perform anything other than her pre-university with the same musicians & hence the same arrangement as on the released version. Much as one delights in the tracks, Izzie's skill in arranging has developed to such a height over the years that it's easy to overlook just how much thought & care goes into this: she makes it seem so effortless. This is enhanced for Coventry audiences who frequently hear her play the same songs in greatly stripped back versions: either completely solo or with a small ensemble (such as at her Christmas Show which I reported on last month): but even then the parts heard were unique to that performance. For a long time now (arguably forever), Izzie Derry songs have been both inherently strong enough to carry equivalent weight in different formats & flexible enough to allow her to set up shows fairly regardless of any set lineup.

All of which is a bit of a (necessary) digression in order to address what I feel is a key aspect of "Follow". The keys to this key (which I am not sure works terribly well as an idea but you get what I mean) are the two songs ("Down in the Dirt" and "Oh Mama") I reported on from the Christmas gig which she played totally solo: the latter a cappella. Both are even more raw than her most stripped back versions of other songs & seem to indicate her next direction: I'm guessing we'll hear these on record next.

Given the bitingly personal nature of her lyrics plus the fact that she performs solo more than she does with a band, this evolution is both sensible & practical. The icing on the cake is that she is actually a very fine blues singer: it's splendid that her ever-developing career continues to expose such revelations: both to us & I suspect to herself.

But even this isn't the full tale of what "Follow" sounds like.  In fact it can either be seen as a hybrid, starting as it does in acoustic mode before expanding rapidly into a very full arrangement, or, as I feel, a transitional song bridging the progression to the forthcoming style from that which has gone before. The lushness which is built up certainly suits the song itself, accentuating regret over recrimination: though the video and artwork, featuring her outdoors in just a flimsy shift do rather portray her as suffering to some degree.

So one might say that "Follow" can be taken as a threshold song for Izzie not only in terms of the emotional journey she is on but her musical one also.

I'm delighted to  say that Izzie will be playing her first local gig of 2026 when she headlines our February 20^th fundraiser for The Tin with Sophie Hadlum, Croissant & Brass Hip Flask. You can watch & enjoy this superb lineup from the comfort of seats this time, but this does entail limited tickets so I suggest early purchases via:  

https://www.universe.com/events/hot-music-live-presents-izzy-derry-sophie-hadlum-croissant-brass-hip-tickets-67FKZM

At last, an Irish music show that has come out of Ireland without the clichés that usually follow! There are no twee costumes or backing tracks here. Instead you get incredibly talented musicians and dancers who simply want to bring you the sound and fun of Ireland in an intimate and homely setting.

The live music, Irish dancing and banter is infectious and enters the psyche in seconds. The show itself features All Ireland champion musicians and world champion dancers who combine a unique blend of light hearted audience interaction with fascinating stories about the music and the instruments themselves.

The Irish House Party Theatre Trailer 

The scene was set 2 stools, candles all around, light subdued, books with the new album song titles on the spine (so clever) more candles, yes the scene was well and truly set for another magical Temperance performance.

This was the 2nd time Elles held an album launch gig at Temperance in conjunction with Head Records, this time for the wonderful ‘Can't Take My Story Away' released yesterday and sharing the stage with the equally amazing Demi Marriner this was another absolute triumph, Elles fabulous husky vocals full of soul/blues blending so well with Demi's backing vocals and stylish guitar work.

Elles plays the perfect host at these intimate shows meeting her fan base, interacting with them and being so approachable and along with Demi tonight were wonderful signing everything after the performance posing for selfies and with time to chat to everyone.

The album is a class act and the tracks played acoustically and introduced with so many antidotes and personal storys made them come even more to life and she admitted "I over share at these shows" for me your just honest/sharing and so appreciative of the success you are deservedly having and your fans love you for it, all the tales on her start in the buisness the lows and highs - what an incredible story.

On to the music which started with the opening numbers from the album the the powerful/personal title track and the funky sound of the so successful 'Growing Roots' (so much radio play) with Elles commenting that a lot of artists would leave that to the final track but she said something along the lines of I don't play by the rules.

We had before the groove ridden ‘Better days' the solo cover on the album by Catfish the sad story of the passing of the bands frontman Matt Long and how the blues community came together and tried to help, and she talked about one of her favourite bands The Temperance Movement and working with members of the band also about the experience of touring with Rag‘n'Bone Man and other artists she has shared the stage witlh.

Then she had the room and Demi laughing out loud with her tale of somebody from Robbie Williams record label phoning her team and as releasing an album the same week asking should we be scared of Elles Bailey.

The emotional ‘Tightrope' was forwarded by a dose of heartfelt personal chat and why she supports the Music Minds Matter charity which helps anyone who needs it in the music industry and having special items on the merch desk with cash donated to them.

They performed for around an hour then met fans for at least an hour not stopping until the last had left, what an entertaining, emotional, humorous ride this was and boy did we enjoy it, see you next time.

Andrew Lock

Once again, I find myself in the happy position of writing for the first time in ‘Hot Music Live' about artists not previously mentioned.

Today it's the turn of Leamington-based las vedas (yes the lower-case culture continues to stand tall amongst the artists coming through).

The occasion is the release today of their new , and in fact debut EP ‘lamp'.

Why that title? Well it's probably beyond coincidence that the fact it was recorded at LAMP in Leamington may have played a part in naming it.

LAMP is  "a specialist education provision dedicated to supporting young people with autism and high anxiety" which alone merits our respect and support but on top of that, the organisation has empowered & supported many students in creating their own individual art: especially music. We have reviewed the first of their compilations (and looking forwards to the second) and featured several LAMP based students on our ‘Hot Music Live Presents' compilations.

As it happens, the band we're talking about today come to their LAMP collaboration from their own unique angle: they credit Tim Ellis (whom you may also know from Jackdaw with Crowbar)  "for his encouragement and use of LAMP's recording facilities" and the naming of the record after it is more than a cursory tip of their hat.

In fact the band have quite substantial back stories: Morton D Ballard (guitarist)  with London based The History of Apple Pie, bassist Alex Vale with Wallace and Vomit whom we've featured in the magazine and drummer Ewan Durrant, has a "long history of activity in local music scene".

Produced by Louis B Scheuer (also of course of Wallace and Vomit and many other groovy projects) with engineer Jo Durrant of Nuke the Whales (both of whom are credited with "nudging" the group into the recording environment, ‘lamp' consists of a quartet of songs: "spelling bee", "taylor" (with backing vocals courtesy of Matt Cameron), "song for sleep" and "vivian".

Those are their names but describing what they sound like is another matter entirely. Yes, it's another band who don't fit into any particular single category as defined by the official media: precisely what I like but trickier to deal with if you're a reviewer. To be fair, the band in their postings have tried to help potential new audience members by having a go themselves, but ultimately as with all good original bands, what is generated tends to be a list of attributes they can discern in their own music, augmented by mine. And in due course presumably yours.

Let's just remind ourselves that this is not a complaint: if anything it's part of my recommendation & I really do urge you to listen. I imagine that they are pretty special live too (hopefully I'll be reviewing them in that capacity some time) and I gather that the four tunes selected for recording reflect crowd responses.

Their over-arching general self-identification is "a potent cocktail of noise-pop, shoegaze, surf-punk, garage and indie" which covers a fair amount of ground and gets us started. To this they add that this is further characterised "by shimmering guitars wrapped in atmospheric haze, driving rhythms, and infectious hooks that blur the lines between chaos and melody."

"spelling bee" kicks the EP off (fairly literally): they suggest it's a "garage blitz": I detect echoes of the remorseless rockabilly of The Fall too: which makes it fine to my ears.

"taylor"  they feel may be "surf-inflected shoegaze" which makes sense once you hear it, though the anxious clatter tends to evoke people who may have drunk a lot of coffee or taken something else stimulating rather more than the laid back variety of surfer.

The other two songs they characterise as both being "noise-pop" which may be a euphemism for the difficulty of narrowing any description down further, but if you already have enjoyed the first half of the EP, I don't suppose you are too bothered by any more verbal commentaries: you are just into the music, and that's the main thing. That both would have slotted in on C86 is intended as high praise.

When you've enjoyed ‘lamp' you can go and see them live as they're playing at Priory Visitor Centre (LTB Showrooms) on January 30^th alongside Mesch, Nuke the Whales and Huffing.

In advance of their album ‘Images of Survival'  (due out in exactly one month on Valentine's Day), dogmarket today has released "Stray Animal".

It has an interesting history which I think will not only aptly illustrate their artistic development but will chime with many other DIY creatives.

Demoed around three years ago as an acoustic track, it's waited patiently until now when its creator "finally had the production knowledge to make it sound how I wanted." A good lesson I think in patience and having the courage to park a song rather than put it out in a compromised state.

Now clothed in electronica, "Stray Animal" possesses its original lyrics which now have the setting dogmarket judges displays them to their best advantage & which accentuate their force.

This was a very good call  in my opinion: the song itself carries a heavy emotional burden which speak directly to personal experience at the original time of writing and the words gain by the haunting (I'd go so far as harrowing) arrangement. An acoustic guitar might have offered the counterpoint option but I am sure this arrangement was the right one to fully bring out the considerable quantities of anguish, frustration & of feeling unappreciated and even unloved.

It's a powerful song now: it will unsettle you and hopefully will inspire others out there who know they have something valuable and are caught agonisingly between awaiting perfection & the temptation to go with what they've got.