Playlist: Ghosts, labyrinths and brutalism

Labyrinthine Oceans - Pinch

The Oceans’ latest single came out last week and maintains the high standards we’ve come to expect from them. Woozy, hazy dream-rock, a firm grounding in shoegaze canon and enough originality to make these kind of labels their own.

Lyrically, Pinch explores some dark territory: the struggle to live an authentic life, finding way to remain true to ourselves while still interacting with society at large. Musically, spectral vocals float above a heavy, distorted sound. It feels like there’s more weight underpinning this track than we’ve heard before; not heavy so much as grounded, perhaps reflecting the band’s growing maturity.

A growing reputation too: October sees Labyrinthine Oceans play a first ever European gig (Brussels is the lucky host on Oct. 26). Closer to home, there’s a Newcastle show coming up at the Cluny 2 on Nov. 1, supported by sadplanet and thistle. Expect an intense experience.

Tickets for Labyrinthine Ocean’s Nov. 1 show are available here.

Isabel Maria – At Least we don’t Have Kids

No stranger to past playlists (check out here or here, plus an interview in the summer), Isabel continues to flourish. She’s gearing up for her biggest gig to date, a Hallowe’en (ish) show at the Cumberland Arms, timed to push her new single, Ghost. Tantalizing snippets from that suggest a tale of self-doubt and soup, which makes little sense to the uninitiated but ties in well with Isabel’s brand of introspective song-writing.

Ghost is due out on Oct. 25, the day before the Cumby Arms show, and should form part of a promised new set in Newcastle. While we’re waiting for that, though, it’s a good time to look back to Isabel’s previous single, At Least we don’t Have Kids. As the title suggests, it’s a break-up song and after its August release it was picked out by BBC Introducing and labelled FFO Taylor Swift.

After making her name with chamber-pop ballads, this is an exciting new direction. Suddenly there’s a dynamic, synthy throb injecting a dose of renewed energy into her trademark style. Rest assured, though, that great voice is still intact and the familiar whip-sharp lyrics are all present and correct. If this is a taste of what’s coming at the end of the month, my appetite is well and truly whetted.

Isabel Maria plays the Cumberland Arms, Newcastle, on Oct. 26. Support from Melanie Baker and Ice Road Trucker. Tickets available here.

Fast Blood – Sunny Blunts

I heard Fast Blood for the first time last week, supporting Benefits at a fantastic gig in Middlesbrough (more on that here). Like that evening’s headliner, the band specialises in angry, cathartic DIY rock with attitude. On stage, it’s a fervent mix of raucous guitar dominated by Abi Barlow’s clarion vocals.

Abi hails from Peterlee, part of the half-forgotten hinterland of East Durham. Sunny Blunts, a housing estate in this 75-year-old new town, lends its name to Fast Blood’s debut album and their most recent single. But that track switches up the mood of the rest of the disc, offering a reflective, almost nostalgic vibe. We’re suddenly in territory adjacent to Field Music’s latest offering (as discussed in last week’s playlist). There’s a strong hint of the ties that bind: after railing against the failings of where we grow up, there’s still a sense that ‘this still feels like home’.

And a note about the video, which incorporates the brutalist angles of Walter Pasmore’s Apollo Pavilion and the bizarre sense of now-dated futurism that informed the development of Peterlee in the immediate post-war era. Plus, of course, greyhounds, harking back to another local tradition from the days of Wheatley Hill dog track.

Fast Blood at live at The Grove in Byker on Oct. 29, supporting Canada’s Fucked Up. Tickets are £18, available here.

Thanks for reading another playlist. If you liked it, give a like and subscribe. If you really liked it, consider buying me a coffee. But, most of all, please consider supporting the artists by buying their music or attending their gigs.

Previous playlists: Folksy flavours / Politics / Stockton Calling / Russia / Aelius / #6 / Border Crossings / #8 / Safe hands throwing stones / More Than a Stone’s Throw / Fusion / Pigs, parties and Portuguese / From Bronte to Black Metal / Punk Princesses / Mackem magic and a mystical remix / Narc.Fest / Fringe Benefits / Peterlee Psalms / Winds of Change / Punk nostalgia, twisted psychedelia / Remembrance of Times Past