Music (not so) Monthly | January 2016

It's here again! No, I haven't given up on it completely. Let's see how long it sticks this time :D

If you don't know what I'm referring to, I'm talking about Music Monthly, which is a regular series I used to to here on the blog. Only then the regularity died (hence Music Irregular) and then... Somehow everytime I try to get the series back on track, it dies on me. Either I don't have music to write about or I don't have the time to do it. In spite of all the bad luck Music Monthly has been attracting, I'm trying once again to beat the odds. Here's a music taste of my January 2016.

I'll be honest with you, it's a bit of a cheat from me, because 3 out of the 5 tracks I'm giving you this month were originally meant to be in an autumnal music post last year which never happened in the end. Oops. However it is not entirely unjustified that I should put them into this edition. All 3 tracks are by the same artist and they were the first songs that I got to hear from her new album. I say "new", it was released in September '15. The lady inquestion is of course Gabrielle Aplin and the wonderful album is called Light Up the Dark. And it makes sense to put it into January, because I had bought it myself as a Christmas present but it wasn't until January that I finally made time to actually properly listen to the whole record.

Love love love! Here's the title track:

I'm liking this new sound! The title song is a good representative of the whole album in that it shows a very clear and decisive development and growth of Gabrielle as an artist. What we're getting here is not the cute girlie with a guitar playing those cute little sing-songs. (Not that there's anything worng with that! I really liked English Rain - the debut album.) Gabrielle Aplin 2015 sounds a lot more... darker. Yes, darker, more sturdy and grounded, in a way more rock, yet with a tangible connection to the 60's-70's singer-songwriter tradition.

Here's another fun number, the second single of the album, called "Sweet Nothing", which got me through many a sleepy morning on my way to work. It's full of energy, glitter and drummers.

She has grown up so much, hasn't she? :) Seriously though, it feels great, almost like a privilege to be able to witness an artist and a person grow like this and share it with us, the audience. Last song I'm gonna play you is my favourite track of the album. It's one of the slower ones (they are still there, it's not all drums and rock music ;), a mellow kind of song, a little stripped down instrumentally, but with a very powerful and deeply affecting arrangment. It's called "Heavy Heart" and I'm adding it to a compilation of my personal anthems. For me it's one of those songs that you run into and they perfectly and completely express you.

That's it for the Gabrielle Aplin part and now to somehow put in the rest of the month... I was struggling a bit with chosing the right sound, but then I had a revelation:

I've spent a good couple of days in January immersed in Middle-earth and all things Tolkien-y. It hits me randomly 2-3 times a year and makes me want to forget about everything else (job, people, events.. ) and just read and read, watch the movies, think and imagine and breathe... Be a different person altogether. Somebody who can spend their time thinking, and reading and writing... While I was in this little Middle-earth pocket, I'd been watching a lot of behind the scenes and "making of" material of the Hobbit movies, because I'd been thinking a lot about the process of adapting a piece of literature. And it was fascinating to find out what goes into composing these iconic pieces of film music that accompany Peter Jackson's Tolkien films. Here, to represent my Tolkien time in January, is arguably the most iconic of them all: "A Journey in the Dark" from The Fellowship of the Ring composed by the legend that is Howard Shore.

Lastly, for the last part of the month, let's listen to a current pop hit. So current that it's UK's no. 1 right now. I didn't want to like it, it was just a bit too pop for me, but it's so catchy that it caught me. I find myself humming the chorus hours and hours after I heard it on the radio and I just can't get rid of it...

Note for any Musketter fans reading: This song needs an Athos/Milady video! It needs to happen!!!

There we have it, I have successfully tackled January. Fingers crossed last year's debackle shall not be repeated.

Tell me, have you heard any interesting new music recently? What has your 2016 sounded like so far? :)

I'll see you next time, take care.
xx

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