NEW MUSIC: FT. KAVANAGH, JORJA CHALMERS, TAMERA, RAVEN BUSH & R.A.E
This Friday, while you are social distancing or even heading back to work, let these new tracks from Kent artists tune your ears in to what the most musically productive county in the country sounds like right now, writes Rob Hakimian
We have added all tracks to the ‘cene #KeepitKent Spotify Playlist HERE
Kavanagh - Come and Meet The Jones’
Instagram: @kavanaghband
Following up their single ‘Citizen 202’, which we spotlighted back in March, fearsome quintet Kavanagh are back with another steaming take on classic rock. ‘Come and Meet The Jones’’ is said to “explore class difference, microcosms of English society, and the alienation of village life”, and throughout the undulating song we’re treated to several thumbnail sketches of the kinds of butchers, bakers and candlestick makers that populate our little corner of the world.
You come to Kavanagh for the words, but you stay for the guitars, which are on crackling form here in ‘Come and Meet The Jones’’. Now all we need is a beer in hand while we watch them shred on stage, which will surely happen this summer.
Jorja Chalmers - Bring Me Down
Instagram: @jorjachalmers
Margate-based Australian multi-instrumentalist (and mother of two) Jorja Chalmers releases her new album Midnight Train today via the venerated label Italians Do It Better. A highlight from the album, ‘Bring Me Down’ draws on her experiences as a mother, but heightens them. She says “it’s about the fragility of the perfect housewife. It’s basically about a woman that’s trying to be everything, and is cracking psychologically.”
And yet, despite this stressful subject, there’s no denying its spectral beauty. ‘Bring Me Down’ is a moon-dappled traipse through soft-focus synths that feels like being in the head of a neurotic person as they lay in bed at night, unable to sleep, thinking about all the things they’ve got to do. Despite this, there is a quiet resolve as she affirms “you won’t bring me down.”
Tamera - Wickedest
Instagram: @tamera
Gravesend’s premiere R&B star Tamera has always had a flirtatious tone to her music, but for ‘Wickedest’ she’s holding nothing back. “Wickedest is about embracing my sexual energy as a female. Finding strength in being able to love and be intimate with who you please and feeling liberated in doing so,” she says. She’s brought some delicious Spanish guitar licks and minimal rhythm to help set the mood, and her voice does the rest.
Even in audio form it’s hard to take your eyes off Tamera as she oozes confidence, sexuality and personality through ‘Wickedest’. She makes no bones about it as she delivers provocative lines like “by the way you’re looking at me, I know you wanna do me some damage” and “let me show you nirvana, have you ever made love on a star?” Ahem.
Raven Bush - Made Of Stars
Instagram: @allsoundismusic
Raven Bush has been part of Canterbury mainstays Syd Arthur for a while now, but in his own head-spinning productions he gets to show what he’s really about. He’s recently announced that he’ll put out his first album, Fall Into Noise, in August, and ‘Made of Stars’ is the first tease of what he’s got in store. “This piece is about remembering that during the process of change we find ourselves in uncomfortable spaces,” he says. “And to remember it’s these moments where we grow the most, so hold tight.”
That last bit is salient advice, as ‘Made of Stars’ shifts so rapidly through its various guises that it can be disorienting. Utilising skin-prickling tones, a warped sample of his daughter’s voice, tactile beats and myriad different synth patches, it’s a true voyage – like experiencing a gradual personality shift crammed into the space of six dizzying minutes.
R.A.E. - Not Your Love (feat. King Combs)
Instagram: @itsr_a_e
Arriving just in time for a summer that’s sure to spawn many less-than-advisable new relationships, R.A.E. delivers a delectable remix of her situationship anthem ‘Not Your Love’. A favourite from last year’s Listen Up EP, it finds the Thamesmead star flitting around a chill-hop beat, as alluring as she is commanding, as she continually affirms “my love is not your love”. She’s clearly attracting a lot of lingering gazes, and not ready to commit to any one person.
For this remix she’s got California rapper King Combs sharing bars with her. “King Combs came and brought something you can't get from a lot of artists - a sense of nostalgia but coolness too,” she says, and together they’ve created an anthem that vibes all the way from our south coast to the USA’s west.