FRESH NEW KICKS: Piano Song- Eryn Allen Kane

‘Piano Song’ is somewhat of a misnomer for Eryn Allen Kane’s latest delight. Sure, it kicks off with a twinkling little key sequence, accompanied only by Eryn’s gorgeously full voice, all peaks and ebbs like a whirl of meringue. Yet less than halfway into the track the presence of those signature layered harmonies and- more excitingly- bold and brassy horns have made themselves known. Perhaps dubbing this beautiful track ‘old school soul’ is a bit of misnomer too; there’s a tendency to constantly hold up new bluesy offerings to the ‘classic’ standard, in much the same way rap conversations always pay homage to Biggie or Pac. By now, Eryn has woven enough originality and spark throughout her work to be seen as more than just an imitator of bygone musical eras- a lack of synths doesn’t automatically denote a lack of modernity. Beyond that, ‘Piano Song’ possesses a timeless message: ‘Sometimes clinging to a cloud/Ain’t as easy as it seems’ she sings, pondering the sheer, hard graft that goes into maintaining a successful relationship before erupting into a climatic series of belting riffs that repeat the message to ‘never give up’ if you really want to make something last. It’s a message that’s just as easily applicable to success in her chosen industry yet slowly but surely she seems to be making her way.

Follow @ErynAllenKane on Twitter now. 

FRESH NEW KICKS: Slipping- Eryn Allen Kane

To be honest, Eryn Allen Kane could sing the alphabet and I’d still recommend you pay top dollar to hear it. Thankfully, she’s willing to give her fans slightly more than ABCDEF rendered in a brassy mezzo soprano belt; latest soul-soaked single Slipping is a worthy successor to phenomenal gospel debut Have Mercy. Dealing with the difficult subject of outgrowing both lovers and locations, Kane marries her fantastic ear for melody with a keen eye for lyrical detail. ‘You can tell I’m not content/But bitten nails prove some relent‘ she informs her paramour, a bad little habit spotlighted as evidence of her desire to move onto to greater things. Later, Kane dangles a relationship lifeline with an invitation to join her on the road: ‘ditching this town before I drown and there’s one more open seat’  but by the softly cooed coda it’s pretty obvious that the entanglement’s beyond CPR. Slipping is a farewell missive slid under a door one sunny morning; Kane proves herself capable of conveying impressive emotion even when she’s not stretching her voice to full capacity. Beautiful and bluesy, this compact little track will leave you ready to hitch yourself to her wagon.

Eryn Allen Kane’s EP Aviary is out later this year. Follow her @ErynAllenKane on Twitter now.

Eye Openers: Graceland- Paul Simon

EYE OPENERS presents odes to outstanding albums that have dramatically changed my life in some way. This week we’re going to Graceland.

Twitter would have gorged itself on the controversy surrounding the making of Paul Simon’s Graceland. We’d have seen hundreds of social media activists angrily brandishing #yesallartists hashtags, while Gawker et al exchanged lengthy articles, citing every cultural concept from post-colonialism to post-racialism in an effort to rack up those numbers. After a couple of days, the furore would lose its momentum, and the world could comfortably settle back down to live-tweeting the decision-making process between Thai or pizza, occasionally farting out a few limp #STOPBOTHA missives when it remembered there was some shit going on over in Nigeria or Ghana or wherever.

My love affair with Graceland has been one of constant re-assessment; I first heard the record when I was 5 years old but it took another decade before I became aware of any outrage surrounding its production- or that it was universally famous. An embarrassing admission, but one that owes much to the childhood innocence that, even now, Graceland still represents for me.