Last Letters – It’s A Shame
A 90s nostalgic track opens this week’s ‘Riffs & Roads’ list. Last Letters’s ‘It’s a Shame’ will take you back to artists like The Verve, Cast, Blur, Ocean Colour Scene, and Oasis. That memorable acoustic guitar blended with singalong melodies, introspective lyrics and a Britpop attitude. This track is a heartache song that leans into a dramatic emo plane, undercutting it only with bare vocals, expressive instrumentals and acoustic riffs. A heartbreak anthem that lets you wallow and ugly cry and get melodramatic. It’s messy, real and shows us all the dirty laundry. And somehow that’s what elevates it. That humanness of it, at its lowest, at its most vulnerable. The way it’s carried by the vocalist and built up by the instrumentals.
Yacovelli – Since Emilia
Yacovelli is a hard core alt rock band that dabbles in the dark crafts of neo grunge and punk. That edgy, underground mystery shrouds its sound, taking you to a vintage concert aesthetic. Their latest release is the ‘Since Emilia’ EP, a four track collection that really pronounces the sound and style of the band. The power, the impact, and the dark lifts. The title track opens the collection. It is moody, grubby and grungey. Rough around the edges and wants to stay that way. Like a sour patch, it fizzes out with basslines and lays out expansive roots that are defiant. Each line, each verse is rebellion propaganda. The punk is not an overarching feature but a deep and cutting style that grows into the grunge and pounds it into the ground.
Rivermind – Honey
Rivermind is a Switzerland-based alt rock band who love to stray into fantastical planes. Dreamy guitars suspended in moody bass frames, with pop grooves and pop of colors. That’s the stylistic overlay. But the way they flesh out these features and manifest them as themes is incredible. Their latest release is ‘Honey’, a track that revolves around the sweet, stickiness of the title, connecting it to exceeding emotional spectrums like love, lust, and heartache. The alternative quotient is quite strong here. The rhythm, the tempo and format don’t have the usual predictable notions to them. Instead they are made in a flow state just growing into each other, inspiring the next frame and building the emotion. The impact is felt in the ease with which the riffs and the bass grooves flow. Unapologetically themselves but expressive in their rough and rustic, twisted lines. Listen Now!
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