Bella Union Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Jack Kenworthy's latest album under the longtime Moniker Colouring is a veritable headstand. Whereas his earlier projects dealt in made-up scenarios in the lyrics, Love To You Mate concerns the loss of his brother-in-law to bowel cancer and the subsequent coming-closer to his family, making this the first album to deal with a focussed, concretely personal subject matter. Continuing Colouring's post-Britpop slant, taking cues from Coldplay, Elbow and Keane through to the more electronic and contemporary influences in the genre such as James Blake and Radiohead, this is a deep-dive into a sorely-untrodden theme for indie singer-songwriter music; that of the family reuniting over the ties that truly bind.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


2022's stunning album Once Twice Melody was a fine example of Beach House doing what they do best - living bang up to that name, with intimate-but epic instrumentation falling somewhere between surf-y jangle and grand shoegaze. 'Become' is definitely on a similar tip, and as such feels much like an extension of the long form.
Dig a little deeper, though, and scratches begin to show. While the full-length record represented Beach House reaching for the stars, or at least the moon, and stepping into the role of festival headliners, here the sense of pure confidence and occasion is less pronounced. That may not be a bad thing, mind, because while Once came across like a finished article, refined and prepared, things here seem somehow rawer, as though we're sitting in on a session as oppose to getting the signed off product.