Sean Littlewood

You're browsing the archives

From Sunday 30 April 2017

‘Driver’s Side’ By Table Talk rediscovers the mature, laid back emo pop of the mid-90’s

It’s probably no accident that ‘Driver’s Side’, the second track from Table Talk’s newest EP ‘Where I Am Without You’, sounds like a great Weakerthans song.Delving into the intricacies of every small thing you do or enjoy – in this case smoking cigarettes after work – being picked apart by

Friday 21 April 2017

Sorority Noise are honest and severe on album opener, ‘No Halo’

Written in the wake of a number of deaths and suicides of close friends, Sorority Noise’s second record is both a sad and graphic reflection of an extremely testing and painful time for the Connecticut band. The verses of ‘No Halo’, the brutally honest opening track of second album ‘You’re Not As _______ As You

Thursday 30 March 2017

LIVE: Foxing / Fog Lake @ The Scala, London

Foxing are one of the most exceptional live bands around at the moment. The St. Louis emo band don’t just lean on their passionate fanbase or the emotional levity of their music either. Somehow, they continue to push boundaries both sonically and artistically, and tonight, the last time they will grace a London

Friday 24 March 2017

Fog Lake: gentle, perfect, stay inside lo-fi

What began in Aaron Powell’s bedroom as a drone rock project recorded and released via cassette tapes, Fog Lake has slowly edged further into the periphery of the mainstream. Just off the back of a tour with emo giants Foxing, new record ‘Dragonchaser’ carves beautiful, atmospheric dream pop against the typically drone heavy backdrop of what’s

Tigers Jaw explore anxiety and relationships on excellent new song ‘Guardian’.

Tigers Jaw offered new song ‘Guardian’ as one that deals with “the struggle of being someone’s support system while dealing with your own anxieties and issues.” A densely layered track that continues the bands formidable alliance with the excellent Will Yip (Title Fight, La Dispute), it deftly explores the negative effects of channeling your focus on someone else to the

Thursday 23 March 2017

‘Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind’ shows just how crucial Modern Baseball are

‘Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind’, a song composed entirely by Brendan Lukens, is unlike anything Modern Baseball has managed previously. Akin to his entire side of 2016’s Holy Ghost, (staying true to the tradition that both Lukens and Jake Ewald split their albums directly down the middle in regards to who writes

Wednesday 22 March 2017

Revisiting the perfect sadness of The Weakerthans

“My city’s still breathing (but barely it’s true).” I recently spoke to Christian Holden of The Hotelier, who told me how an indie rock band from Winnipeg, formed in 1997, had immeasurable impact and influence on his passionate songwriting. A band also held in the highest regard by Justin Pierre of

Friday 03 March 2017

20 years on, ‘Either/Or’ is still Elliott Smith’s perfect middle place

There is something behind the fragility and darkness of Elliott Smith that elevates his music to a place reserved only for the most crucial of musicians. The Brian Wilson’s and John Lennon’s of this world – two people who just happen to be all over ‘Either/Or’. Although not a commercially successful album,

Tuesday 21 February 2017

The Hotelier’s ‘Two Deliverances’ is the absolute ‘Goodness’ of everything

‘Two Deliverences’ from 2016’s ‘Goodness’ is where The Hotelier somehow find themselves revelling in the ecstasy of acceptance on the other side of one of the darkest, most emotionally fragile releases a long time. Lucid, drenched in emotion, and gloriously anthemic; ‘Two Deliverences’ finds a band at their absolute peak somehow pushing the

Thursday 16 February 2017

LIVE: Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band / Laura Stevenson / Lion & The Wolf @ The Dome, London

Ever since playing his first UK show, supporting a death metal band above a tiny pub way back in 2002, Kevin Devine has carved out the kind of dedicated audience, only the most prolific, sincere of songwriters manage to. A lot has happened since then too. In 2007 Devine signed with Capitol