For River Dreams’ debut album Small Paintings, the pandemic served as the impetus, rather than a deterrent, for recording sessions to take place. Sydney musician and songwriter Carl Manwarring had been playing around the city’s Inner West bars, pubs and bowling clubs under his own name for a number of years, following an initial foray … Continue reading
Category Archives: Cosmic Country
HALFWAY RELEASE NEW SINGLE/VIDEO ‘GHOSTLINE’ AND ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
Brisbane seven piece indie/alt-country group Halfway have released their brand new single Ghostline today, taken from their forthcoming album On the Ghostline, with Hands of Lightning, due out on August 26th. The central, searching guitar riff of the song is an absolute ear worm, burrowing instantly into your short term memory. The band deliver their … Continue reading
KIMMI BITTER RELEASES THE BEAUTIFUL HAZY SLOW DANCE THAT IS ‘WESTERN SUN’
Things get low-slung and dreamy on this sun-dappled new single from San Diego’s Kimmi Bitter. Taken from her forthcoming new album Highway Hustler, ‘Western Sun’ showcases Bitter’s cosmic West Coast take on traditional country and soul. There’s also a country-noir feel courtesy of the shimmer and shuffle of the music, the dark and ghostly twang … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: The Delines – The Sea Drift
THE DELINES THE SEA DRIFT LOVE POLICE RECORDS + TAPES Once considered a side project of Richmond Fontaine songwriter and frontman Willy Vlautin, on album #3 The Delines have comprehensively proven themselves as their own bittersweet and soulful microsystem, where damaged souls battle on against life’s twists and turns. Little beacons of hope amid the … Continue reading
VIDEO PREMIERE: Hillsborough – Trouble Finds Its Way
Here at PTW I’m very please to be able to premiere the new video clip by Queensland duo Hillsborough. ‘Trouble Finds Its Way‘ is the debut single from the duo of Phil Usher and Beata Maglai who have been playing around QLD for the last six years, spreading the word about their brand of cosmic … Continue reading
VIDEO PREMIERE: SAM SHINAZZI (FT. KATIE BRIANNA) HITS THE HEARTSTRINGS ON NEW SINGLE ‘CLOSING TIME’
“I listened to The Jayhawks for hours and now I’m blue” Sydney’s Sam Shinazzi, the city’s longtime auteur of indie rock and increasingly alt-country, has released the video clip for his brand new single ‘Closing Time’ which is officially out tomorrow, March 18th. Featuring the sublime vocals of Katie Brianna, the song is sensitively forlorn, … Continue reading
VIDEO PREMIERE: JOSIE LAVER RELEASES HER NEW SINGLE OF SULTRY, ATMOSPHERIC COUNTRY SOUL
NSW songwriter Josie Laver‘s debut single ‘Tangled’, written with Matt Joe Gow is an impressive calling card of a song. Richly warm and evocative it swings and rolls along with a blues-infused country dreaminess. Heavy-lidded and sultry, it revolves around feelings of low self esteem, damage or trauma and talks about pushing those feelings aside, … Continue reading
INTERVIEW: ERIN RAE
Erin Rae is currently on tour in Australia with Courtney Marie Andrews on what might be one of the very first international tours we’ve seen in the last two years. Rae has just released a beautiful new album, Lighten Up, that complements her sublime and nuanced songwriting with cosmic, lightly psychedelic and baroque folk sounds … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC from Canadian songwriter Jenny Berkel
Delicate and graceful finger-plucked acoustic guitar notes fill the air before the rich and warm resonance of Canadian Jenny Berkel‘s voice emerges from the melancholic swirl of her new single ‘You Think You’re The Rain‘. That low-key introduction segues beautifully into a full band sound with a strong rhythmic push and pull and cosmic folk-rock … Continue reading
INTERVIEW: Family Jordan
SOWING THE SEEDS OF SONGS Family Jordan continue to refine their humid and cosmic country and folk sound on their fourth album Big Grass. Ahead of their appearance at the Dashville Skyline festival next weekend (Feb 25-28th, 2022) we’re adding our interview with Jordan Rochfort of the band from last year. by Chris Familton Following in … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Suga Owens – Weekend Time
Queenslander Scottie ‘Suga’ Owens has released his brand new country single ‘Weekend Time’ via Heartsville Music Group and it finds him hitting a sweet vein of Charley Crockett meets outlaw country. Pedal steel adds a mix of tropical and outback flavours for what amounts to an impressively authentic new voice in Australian country music. Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: David James Allen – Please Let Me In [VIDEO]
Taken from David James Allen‘s third album, The Architect, ‘Please Let Me In’ is yet another great example of the way he blends rhythm, energy and melody in his countrified songs, topped off by a voice that’s rich with personality, grit and grace. As Allen explains, “I wrote ‘Please Let Me In’ as a sort … Continue reading
PTW FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2021
It’s that time of year where I sit down, create a spreadsheet, list all the albums that caught my ear and had me returning for repeat listens, and then begin the torturous task of putting them into some kind of ordered list. It’s a strange thing to rank artistic endeavours against each other but the … Continue reading
PTW FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN ALBUMS OF 2021
Despite the endless disruptions, lockdowns, gig cancellations and postponements, there were still plenty of excellent albums released here in Australia in 2021. Most of them had their own unique sound too – drawing from folk, country, psych, blues and indie to differing degrees. There were established artists who continued to mature and evolve as well … Continue reading
SINGLE PREMIERE: Dr Mann – Stubborn Mule
Cosmic psychedelic country vibes abound on ‘Stubborn Mule‘, the beautiful new single from Dr Mann that we have the pleasure of premiering on PTW today. As the guitars chop and stagger, pedal steel wafts along, adding a swirling ambience to the track. Twin vocals complete the intertwined and woven sound of the track as it … Continue reading