Zervas and Pepper - Cigar Store Indian

Cardiff based duo Zervas and Pepper released their debut album, Somewhere In The City, last year.  However it is only now that it appears to be catching on with a lot of radio stations and music lovers.  The wonderful Cigar Store Indian (of which you can find a beautiful acoustic version here)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVg8AG6qFJI  is receiving airplay everywhere it seems and indeed it is the track that caught my attention last week. 

Around 5 or 6 years ago, Paul Zervas and Kathryn Pepper were both established singer songwriters playing the club circuit separately.  Both did mainly cover versions of west coast songs and both slipped in the occasional original track.  It was inevitable I suppose that they would eventually get together.  And they blend well.  There have been a couple of earlier eps but this is their first joint album, which after such a long time together is somewhat surprising, although Zervas has hinted that the prevous eps were outtakes from two albums which they decided not to release at the very last minute.  Certainly some of the songs on the debut are a little weak, but there are some wonderful tracks on there so it is well worth checking out.  Music for long summer drives... if summer ever arrives.

http://www.zervaspepper.co.uk/

dEUs - Quatre Mains

Belgium's dEUs have released another album.  Called Following Sea, this follows on surprisingly quickly from 2011's wonderful Keep You Close.  The reason, apparently, is that they had quite a few songs left over from the making of Keep You Close which hadn't suited the feel of that album.  Also they wanted to work in a slightly different way; being 'less precious' about how they were recorded.  They wanted to be more spontaneous and it was recorded in between tours, literally getting off the tour bus and going into the studio.  They found it refreshing to be working more quickly.  The quick release came about simply because the songs were ready and they wanted people to be able to hear them.

Quatre Mains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsFfHdqNOWI  is the first single to be taken from this album and is something of a departure from their usual style.  Most notably it is sung in French.  I came to dEUs late and hadn't realised this was the first time they had recorded a song in French, but the French lyric happened purely by accident and certainly wasn't intended to be this way.  Lead singer Tom Barman explains that Quatre Mains started out very differently, as the result of a jam session.   Unable to get it quite right, or work out a melody line, Tom he began talking over it in French and it worked. 

I wish I'd paid more attention in French lessons because I have no idea what Tom is talking about in Quatre Mains, but it sounds good anyway.

http://www.deus.be/home/

The Midnight Ramble - Lions

I'm a bit late posting this single by The Midnight Ramble.  Called Lions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObL_7T2K6Kg  it was released on 11th May and is a terrific single.   It was put out as a taster for the debut album, Sink The Pieces, which was released last week.  Sink the Pieces is a short but perfectly formed collection of songs by the Liverpool guys who are creating something of a buzz around the North West area.  I can vouch for their talent, having seen them supporting Phantom Limb recently. 

There are a few quieter songs on the album which are great, but it is when they rock out that they really shine.   Lead singer Paul Dunbar has a powerful voice and with the band's various instruments - guitar, banjo, saxophone, trumpet, flute, clarinet and (it says on their Facebook page although I have yet to hear it) glockenspiel,  it all combines to lend a unique flavour to the standard rock band sound.

Perhaps choosing this name was a mistake - after all Levon Helm got there first and is still top of Google pages and will be for some considerable time.  But then again they are a upcoming band and time may rectify this.


www.themidnightramble.com