Katie Hawthorne

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Katie Hawthorne

Cigarette smoke is Jenny Hval’s Proustian madeleine. An acrid, earthy scent drifts through the Norwegian experimentalist’s ninth album as she recalls childhood memories and beloved pets, and retreads the stages of past performances. On vampy lead single To Be a Rose, with restless drum machine and jazzy brass, Hval transforms a rose stem before embellishing further: “This is every cigarette my mother ever smoked.”Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist.

4 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Katie Hawthorne

Listening to The Foel Tower feels like tuning a weathered old radio – you’ll be rewarded for applying patience and concentration. On this second album, experimental Bristol four-piece Quade make a virtue of the slow build; Barney Matthews’ bassy, cryptic vocals are buried beneath shivering cymbals, gut-rumbling bass and blasts of static, with most of the lyricism left to multi-instrumentalist Tom Connolly’s twisting, agonised, beatific violin.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Katie Hawthorne

‘I’ve forgotten how I used to write my name,” Hope Tala winces, in the diaristic opening bars to her debut album. Seeking clarity through her pen, the soulful west Londoner is wrestling with growing pains and writer’s block – but then it all flows out. Over a honeyed mix of bossa nova, R&B and pop, and in her gorgeous, breathy voice, Tala ruminates on heartbreak, self-confidence, faith, family and friendship.

2 months ago | ca.news.yahoo.com | Katie Hawthorne

Satin bomber jacket slipping from her shoulders, Biig Piig is going all out – she’s shimmying left, shimmying right, flipping her hair, pogoing at the mic stand. Opening track 4AM, with its muted, just-left-the-club vibe, doesn’t really call for such a full-throttle show, but the Irish alt-pop musician – AKA Jessica Smyth – is selling it as a floor-filler. “I know you don’t want to be alone,” she croons, her voice featherlight, pumping a fist in the air. It is a night of mixed messages.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Katie Hawthorne

Satin bomber jacket slipping from her shoulders, Biig Piig is going all out – she’s shimmying left, shimmying right, flipping her hair, pogoing at the mic stand. Opening track 4AM, with its muted, just-left-the-club vibe, doesn’t really call for such a full-throttle show, but the Irish alt-pop musician – AKA Jessica Smyth – is selling it as a floor-filler. “I know you don’t want to be alone,” she croons, her voice featherlight, pumping a fist in the air. It is a night of mixed messages.