Album Review! Birdy - Beautiful Lies

So after a 3 year wait, Birdy has released her 3rd album! I must say, since a friend showed me her cover of Bon Iver's Skinny Love, I have been a massive fan. Her first album consisted of almost all covers, however the song that stood out for me was Without A Word, which Birdy wrote herself. I was excited to hear more of her own songs in her second album Fire Within. She did not disappoint! I found Fire Within was quite an emotional album, which Birdy herself carries off so well.

Now when the single was released from Birdy's 3rd album, Beautiful Lies, I was hooked. The first single was Keeping Your Head Up, which was a lot more upbeat than her usual music. I loved it! It was a great track that had so much potential, it also makes an incredible remix. Much like Wild Horses, one of my favourites on the album and the second single, which has already been turned into a remix, you can listen to both in the playlist at the bottom. 

The album opens with Growing Pains which channels a mixture of Kate Bush and Bjork. It has an element of typical Chinese rhythms and melodies, which create a great hook. Birdy has an incredible range and has lots of angelic harmonies in many of her songs, Shadow and Save Yourself are where you can find the good examples of this. 

Birdy plays the piano, so many of her tracks focus on just her and the piano. These are usually the more emotional numbers like Unbroken, Deep End, Silhouette, and Lost it All, which made me cry the first time I heard it. I also think Lost it All sounds similar to Without a Word and I can relate to it a lot, which is maybe why it's another one of my favourites on the album. 

Beautiful Lies is unlike her previous albums, this time Birdy seems to have focused more on the beat and sound that she wants to create. This has created some really some great tracks on the album, like Lifted, Take My Heart and Hear You Calling. In Hear You Calling again we can hear features of chinese melodies.

The last track on the album is the album title track Beautiful Lies, again Birdy uses piano and simple harmonies to create a soft track to finish the album on, bringing the sound back to where she started almost. 

Release almost a month ago now, Beautiful Lies has been added to my own personal playlist of my favourite albums and been given lots of positive praise which it certainly deserves. Now go have a listen!

Album review! The 1975 - I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it

The 1975 have entered into the 2016 charts with the longest album name to go number one…probably. The UK’s funk-pop-rockers have also asserted dominance in the charts over in the US debuting at number one as well. I read an article the other day and found out they are only the 16^th UK artists to simultaneously hold number one positions in the UK and US; joining artists like The Beatles, Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones. 

You start the album off by listening to ‘the 1975’ by the 1975, which I guess is what it feels like to spend 1 minute and 20 seconds in Matt Healy’s mind – a synth-pop dreamland of, well, confusion.  

Then, suddenly, things kick up a gear as the band launches into funk-guitar driven ‘Love Me’. This is the first single to be released from the new 1975 record and it’s a quirky, pisstake on selfie culture. The fabulous video depicts a topless Healy stumbling between life-size cardboard cutouts of commercial superstars like Taylor Swift and Rita Ora. In the song Healy admits he isn’t afraid to see what people write about him on social media, which I think is admirable because I couldn’t do it. 

The 1975 maintain the pace into the next song ‘UGH!’ which, quite simply, is about cocaine. More specifically, Matt Healy’s past dabbling with it. "This conversation's not about reciprocation no more/But I'm gonna wait until you've finished so I can talk some more/About me and my things, my car, my living/And how I'm giving it up, giving it up again". It’s a genius piece of writing and so accurately illustrated, probably my favourite from the album so give it a listen. 

Another great song from this record is ‘The Sound” which is like going round on a carousel – the most joyous, uplifting carousel ever.  The song is an anthemic chorus line of bouncing synth filled in with curious, questioning shade and jibes. The song is also home to a great guitar solo, the best on the album. 

The album is brutally honest, fun and expressive. Admittedly some songs are a bit wishy-washy and daydreamy but truthfully I think the album needs those kind of ballad driven tunes because they shine a light on important cultural messages for young people. But the songs I talked about like ‘UGH!’, ‘Love Me’ and ‘The Sound’ are at least worth a listen. 

Overall, I think the album is sound. The follow up to the first hit, self-titled record is actually better but I think the 1975 are capable of something special here…so it’s okay to be demanding! I like the way the 1975 carry themselves in the media and their music speaks for themselves, which is all written and produced by Healy and Daniels. I also love the pop sound with a rock voice. 

Tessa's 21 Favourite Party Songs!

I said I would post this yesterday, actually on my birthday, however I ran out of time in the end. I was having to much fun. I had a great day and celebrated it with some awesome people. I also got lots of lovely cards and gifts which I'm very grateful for. 

Now on to the tunes! Here are 21 songs that have to be played whenever I have a party!

Album Review! Adele - 25

So you probably would have heard at some point over the past month (especially if you follow me on any social media site), that a certain someone has finally released her new album! That's right! Adele has finally dropped '25'!

Adele's 3rd album is about forgiveness, reflection and growing up. Following the success of '21', the task she faced when writing with album must have been massive. But after hearing 'Hello', we can all be rest assured Adele is back and as fabulous as ever! 

The album starts with 'Hello', a giant track that pulls your heart strings straight away. I think it was the perfect track to introduce the album, something we can all belt out at the top of our voices and relate too. When I first heard 'Hello' I must admit, I did instantly think of Lionel Richie's 'Hello'. I mean considering that 2015 has been a pretty big year for him, especially with his tour and being the act that drew the biggest crowd at Glasto. However, after watching every compilation video on Youtube and Facebook of Adele's 'Hello' mashed up with all sorts of responses, I think the track has become it's own. The music video displays some of Adele's acting skills, which we haven't seen much of before, which made a pleasant surprise and was very good (considering she was using a flip phone). If you want to see some of Adele's acting skills in action, watch the video below.

As I said '25' is about forgiveness, and with songs like 'Hello and 'Send My Love (To Your New Lover)', which echoes elements of '19' with its use of acoustic guitars. 'Million Years Ago' is another track that uses acoustic guitars. This time as the only form of accompaniment, which adds a sort of Spanish feel and simplicity to the track. 'Remedy' is another simple track, but uses just piano as an accompaniment instead. It is certainly one of the tracks about growing up and reflection, along with 'River Lea', the 'Hometown Glory' of '25' and 'When We Were Young', another track we can belt our hearts out to.

Personally I feel Adele has hit the nail on the head with this album. It's no '21', but it's not suppose to be. It's so much more mature than '21' and follows it perfectly. The best example of this maturity is 'Sweetest Devotion', which is about her son, Angelo. However the track can still relate to everyone, not just those who have had children. So once again every track in '25', you can relate to in some shape or form. I think 'I Miss You' has quite a different sound to the stuff we are used to with Adele. Instead, it sounds like something something Disclosure could have done featuring Adele, I think this one will be a good one to remix.
'Water Under The Bridge', one of the more upbeat tracks on the album, I personally find I can really relate to which is why this and 'Love in the Dark', an emotional one, are two of my favourites. At the moment my favourite seems to be 'All I Ask'. With hints of Abba's 'The Winner Takes It All' in the chorus and essence Paolo Nutini's 'Last Request' in the message, this track reminds me of 'Take It All' from '21' with its rawness and well, Awesomeness!
Adele and '25' continues to break records and the internet with this album, selling 2.3 million copies in just three days! Am I surprised? NO! The album is different in the ways it should be, and same in the ways it needs to be. Now all I need to do is see her live!

Album Review: The Desired Effect – Brandon Flowers

Earlier this year, Brandon Flowers followed another break from The Killers with his second solo album, The Desired Effect. I don’t quite know what desired effect Flowers is trying to achieve, but for me this album is easily one of the best to come out of 2015.

The album is transcendent of a Bowie record, taking us through a glitzy Vegas party of groovy dance numbers. The album starts with an uplifting horn section in “Dreams Come True” which has punchy lyrics telling his listener that ‘everything is alright’. From this the record enters an 80s synth-disco fusion with songs like “Still Want You” and “Lonely Town”. The latter using some clever auto tuning (which I never really think is a good idea, but in this case it offers a nice interlude into a gospel chorus).

However the record ends with, what I believe to be, the best song of the album, “The Way It’s Always Been”. This is where his vocals are most raw. The song starts with his voice and rhythm and shifts into a psychedelic, Sgt. Pepper-esque journey, with sincere organs and voice dubbings.

The album was produced with Ariel Rechtshaid, who had previously worked with Charlie XCX and Haim, and alongside Flowers has conjured one of the best produced albums of the year.

In my opinion, Flowers and The Killers are creating a huge legacy amongst the industry and could be set to join music royalty alongside their heroes like U2 and Dire Straits. And Brandon Flowers surely has to go down as one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. A key element to his success is his ability to not just write about love, but also hope and relevant world issues (in some cases very similar to Noel Gallagher), Flowers himself said in a recent interview that he doesn’t feel the need to write about generic shit like sex and drugs; since there’s a lot more things going on in the world, he admits it’s easier to write about that.

I saw Flowers earlier this year, pretty soon after the album came out, and the album is just as impressive live, so make sure you see him or even The Killers live so you can say you’ve seen one of the greats.