Lucie Treacher

When you hear as much music as I do, a person's vocals have to really stand out for me to take notice. Lucie Treacher is a singer-songwriter from Scotland who has one of the most outstanding voices I've ever heard. She's been compared to many, but KT Turnstall seems to be the name that's dropped the most. I hear a mild similarity I suppose, but I think her voice is entirely original. She's an incredibly gifted songwriter as well, and if you listen to her demos, it'd be hard to imagine that they could get any better than they already are in their demo state. However there is something very scary about Lucie. While doing a little research on this girl, I noticed some very interesting facts. Before you read on any further, listen to some of her music.

Download:
Flamboyant Words mp3
Hum With The Moon mp3

Pretty amazing, huh? Ok, now here's the thing: first of all, she first picked up a guitar less than two years ago and wrote her first song around the same time. You're thinking "OK, impressive but no biggie." Now here's the clincher....SHE'S TWELVE!!! TWELVE!! I read this and I scoured the net for information that was more up to date because there is no way that a girl this young could write, perform and record music as compelling as this. Now, I'm sure she's had some help along the way but she has the potential to be an extremely relevant musical force. Her family is quite familiar with the way the music industry works (her grandfather apparently gave singing lessons to Elton John,) so I really hope that they encourage her to stay true to her originality and style. It would be very sad if the music industry in its insolent audacity turned her into another little Avril, Britney or Hillary. I'm worried, but I'd like to believe that musical integrity will win out in her case.

Lucie's debut album has been recorded and should be available in the near future.

Download more of her demos in the media section of her website.
Lucie Treacher is also on myspace. Go there and listen to the new song "Little Bird." Her best so far.

The Portraits - Kin

I don’t usually review bands that sound like The Portraits. Most of the bands I feature are either very raw in sound or they have a lo-fi appeal about them. But The Portraits, who are a song-writing duo from the British Isles, have a very slick and smooth sound that I’ve been finding personally very addictive. The obvious, and most often made comparison, seems to be to The Beautiful South. Like that band, there’s a very warm English breeze that wafts through their music. Just listen to the harmonies contained in songs like “Fortune", which is clearly the product of a little bit of studio wizardry, but I don’t mean that like it’s a bad thing. The band has worked hard to hone a sound that is excessively easy on the ears, and their vocals work together in such a pleasant-sounding way, that before you know it, you’ve become so completely engrossed in them. It should also be mentioned that their musical work ethic is something to be applauded. They firmly believe that music should be invisible. To quote them directly from their website, they choose to remain visually elusive, avoiding the video and image-led trends of the present day music industry, preferring their listeners instead to identify with the content and cultural and age references of their lyrics and melodies. Admirable indeed.

You can go straight to their website to download many of their songs for free, and you can listen to them on myspace. You can also purchase the CD here.