“Radio Player” – Josaleigh Pollett

Dynamic mini-journey

“Radio Player” – Josaleigh Pollett

Dramatic and expansive, “Radio Player” builds, over a pulse-like beat, to the sort of catharsis you don’t hear much in algorithm-land. The song gets under your (i.e., my) skin, delivering an affecting amalgam of sound and texture, underpinned by evocative noise and incisive beats. The end result is something at once sharply contemporary in its soundscape and staunchly old-school in its attention to craft. Let it play a few times and see how it grows in stature.

At the center of “Radio Player” is a deft transition from an electronic/synthesizer-oriented palette to an acoustic-guitar-centric section, achieved via a pensive interregnum from about 2:10 to 2:27. We land in a place at once totally different than where we were and yet somehow logical. Through it all, Pollett’s vocals range from tender to penetrating and prove an expert guide on an unexpectedly dynamic mini-journey. If you sense a hint of Kate Bush in the air this is not a bad thing.

Josaleigh Pollett is a singer/songwriter based in Salt Lake City. “Radio Player,” released in October, was crafted together with producer and co-writer Jordan Watko, with whom Pollett has worked regularly over the course of her 15 years as an independent recording artist. Check out her work on Bandcamp.

“Your Colours” – Absolute Losers

Power pop homage

“Your Colours” – Absolute Losers

This Canadian trio, featuring two brothers and a close friend, have a sound that tap-dances knowingly through all three major power-pop eras, from the antecedent mid-’60s through the genre’s new wave rebirth in the late ’70s and further into the alt-rock iteration of the ’90s and early ’00s. The Beatles, the Jam, Fountains of Wayne–they’re all packed into the sound heard throughout In the Crowd, the band’s second album (the title itself a nod to Paul Weller’s old band).

“Your Colours,” however, harkens back most of all to the innocent sounds of 60-some years past, with its carefully articulated guitar lines, just-so melodies, well-etched harmonies, succinct bridge, and satisfying resolutions. The musical ache in the minor-to-major chorus is positively Beatlesque, and while we have traveled far into pastiche territory here, there’s something in the earnest construction and performance that wins me over. And then there’s the final quarter of the song, an extended coda, launched by a modulation at 2:34, which shifts the sound and feel forward in time while remaining true to the musical core.

Absolute Losers hail from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. You’ll find their albums and singles over there on Bandcamp.

“Colder” – Jo Davie

Quick and easy appeal

“Colder” – Jo Davie

There are hooks in songs (sometimes!) and then there are what I rather limply call “moments”: specific places in a song that perk the ear up and alert you to something subtly special going on in the songwriting, the arrangement, or the performance, or any combination thereof. I hear such a moment in Jo Davie’s “Colder.” The song quickly appeals via its concise, suspended-chord introduction and a fast-opening verse flavored by lyrics angled onto the three beat; but then we get the moment: when the melody cycles to its third iteration (0:21), at which point it starts a sixth higher than previously, Davie’s voice briefly hitting a new, crystalline register. It happens quickly; it isn’t a hook but it is a place that solidifies the song’s easy appeal.

Another part of the appeal lies in the songwriting sleight of hand on display. The blurted, somewhat breathless verse that opens the song is actually never heard from again; neither is the one-line pre-chorus (0:29), which serves as an agile passage into the chorus with its contrasting half-time melody. Note too the shifting chords underlying the slower melody: on the resonant lyrics “In your arms/It’s colder than/It ever was without you,” the shifts accelerate from “arms” to “than” to “was” and “without” and then, staying there, leaves the “you” both musically and symbolically unresolved. The extended instrumental section, beginning at 1:46, likewise features some engaging chord progressions, and sets up a lyrical twist: when the chorus returns, the line is now: “In your arms/Was colder than/I ever am without you.” The story has progressed in real time; the narrator has left the relationship. Good for her.

Jo Davie is a singer/songwriter based in Brisbane. “Colder” is a track from her debut EP, Nothing Comes Free, released back in May. (Yup I can be a bit slow on the uptake.) Check it out on Bandcamp.

This wasn’t supposed to happen

Eclectic Playlist Series 12.06 – Dec. 2025

It’s December and here’s a last playlist for what has been pretty much of a wreck of a year; I speak both personally and collectively. So there is no overt display of holiday cheer– you can grab that elsewhere if that’s your thing. And yet here’s the magic of music: even songs offering up protestations of various sorts end up somehow fueling an optimistic flame, however fragile and windblown. Some of that is due to the connectiveness of song, which inherently represents an effort by a human being, or a group of human beings, to reach out to other humans, consciousness to consciousness. Some of the subtle optimism comes simply from one person’s saying “I see it too”–whether it’s the dirty world or the hit of a new love. Songs can travel up or travel down and they still move us.

As usual the playlist is enlivened with synchronicities. There’s the unplanned adjacency of the Radiohead song containing the lyric “The sky turns green” with the Peter Green song “In the Skies.” There is the unpremeditated gathering of outtakes, perhaps an unconscious cri de coeur, a seeking of a better place to be than here. And there are the inadvertent appearances, cloaked and uncloaked, of two previous Republican presidents whose questionable moral compasses look benign compared to the sociopathic narcissism of the current office holder, adrift in his self-created sea of grift and cruelty. It’s a damnable ride but one day he’ll be drowning in his own wreckage and, with each of us using our own system of survival, we will arrive, blinking, in the light of a better day.

Here are the specifics:

1. “Private Number” – William Bell and Judy Clay (single, 1968)
2. “News” – Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club (English Garden outtake, 1979)
3. “Lose It Again” – Hatchie (Liquorice, 2025)
4. “Can’t Let Go” – Lucinda Williams (Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, 1998)
5. “Mykynos” – Fleet Foxes (Sun Giant, 2008)
6. “Dirty World” – Meshell Ndegeocello (Weather, 2011)
7. “Forgive Her Anything” – Elvis Costello & the Attractions (Blood & Chocolate outtake, 1986)
8. “Popafangout” – Sharp Pins (Balloon Balloon Balloon, 2025)
9. “Bring Down the Birds (Outtake)” – Herbie Hancock (Blow-Up Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1967)
10. “Salvation” – Scanners (Submarine, 2010)
11. “Where I End and You Begin” – Radiohead (Hail to the Thief, 2003)
12. “In the Skies” – Peter Green (In the Skies, 1979)
13. “Boy” – Book of Love (Book of Love, 1986)
14. “Lightnin’ Strikes” – Lou Christie (single, 1966)
15. “Hit” – The Sugarcubes (Stick Around For Joy, 1992)
16. “Loaded” – The Idle Hands (The Hearts We Broke on the Way to the Show, 2009)
17. “Just Blue” – Space (Just Blue, 1978)
18. “Severed” – The Decemberists (I’ll Be Your Girl, 2018)
19. “Wreck” – Neko Case (Neon Grey Midnight Green, 2025)
20. “System of Survival” – Earth, Wind & Fire (Touch the World, 1987)

Random notes:

* I only recently learned of the existence of a smattering of extra recordings made by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club, a top-notch but short-lived new wave outfit, who had released one dynamite LP in 1979 and disbanded. The easy to love “News” appears to have been recorded at the same time, and the internet tells me that there was actually a second album at least partially recorded that was never released. I may need to spring for the 2024 box set to finally hear it.

* Speaking of something that’s somewhat difficult to locate, the Elvis Costello and the Attractions song “Forgive Her Anything” emerged on a 1990s Rhino Records expanded version of Blood & Chocolate but can’t be found on Spotify. For Elvis fans it’s a terrific find.

* And then for something easy to locate but difficult to understand, give “Popafangout” by Sharp Pins a spin or two. I’m staring at the lyrics and haven’t a clue what Kai Slater is singing about. But you know what? That doesn’t matter. The song connects via vibe and sound, and what a sound it is from a 21-year-old. I’m going to spend some time with this new album of theirs.

* “Lightnin’ Strikes” is an odd, memorable song, Lou Christie’s one claim to U.S. chart-topping fame. Once upon a time this was all we needed to know. But scratch the surface of any so-called “one-hit wonder” (thanks, internet!) and be introduced to innumerable complications and piles of forlorn facts. Let’s just say that Christie was a Pittsburgh area singer and songwriter with a longer-than-anticipated Wikipedia page that is, truth be told, more detailed than interesting. Without any more notable commercial successes to speak of, Christie nevertheless stayed active in the music industry into the 2020s; he died this past June.

* I have long felt that Radiohead’s Hail to the Thief never fully got its due. After the experimental electronics of Kid A, they were expected, somehow, both to continue avant-garde-ishly and yet also to go back to their guitar-based roots. And in sort of doing both many seemed to think they did neither. The album is dark and occasionally dour but there are many excellent songs to be had along the way, including this one.

* Herbie Hancock was just 26 when he recorded the music he composed for the now-classic Antonioni film Blow-Up. The music evokes the so-called “Swinging London” scene depicted in the movie, which came out in 1966. The album was released in 1967. That’s Phil Woods on the alto sax. This was Hancock’s first film score but not his last. He would go on to win an Oscar for his score to the 1986 movie Round Midnight.

“Nice to Know You” – Ash Molloy

Fully-formed confidence

“Nice to Know You” – Ash Molloy

“Nice to Know You” exhibits a fully-formed confidence that flows through all aspects of the song: the melodies, the arrangements (including the assertive bass line), the anthemic chorus, and maybe best of all, Ash Molloy’s assured and wide-ranging vocal presence.

One of the song’s subtle assets is its use of an instrumental counter-melody beneath the main melody. You can hear it first, if quietly, around 0:31, underneath the lyrics that begin with “And the way you say you’re sorry.” It’s that sing-song-y synthesizer line that leaps up and then back down; a clearer version recurs around 1:10 as Molloy repeats “Nice to know you.” Coming full circle, Molloy herself sings the counter-melody as a coda starting around 3:33. Let’s just say I appreciate the craft, especially as it is couched within something of a ’90s-early-’00s alt-rock vibe; or, think Sky Ferreira for you Sky Ferreira fans.

Ash Molloy is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist originally from Newfoundland; she’s been recording since 2023. “Nice To Know You” is her tenth single. You can hear them all on Spotify. Oh and she writes her melodies on her fiddle and has an undergraduate degree in behavioral neuroscience, so there’s that too. Keep an eye on this one.

“Goddamn Fool” – Ruby Gilbert

Americana via Australia

“Goddamn Fool” – Ruby Gilbert

The Brisbane-based singer/songwriter Ruby Gilbert has a gift for evoking lonely Western landscapes, as noted when she previously appeared here in 2021. She’s at it again, marvelously, in “Goddamn Fool.” Brisker than “No Vacancy,” the song still aches with her distinctive variety of Americana. There’s banjo, a foot-tapping backbeat, evocative guitar flourishes, and, at center, Gilbert’s fetching, throaty vocals, laced with just the right amount of reverb. And don’t miss that signature trumpet, haunting the rear of the mix until the very end.

So help me out here. I’m mystified why musicians with so much obvious authority and quality as Ruby Gilbert exist at the fringes of our musical culture while copycat pop stars with nothing at all interesting to say garner gobs of attention, not to mention sycophantic praise from so-called critics. Have we become that shallow? And this isn’t me, from a bygone generation, claiming everything was better back in the day; it’s me finding wonderful music from the here and now and wondering what happened to our collective ability to recognize and reward actual excellence. End of quiet rant.

Support Ruby Gilbert by checking her out on Bandcamp, and (gasp) buying something you like. What this talented Australian lacks in quantity–she released a four-song EP in 2018 and but four singles since–she more than compensates for in quality. “Goddamn Fool” came out in September, her first release since 2021.

“Once It Starts to Kick In” – Hand Gestures

Deft ambling

“Once It Starts to Kick In” – Hand Gestures

With its friendly vibe and strummy groove, “Once It Starts to Kick In” develops over an agreeable mix of crunchy, bell-like guitars and a perky synth line. The song so deftly ambles along that I was surprised when I noted the length (4:44); it feels shorter than that, never hurrying yet never wearing out its welcome.

Front man and songwriter Brian Russ has an appealing, everyman voice that manages to convey innocence and experience simultaneously–which is kind of what the music itself does here, with the juxtaposition of the substantive guitar work and that playful synth line. Speaking of, I like in particular how the synthesizer, after dutifully playing its instrumental hook a couple of times, breaks out at 3:42 for an extended, off-script solo.

By the time Russ was writing the songs for this album, in 2022, he had had 20 years of experience on the Brooklyn music scene, which you may or may not recall was quite the engaged and engaging environment back there in the ’00s. He was in his early 20s then, putting him now in his 40s and eager to write songs reflective of his current life stage. Although Russ originally wrote these songs for Unisex, a previous band of his, by 2024 that band had more or less dissolved; he ended up recording the songs by himself with the help of the Unisex drummer. Then, this year, he assembled a new group of musicians and as such decided to change the group’s name. The album had been titled Hand Gestures; this became the band’s name too. Russ by the way is also the founder of the indie label Campers’ Rule Records, which released Hand Gestures on Halloween. You can listen to the album, and buy it, via Bandcamp.

Try not to panic

Eclectic Playlist Series 12.05 (October 2025)

Friends, it’s been a challenging year not just nationally (obviously) but personally; and I fear I’ve spent too much of it apologizing for late posts. I aim for monthly playlists but in 2025 they have turned bimonthly. I will try to take a deep breath and remember that it doesn’t really matter, that there is in any case more than enough to listen to online were I never to make another mix. But hey if nothing else I must try to justify the $15 a month that Mixcloud extracts from my nonexistent budget. Let’s see if I can at least get another two playlists in the hopper before year’s end. First and foremost here’s what awaits your ears right now:

1. “Live Life” – The Kinks (Misfits, 1978)
2. “Virtual Insanity” – Jamiroquai (Travelling Without Moving, 1996)
3. “Not Strong Enough” – Boygenius (The Record, 2023)
4. “Shallow” – Halomobilo (single, 2005)
5. “I Want to Know What Love Is” – Ane Brun (Leave Me Breathless, 2017)
6. “Rockaway” – Christine Lavin (Future Fossils, 1985)
7. “One More Chance” – Margie Joseph (single, 1969)
8. “Happy As Can Be” – Cut Off Your Hands (Happy As Can Be EP, 2008)
9. “To Find a Friend” – Tom Petty (Wildflowers, 1994)
10. “All These Things” – Empire (Expensive Sound, 1981)
11. “Take It Off The Top” – Dixie Dregs (What If, 1978)
12. “New Punching Bag” – Tristen (Zenith EP, 2025)
13. “City Sidewalks” – Hard Water (Hard Water, 1968)
14. “Half Ladies” – Christine and the Queens (Chaleur Humaine, 2014)
15. “Ozark” – Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, 1981)
16. “Untouchable” – Glenn Tilbrook (Transatlantic Ping Pong, 2004)
17. “One Goodbye in Ten” – Shara Nelson (single, 1993)
18. “Come Down in Time” – Elton John (Tumbleweed Connection, 1970)
19. “Stay Soft” – Mitski (Laurel Hell, 2022)
20. “Detectorists” – Johnny Flynn (single, 2014)

Random notes:

* Did the British band Jamiroquai know something the rest of us didn’t back in 1996? Most of us were reveling in our newfound online universes at that point, with little idea of the Pandora’s Box we’d unwittingly opened. Founded in 1992 by vocalist Jay Kay, the veteran outfit is still active, with a tour about to begin and a ninth studio album purportedly on the way. For those few who may not have seen it, the trippy video for “Virtual Insanity” is widely regarded as a classic.

* Split for a number of 21st-century years from his Squeeze bandmate and songwriting partner Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook released a handful of generally agreeable but largely overlooked albums on his own during the century’s first decade and a half. Perhaps the best of them was 2004’s Transatlantic Ping Pong; “Untouchable” is in any case a song that compares favorably with Squeeze’s better offerings. But truth be told, even on his weaker material Tilbrook wins points for his indelible voice. And for those who’ve lost track, I’ll point out that Squeeze re-formed in the mid-’10s and has so far released two newer albums, in 2015 and 2017. They claim not to be done yet.

* I seem to have a soft spot for performances that reimagine songs I previously considered somewhat beneath my consideration. There were all those Journey songs entirely upended by Clem Snide, for one; another that comes to mind is Fountains of Wayne’s sublime version of “…Baby One More Time.” In that general vein, I now present the Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun with her version of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Brun’s voice is something of an acquired taste, but conjoined with the right material it can compel. The Foreigner song comes from her 2017 album Leave Me Breathless, an all-covers effort, including songs by Bob Dylan, Sade, and Radiohead, among others.

* Tom Petty left our midst eight years ago, early October. At his best his songs and performances sound simple and effortless, which is a good part of his magic.

* I just featured Christine and the Queens in a song review in my last post, which put me in the mind to dig back into Chaleur Humaine, their debut album. I know there’s a lot to unpack with them, given their complex personal and performing history, but I mostly just use my ears and as such find the music, while somewhat out of my usual wheelhouse, wonderfully crafted and mysteriously alluring. I recommend the whole album, and will put in one more pitch for the magnificent “Tilted” video.

* Halomobilo was a band from Chelmsford, England who were active from 2002 to 2009. “Shallow,” from 2005, was an early Fingertips favorite–so much so that it landed a spot on the one promotional CD I curated and offered as a limited release in 2006. This song has a dark, appealing swing and is actually rather touching if you listen closely. Note that this “Shallow” has no relation to the song sung by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in 2018’s A Star is Born.

* If you don’t know of the TV series Detectorists and consider yourself a fan of subtle, quirky British comedy I would urge you to check it out. This Johnny Flynn composition served as the sharp yet melancholy theme song.

“Twos” – The Noisy

Purposeful mix of light and dark

“Twos” – The Noisy

With a retro lilt and a buzzy undertone, “Twos” both charms and unnerves. On the one hand we have front person Sara Mae Henke and their lovely silver tone, propelling the song effortlessly forward; on the other hand they sing an elusive tale of dating two people at once that seems purposefuly to mix light (chimes!) and dark (crunch!). If you sense something vaguely disquieting in the ambiance, that hunch is reinforced by a video that layers a campy, vintage vampire scenario onto the proceedings, complete with pitch-dark black-and-white blood.

Musically, I sense a hint of Neko Case in the air here, which can only be a good thing; both Henke’s resonant voice and the song’s carefully chosen words have a Neko-ish panache, as does the sturdy melodicism and chord progressions on display. And as with many a Neko song, “Twos” all but compels, and rewards, multiple listens.

The Noisy has been a rotating cast of characters fronted by Henke, a Philadelphia-based singer, songwriter, and poet. “Twos” is a track from The Noisy’s 2024 album The Secret Ingredient is More Meat, which is being re-released with extra material in October by Audio Antihero Records (now to be entitled The Secret Ingredient is Even More Meat).

photo credit: Morgan Kelley

“Last One” – Cerrone and Christine and the Queens

Buoyant neo-Italo-disco

“Last One” – Cerrone and Christine and the Queens

If this sounds like quintessential Italo-disco there’s good reason: the artist known simply as Cerrone, a Frenchman with Italian parents, was a pioneer in the pulsating, glistening genre back in the late ’70s. After encountering Rahim Redcar (whose intermittent performing name is Christine and the Queens) when both participated in events during the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, Cerrone and Redcar came together this year to release a four-track EP in July called Catching Feelings.

“Last One” is a splendid example of what these two can do as a team, Cerrone with his dynamic and shimmering beats, Christine and the Queens with their impassioned vocals and intrinsic sense of drama. The chorus is a particular delight, the one-measure instrumental lead-ins to each lyrical line lending a syncopated feel to what is actually an on-the-beat melody. And while I’m not a groove-oriented listener (at all) I’m ongoingly impressed here by the diversity of sound and feel of Cerrone’s creations–this isn’t just a push-button backing track but a calculated mixture of unabashed electronics and drumming that sounds organic (Cerrone did begin musical life as a drummer so that might even be him with the sticks). That said, I also like the moment mid-song where the beat is stripped away, increasing the theatrics with a less-is-more gesture. Likewise I urge you not to miss the 10-ish-second fadeout, with its subtle assortment of shutdown sounds.

You can check out the EP, and buy it, via Bandcamp. And for those who may not have seen it, I’ll use the opportunity to send you to YouTube to see one of my all-time favorite videos: Christine and the Queens’ endlessly riveting performance of “Tilted.”

photo credit: Thomas Spault