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...Keeley Forsyth’s The Hollow is a challenging proposition. Its solemn songs unfold with a slow ritualistic tread....
...Flanked by a seven-strong band, Mitski performed most of the gig alone on a central circular dais, wearing a black minidress and knee pads....
...But Faust’s relocation to a recording studio near Oxford proved a costly waste of time, mainly notable for odd runs-in with Mike Oldfield, who liked to yank Faust’s chain by pretending to be a dog, barking...
...Then come tracks grouped under a futuristic theme, which synthesise the music of the two preceding sections in a rather scattershot way....
...It had been a bit of a struggle, but connection was ultimately made. ★★★☆☆ sampha.com...
...Ludovic Hunter-Tilney The cheesiness and the idea that you are gonna cringe a bit and that they’re a bit sort of thinking, oh, Taylor, no....
...There’s a lot of production layering and effects, but the songs share a similarly straightforward groove. Dua Lipa moves through them with aplomb, singing in her huskily expressive voice....
...Meanwhile Yachty sang with a gruff holler, which was given a fluting quality by audio processing. A half-empty venue suggested that not all his fans have signed up for the ride....
...Joining me from London, he’s a real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown. It’s the FT’s esteemed pop music critic, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. Hi, Ludo. Welcome. Ludovic Hunter-TilneyLilah, hello....
...It was done in a knowing way, almost with a smirk. In reality Augé and de Rosnay, who met as young graphic designers, came from middle-class backgrounds....
...Other guests include funk legend George Clinton, who turns up on “Get Lit”, a P-Funk tribute capped by a great flute solo....
...As a girl growing up in Leeds, Nia Archives wanted to be a singer or an archaeologist. Now 24 and based in London, she has found a way of doing both....
...And there was a kerfuffle when a promotional interview was spiked after she resisted answering questions about the state of the US prison system....
...While alt-rock became corporatised, they treated rock music as a way of life. It was a fuzzy kind of idealism — but idealism nonetheless....
...His career, if that dull word can be applied to such a free-spirited musician, has followed a mazy bassline of its own. There was a teenage stint in a boy band that had a minor hit in Germany....
...Streaming revenue barely covers a round of drinks in a Camden pub. Yet despite these pressures, the indie scene has managed to clamber back to its feet....
...Then she recounts, with sorrow and coiled anger, the slow death of a love affair in a beautifully chilly electronic landscape lit by a muted glow....
...addict with a younger new partner who is to Shakira as a Renault Twingo is to a Ferrari....
...The Weeknd, a fellow Canadian, appears to make sweetly sung jibes at an unnamed Drake on “All to Myself”. A$AP Rocky raps coded slights on “Show of Hands”....
...He acknowledged a voice shouting “We love you!” with a raised arm, but otherwise maintained a distance....
...A sense of fogginess turns up again in “Completely Half”. Pupul is on a train when he sees someone “who looks a lot like you”....
...It combines a front-foot beat with a pastoral harp motif, which degrades into distortion before re-emerging with a trippy psychedelic echo....
...In a neat reproach, outlaw country grandee Willie Nelson has a cameo in the album in the role of a radio DJ....
...This quality has helped her to become a crossover act, albeit of a highly refined variety....
...The dilemma receives an underwhelming answer at the end of the album with a recording of Grande’s grandmother telling us the secret of a lasting relationship: a goodnight kiss....
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