From the opening gentle picking pattern on Rain At Night and the first time we are introduced to the warm wholesome vocals of Malena, through to the final lulls of Si Quedamos the debut EP from Oh So Quiet is one uses strings and strums to their full effect, being soothing and fluid whilst simultaneously dazzlling. Whilst being a ‘folk’ band they sound more at home in urban streets, the five songs on this EP having a feeling about them of not only living a life, but being scarred by it. Bubbling with wonderment throughout, the EP flickers and flutters with a gentle authority. Motorcycle Journey has a euphoric post verse riff, and Water’s Fall is so hauntingly delicate your ears are almost scared to listen too closely until it fights back with chimes and charm. The output of Argentinian pair Lucas and Malena Zavala, who currently live in Guildford and have substantiated the band with multicultural members Oh So Quiet combine indigenous Latin-American music with western world indie and folk to create something currently missing in the somewhat saturated folk scene, and are more than worth investigating.
A special Cool For Cats party is taking place at Tipsy in Dalston to celebrate the release.

Coming up from  PYYRAMIDS is their full-length debut, Brightest Darkest Day. Tracks that fuse catchy pop hooks and gloomy dance beats, the melancholic tripping delivery from this new duo is unique and grabbing. As should be the case from a band formed of helmed by Tim Nordwind from indie rock band OK Go and Drea Smith of the electro-pop outfit He Say/She Say, both of whom are known for meanders into other genres outside of their own ‘safe’ categorisation, this is indie disco how it ought to be done. Take note Brandon Flowers. Here’s a sneak peak of one of the standout tunes, Do You Think You’re Enough?

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A seemingly sweeter record than its predecessor, Waiting For Something To Happen is full of almost perfect three minute gems that smoothly flow through the record. As always with Veronica Falls, the veneer of musical perfection is always layered with an undercurrent of sinister cynicism, like a doe eyed beauty whose soul brims with sadness.
There’s no denying that this is more of a pop record than their previous, but still full of ghostly sweetness. And crucially, full of great songs. Teenage is a romp of a song, in as far as Veronica Falls do romps, its chorus of ‘driving late at night, I bet you listen to the music you like’ simple and direct, and the lovely Buried Alive displays its maudlin yearning for illness and anxiety that brings one closer to their object of affection. Broken Toy is a perfect yin yang style track, its spark of happiness quickly quashed by a reality, and love only existing in adversity: ‘Cause you’re a broken toy it’s true/ but I am broken too’ and their sweet morbidity is encapsulated in the My Heart Beats that is somehow chilling and warming at the same time.
Unyieldingly sharp and sophisticated in their treatment of the simplest things, Veronica Falls do that rare thing of igniting happiness in despondency, although there is never a feeling of either outright depression or misery for its own sake. Perhaps lacking some immediacy of the debut, Waiting for Something to Happen is nonetheless not a ‘difficult second album’ but one that is striking, sharp tongued and full of ire – and utterly brilliant in that. Here’s to number three.

Fronted by Amy Klein, after she left Titus Andronicus, with Catherine Tung, Hilly Eye are a duo with power. Slower and softer with less angst than previous outfit, on Amnesia the tugging guitar work and chiming incandescent vocals mix to perfectly illustrate the vocals. ‘Oh glory’  Amy sings, before delivering the aching punchline ‘my country it lies.’ This desolate dichotomy of an understanding and exploration of one’s country, religion, relationship – anything held in esteem that sometimes fails – sounds like a warm sunset blown aside by a chilling gust of wind, ending in a cacophony of sounds and spirits that leave no neat conclusion, but a nice dent on the heart.

As you might expect, it was with great joy that It’s All Happening heard the news that The Joy Formidable would be releasing their sophomore album. Having spent the last couple of years gathering rock celebrity fans with their intense and angsty music, they are back with Wolf’s Law, an absolutely stunning album, full of celestial grandeur and mountainous brutality.
Things kick off in traditional Joy Formidable style, with swirling orchestral sounds and crashing drums, bubbling up to an impressive and dizzy beginning in the form of This Ladder Is Ours. Second track Cholla was released as a teaser back in 2012, and its spectacularly fiery riffs and mixture of tempos and temperaments were not deceptive. The Maw Maw Song is an earworm if I have ever heard one, it’s syncopated beat and twang compulsive rollicking along, its dominant riff simplistic yet powerful. Coming just after the slower Silent Treatment, it marks the start of side 2, as the artistic packaging informs us. A beautiful end to the album comes in the form of The Turnaround, an immensely epic, brooding, yet unsentimental song, foreboding and formidable.
Ritzy, Matt and Rhydian have done it again.