Whelligan - In Pursuit Of Inchoate Visions Of Beauty

 

The final Review of the 31 in 31 is something very close to my heart and deliberately left until the last review. I last visited Whelligan for his previous 2022 album, In The Mean Meantime, a corking affair, you can read my review here. 

So four years on cometh the follow up and it is an absolutely charming offering of Indie Pop and Neo Psych, wonderfully pastoral. Produced by long time IDHAS favourite Nick Frater and there are similarities to Frater, but this is less Guitar Pop and more life affirming.

The use of Brass and Acoustics enhances a really thought provoking album. It may be gentle, Jamie Whelligan's vocals will always give you that, but the arrangements are absolutely stunning. The Melotron just melts my heart when it appears.

The theme is about Whelligan's growing up in 80s Birkenhead. It is an area that I am utterly familiar with, having worked on the Wirral for most of my life. I know the times well to as the town and Liverpool were in the midst of the Thatcher slump, all we really got was some nice gardens and managed decline.

It wasn't as mellow as this album though as anyone going through St. Johns Subway at night would testify. but there was a defining spirit, an ability to laugh at the degradation with a self reference. So to the album, which is a must for all.

It is pensive, beautiful, if I don't sound too soft using that word and just to show Whelligan isn't all about soundscapes, there is a jaw dropping piece of Scouse Guitar Pop in the closer. Game Over, which revives the Brass as a Revue band and even has a lullaby instrumental extract to end.

I really don't think you will hear a more affecting song than the gentle Psych of Bedroom Reminiscences, truly heartfelt and what an ace Guitar ending. My Friend 'The Messenger' gets all Jazz and Hero To Clown gets close to a mid 60s Studio Ballad, a little Gene Pitney with a Brass Band. 

There's even room for a couple of short instrumentals, the Canterbury-ish Box Of Roses and the Twanging Beau Jolly. The title may be long, but the album is all too short. I just want more and more. It whisks you into a different time and place, magnificently so.

You can listen to and buy the album here.  The CD is available here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 30 March

The 5th and final playlist of the month. An absolute belter! One to listen to from start to finish. The maximum 30 songs that underline what we are good at and offers up plenty of the usual surprises. Last week's was incredibly popular, this may very well surpass it.

The weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows.  All embeds open in new windows to aid scrolling. Links to the artists will also appear on I Don't Hear A Single Social Media sites over the next 24 hours. This will help you to discover more about those who appear here. 

Phenomenal Cat - The Little Islanders

The Big Believe - Personal Air Traffic Control

Louie Cameron - Canina Canoona

Taylor D - Strange Addiction

Peel - Heaven From Here

Dirty Beau - Backseat Driver

Onesie - Meetcha At Minnies (The Captain's Song)

Bory - Living Proof

Sona Bliss - Take A Ride

Sharp Class - Faith In The Breaks

bothsxdes - addict

My Life As A Bird - Cheers To My Old Friends

Livingmore - Undone

Conor Miley - Raise Your Red Flag

The Idiot Kids - Age Of Instants

Sour Ops - Opting Out

Soviet Dust - Kakadu

The Hanging Stars - The Glass House

The Hopeless Romantics - Maybe We're Not Meant To Be

Hedge Childe - Beckoning The Angels

The Casbahs - Leaves

The Skinny Dippers - Sunshine Overdrive

Greg Williams - Every Day It's Your Birthday

Buttercup - Uncle John

Frog Fortress - Hardcore Band

Weyes Pez - Watching Paint Dry

Modern Olympia - Confirmation

The Living Orchestra - Animal Party

The Violet Twilight - Lime Green

Devotion - The Journey

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My Life As A Bird - The Cabana

Here we celebrate the new and under appreciated and San Jose's Mike Keller fits both camps. His solo project, My Life As A Bird, reaches its second album, hot on the heels of last year's debut album, Sunflower. It is right up our street, in fact it probably lives next door.

Get ready for Guitar Pop of the highest order. It is a Guitar fest of the highest order covering Power Pop, Slacker Pop, Pop Punk and much more. There are big hints of Weezer, but also big crunches. The solos take on epic proportions, at times sounding noisier Not Lame.

The riffs are completely hypnotic and veer into Classic Rock, UK Glam and encompass the likes of Teenage Fanclub and the noisier brand of Power Pop that we all currently adore. There is such a shake yer fist feel to proceedings, but an admiration of the sheer hypnotism of the guitar.

It doesn't fit one area, but encompasses all. The Pop Punk is incredibly melodic, none of that robotic vocal nonsense. It also treads into Emo with not a pair of half pants in sight. I keep coming back to the earlier days of Weezer as a pointer.

I suppose Slacker Rock is really the easiest description, but there is so much more here than that. Towards the end the album surprisingly gets slower. Sadie is built around a mesmerising riff and Who? closes things with a stripped down acoustic delicate feel until it explodes. 

I've deliberately not described other songs to encourage you to delve in to the whole thing. The Cabana is 31 minutes that will underline the glory of Guitar Pop. If you wanted to know where our heart is, it is probably here. What a great album!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Mr Magpie - The Fever Dreams Of Mr Magpie (Official Release)

 

Last year for a week until Sunday 21 December, Mr Magpie made their second album available to listen and download on Bandcamp, at Name Your Price. It didn't feature in our Best Of 2025 because the album was being released this year.

It is an extraordinarily great album. Now it has been released on Vinyl and as a download. The guys from the Peak District offer up a heady mix of restrained Jangle with a hint of Gentle Psych Pop and journeys across both Folk Rock and Classic Rock.

The album is wonderfully restrained allowed the atmospherics and vocal to breathe. It is almost chilled at times. Nervous Breakdown is the song that probably best expresses what they are about incorporating all the genres that I've previously mentioned.

The Boy You Never Knew is splendid Folk, still a hint of Jangle, but acoustically led as a lot of the album is. The song is hypnotic. Dead Orchard Voodoo is a haunting listen until a surprise chaotic Slide Guitar outburst at the close.

Meet Me By The Lighthouse is lyrically adept and almost a Porch or Campfire song. Lloyd Loom is almost Americana and Amanita allows you to envisage endless beautiful landscapes. The album is very laidback yet a cracking listen. Too few bands grip you with such restraint.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl and as a download.

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Bory - Never Turns To Night

 

Welcome to Portland's Bory and his second album. It is a corking melodic listen. The wonderfully laid back vocals just weave and warp over you around some really all encompassing unusual arrangements. It is an album which gives you real affection to it.

It is also a whistle stop tour around the genres without ever losing its touch and feel. The harmonies are blissful, a little west coast maybe, but it is as at home with Slacker Rock and the Psych Pop ventures are absolutely notable and Psych Pop is always gonna grab me.

So you get the smooth easy listening of The Test contrasting with the 60s Psych Pop of Runner's High, a splendid pastoral pop sort of affair. The dreamy What I Needed acoustically mixing Folk and Indie Pop contests with the top notch Power Pop of Living Proof.

By The Lake is life affirming Jangle Pop, all Glasgow 80s, yet That's Jazz mixes 60s California with Brit Pop and even threatens a little Noise Pop, far more urgent than what else is on display. These are real examples of how great the variety is here.

We'll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It is a masterpiece of an opener, very Andy Partridge in places with a cracking other worldly instrumental arrangement. The arrangements throughout are what seals off a great album. A fascinating listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl or as a download.

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The Pretty Flowers - Never Felt Bitter

 

I absolutely adore The Pretty Flowers. They are everything you could want in a Guitar band. Never Felt Bitter is the band's third album and we've covered the previous two, Why Trains Crash here, A Company Sleeve here. As well as perpetually bothering the Listening To This Week Playlist.

The Los Angeles quartet are anything that you want them to be. A cross between The Replacements and The Killers and everything in-between. They are in touch with what is around that is modern, yet knowledgeable about the past. 

Every album progresses and here is no exception. Album No 3 is a real Guitar album, epic in sound, a big production that doesn't lose touch with their roots. You want something that is in touch with the new noisier breed of Power Pop?, here's Convent Walls.

You want something heavier, down and dirty Garage Rock like?, here's Never Felt Bitter (We Burn).  Something slower, almost ballad like?, here's Not Dissolve. Ring True mixes, Post Punk with Noise Rock, yet remains incredibly melodic. It is possibly my favourite diversion, what a Guitar sound!

There are also anthems. To Be So Cool and Came Back Kicking are great examples. The opener, Thief Of Time sets out the agenda with its surprise Twanging solo that lets you know that this is no ordinary album that you are about to witness.

There is a real lyrical adeptness to discover, courtesy of front man, Noah Green, if you can tear yourself away from the stellar arrangements. Everything you could want from a Guitar band is here. Album Of The Year contender? You betcha!

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can buy the Vinyl and CD here.

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Ceylon Sailor - the tiny wave EP.

I've been loving this EP and wanting to tell you all about it. It is finally here. Unusually, for a Brooklyn band, this is wonderfully gentle Power Pop The five piece master melody with ease and venture towards Indie Pop vocally.

There's even some wonderful Brass accompaniment on the songs. All are as catchy as catchy can be. Well produced, arranged and performed. The title track has been constantly played here, a pacier affair amongst the four songs.

Candy is more straight ahead Power Pop with hints of 70s Pop. It is the surprises that hit you most on the song, the drum rolls, the 80s synth reminders and most of all that splendid Brass that enhances each and every song.

The Brass Intro on Sold Me Down is killer, as is the chorus. Never And Ever is an Epic collection, a real fanfare. The arrangements are stellar and really mark the material distant from the ordinary. These sort of songs used to be everyday, but not any more, meaning that The Tiny Wave is a real bolt from the blue. Great stuff!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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