Singles & EPs Round Up - July 30th, 2022

Alyas - Moments (Self Release)

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It's always nice when I discover a new ambient artist, even if they already have 26,000 odd monthly Spotify listeners - why didn't anyone tell me?! Anyway I'm now tuned into the ambient joys of Alyas via his latest single, a simple yet seductive drone that is drenched in summer high season haze and scattered with subtle acoustic snippets blown in on a welcome light breeze.

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the Howard Hughes Suite - Demos/Sketches/Works In Progress Vol. 1 (Self Release)

Have I mentioned The Howard Hughes Suite before? Maybe as TSMM has released two albums from him :) Well this one is not on the label but if you want to help an independent artist fund his art then you can now pick up these works in progress that sound better than most other ambient Americana artists finished works, and if you ever fancied yourself as an executive producer you are also invited to give him feedback.

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Nora Brown - Cumberland Gap (Jalopy)

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I do like a precocious young musical talent and Brown certainly fits that bill, having immersed herself in old time American folk music with some of the scene's greats as teachers from the age of 6. Now 11 years later, she wields the banjo and tells tales with a rare depth of feeling for someone still too young to have experienced life's full range of ups and downs. Not only that, she's a multi-instrumentalist and now passing on her knowledge in true folk style as a teacher.

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Faris Ishaq - Evoke نَبَط (Levantine)

I was immediately struck by the less is more approach of Faros Ishaq on this, the second single from his forthcoming LP,  where he accompanies himself using leg-percussion and frame drum simultaneously whilst playing the even more ancient and evocative sounds of the nay - a 5000 year old flute, recalling Mesopotamia - that great cradle of civilisation.

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