Iowa-based Electra Day is a folk singer-songwriter whose music strips down to the age-old simple pairing of an acoustic guitar and a story to be told. Organic and spiritual, her latest album Quiet Hours recounts the lessons learned from a life of travel. The woman behind the project, Julie Hampton tells tales of an 11-year span in which she moved from Berlin, Germany to the Mojave Desert, to British Columbia to Northern New Mexico to Iowa in the Midwest of the US. 

The album’s lead single is titled ‘Big Sky’. Atop a delicately picked guitar, Hampton sings:

“Home, that’s never been a place for me/A person, a house or any form. It’s the infinite blue into which I am absorbed/And out of which I am reborn”.

‘Big Sky’ is a song of reflection, both inner and outer. Hampton’s voice is immediately reminiscent of Patti Smith with its honesty and rawness, and her lyrics are akin to those of Joni Mitchell – powerfully illustrative and poetically insightful. The song doesn’t move in many different directions; instead it flows calm and meditatively, but Electra Day’s voice is endearing and enchanting enough to hold your quiet attention throughout the song’s six and a half minutes.

‘Big Sky’ is refreshing in its utter stillness, and serves as a much-needed moment of tranquil reflection in an ever-hectic world.

'Big Sky' is available from iTunes.

Looking for four tracks of searing, authentic British beat? Then look no further as The Beatpack deliver that up in spades on Back, Behind & In Front. No doubt I've missed a few releases in a similar vein this year but I highly doubt many if any were of the quality on offer here + there's not a cover version in sight (something that can't be said about at least one similar luminary of the scene).

Untrained ears will easily mistake this as being the work of contemporaries of The Pretty Things whilst later fans of the genre can happily place them alongside The Mystreated. Each song here is a classic and there's a breadth of variety within the band's overall sound that few acts seem to currently manage whatever their field.

Final track 'A Fog Is Lifting' marries proto-psych backing vocals with pounding drums and blistering harmonica - think The Electric Prunes' Mass In F Minor played behind 'Psychotic Reaction'. That harmonica's there right at the start of side A too on 'Loopin' With Lucy', which races along as if time's against it. I could go on about tracks two and three as well but you'd do better to buy the disc and experience them yourself.

Simply put this is one of the best releases of it's kind this (or any other) year.

Back, Behind & In Front is available from State Records.

Helsinki is a breeding ground for eccentric creatives who think outside the box, and the city’s latest offering is no exception. Solo artist von Konow has crafted a sound with art rock and synth-pop in its fabric, drawing inspiration from the likes of David Bowie, Depeche Mode and Nick Cave. 

His latest single is aptly titled ‘Cosmic’. At once feeling like a time warp back to the ‘80s and a step into the future of art rock, the track is a melting point of both the past and present:

“I want to believe I have no other need/Can’t you see I’m to be a dreamer all my life”

Cosmic’s opening line paints a vibrant picture of the artist behind the words. Marko von Konow, the man behind the musical moniker, sings with a sense of ambition and theatricality that is immediately reminiscent of the late David Bowie. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the song soon bursts into an upbeat, synth-laden chorus with cheesy harmonies to top off it’s retro aesthetic. 

Where ‘Cosmic’ takes a departure from the ‘80s is during its second verse, with a soft rock beat and U2-esque arpeggiating electric guitar. The change is unexpected but still manages to feel fitting, revealing von Konow’s complex identity as an artist. From then on the track only grows, indulging in a myriad of different sounds and textures to create an art-rock atmosphere of arena proportions. 

‘Cosmic’ is available via iTunes and is lifted from von Konow’s upcoming album ‘Lieder’, which is out in the new year. 

Jeni Magana's bio provokes the ambivalent cocktail of envy and admiration that the prodigiously talented always incite. With her former band Oh Odessa, she was credited on vocals, guitar, ukulele, bells, upright bass, clarinet, pump organ, piano, and bottles. The New York City based performer has previously played with The Polaroid Truth, Keppie Coutts, Will Knox and Dropkick Murphys, amongst many others. She has also played with several symphony orchestras.

Golden Tongue is her debut solo record and has been compared to St. Vincent, Courtney Barnett, Daughter and Cat Power. At its core Golden Tongue is a singer-songwriter record but the eclectic and inspired choice of instrumentation and arrangements make it into something greater. The opening track, ‘Get It Right’, with its organ, sax, and guitar chiming in unison has the retro sci-fi feel of The War Of The Worlds or Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. Her soulful vocal and infectious chorus make it the perfect introduction to a new talent.

‘Inches Apart’s fingerpicked electric guitar and pleading vocal are more typical songwriter territory, and the subtle presence of Magana's backing instruments recalls Leonard Cohen's early work. She plays almost everything on the EP, backed up by the off-kilter beat of her rhythm section. ‘The World Doesn’t Know’ could be a Lisa Hannigan song. It has a whimsical verse paired with an austere chorus of “Every cell in your body belongs to the thought in my brain”.

Unusually, the EP finishes with the title track, suggesting that the preceding songs have been leading up to a significant denouement. And ‘Golden Tongue’ is no disappointment as the previously restrained and delicate vocals escalate to anguished howls and the esoteric guitar lines become pounding rock chords. After the catharsis of the closing song there is nothing left to do but press repeat.

Golden Tongue has enough range of emotion and musical variety to engage the attention from start to finish, and it feels like a journey in a way that many full albums fail to. It sounds like the birth of a new star and with the year that's in it, that is most welcome.

Like PJ Harvey’s early work, you feel that she is limited by her circumstances. Someone, give this woman a budget! With a complementary producer, a big band, and six months in the studio, Magana could compose a masterpiece. But, for the moment, working in a DIY fashion with a confined budget she is still able to construct songs of this intensity. Many great artists did their best work before the lucrative contracts came along and Magana has delivered four fiercely individual, and disparate songs.

The Golden Tongue EP can be pre-ordered from bandcamp here.