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Festival Preview: End of the Road 2015

  • Published in Live

Now celebrating its 10th year, End Of The Road is a folksier alternative to more prominent names. It offers a mecca for foodies (all organic, all local) and lovers of folk and dreamy rock tunes can expect a perfect blend of the tranquil and the lively.

The real-ale soaked Dorset gathering has attracted big names this year, with headliners including shoegazers The War On Drugs who arguably released 2014’s finest record, Lost In The Dream and Sufjan Stevens, who has penned Carrie And Lowell, a contender for 2015’s. They’re joined by Australian psychedelics Tame Impala, who have their hotly anticipated 3rd release coming in July.

There’s a refreshing vibe to the festival and campers are given the space and freedom that the range of music merits. There are no VIP areas so performers are often seen wandering the site. My visit to the festival in 2013 involved a conversation with members of Parquet Courts about the best beer on offer. They were just chilling by the Cider Bus. Yes, there’s a Cider Bus.

The range of performers is staggering but the must-see acts at 2015’s festival include Future Islands, who you’ll know and most-likely love from that Letterman performance. There’s Laura Marling whose soft acoustic tunes are accompanied by a beautifully chilling voice. Superstar slacker Mac DeMarco and afrobeat outfit Django Django bring the perfect hazy summer soundtrack. Alvvays create fuzzy indie-pop in abandon while the legendary Mark Lanegan offers a darker touch.

Torres has a spell-binding rawness in her craft of moody indie-rock tunes. Ought are an exhilarating art-punk band from Montreal, Canada. Wistful folk from Jessica Pratt sounds as if it is lifted straight of the mid-'60s and Happyness’ dreamy lo-fi sound is a mesmeric treat.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg in the range of sun-soaked up-and-coming gems on offer and with wild Peacocks roaming the festival site without a care in the world, End Of The Road 2015 is a truly unique festival. V-Festival it’s not.

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Laura Marling – Short Movie

  • Published in Albums

When Laura Marling first came onto the scene with Alas, I Cannot Swim in 2008 she certainly made a splash. She was just 18, blonde, small, almost bird-like, with a gentle voice that took you away on the breeze. She won many hearts and a Mercury Prize nomination. 

Not one to rest on her laurels, Short Movie is her fifth album, and it’s easy to forget that she is still only 25. She seems to be pushing hard to shake off the young girl image though, having dyed her hair brown and cut it short. And you can feel the fight coming off her words throughout this album, it gives off an aroma of defiance:

“I can’t be your horse anymore/You’re not the warrior I’ve been looking for” she states in the opening track ‘Warrior’ – and you know she’s preparing for battle. She lowers her voice throughout, and does more singing that veers closer to talking, offering less of the traditional folk whimsy that she originally became known for. She’s not “fucking around” as she says in ‘Don’t Let Me Bring You Down’.

This Marling is the cynical and wisened Marling, she’s been burned and now she’s having to armour-up. Funny how close those two words are, armour and amour. It’s a thin line as they say.

You can see what she’s trying to do, she’s striving to find an original voice – and while I admire her for that, the talking/singing in a strange American sort of accent, like in ‘Gurdjieffs’s Daughter’ can be grating at times. I think that’s either something you will like, or you won’t.

There are gentler songs such as ‘How Can I’ - which has a very American feel about it – and she’s “going back east” - not sure she means Essex. She’s still battling though:

“I’m taking more risks now/I’m stepping out of line/I put up my fists now/Until I get what’s mine”

It feels like she still has a storm inside her, which almost needs to die down before she can settle properly in her voice. There are elements of the original Marling in there, and while of course no-one wants to go backwards, it just feels she has perhaps lost too much of herself. In short, I’m not sure she needs to fight so hard.

Short Movie is available from Amazon and iTunes.

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