These Fresh Faves were picked by our readers over the weekend – and reviewed by Fresh On The Net’s Tony Hardy this week. You can hear all these tracks in a single Soundcloud playlist here.

BARBARA – Mein Fräulein

It has been hard to keep Barbara off the Fresh Faves radar as the band’s singles have proved consistently popular since the Black Mirror-inspired BRB was first unleashed in February 2021. No Streisand tribute act, Barbara comprises Brighton brothers, Henry and John Tydeman, who together with their sterling bandmates reproduce its glorious recorded sound vividly and splendidly live. Barbara has supported some seminal names from the pop world from The Divine Comedy to Haircut 100 live, and in April join Paul Weller on his sold out UK tour.

The brothers share a love of 60s and 70s style and music, and Mein Fräulein brings together so many of those charming Barbara eccentricities we know and love from its episodic song structure to the musical theatre of its lyricism. An opening drum roll immediately gives the song a Cabaret feel as a tale unfolds of a 30s flapper-girl and her weakness for the man in lederhosen and knee length socks. There is so much to admire as you get to know the song with repeated plays – the humour, the nuances and brilliantly choreographed musical digressions. It really is all here.

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BONNEVILLE – Chimpanzee

Comfortably topping this week’s voting chart is York native Bonnie Milnes who works under the aegis of Bonneville. A first-time Fresh Fave in early December, Bonneville celebrated the release of her debut album, New Lady, on Friday and has lined up some tour dates across her home county to support it. Drawing inspiration from her home town experiences, growing up and maturing while dealing with the ups and downs of relationships, she displays a sensibility in her writing akin to country music.

Chimpanzee is a track from the album, delivered by Bonneville in a warm, soft country drawl that echoes the lilt in the melody and embellishes the song’s simple acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment. The lyrics speak of being lost in new surroundings with a yearning for someone left behind: “I need to rejoin the human race now / I’m like that chimpanzee they shot off into space somehow.” It’s a tender, offbeat reflection on feeling lost and confused which I’m sure will resonate with many. Well, it did with Fresh On The Net listeners.

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BROKEN BEAR – Awfully Civilised

Broken Bear has also featured several times before as a Fresh Fave. The Surrey alt-rock pairing of Laura Callaghan and Paul Smart and, more specifically, their summer 2023 single Exit Through The Gift Shop actually gave me an inspired name for my 2023/4 Fantasy Football team; inspired at least because I am doing quite well this season. Musically meanwhile Broken Bear has been somewhat on an upward trajectory itself via EP and single releases following an album debut in 2018.

The latest single from Broken Bear, Awfully Civilised, is something of a milestone, channelling the pair’s righteous indignation while raising its signature darkly melancholic style up a few notches. Teaming up with producer/engineer Animesh Raval has brought the whole mix to the fore with potent drums amplifying the song’s message with a driving urgency. Lyrically a series of juxtapositions and paradoxes powers a rebellion against the societal status quo and its inherent ills candidly and passionately voiced by Laura. The word play in the song title sets the seal on another impressive cut from the Bears.

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FAITHFUL JOHANNES – Ultra Deep

Previously an Eclectic Pick here, Tim Head aka Faithful Johannes describes himself as a Sincerity Rapper, a badge that sits so well when you listen to his naturally poetic flow. Based in Durham, his work has received support from BBC Radio 6 Music and his local BBC Introducing network. He was shortlisted in the BBC’s Words First spoken word competition in 2023 and I particularly liked the way Electronic Sound magazine likened Faithful Johannes to ‘The Alan Bennett of Hip Hop’. Very apt indeed.

The single Ultra Deep is the first collaborative release between Faithful Johannes and producer Neocia with whom he is working on a new album which will be his third, to add to a bunch of EPs and singles. It is set to a leisurely beat supported by keyboards and embroidered by a sweet and gentle melody. The words are something else as the artiste effortlessly blends cosmic references with everyday observations. They really transport you to his child’s vision of the universe and how it all changed after NASA’s release of the Ultra Deep Field image, a tiny speck in the sky containing 10,000 galaxies. Simply magical.

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INDIA ELECTRIC CO. – Balancing Act

A first time Fresh Fave, India Electric Co. arrives with an impressive CV, in recent years acting as the core of Midge Ure’s live touring band and opening for him in their own right. Based in East Devon, the duo comprising Cole Stacey and Joseph O’Keefe conjures a compelling sound mixing traditional instrumentation, folk melodies and, more recently, keyboards and analogue synths. They have a third album, Pomegranate, due out on 5 April and are planning a UK headline tour in September to promote it.

Taken from the forthcoming long player, Balancing Act lives up to its titular billing with Cole Stacey’s breathy tenor lending it pop tones as his voice plays over a largely soft pulsing soundscape. It is a song pared to its bones beginning with staccato plucked strings and light percussion punctuated here and there with little synth bursts and mini crescendos which add freshness and subtlety. At just 2:28 it leaves you wanting to hear more, but in a good way.

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KAT KOAN & FREDDIE DICKSON – Time Alone

Our next act is also new here. British indie singer-songwriter Freddie Dickson majors in darkly romantic songs realised with his trusty Fender Jaguar and inspired by artistes from Nick Cave to Sharon Van Etten and Portishead. He moved from London to Berlin in 2018 and finished his second album Blood Street there. With its vibrant music scene and noirish underbelly, the city seems naturally on his wavelength. Freddie’s latest venture sees him joining forces with German songstress Kat Koan.

The pair began to write together after Kat reached out to Freddie on Instagram during lockdown, finding a connection that became firm friendship. Time Alone is the product of this writing liaison and a sultry atmosphere is immediately set by the opening spoken lines which dissolve into silken allure. A signature guitar figure features heavily in the track as the illicit affair is teased yet it remains shrouded who quite is driving it. There is much in Kat’s vocal delivery that puts me in mind of Anne Gilpin of Morton Valence and, for those familiar with that band’s work, the mood of the song would decidedly fit into Bob And Veronica’s world.

Kat Koan:
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Freddie Dickson:
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LIZ HANKS – Brook (Small Stream)

Sheffield-based cellist and composer Liz Hanks is well known in her local music scene and to a much wider demographic via her work across a broad spectrum of pop, folk and rock artistes. Having moved to Sheffield in the 90s, Liz soon became immersed in the area and has been cellist to local hero Richard Hawley for over 20 years. She is also well known for her work with Thea Gilmore while her recording and touring itinerary includes a litany of diversity: Liam Gallagher, Smokey Robinson, Self Esteem, Paul Heaton, Martin Simpson, Kate Rusby and Jon Boden among them.

Brook – which means a small stream – is from Liz Hanks’s 2023 album, Land, comprising ten instrumental pieces rooted in her local landscape, incorporating field recordings from woods and park plus referencing old photos and paintings to consider how life might have been like before housing and roads took over. The rises and softly slurred falls on Brook reflect the easy flow of water while birdsong gently adds to the pastoral feel of the music. Beautiful and contemplative.

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REMORAE – Johnny’s On The Water

Remorae may be a new name to readers, but the fluid folktronica collective has appeared here before in the guise of the experimental recording residency project known as Folkatron Sessions. The band released three records under this banner including a collaboration with Mercury Prize-nominated British folk singer Sam Lee as guest vocalist. Setting out to reimagine traditional folk songs via experimental and ambient electronica, they gained rave reviews from critics and fellow musicians alike.

Johnny’s On The Water, from Remorae’s forthcoming EP Flourish In Green, was learned from the singing of the late Appalachian folk singer Jean Ritchie. Applying a twist to the archetypal tale of the woman left behind by the sailor, the singer opts for empowerment over grief with the line “If he can live without me, I can live without him” – a sentiment pivotal to Remorae’s interpretation. An insistent rhythm underpins the song aping the remorseless ebb and flow of the sea while guitars, strings and modular synths and a choice trumpet solo add enriched colour. Vocally it is a trad delight too.

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SELF HELP – Spaceman

I must admit I found it a task to track down that much about Oxford outfit Self Help. I think there are five of them in the band and they may have had an album out in 2015, or then again that might be a different Self Help. Possibly American? I need a bit of help myself now. Self Help’s Bandcamp page gives a few clues: “You need Self Help! loud crunchy synthy doomy cynical noise scoring screamers left and right? it’s not that easy… check out Spaceman now and see you on the road soon.” That should do you.

So, Spaceman. Well, it is loud and crunchy, like it might have been recorded in a skip somewhere off the A40 while the aliens land in a lay-by. Opening with spacey sounds and the ambition of youth, vocalist Sean Cousins leads off with a cautionary verse semi-sung, laconic and suitably sceptical before the track erupts into a noisy mantra: “It’s not that easy.” Those youthful aspirations to become an astronaut or then a sports star are quickly grounded by the realities of adulthood which lead to a spaced man hitting the bars and hiding all those scars.

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THE SILVER LINES – Champagne

A year on from its last Fresh Faves appearance, Birmingham four-piece The Silver Lines makes a welcome return to this column. The band, comprising brothers Dan (lead vocals) and Joe Ravenscroft (guitar) along with bassist George Vivian and Kindo on drums, has a mission to go beyond the ‘all white male indie’ trope to write about taboo topics from toxic masculinity to learnt behaviours from past generations, sharing personal experiences that create deeper connections.

Champagne seems to be a companion track to the band’s current single, Cocaine, sharing lyrics, sentiments and a high octane, punk delivery with much of the track powered on a single note. Led by Dan’s urgent vocals, the song fizzes with loud nervous energy. Lyrically ambivalent, you get the sense of the band digging deeper so rather than a straight paean to the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle it simulates rather than recommends taking things to excess. With a distinct live feel, it’s a reminder that The Silver Lines gig extensively home and abroad, next in France on an eight-night tour from 3 April including Supersonic in Paris on 12th.

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PS from TR: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t been picked for the Listening Post, our team has definitely listened to it and there’s no need to send it again: feel free to send us an even stronger track another week. The same goes if you were picked for the Listening Post but didn’t feature in our Fresh Faves.

But if we’ve recently featured you in our Fresh Faves – or on my BBC Introducing Mixtape – please wait three months before sending us another track, so we have space to help other deserving artists… For more info see Robinson Has A Good Old Moan.